Draft:List of Columbia University honorary degree and commencement prize recipients

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Key
A.B.	Bachelor of Arts
A.M.	Master of Arts
D.D.	Doctor of Divinity
LH.D.	Doctor of Humane Letters
Litt.D.	Doctor of Letters
LL.B.	Bachelor of Laws
LL.D.	Doctor of Laws
M.D.	Doctor of Medicine
M.S.	Master of Science
Mus.D.	Doctor of Music
Sc.D.	Doctor of Science
S.T.D.	Doctor of Sacred Theology

This is a partial list of honorary degrees and commencement honors awarded by Columbia University in the City of New York.

1700-1799[edit]

1750s[edit]

1758

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Daniel Isaac Brown	A.M.
Samuel Brown	A.M.
Isaac Browne	A.M.
Leonard Cutting	A.M.
Samuel Fayerweather	A.M.
Cary Ludlow	A.M.
David Mathews	A.M.
John McKesson	A.M.
Josiah Ogden	A.B.
Cyrus Punderson	A.M.
Ebenezer Punderson	A.M.
Daniel Treadwell	A.M.
Timothy Wetmore	A.M.

1760s[edit]

1761

Recipient	Degree or Honor
John Beardsley	A.B.
William Jackson	A.M.
William Samuel Johnson	A.M.
Samuel Peters	A.M.
James Scovil	A.M.
Samuel Seabury	A.M.
Agur Treadwell	A.B.
Edward Winslow	A.M.

1762

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Samuel Andrews	A.M.
Robert Harpur	A.M.
Bela Hubbard	A.M.
Robert McKean	A.M.
Ebenezer Parmele	A.M.

1764

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Matthew Cushing	A.M.
Samuel Giles	A.B.

1765

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Jeremiah Leaming	A.M.

1767

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Samuel Auchmuty	D.D.
Ephram Avery	A.M.
Thomas Bradbury Chandler	D.D.
George Glentworth	A.M.
Charles Inglis	A.M.
Hugh Neill	A.M.
John Ogilvie	A.M.
John Tyler	A.B.

1768

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Samuel Bard	M.D.
John Beardsley	A.M.
Samuel Clossy	M.D.
Myles Cooper	LL.D.
John Jones	M.D.
Peter Middleton	M.D.

1769

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Ebenezer Kneeland	A.M.
John Tyler	A.M.

1770s[edit]

1770

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Thomas Barton	A.M.
Robert Blackwell	A.B.
John Ogilvie	D.D.

1771

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Jonathan Boucher	A.M.

1772

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Edmund Fanning	A.M.

1773

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Isaac Hunt	A.M.
Joseph Lamson	A.M.
Harry Munro	A.M.
John Stuart	A.M.

1774

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Luke Babcock	A.M.
George Panton	A.M.
James Sayre	A.M.
William Tryon	LL.D.

1780s[edit]

1787

Recipient	Degree or Honor
James Hardie	A.B.

1788

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Robert Annan	A.M.
William Cochran	A.M.
Alexander Hamilton	A.M.
Robert Charles Johnson	A.M.
Samuel Latham Mitchill	A.M.
Daniel Crommelin Verplanck	A.M.
James Watkin Watkins	A.M.

1789

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Roger Alden	A.M.
Abraham Beach	D.D.
John Daniel Gros	D.D.
Jacob Rusten Hardenbergh	D.D.
Samuel Evan Johnson	A.M.
Jeremiah Leaming	D.D.
William Linn	D.D.
Benjamin Moore	D.D.

1790s[edit]

1790

Recipient	Degree or Honor
Joshua Bloomer	D.D.
James Hardie	A.M.
Henry Maeller	A.M.
Thomas Lambert Moore	A.M.
James Proudfit	A.M.

1793

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Ebenezer Dibble	D.D.
Andrew Jaffray	D.D.
William Ogivile	LL.D.

1794

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Richard Channing Moore	A.M.

1795

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John Campbell	A.M.
John Coffin	A.M.

1797

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John Bowden	D.D.
James Kent	LL.D.

1798

Recipient	Honorary Degree
William Best	A.M.
William Scott	A.M.
Andrew Smith	A.M.
Robert Griffeth Wetmore	A.M.

1800-1899[edit]

1800s[edit]

1802

Recipient	Honorary Degree
William Duke	A.M.
James Kemp	D.D.

1804

Recipient	Honorary Degree	Notability
Edmund D. Barry	A.M.
Edward Jenkins	D.D.
Jacob Larzelere	A.M.	Lecturer at l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques and l'Ecole Nationale d'Administration
Peter Stryker	A.M

1805

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Clement Merriam	A.M

1806

Recipient	Honorary Degree
William James MacNeven	M.D.

1809

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Abraham Bronson	A.M.

1810s[edit]

1811

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John Croes	D.D.
James Hall	D.D.
William Harris	D.D.
Isaac Wilkins	D.D.

1812

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Oliver Cromwell Comstock	M.D.
William Kirkpatrick	M.D.
Andrew Morton	M.D.
Alexandra Sheldon	M.D.
John Augustine Smith	M.D.
John Stearns	M.D.
David Baillie Warden	M.D.
Joseph White	M.D.
Westel Willoughby	M.D.

1814

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John Churchill Osborn	M.D.
Wright Post	M.D.

1815

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Frederick Beasley	D.D.

1816

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John Schureman	D.D.

1817

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John D. Jaques	M.D.

1818

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Robert Adrian	LL.D.
Joseph Hopkinson	LL.D.
Samuel Nichols	A.M.
Andrew Mitchell Thomson	D.D.

1819

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Thomas Church Brownell	D.D.
Philander Chase	D.D.
Richard Davidson	M.D.
John Philip	D.D.
William H Richardson	M.D.
John Van Cleve	M.D.

1820s[edit]

1820

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Isaac Auld	M.D.
William Forrest	A.M.

1821

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Thaddeus Fiske	D.D.
Washington Irving	A.M.
Daniel McDonald	D.D.

1822

Recipient	Honorary Degree
William Lowndes	LL.D.
Thomas Lyell	D.D.
Pierre Proal	A.M.
John Reed	D.D.
Stephan N Rowan	D.D.
John Walsh	A.M.

1823

Recipient	Honorary Degree
John Carroll	A.M.
Abraham Oothout Halsey	A.M.
Chauncey Lee	D.D.
Edward Livingston	LL.D.
John Stark Ravenscroft	D.D.
Nathan Sanford	LL.D.
John Savage	LL.D.
Samuel Seabury	A.M.
Ambrose Spencer	LL.D.

1824

Recipient	Honorary Degree
Langdon Cheves	LL.D.
William A Clark	A.M.
James Fenimore Cooper	A.M.
Thomas Addis Emmet	LL.D.
Ernest Lewis Hazelius	D.D.
Levi Silliman Ives	A.M.
James Kirke Paulding	A.M.
Daniel Webster	LL.D.

2000-[edit]

2000s[edit]

2000

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Martti Ahtisaari	LL.D.	Statesman; Humanitarian
David D. Ho	Sc.D.	Pioneer of Biomedical Research
Judith Jamison	L.H.D.	Dancer; Choreographer; Virtuoso
Paul Alan Marks	Sc.D.	Teacher; Researcher; Institution Builder
Robert E Rubin	LL.D.	Financial Savant; Public servant
Oscar Schachter	LL.D.	Teacher; Scholar; Diplomat

2001

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Timothy Berners-Lee	LL.D.	Inventor of the Web
Peter Robert Lamont Brown	Litt.D.	Historian; Biographer
Isidore S. Edelman	Sc.D.	Biochemist; Genomecist
Judith Smith Kaye	LL.D.	Chief Judge
Arthur Levitt, Jr.	LL.D.	Public Servant
Maxwell L. Roach	Mus.D.	Percussionist; Conductor
George P. Shultz	LL.D.	Statesman
Zhen-Yi Wang	Sc.D.	Medical Pioneer

2002

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Jack Beeson	Mus.D.	Composer; Teacher
Lee. C Bollinger	LL.D.	President of Columbia University
Joan Didion	Litt.D.	Novelist; Essayist
Roberto Gonalez Echevarria	Litt.D.	Scholar; Teacher
Brenda Milner	Sc.D.	Scientific Pioneer
George J. Mitchell	LL.D.	Statesman; Public Servant
Ruth J. Simmons	LL.D.	President of Brown University

2003

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Maya Angelou	Litt.D.	Author; Activist
Julian Hochberg	Sc.D.	Centennial Professor Emeritus of Pyschology
Frank Kermode	Litt.D.	Critic; Scholar; Teacher
Mary-Claire King	Sc.D.	Geneticist
Constance Baker Motley	LL.D.	United States District Judge
Cecil Taylor	Mus.D.	Musician; Composer
Andrew Wiles	Sc.D.	Mathematician

2004

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Laurie Anderson	Mus.D.	Performing Artist
David Baltimore	Sc.D.	Scientist; Educator
The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg	LL.D.	Leader; Philantropist
The Honorable Robert L. Carter	LL.D.	Pioneering Civil Rights Attorney; Jurist
Arthur C. Danto	Litt.D.	Art Historian; Critic; Philosopher
Oliver W. Hill	LL.D.	Pioneering Civil Rights Attorney; Jurist
The Honorable Louis H. Pollak	LL.D.	Pioneering Civil Rights Attorney; Jurist
Leo Steinberg	Litt.D.	Art Historian; Author; Educator
The Honorable Jack B. Weinstein	LL.D.	Pioneering Civil Rights Attorney; Jurist

2005

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Robert A. Dahl	Litt.D.	Scholar; Political Scientist
Henry Franklin Graff	Litt.D.	Presidential Scholar; Teacher
Zaha M. Hadid	L.H.D.	Architect
Dorothy Irene Height	LL.D.	Social Activist
Brent Scowcroft	LL.D.	Military Leader; Presidential Adviser
Shirley M. Tilghman	Sc.D.	Molecular Biologist; Teacher
Endel Tulving	Sc.D.	Cognitive Scientist
August Wilson	Litt.D.	Playwright

2006

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Kenneth Chenault	LL.D.	Business; Community Leader
C.K. Chu	Sc.D.	Mathematician
Gerda Lerner	Litt.D.	Historian
Maya Lin	L.H.D.	Artist; Architect
Oswaldo Paya	LL.D.	Human Rights Activist
Irving Weissman	Sc.D.	Cell Biologist

2007

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Aharon Barak	LL.D.	Israel Supreme Court President
Santiago Calatrava	L.H.D.	Architect
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr.	Sc.D.	Neurosurgeon
Susan Lindquist	Sc.D.	Microbiologist
Barbara Novak	Litt.D.	Art Historian
Felix G. Rohatyn	LL.D.	Financier; Public Servant
Jonathan Spence	Litt.D.	Historian
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg	LL.D.	Leader in Higher Education

2008

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Fazle Hasan Abed	LL.D.	Social Entrepreneur
Emanuel Ax	Mus.D.	Pianist
Dawn Greene	LL.D.	Philantropist
Eric S. Lander	Sc.D.	Geneticist
William E. Leuchtenberg	Litt.D.	Historian
Gertrude F. Neumark	Sc.D.	Physicist
Judith Shapiro	LL.D.	Educator

2009

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Kwame Anthony Appiah	Litt.D.	Philosopher
P.N. Bhagwati	LL.D.	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India
Caroline Walker Bynum	Litt.D.	Medieval History Scholar
Ainslie T. Embree	Litt.D.	Historian of Modern South Asia
Paul Farmer	Litt.D.	Physician; Anthropologist
Helene D. Gayle	LL.D.	International Humanitarian
H. FitzGerald Lenfest	LL.D.	Media Entrepreneur; Philanthropist
Joseph L. Sax	LL.D.	Environmental Law; Property Law Scholar

2010s[edit]

2010

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Bernard Bailyn	Litt.D.	Historian
Jacqueline K. Barton	Sc.D.	Chemist
Geoffrey Canada	LL.D.	Social Activist, Educator
C. Lowell Harriss	Litt.D.	Economist; awarded posthumously.
Joel I. Klein	LL.D.	Education Reformer, Attorney
Tony Kushner	Litt.D.	Playwright
Koji Nakanishi	Sc.D.	Chemist
Xu Bing	L.H.D.	Artist

2011

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Ornette Coleman	Mus.D.	Musician (Jazz)
Martin Meisel	Litt.D.	English Scholar, Columbia University professor/administrator
Eleanor Jackson Piel	LL.D.	Lawyer; "champion of social justice"
Joan A. Steitz	Sc.D.	Geneticist
Keith Thomas	LL.D.	Historian

2012

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Muhal Richard Abrams	Mus.D.	Pianist and composer
Michelle Bachelet	LL.D.	Political Leader and Physician
Shu Chien	Sc.D.	Vascular Physiology and Bioengineering Scholar
Jean Franco	Litt.D.	English and Comparative Literature Scholar; Columbia University Professor Emerita.
Amy Gutman	LL.D.	University of Pennsylvania President, Political Scientist, and Philosopher
Gloria Steinem	LL.D.	Author and Activist

2013

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Herbert Irving	LL.D.	Philanthropist
Florence Irving	LL.D.	Philanthropist
Peter E. Steiger	LL.D.	Editor and Journalist
Arnold Rampersad	Litt.D.	Biographer, Literary Critic, Scholar
Laurence H. Tribe	Litt.D.	University Professor and Constitutional Law Scholar at Harvard, Attorney
Stanley Falkow	Sc.D.	Microbiologist
Zena A. Stein	Sc.D.	Professor Emerita of Public Health and Psychiatry, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Pioneer of HIV Prevention for Women

2014

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Renzo Piano	L.H.D.	Architect
Cicely L. Tyson	L.H.D.	Actress
Mortimer B. Zuckermer	LL.D.	Real Estate Developer, Publisher, Philanthropist
David Remnick	Litt.D.	Writer and Editor
David Rosand	Litt.D.	Art Historian
Robert B. Silvers	Litt.D.	Editor of The New York Review of Books
Natasha Trethewey	Litt.D.	US Poet Laureate, Author, Scholar
Joseph B. Keller	Sc.D.	Mathematician

2015

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Theda Skocpal	Litt.D.	Professor at Harvard
Albie Sachs	LL.D.	Anti-apartheid activist
David Levering Lewis	Litt.D.	Historian
Miloš Forman	L.H.D.	Film director
Anthony S. Fauci	Sc.D.	HIV Researcher
William V. "Bill" Campbell	LL.D.	Business executive

2016

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Ban Ki-Moon	LL.D.	Eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations
Amanda M. Burden	LL.D.	Urban planner
Zhu Chen	Sc.D.	Leading scientist in leukemia translational studies and China's Minister of Health (2007-2013)
Robert Darnton	Litt.D.	Cultural historian and academic librarian. Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library at Harvard University
Susan Meiselas	L.H.D.	Photographer
Arthur Mitchell	L.H.D.	Dancer; A pioneer, an icon, and a self-described “political activist through dance,”
Robert Owen Paxton	Litt.D.	Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences at Columbia University

2017

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Jacques Pépin	L.H.D.	Author and Chef
Eric H. Holder, Jr.	LL.D.	82nd Attorney General of the United States
Admiral Michael Mullen	LL.D.	17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Padma Desai	Litt.D.	Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor Emerita of Comparative and Economic Systems and Economics
Martin Duberman	Litt.D.	Historian, Biographer, Autobiographer, Political Essayist, Playwright, and Gay Rights Advocate
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira	Mus.D.	Musican and Composer
Allen Irwin Hyman, M.D.	Sc.D.	Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, Physican, and Public Health Advocate

2018

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Elizabeth Diller	L.H.D.	Architect and Designer
Thelma Golden	L.H.D.	Museum Director and Curator
Patrick Hubert Gaspard	LL.D.	Human rights advocate, public servant, and former United States Ambassador to South Africa
Bradley R. Efron	Sc.D.	Statistician
Lynn R. Sykes	Sc.D.	Higgins Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Seismologist

2019

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Peter Awn	Litt.D.
Douglas A. Chalmers	L.H.D.	Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Special Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Retirement, and Executive Director of the Society of Senior Scholars at Columbia University.
Karen Brooks Hopkins	LL.D.	Board Member and Senior Advisor to the Onassis Foundation USA. She is also the Nasher Haemisegger Fellow at the National Center for Arts Research, located at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Robert Langer	Sc.D.	Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2020s[edit]

2022

Recipient	Degree or Honor	Notability
Hillary Rodham Clinton	LL.D.
Carla Hayden	Litt.D.
Jodi Kantor	University Medal for Excellence
William Kentridge	LH.D.
Yo-Yo Ma	Mus.D.
James Stewart Polshek	LH.D.
Patti Smith	Mus.D.

2023

Recipient	Honorary Degree or Honor
Katori Hall	University Medal for Excellence
Joyce Ladner	Litt.D.
Jeannie Bachelor Lavine	LL.D.
Jonathan Lavine	LL.D.
Tania León	Mus.D.
Minouche Shafik	LL.D.
Bob Woodward	Litt.D.
Shing-Tung Yau	Sc.D.

Notes[edit]

Honorees from 1758-2019 sourced in its entirety from Columbia University Libraries.^[1] Honorees 2022-present sourced from Columbia University Office of the Secretary.^[2] Additional or edited information is cited inline where applicable.

References[edit]

^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
^ "Honors and Prizes". Columbia University, Office of the Secretary.

[1] "Honorary Degree Recipients". Columbia University Libraries. Retrieved 6 February 2024.

[2] "Honors and Prizes". Columbia University, Office of the Secretary.

[1]

[2]