Honorary Degree Recipients

2024

Jason Cone, '99, Commencement Speaker
Madeline Anderson

2023

Jacob E. Bleacher, Ph.D., '00, Commencement Speaker
Carlos Graupera
Kathleen E. Harring, Ph.D., '80

2022

Viet Thanh Nguyen, Commencement Speaker
Nadia Chaudhri, Ph.D., '99, posthumous honoree
Peter Feigin '92
Allison L. O'Toole, Esq., '93

2021

James R. Stengel '77, Commencement Speaker
Sonya Clark  
Beverly R. Steinman  

2020

Pedro A. Rivera, Commencement Speaker

2019

Rahel Nardos, M.D., '97, Commencement Speaker
Bebe Miller 

2018

Corey Booker, Commencement Speaker  
Nicole Hurd, Ph.D.
Rachel Levine, M.D.
Charles M. Lieber, Ph.D., '81

2017

Wanda M. Austin, Ph.D., '75, Commencement Speaker
Evelyn N. Farkas, Ph.D., '89
Donald E. Graham

2016

Thomas W. Wolf, Commencement Speaker  
Nilaja Sun Gordon '96
Gail Gray  
J. Richard Gray  

2015

Richard Plepler '81, Commencement Speaker
Robert K. Koomson '97
Sherry Turkle, Ph.D.

2014

George Stephanopoulos, Commencement Speaker
Caswell A. Evans, Jr., D.D.S., M.P.H., '65
Jennifer Whiting, Ph.D., '78

2013

Melanne S. Verveer, Commencement Speaker
Stanley J. Dudrick, M.D., '57
Jane Moss '74

2012

Michael R. Bloomberg, Commencement Speaker
Wanda M. Austin, Ph.D., '75
Jaron Lanier  
Lynn Nottage  

2011

Honorable Richard G. Lugar, Commencement Speaker
Akinwumi Adesina, Ph.D.
Eugene Braunwald, M.D.
Ariel Dorfman  
Donald K. Hess '52

2010

Judy Woodruff, Commencement Speaker
Ann Boyd Barshinger H'17
Dale F. Frey '54
Mary Patterson McPherson, Ph.D.

2009

Colin L. Powell, Commencement Speaker
Deborah Bial  
Myles Brand, Ph.D.
Thomas G. Phillips, III, '54
Richard D. Winters '41

2008

David Greene, Commencement Speaker
Ellen Arnold Groff
Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon  
Christo Javacheff  
Robert Zemsky, Ph.D.

2007

Wolf Blitzer, Commencement Speaker
Donna Eileen Glover '76
Laurie Olin
Robert Pfannebecker, Esq., '55

2006

Judith Rodin, Commencement Speaker
Rufus A. Fulton, Jr., '66
Carole Haas Gravagno
Bruce Pipes, Ph.D.
Joseph Neubauer
Floyd S. Skloot '69

2005

David T. Ellwood, Commencement Speaker
Doreen E. Boyce, Ph.D.
Louis A. Butcher, Jr., '65
D. Holmes Morton, M.D.

2004

Richard N. Haass, Commencement Speaker
Suheil Bushrui
Sally M. Gibson
John H. Glick, M.D.
Edmund S. Morgan
Marilyn Ware

2003

Edward G. Rendell, Commencement Speaker
Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., Ph.D.
Freeman A. Hrabowski III, Ph.D.
Caroline S. Nunan  
Michael B. Wood, M.D., '65

2002

Leslie Lenkowsky, Ph.D., '68, Commencement Speaker
H. Art Taylor, Esq., '80, Commencement Speaker
John M. Buchanan '59
L. James Huegel, Esq., '38
Richard Kneedler, Ph.D., '65
Aaron J. Martin, Ph.D., '50
William G. Simeral, Ph.D., '48

2001

Paul L. Leventhal '59, Commencement Speaker
Glen Tetley '46
Judith M. White, Ph.D., '73

2000

William H. Cosby, Jr.*, Commencement Speaker

* Degree was rescinded

1999

Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., '65, Commencement Speaker
David L. Warren, Commencement Speaker

1998

Charles Osgood, Commencement Speaker

1997

Charles E. Glassick, Ph.D., '53, Commencement Speaker

1996

George J. Harad '65, Commencement Speaker

1995

Mary L. Schapiro, Esq., '77, Commencement Speaker
Mary Atlee

1994

James E. Lapine '71, Commencement Speaker
Jose Greco

1993

Oscar Arias Sanchez, Commencement Speaker

1992

Harry Andrew Blackmun, Commencement Speaker
Carl O. Bostrom, Ph.D., '56
Jane Dempsey Douglas

1991

Jane Bryant Quinn, Commencement Speaker
William W. Adams
Robert M. Landis, Esq., '41
Deborah T. Haimo, Ph.D.
Claude A. Villee, Jr., Ph.D., '37
Maxine F. Singer, Ph.D.

1990

Joseph Klein, Commencement Speaker
Niara Sudarkasa, Ph.D.
Howard T. Miller '47
Geraldine R. Segal Ph.D.

1989

Kenneth M. Duberstein '65, Commencement Speaker
Helen A. Thomas  

1988

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Commencement Speaker
Richard Thornburgh  

1987

A. Bartlett Giamatti, Commencement Speaker
Robert MacNeil, Commencement Speaker
Arthur Morris  
Tetsuo Seino, Ph.D.
Peter Schmiechen  
Henry P. Stager '32
James Lehrer
Shozo Kodama

1986

William H. Gray III, LL.D., '63, Commencement Speaker