Honorary Degree Recipients

2019
Tracy K. Smith, Doctor of Humane Letters

2018
John Leguizamo, Doctor of Humane Letters
Debora L. Spar, Doctor of Humane Letters

2017
Stanley Nelson, Doctor of Humane Letters

2016
His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon, Doctor of Humane Letters
Dr. Louise Mirrer, Doctor of Humane Letters
Rabbi Philip Hiat, Doctor of Humane Letters

2015
Robert Battle, choreographer and Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey Dance TheaterRobert Battle, Doctor of Arts

2014
Patricia Birch, Doctor of Arts
Frank Wildhorn, Doctor of Arts
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Doctor of Humane Letters

2013
Judy Carson ’03, Doctor of Humane Letters
Prof. Tibor Farkas, emeritus, Doctor of Humane Letters

2012
Peter H. Baker, M.A., Doctor of Humane Letters
Ruth Gruber, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Sheila Barry Tacon ’56, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters

2011
David Brooks, journalistCharlotte P. Armstrong, Doctor of Laws
David Brooks, Doctor of Humane Letters

2010
John Hope Franklin, Doctor of Humane Letters
Barbara Novak, Doctor of Humane Letters

2009
Carla A. Harris, Doctor of Laws
Dr. William F. Baker, Doctor of Humane Letters

2008
Theresa Lang ’97, Doctor of Fine Arts
Barbara Novak, art historian (portrait by Phong Bui)Elaine Pagels, Doctor of Humane Letters
Mary Anne Schwalbe, Doctor of Laws

2007
John Canemaker ’74, Doctor of Fine Arts
Gordon Parks, Doctor of Fine Arts
George C. Wolfe, Doctor of Humane Letters
Sheena Wright, Doctor of Laws

2006
Judith Savard, RSHM, M.A., Doctor of Fine Arts
Paul B. Guenther, Doctor of Laws
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters

2005
Sen. Hilary Rodham ClintonRon Chernow, Doctor of Humane Letters
James Buckman, Doctor of Laws
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Doctor of Laws

2004
David Levering Lewis, Doctor of Humane Letters
Martha Craven Nussbaum, Doctor of Humane Letters
Eliot Spitzer, Doctor of Laws

2003
Ray Suarez, Doctor of Humane Letters
Stanley Hauerwas, Doctor of Humane Letters
Gloria Spinelli Bohan ’63, Doctor of Laws

2002
Stanley H. Kaplan, Doctor of Humane Letters
Rose Weaver,  Doctor of Fine Arts
William E. Murray,  Doctor of Humane Letters

Barbara Corcoran, businesswoman, co-host of ABC's "Shark Tank"2001
Regina S. Peruggi, Ed.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Barbara Corcoran, Doctor of Humane Letters
Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Doctor of Humane Letters
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters

2000
Tony Walton, Doctor of Humane Letters
Rosetta LeNoire, Doctor of Fine Arts
Richard Jay Kogan, Doctor of Humane Letters
Twila C. Liggett, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters

1999
Nan Graham, Doctor of Humane Letters
Faith Ringgold, Doctor of Fine Arts
Theodore Sizer, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Seth Glickenhaus, Doctor of Laws

John Guare, playwright1998
Linda A. Fairstein, Esq.
John Guare, Doctor of Fine Arts
Osborn Elliott, Doctor of Humane Letters
Ethel LeFrak, Doctor of Humane Letters
Muriel Siebert, Doctor of Humane Letters

1997
Cherly Henson
Eugene M. Lang, Doctor of Humane Letters
Frank N. Newman, Doctor of Humane Letters
Dr. Mathilde Krim, Doctor of Science

Joan Rivers, comedian1996
Carol Jenkins, Doctor of Humane Letters
Nicholas J. D’Agostino, Jr., Doctor of Humane Letters
Joan Rivers Rosenberg, Doctor of Humane Letters

1995
Betty Lynn Buckley, Doctor of Fine Arts
Joseph Volpe, Doctor of Humane Letters

1994
Robert P. Moses, Doctor of Humane Letters
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Doctor of Fine Arts

1993
Dr. Houston A. Baker, Jr., Doctor of Humane Letters
Grace Paley, Doctor of Humane Letters
Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Doctor of Humane Letters

Philip Uri Treisman, mathematician1992
Mary Higgins Clark, Doctor of Humane Letters
Jim Ryan, Doctor of Humane Letters
Philip Uri Treisman, Doctor of Humane Letters

1991
Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D.
Sally Hernandez-Pinero, Doctor of Humane Letters
Chinua Achebe, Doctor of Humane Letters
Aileen Mehle, Doctor of Humane Letters

1990
Dr. Joseph A Fernandez, Doctor of Humane Letters
Jill Krementz, Doctor of Humane Letters

Twyla Tharp, dancer/choreographer1989
John Cardinal O’Connor, Doctor of Laws
Twyla Tharp, Doctor of Fine Arts
Helen Frankenthaler, Doctor of Fine Arts
Reatha Clark King, Doctor of Humane Letters

1988
Robert Coles, M.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
“Mother” Clara Hale, Doctor of Humane Letters 
Catherine T. McNamee, C.S.J., Doctor of Humane Letters
Gertrude G. Michelson, Doctor of Laws

1987
M. Lawreace Antoun, S.S.J., Doctor of Humane Letters
Kevin M. Cahill, Doctor of Humane Letters
Robert Coles, M.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Marlee Matlin, actressRobert J. Milano, Doctor of Humane Letters
Edmund T. Pratt, Jr., Doctor of Laws
Marlee Matlin, Doctor of Fine Arts
Elinor Guggenheimer, Doctor of Humane Letters
Bro. James Kearney, F.M.S., Doctor of Humane Letters
Ernesta G. Procope, Doctor of Laws

1986
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Doctor of Laws
Judith Jamison, Doctor of Fine Arts
Fred M. Hechinger, Doctor of Humane Letters
Barbara Aronstein Black, Doctor of Laws
Paul A. Volcker, Doctor of Performing Arts
Joseph P. Clancy, Doctor of Humane Letters
Florence V. Lucas, Doctor of Humane Letters 
William J. Vouté, Doctor of Laws

Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy

1985
Mario M. Cuomo, J.D., Doctor of Laws 
Peggy Tishman, M.A., Doctor of Humane Letters
Brigid Driscoll ’54, RSHM, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Vera King Farris, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Norma Gluck, M.A., Doctor of Humane Letters

1984
John B. Keane, Doctor of Fine Arts
Hilda Hidalgo, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Louis Benezet, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Marcella Maxwell, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Mary Beth Norton, Ph.D., Doctor of Humane Letters
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Doctor of Humane Letters
Clarence Douglas Dillon, Doctor of Fine Arts
Kitty Carlisle Hart, Doctor of Fine Arts
Flora Lewis, Doctor of Humane Letters
Dolores E. Cross, Doctor of Laws

Barbara Walters, journalist1983
M. Majella Berg, RSHM, Doctor of Humane Letters
Donna Shavlik, Doctor of Humane Letter
Mrs. Orville L. Freeman, Doctor of Laws
Cristina Ramos Toosie ’83, Doctor of Laws
Barbara Walters, Doctor of Humane Letters
Ruth Smadbeck, Doctor of Humane Letters
M. Thomasina Doran, Doctor of Laws
Better J. Lester, Doctor of Laws

1982
Iris Love, Doctor of Fine Arts
Miriam Colón Edgar, Doctor of Humane Letters
Margaret Miller, Doctor of Humane Letters
K. Patricia Cross, Doctor of Humane Letters
Geraldine Ann Ferraro ’56, Doctor of Humane Letters
Louis J. Lefkowitz, Doctor of Humane Letters

Rosa Parks, activist1981
Joel Read, O.S.F, Doctor of Humane Letters
Marian Wright Edelman, Doctor of Laws
Rosa Parks, Doctor of Humane Letters
Dame Cicely Saunders, D.B.E., F.R.C.P., Doctor of Humane Letters

1980
Jane Scully, R.S.M., Doctor of Humane Letters
Marifé Hernández, Doctor of Fine Arts
Grace J. Fippinger, Doctor of Laws

1979
Louise Nevelson, Doctor of Fine Arts
Candida Lund, O.P., Doctor of Humane Letters
Cicely Tyson, Doctor of Fine Arts
Michael P. Walsh, S.J., Doctor of Humane Letters

Jewel Lafontant, first female deputy solicitor general of the United States1978
Alice Tully, Doctor of Fine Arts
Terence Cardinal Cooke, Doctor of Humane Letters
Jewel S. Lafontant, Doctor of Laws

1977
Ann Ida Gannon, B.V.M., Doctor of Humane Letters
M. Joyce Brown, Doctor of Fine Arts
Most Rev. Donald R. Lamont, O.Carm., Doctor of Laws

1976
Sidney Lumet, Doctor of Fine Arts
Colleen Dewhurst, Doctor of Humane Letters
Donna Shalala, Doctor of Humane Letters

1975
M. Isolina Ferré, MSBT, Doctor of Humane Letters
Mary Grace Walsh Erbacher ’55, Doctor of Laws

Coretta Scott King, activist and civil rights leader

1974
Joseph W. McGoverne
Peter J. Costigan, Doctor of Laws
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Doctor of Laws
Betty Furnes, Doctor of Laws

1973
Mattie Cook, Doctor of Humane Letters
Charles A. Greenfield, Doctor of Humane Letters
Elinor Rita Ford, O.P., Doctor of Laws

1970
Joseph C. Nugent, Doctor of Humane Letters

1969
Ethel Skakel Kennedy, Doctor of Humane Letters
Coretta Scott King, Doctor of Humane Letters