Honorary Degrees

Williams has conferred honorary degrees since 1795. All members of the college community are encouraged to make nominations, from which each year the Honorary Degrees Advisory Committee recommends to the full Board of Trustees a group of potential recipients who have excelled in diverse fields and stand as inspiring examples for our graduating students. Each year one recipient delivers the Commencement address, and one delivers the Baccalaureate address.

We invite your nominations for honorary degree recipients.

First name Last name Degree Year
Preston R. Washington DD 1993
William F. Weld LLD 1993
August Wilson LITTD 1993
Jacqueline K. Barton DSC 1992
Daniel J. Callahan LLD 1992
William M. Chace LLD 1992
John Hope Franklin LITTD 1992
John B. McCoy LLD 1992
Brian Urquhart LLD 1992
James Hadley Billington LITTD 1991
Guido Calabresi LHD 1991
Sarah Caldwell MUSD 1991
Troy Duster LITTD 1991
Clifford Geertz LITTD 1991
Thomas C. Jorling LLD 1991
Takayuki Kimura LLD 1991
Jamaica Kincaid LITTD 1991
Hanna Pitkin LITTD 1991
William D. Ruckelshaus LLD 1991
Amartya K. Sen LITTD 1991
Robert D. Terry, M.D. DSC 1991
Derek Brewer LLD 1990
Michael S. Dukakis LLD 1990
Thomas E. Lovejoy DSC 1990
Wangari Maathai LLD 1990
Bharati Mukherjee LITTD 1990
Alvaro Umana Quesada LLD 1990
William J. Raspberry LHD 1990
Maxine F. Singer DSC 1990
Mostafa K. Tolba LLD 1990
Francis T. Vincent LLD 1990
Houston A. Baker, Jr. LITTD 1989
Johnnetta B. Cole LITTD 1989
John A. Davis, Sr. LLD 1989
Jacques Derrida LITTD 1989
Werner Gundersheimer LITTD 1989
Anne Hawley LHD 1989
Gertrude Himmelfarb LITTD 1989
E. D. Hirsch, Jr. LITTD 1989
Norman E. Hugo DSC 1989
Paul H. Nitze LLD 1989
Ralph D. Abernathy LLD 1988
Ruth M. Batson LLD 1988
Gwendolyn Brooks LITTD 1988
Henry G. Cisneros LLD 1988
William A. Fowler DSC 1988
Neil R. Grabois LLD 1988
Charlayne Hunter-Gault LLD 1988
John Lewis LLD 1988
Burke Marshall LLD 1988