When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy receives an honorary degree from Harvard University at a special convocation today, it will give his home state yet another opportunity to recall both the Kennedy mystique and his decades of work in the U.S. Senate.

The Massachusetts Maritime Academy has already announced it will rename its training ship The Kennedy in tribute to the Kennedy clan, and officials in Boston have unveiled a proposal to build a national institute focused on the U.S. Senate and Kennedy’s legacy.