Honorary degrees are typically awarded at Commencement to persons whose contributions are outstanding in specific fields such as The Arts, Public Life and Government, The Humanities and Social Sciences, and The Natural and Applied Sciences.
| Year | Recipient(s) | Vocation |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Michael Brown | Co-founder and senior advisor of City Year |
| 2020 | Lauren W. Bright ’90 | Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |
| 2019 | Jerry Spinelli '63 | Author |
| 2018 | Howard Fineman | Journalist |
| 2017 | Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole | Educator, museum professional, and humanitarian |
| 2016 | Cokie and Steve Roberts | Journalists |
| 2015 | Charles Bolden Jr. | Administrator, NASA |
| 2014 | Flora Darpino ’83 | Lieutenant General, Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army |
| 2013 | David Gergen | Political commentator, journalist and former presidential advisor |
| 2012 | Jacqueline Novogratz | Founder and CEO of Acumen Fund |
| 2011 | Gwendolyn Dungy | Executive director of NASPA |
| 2010 | Robert Egger | President and founder of D.C. Central Kitchen |
| 2009 | Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt | TV journalists |
| 2008 | Sandra Day O'Connor | Former Supreme Court Justice |
| 2007 | Harold Prince | American theatrical producer and director |
| 2006 | Bruce Gordon '68 | Former president of NAACP |
| 2005 | Fred Fielding '61 | White House counsel, served on 9/11 Commission |
| 2004 | David W. Hartman '72 | First blind person to graduate from medical school |
| 2003 | Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell | Judge, First Lady of Pennsylvania |
| 2002 | Senator George Mitchell | Former Senator of Maine |
| 2001 | Mel Martinez | Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development |
| 2000 | John Hope Franklin | Historian |
| 1999 | Mary Frances Berry | Professor |
| 1998 | Richard D. Schultz | Executive director of U.S. Olympic Committee |
| 1997 | Bill Cosby | Comedian |
| 1996 | Jonathan Spence | Historian |
| 1995 | Richard Riley | U.S. Secretary of Education |
| 1994 | Andrew Rooney | TV news correspondent |
| 1993 | Randall Robinson | Executive Director of TransAfrica |
| 1992 | Noam Chomsky | Political activist |
| 1991 | James McPherson | Pulitzer Prize winner and historian |
| 1990 | Betty Williams | Winner of Nobel Prize for Peace in 1977 |
| 1989 | Charles E. Glassick | Former president of Gettysburg College |
| 1988 | Joyce Carol Oates | Author |
| 1987 | Garrison Keillor | Humorist |
| 1986 | Joyce Brothers | Psychologist |
| 1985 | John Houseman | Actor |
| 1984 | Margaret Kuhn | National Convener of the Gray Panthers |
| 1983 | Gov. William Scranton | Former Governor of Pennsylvania |
| 1982 | Drew Lewis | U.S. Secretary of Transportation |
| 1981 | Isaac Asimov | Science fiction writer |
| 1980 | Russell W. Peterson | CEO of National Audubon Society |
| 1979 | Joe Paterno | Penn State University football coach |
| 1978 | Judge John Sirica | United States District Court for District of Columbia |
| 1977 | Tom Pettit | Broadcast journalist |
| 1976 | Shana Alexander | Journalist |
| 1975 | James D. St.Clair | Attorney |
| 1974 | Albert H. Quie | Former U.S. Congressman |
| 1973 | Carol K. Bellamy ‘63 | Former N.Y. Senator, director of Peace Corps, UNICEF |
| 1972 | Glenn Olds | Former president of Kent State University |
| 1971 | William F. Buckley | Author |
| 1970 | Hugh Scott | Former U.S. Senator of PA |
| 1969 | James A. Colston | Former president of Bronx Community College |
| 1968 | Charles Lucet | Former French Ambassador to U.S. |
| 1967 | Harold Brown | |
| 1966 | Sanford S. Atwood | |
| 1965 | Harold Brayman | |
| 1964 | A. G. D. Wiles | Former president of Newberry College |
| 1963 | John S. Rice | U.S. Ambassador to Netherlands |
| 1959 | Arthur S. Flemming | Former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare |