Carnegie Mellon University

Recent Honorary Degree Recipients

2023

Fred Eversley (ENG 1964)
Artist
Doctor of Fine Arts

Patrick Gelsinger
CEO, Intel Corporation
Keynote Speaker and Doctor of Science and Technology

Lt. General Gina M. Grosso (TPR 1986)
Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security and Preparedness United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Doctor of Public Service

Judith Light (CFA 1970)
Actor/Producer
Doctor of Fine Arts
Photo credit: Alexandra Arnold

David S. Shapira
Director, Board of Directors, Giant Eagle, Inc.
Chairman, David S. Shapira Foundation
Doctor of Business Administration

2022

Frances Arnold
Linus Pauling Professor, California Institute of Technology
Doctor of Science and Technology

Lieutenant General Jody J. Daniels (MCS’83)
Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, US Army Reserve
Doctor of Science and Technology

Manuel Heitor
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, University of Lisbon
Doctor of Science and Technology

Evelyn Higginbotham
Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Doctor of Humane Letters

Billy Porter (CFA’91)
Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award Winning Artist
Doctor of Fine Arts

Raj Reddy
University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics and Moza Bint Nasser Chair, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Doctor of Science and Technology

Jim Rohr
Retired Executive Chairman and Former CEO, PNC Financial Services Group
Doctor of Business Practice

2021

 

France A. Córdova
Former Director, National Science Foundation
Former President, Purdue University
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

 

Martha C. Nussbaum
Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, Law School and Philosophy Department
The University of Chicago
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

 

Jewell Parker Rhodes (DC 1975, 1976, 1979)
Piper Endowed Chair, Arizona State University
Founding Artistic Director, Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

 

Robert Summer (PM 1955)
Music Industry Executive
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

At the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, Carnegie Mellon University hosted a virtual conferral degrees to celebrate the Class of 2020. No honorary degrees were awarded and any nominations that were submitted were carried over into the 2020-2021 academic year.

2019

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Darlene Clark Hine
John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of History, Michigan State University
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

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David M. Kelley (E 1973)
Donald W. Whittier Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University; Founder, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University; Founder, IDEO
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

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Leslie Odom, Jr. (A 2003)
Tony and Grammy Award-Winning Performer
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts and 2019 Keynote Speaker

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John Shaffner (A 1976) and Joe Stewart (A 1977)
Emmy Award-Winning Production Designers, Shaffner/Stewart Production Design
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

2018

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Ted Danson (CFA 1972)
Actor, Ocean Advocate
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

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Shafi Goldwasser (MCS 1979)
Director, Simons Institute for Theory of Computing, Professor of Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

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David Tepper (TPR 1982)
President & Founder, Appaloosa Management L.P.
Honorary Doctor of Business Practice and 2018 Keynote Speaker

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Ada Yonath
The Martin S. and Helen Kimmel Professor of Structural Biology; Director, The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly, Weizmann Institute of Science
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

More Past Recipients

For a complete list of past recipients, contact commencement@andrew.cmu.edu

Mahzarin R. Banaji
Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

Vivian Davidson Hewitt (MM 1944)
Retired Chief Librarian, Art Collector and Distinguished Awards Recipient
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

Michael Keaton
Actor
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

Bernard Osher
Founder and Treasurer, The Bernard Osher Foundation
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

Meg Whitman
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Honorary Doctor of Business Practice and Keynote Speaker

Holly Hunter (A 1980)
Actor, Producer
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

Robert S. Langer
The David H. Koch Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

Earl Lewis
President, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and Keynote Speaker

Sonia Manzano (A 1972)
Actor, Writer
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

James R. Swartz (TPR 1966)
Founding Partner, Accel Partners
Honorary Doctor of Business Practice

Alan Alda
Actor, Writer and Director
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts and Keynote Speaker

Joyce Kozloff (A 1964)
Artist
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

Kai-Fu Lee (S 1988)
Chairman and CEO, Innovation Works
Honorary Doctor of Business Practice

Judea Pearl
Chanellor's Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory, UCLA
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology

Stephen Swartz (A 1968)
Composer and Lyricist
Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts

Carl Wieman
Professor, Department of Physics and Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology