Honorary Degree
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Last Updated: Jan 05, 2026, 01:57 PM
An Honorary Degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale should be reserved for outstanding scholarly contribution or for a person of considerable renown in any field of activity. If given for other than scholarly contribution, the Honorary Degree should be awarded only to those persons who have uniquely contributed to human well-being or whose accomplishments have resulted in a marked benefit to society.
Nomination deadline for 2026 honorary degrees is Wednesday, October 15, 2025.
For nomination guidelines and contact information for an Honorary Degree, please view the Nomination Guidelines and Deadlines.
Honorary Degree Previous Recipients:
| Year | Name | Degree |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | J. Phil Gilbert | Doctor of Law |
| 2026 | Michael Glenn | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2026 | James J. Miller | Doctor of Science |
| 2025 | Senait Fisseha, MD/JD | Doctor of Community Health |
| 2025 | Reginald Edwin Petty | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2024 | Crystal Arlene Kuykendall | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2024 | Jimmy Wright | Doctor of Arts |
| 2023 | John M. O'Neal | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2023 | Julie Panepinto | Doctor of Community Health |
| 2023 | Bryan Stevenson | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2022 | Richard Hunt | Doctor of Public Arts |
| 2022 | Cho-Yee To | Doctor of Educational Leadership |
| 2021 | Harry L. Crisp, II | Doctor of Public Service |
| 2021 | Ngozi O. Ezike | Doctor of Community Health |
| 2021 | Pamela K. Pfeffer | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2020 | Robert John Odenkirk | Doctor of Performing Arts |
| 2020 | Jacquelyn D. Spinner | Doctor of Media Arts |
| 2020 | Pamela J. Wilson | Doctor of Community Health |
| 2019 | Thanu Kulachol | Doctor of Education |
| 2019 | Melissa McCarthy | Doctor of Performing Arts |
| 2019 | Charles Neblett | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2018 | Janice L. Jacobs | Doctor of Public Service |
| 2018 | Richard W. Peck | Doctor of Literary Arts |
| 2018 | Richard Roundtree | Doctor of Performing Arts |
| 2017 | General Larry O. Spencer | Doctor of Public Service |
| 2017 | Susan K. McClary | Doctor of Music Arts |
| 2017 | Howard A. Peters III | Doctor of Humane Arts |
| 2016 | Joan E. Higginbotham | Doctor of Aerospace Science |
| 2016 | Donald L. Beggs, PhD | Doctor of Education Leadership |
| 2015 | Captain William Norwood | Doctor of Aviation Science |
| 2015 | Dixie B. Fortis | Posthumous Doctor of Commerce |
| 2015 | The Honorable Jim Edgar | Doctor of Humane Arts |
| 2013 | Robert L. Murphy | Doctor of Humanities |
| 2012 | Deirdre McCloskey | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2011 | Nuruddin Farah | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2011 | Amy Goodman | Doctor of Humane Discourse |
| 2008 | Hedayat Amin-Arsala | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2007 | Minnijean Brown Trickey | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2006 | Judge Abner J. Mikva | Doctor of Laws |
| 2006 | Daisaku Ikeda | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2005 | Jagdish N. Bhagwati | Doctor of Arts |
| 2005 | Constance Baker Motley | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2004 | Jo Ann Boydston | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2003 | James M. Rosser | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2003 | Burnell Kraft | Doctor of Commercial Science |
| 2003 | Jie-fu Huang | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2002 | Thomas Yongbong Chung | Doctor of Humanities |
| 2002 | Mark J. Ashley | Doctor of Science |
| 2001 | Oscar Arias | Doctor of Human Letters |
| Year | Name | Degree |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Jeanne Hurley Simon | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 2000 | Sir David Nicholas | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1999 | Eugene M. Lang | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1999 | Mark Victor Hansen | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1998 | Norman J. Pattiz | Doctor of Fine Arts |
| 1998 | Albert D. Kern | Doctor of Science |
| 1997 | Ralph E. McCoy | Doctor of Letters |
| 1997 | Delano E. Lewis | Doctor of Fine Arts |
| 1997 | Philip M. Pfeffer | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1997 | Nobuo Kumakura | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1996 | James R. Formear | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1996 | Darwin Reid Payne | Doctor of Fine Arts |
| 1995 | George M.C. Fisher | Doctor of Commercial Science |
| 1995 | Sandra Goeken Martis | Doctor of Commercial Science |
| 1995 | Charles R. Johnson | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1994 | Ray W. Fuller | Doctor of Science |
| 1994 | Brian P. Lamb | Doctor of Humane Discourse |
| 1993 | Murray Gell-Mann | Doctor of Science |
| 1992 | Walter E. Massey | Doctor of Science |
| 1991 | Thomas Albert Sebeok | Doctor of Science |
| 1991 | Ellen Gilchrist | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1991 | Kenneth N. Pontikes | Doctor of Commercial Science |
| 1991 | James L. McGraugh | Doctor of Science |
| 1989 | August C. Meyer | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1989 | William Bevan | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1988 | Ron Hall | Doctor of Commercial Science |
| 1988 | Mordecai Gorelik | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1987 | Dick Gregory | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1987 | John G. Gilbert | Doctor of Laws |
| 1987 | Clifton R. Wharton | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1986 | William L. Fisher | Doctor of Science |
| 1986 | Richard T. Arnold | Doctor of Science |
| 1984 | Fred Basolo | Doctor of Science |
| 1983 | Paul Simon | Doctor of Laws |
| 1982 | Eddie Albert | Doctor of Fine Arts |
| 1982 | Paul Schilpp | Doctor of Letters |
| 1982 | Kay Boyle | Doctor of Letters |
| 1980 | Frank Stanton | Doctor of Laws |
| 1980 | Donald F. McHenry | Doctor of Laws |
| 1978 | Marjorie Lawrence | Doctor of Music |
| 1976 | Henry Andrew Blackmun | Doctor of Laws |
| 1973 | Kenneth Raynor Williams | Doctor of Laws |
| 1973 | Lynn Joon Kim | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1972 | Charles B. Shuman | Doctor of Science |
| 1971 | Gustav Bohstedt | Doctor of Science |
| 1971 | William Carl Ackermann | Doctor of Science |
| 1971 | George S. Counts | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1970 | Robert B. Downs | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1970 | A. Craig Baird | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1969 | Thomas Kirk Cureton | Doctor of Science |
| 1969 | David Dodds Henry | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1969 | Richard G. Browne | Doctor of Laws |
| 1969 | Jean Gottmann | Doctor of Science |
| 1968 | Arnold H. Maremont | Doctor of Laws |
| 1968 | John Lawrence Childs | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1968 | Milburn Peter Akers | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1967 | Clark M. Eichelberger | Doctor of Laws |
| 1967 | Wilfred Lord Brown | Doctor of Laws |
| 1966 | Harlan H. Hatcher | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1966 | Henry Nelson Wieman | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1966 | John Page Wham | Doctor of Laws |
| 1965 | Abdoulaye Singare | Doctor of Laws |
| 1965 | Carter Davidson | Doctor of Laws |
| 1963 | Otto Kerner, Governor | Doctor of Laws |
| 1963 | Robert C. Weaver | Doctor of Laws |
| 1963 | Philip D. Sang | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1962 | Douglas Bush | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1962 | Henry Allen Moe | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1961 | Ralph J. Bunche | Doctor of Laws |
| 1960 | George E. Mylonas | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1960 | Helen Hayes | Doctor of Fine Arts |
| 1959 | Jean Piccard | Doctor of Science |
| 1959 | Alexander R. MacMillan | Doctor of Laws |
| 1959 | R. Buckminster Fuller | Dcotor of Arts |
| 1958 | William G. Stratton, Governor | Doctor of Laws |
| 1958 | Francis H. Horn | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1958 | Spencer T. Olin | Doctor of Science |
| 1958 | Nadia Boulanger | Doctor of Music |
| 1958 | Irving Dillard | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1957 | Alexander P. de Seversky | Doctor of Science |
| 1956 | Charles C. Colby | Doctor of Science |
| 1955 | Charles E. Feinberg | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| 1954 | Morris Morgan Leighton | Doctor of Science |
| 1954 | Lloyd Morey | Doctor of Laws |
| 1954 | John R. Hodge, Major General | Doctor of Laws |
| 1952 | Chester Hanford | Doctor of Laws |
| 1952 | Percival Bailey, M.D. | Doctor of Science |
| 1950 | W.W. Vandevver | Doctor of Laws |