Honorary Degree Recipients

2024 Honorary Degree Recipients

Norah O’Donnell (C’95, G’03)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Todd Park
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Imani Perry
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Patricia Polgar-Bailey
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Mohammad Al Gergawi
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Toyin Ajayi
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff (B’83)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Philip J. Hirschkop (L’64)
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Jerome H. Powell (L’79)
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

2023 Honorary Degree Recipients

Susan Orsega
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Dr. Brian Greene
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Jason Kander (L’05)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Igor Smelyansky (MBA’05)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Yamiche Léone Alcindor (C’09)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Dan Helfrich (SFS’98, MBA’99)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Joan Reede
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Savannah Guthrie (L’02)
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

2020 and 2022 Honorary Degree Recipients

Cecilia Muñoz
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Robert Bullard
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Shaun Harper
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Mohammed Dewji (B’98)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Timothy Shriver
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Sr. Norma Pimentel
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Antony Blinken
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Eric Goosby
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Sherrilyn Ifill
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Rashad Robinson
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

2019 Honorary Degree Recipients

José Andrés
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Mark S. Humayun (C’84)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Christina M. (Tina) Tchen
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Joan Rosenhauer
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dr. Susan Hingle
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Barbara D. Underwood (L’69)
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Emmet G. Sullivan
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

2018 Honorary Degree Recipients

Ernest J. Moniz
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

William D. Phillips
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Brendan Tuohey
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Ursula Burns
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Susan Hockfield (G’79)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Luci Baines Johnson
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

António Guterres
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Thomas J. Nasca, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Eleanor Holmes Norton
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Merrick B. Garland
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

2017 Honorary Degree Recipients

Anne Applebaum
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Lonnie Bunch
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Robert B. Cialdini
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Gregory G. Coleman
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Charles R. Lawrence, III
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Worta McCaskill-Stevens, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Arthur T. Minson, Jr.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Alice M. Rivlin
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Sister Mary Scullion, R.S.M.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

James H. Shelton, III
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Nathaniel R. Silver
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

2016 Honorary Degree Recipients

Elena Poniatowska Amor
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Bruce Broussard
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Alexandra Cousteau
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Christiana Figueres
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Jeh Johnson
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Beverly Malone
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Daniel H. Pink
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Penny Pritzker
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Eric D. Rosenthal
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Kelley M. Skeff, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Gayle Smith
Doctor of Human Letters, Honoris Causa

Zhang Yuejao
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

2015 Honorary Degree Recipients

Thad W. Allen
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Stephen B. Bright
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Elaine L. Chao
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Norman C. Francis
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Richard J. Gilfillan, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Ban Ki-Moon
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John R. Lewis
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Gail J. McGovern
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Vikram Patel, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Charles P. Rose, Jr.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

2014 Honorary Degree Recipients

Seyla Benhabib
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Stephen M. Case
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Brother Guy Joseph Consolmagno, S.J.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Kenneth R. Feinberg
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Robert Gates
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John  Collins Harvey, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Alan I. Leshner
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Jacob J. Lew
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

George E. Thibault, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl
Archbishop of Washington
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

2013 Honorary Degree Recipients

William Cowan
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Dalia Grybauskaite
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
 

Eric Maskin
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Alfred H. Moses
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Madame Sadako Ogata
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Walter Haskell Pincus
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Sir Michael Rawlins, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Lisa Shannon
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Lisa Simpson, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Kevin O. Starr
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

William L. Thomas, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Greta Conway Van Susteren
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

His Excellency Mauro Vieira
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
 

2012 Honorary Degree recipients

Ela R. Bhatt
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Ross Fletcher, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Arthur J. Gajarsa (L’67)
Doctor of Law, Honoris Causa

Mark Green
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Kaya Henderson (SFS’92, G’07)
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Helen Neville
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John A. Payton
Doctor of Law, Honoris Causa, Posthumous

Barry Salzberg
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

David Simon
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Michael Zasloff, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
 

2011 honorary degree recipients

Paul Farmer
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John Howard, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Michael C. Jensen
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Judge Gladys Kessler
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Michael Kaiser
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Laura Chinchilla Miranda
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Diana Natalicio
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John E. Prescott, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Robert M. Solow
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr.
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Richard White
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris  Causa

2010 Honorary Degree Recipients

Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Sheila C. Johnson
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Edward P. Jones
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

David Hurst Molyneux
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Dikembe Mutombo
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Mary L. Schapiro
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Bob Lloyd Schieffer
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Judge David S. Tatel
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Reed V. Tuckson
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
 

2009 Honorary Degree Recipients

John Anthony Barasso, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Laurie A. Garrett
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Jessie Gruman
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

The Honorable Chuck Hagel
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa 

James A. Hallock, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Gwen Ifill
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Daniel Kahneman
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

J. Willard Marriott
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Luis Alberto Moreno
Doctor of Human Letters, Honoris Causa

Ana Palacio
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John J. Sweeney
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Seth P. Waxman
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa
 

2008 Honorary Degree Recipients 

Kenneth I. Chenault 
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa                                                  

Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Mark R. Dybul, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Haleh Esfandiari
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Carlos M. Gutierrez
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Joel I. Klein
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Wendy Kopp
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Jane Lubchenco
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
 

2007 Honorary Degree Recipients

Bernard Bailyn
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

John C. Bogle
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Stuart Bondurant, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Francis Sellers Collins, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Edward Hirsch
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Jessica Tuchman Mathews
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Ladisas Orsy, S.J.
Doctors of Laws, Honoris Causa

Cynthia Ozick
Doctor of Human Letters, Honoris Causa

Orhan Pamuk
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Catherine B. Reynolds
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Charles Swift
Doctors of Laws, Honoris Causa

Nina Totenberg
Doctors of Laws, Honoris Causa

Paul A. Volcker
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Jim Wallis
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Derek Yach
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
 

2006 Honorary Degree Recipients

Kofi Annan
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa 

Karen Armstrong
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

David Abshire
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Robert Axelrod
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Joseph A. Bellanti, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Benjamin Bradlee
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Ken Burns
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Rick Curry, S.J.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Richard N. Haass
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Hamid Karzai
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Robert Steven Ledley, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Gay J. McDougall
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Joseph Volpe
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa 
 

2005 Honorary Degree Recipients

His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Jill Ker Conway
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Freeman Dyson
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Lee Hamilton
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Eugene Kahn
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Lt. General Kevin Christopher Kiley, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

M. Margaret McKeown
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa

Paul O’Neill
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

W. Richard West
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa 
 

2004 Honorary Degree Recipients

Christiane Amanpour
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Nicholas Boyle
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

Rita Rossi Colwell
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa 

Linda Greenhouse
Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa 

Catherine R. Kinney
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa 

Donald Knowlan, M.D.
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Andrea Riccardi
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa

David Satcher
Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa

Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa