Past Honorary Degrees and Commencement Speakers
2024 Spring Ceremony
- Mina Cheon (천민정) Ph.D., M.F.A. ’02, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Maryland Institute College of Art
- Commencement Speaker
- The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan Ph.D., Director, National Science Foundation
- Degree Awarded: Science
2023 Spring Ceremony
- Keith T. Elder Ph.D ‘02, Provost and Executive Vice President of Mississippi College
- Commencement Speaker
- Paula Therese Hammond Ph.D., Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
- Degree Awarded: Science
2022 Winter Ceremony
- Dr. Mustafa Al-Adhami M.S. ‘15, Ph.D. ‘20, Chief Executive Officer at Astek Diagnostics
- Commencement Speaker
- Ms. Stefanie Mavronis ’12, Interim Executive Director, Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (Baltimore)
- Commencement Speaker
2022 Spring Ceremony
- Ricardo Zwaig ’77, Retired Associate Judge, District Court of Maryland
- Degree Awarded: Laws
- Kaitlyn Sadtler ’11, Investigator and Section Chief, National Institutes of Health
- Degree Awarded: Science
- Tiffany Holmes, M.F.A. ’99, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost, Maryland Institute College of Art
- Degree Awarded: Fine Arts
- Kizzmekia Corbett ’08, M16, Assistant Professor, Harvard University
- Degree Awarded: Science
- Kafui Dzirasa ’01, M8, K. Ranga Rama Krishnan Associate Professor, Duke University, Chief Vision and Values Scientist, Collective for Psychiatric Neuroengineering
- Degree Awarded: Science
- Mark Doms ’86, Chief Economist, Congressional Budget Office
- Degree Awarded: Public Service
2021
- Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute
- Degree Awarded: Public Service
- Christopher P. Austin, CEO-Partner, Flagship Engineering
- Degree Awarded: Science
- Victoria D’Souza, Ph.D. ’02, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
- Degree Awarded: Science
2019
- Nora D. Volkow, MD., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Degree Awarded: Science
- Marin Alsop, Music Director, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
- Degree Awarded: Fine Arts
- The Honorable John A. Olszewski, Jr, Ph.D. ’17, Baltimore County Executive
- Commencement Speaker
2018
Name:
- Ted Mitchell
- Paula Johnson
- Erin K. O’Shea
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Science
- Science
2017
Name:
- Stephanie Cole Hill ’86
- Ralph D. Semmel, Ph.D. ’92
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Science
2016
Name:
- Drew Gilpin Faust
- James P. Clements ’85, M.S. ’91, Ph.D. ’93
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Public Education
2015
Name:
- Andrea Mitchell
- Luz Vega-Marquis
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Public Service
2014
Name:
- Mary Schmidt Campbell
Degree Awarded:
- Fine Arts
2013
Name:
- Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.
- Nancy Cantor
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Science
2012
Name:
- Subra Suresh
- Rebecca M. Blank
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Public Service
2011
Name:
- Marie M. Klawe
- Jeffrey R. Immelt
- Rodney C. Adkins
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Public Service
- Science
2010
Name:
- The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer Hoyer
- G. Wayne Clough
Degree Awarded:
- (Spoke, did not receive degree)
- Science
2009
Name:
- Shirley Tilghman
- Thomas Friedman
- Karen Davis
- Peter Agre
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Humane Letters
- Public Service
- Science
2008
Name:
- Claude Steele
- Paul S. Sarbanes
- Franco Einaudi
- Virginia Dresher
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Public Service
- Science
- Public Service
2007
Name:
- Betsy and George Sherman
- Judith Rodin
- William Brody
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Humane Letters
- Science
2006
Name:
- Soloman H. Snyder
- Alan Lightman
- Richard Broadhead
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Humanities
- Humane Letters
2005
Name:
- Mary Ann E. Mears
Degree Awarded:
- Fine Arts
2004
Name:
- William A. Haseltine
- William Foege
- Ursula M. Burns
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Science
- Engineering
2003
Name:
- Elias A. Zerthouni
- William “Brit” Kirwan
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- (Spoke, did not receive degree)
2002
Name:
- John C. Erickson
- Joseph Bordogna
Degree Awarded:
- (Spoke, did not receive degree)
- (Spoke, did not receive degree)
2001
Name:
- The Honorable Howard Rawlings
- Robert E. Kahn
- The Honorable Barbara Hoffman
- Marian Wright Edelman
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Science
- Public Service
- Public Service
2000
Name:
- Mayo Adams Shattuck, III
- Jeong H. Kim
- Robert W. Deutsch
- Thomas R. Chech
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- (Spoke, did not receive degree)
- Science
- Science
1999
Name:
- Sargent Shriver
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver
- Darielle Dunn Lineman
- Earl Louis Linehane
- Nancy A. Erickson
- John C. Erickson
- Rita Rossi Colwell
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Public Service
- Arts
- Arts
- Public Service
- Public Service
- Science
1998
Name:
- Daniel Saul Goldin
Degree Awarded:
- Science
1997
Name:
- Donna E. Shalala
- Ira C. Magaziner
- John H. Gibbons
- Carl Djerassi
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Public Administration
- Science
- Science
1996
Name:
- J. Robert Kerrey
- Purnell W. Choppin
- Stephen M. Case
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Science
- Science
1995
Name:
- Harold Eliot Varmus
- Otto Ludwig Piene
- Edward Ray McCracken
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Fine Arts
- Science
1994
Name:
- Harold H. Wolf
- Carole Simpson
- Lisbeth Bamberger Schoor
- William Donald Schaefer
- Nelson John Sabatini
- William C. Richardson
- William Hackerman
- Louis J. Goldstein
- M. Joycelyn Elders
- Shirley Sears Chater
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
- Humane Letters
- Humane Letters
- Laws
- Public Service
- Humane Letters
- Engineering
- Humane Letters
- Commencement Speaker
- Humane Letters
1993
Name:
- Barbara A. Mikulski
- Robert E. Meyerhoff
- Peter D. Lax
- R. Charles Avara
Degree Awarded:
- Letters
- Humane Letters
- Science
- Public Service
1992
Name:
- Emmett Paige, Jr.
- Nancy Graves
- Henry Cisneros
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
- Fine Arts
- Public Service
1991
Name:
- Enolia McMillan
- Arthur Kornberg
- Ralph Gibson
- Robert Coles
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Science
- Fine Arts
- Humane Letters
1990
Name:
- Gwendolyn Stewart King
- Eli Solomon Jacobs
- Taylor Branch
Degree Awarded:
- Public Service
- Humane Letters
- Humane Letters
1989
Name:
- Max Roach
- Kou-ting Li
- Frances Morton Froelicher
- Paul Duke
Degree Awarded:
- Music
- Science
- Public Service
- Laws
1988
Name:
- Hiltgunt Margret Zassenhaus
- Walter Sondheim, Jr.
- Benjamin A. Quarles
- Lyn P. Meyerhoff
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
- Public Service
- Humane Letters
- Fine Arts
1987
Name:
- Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.
- LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr.
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Science
1986
Name:
- John G. St. Clair Drake
- Walter Rosenblum
- Rudolph G. Penner
- Pauline Oliveros
- Reg Murphy
- James P. Grant
Degree Awarded:
- Letters
- Fine Arts
- Public Service
- Music
- Public Service
- Public Service
1985
Name:
- Chia Chen Tan
- Maxine Frank Singer
- Alice Gwathney Pinderhughes
- Dorothy Kent Hill
- Robert M. Ball
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Science
- Public Service
- Humanities
- Public Administration
1984
Name:
- Roger Rosenblatt
- Raymond V. Haysbert, Sr.
- Stephan Jay Gould
- Robert Todd Duncan
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
- Public Service
- Science
- Fine Arts
1983
Name:
- William Arthur Lewis
- Albin O. Kuhn
- Lotte Jacobi
- John L. Crew, Sr.
- Donald D. Brown
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
- Public Service
- Fine Arts
- Public Service
- Science
1982
Name:
- Rosalyn S. Yalow
- Maxim Shostakovich
- John M. Sheehan
- Tom L. Freudenheim
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Fine Arts
- Public Service
- Fine Arts
1981
Name:
- Jon Franklin
- Sterling A. Brown
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
- Humanities
1980
Name:
- Donald A. Henderson
- Lucille Clifton
- Ernst L. Boyer
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Humane Letters
- Public Service
1979
Name:
- C.L.R. James
- Peter Gay
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
- Letters
1978
Name:
- Ola Belle Reed
- Halden Keffer Hartline
- John Barademas
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
- Science
- Laws
1977
Name:
- Albert S. Sabin
- Richard Lattimore
- Louis Kaplan
Degree Awarded:
- Science
- Humane Letters
- Letters
1976
Name:
- James S. Ackerman
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
1975
Name:
- Alice Mitchell Rivlin
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
1974
Name:
- Malcolm Charles Moos
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
1973
Name:
- B.F. Skinner
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
1972
Name:
- King V. Cheek
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
1971
Name:
- Patricia Roberts Harris
Degree Awarded:
- Laws
1970
Name:
- Howard K. Smith
Degree Awarded:
- Humane Letters
