Ben Affleck gets honorary doctorate from Brown University

Ben Affleck has received one of six honorary doctorate degrees from Brown University.

The Academy Award-winning actor and director was among artists, writers, scientists and educators to receive the degrees from the Ivy League school in Providence, R.I., at commencement exercises Sunday.

Affleck, 40, received a doctor of fine arts degree. The Massachusetts native directed, produced and starred in "Argo," which won this year's Oscar for best picture.

"This is a spectacular honor for me," he told the audience, according to the Providence Journal. "Not only for the education, but now I surpass Matt Damon." (He was referring to Damon receiving the 2013 Harvard Arts Medal late last month.)

Others getting honorary doctorates were author and MIT Professor Junot Diaz; retired Stanford University bacteriologist Stanley Falkow; Tougaloo College President Beverly Wade Hogan; medical doctor and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey; and Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padron.

The university conferred more than 2,400 degrees on Sunday.