Honorary Degrees
About the award
When presented: May Commencement each year.
How many: A maximum of five awards is authorized (six if the Commencement speaker is included).
Process: Award recipients are nominated by the Honorary Degrees and Special Awards Committee, recommended by the Faculty Council and approved by the Board of Trustees.
Establishing document: Trustees’ Regulation on Honorary Degrees
Criteria: We seek to honor people who have rendered outstanding service to humanity in the global arena, in our nation, in the American South, or our State of North Carolina. This honor is intended for people who have made outstanding contributions to knowledge in the world of scholarship; people whose talent and creativity in the world of the arts has enriched our lives; and people whose devotion to and support of our University merits our highest recognition.
The Honorary and Special Awards Committee welcomes detailed letters of nomination highlighting a candidate’s accomplishments and requests the inclusion of a CV or similar document be included with the nomination. It is important to the committee to have a broad and diverse pool of extraordinary candidates, including individuals from underrepresented groups, from which to make its selections.
Eligibility: Members of the Board of Governors or employees of The University of North Carolina or any of its constituent institutions are not eligible. These persons become eligible two years after termination of such status. Awards are not conferred in absentia or posthumously.
Submit a nomination
An honorary degree is the highest recognition conferred by the University. A detailed letter of nomination and a CV/resume is helpful. Nominations remain active for three years. If you have nominated anyone within the previous two years, renomination is not required; however, additional or updated materials may be submitted through the nomination form.
Please click on “Submit Nominations” for instructions on how to submit your nomination. Nominations for 2025 Honorary Degrees will be accepted through January 22, 2024.
Past recipients
Please note: The names that are clickable are linked to the official citation describing each winner’s accomplishments. To see a full list of the winners dating back to 1799, please visit Wilson Library’s Honorary Degrees page.
| Year | Name | Degree | Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Alexander Julian | D.A. | Fashion Designer and Business Owner |
| 2023 | D. Carmichael “Mike” McIntyre II | L.L.D. | Attorney and U.S. Congressman (1997-2015) |
| 2023 | Jonathan Reckford | L.L.D. | CEO, Habitat for Humanity International |
| 2023 | Hilda Solis | L.L.D. | Los Angeles County Supervisor and U.S. Secretary of Labor (2009-2013). |
| 2023 | Bryan Stevenson | L.L.D. | Public Interest Lawyer and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative |
| 2023 | Lucille Webb | L.H.D. | Founder and Director, Strengthening the Black Family, Inc. |
| 2022 | Frank A. Bruni Jr. | Litt. D. | Journalist and Author |
| 2022 | Algenon Lamont Marbley | LL.D | Federal Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio |
| 2022 | Millie Ravenel | LL.D. | Founding Executive Director, N.C. Center for International Understanding |
| 2022 | Eddie Smith Jr. | LL.D. | CEO, Grady-White Boats Inc. |
| 2021 | Kizzmekia S. Corbett | D. Sci. | Viral Immunologist, National Institutes of Health |
| 2021 | Anthony S. Fauci | D.Sci. | Physician and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases |
| 2021 | W. Lowry Caudill | LL.D. | Scientist, businessman and philanthropist |
| 2021 | Donald W. Curtis | LL.D. | Chair and CEO of Curtis Media Group |
| 2020 | Anne Cates | LL.D. | Former General Alumni Association President |
| 2020 | Bernadette Gray-Little | LL.D. | Former Chancellor of the University of Kansas, and UNC faculty member and administrator |
| 2020 | Carla Hayden | LL.D. | 14th Librarian of Congress |
| 2020 | William E. Leuchtenburg | L.H.D. | William R. Kenan Jr. professor emeritus |
| 2019 | Rebecca Hatcher Buckley | D.Sci. | James Buren Sidbury Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Immunology at Duke University |
| 2019 | T Bone Burnett | D.A. | Musician, Songwriter and Record producer |
| 2019 | I. Beverly Lake, Jr | LL.D. | Former Chief Justice, NC Supreme Court |
| 2019 | John Sanders | LL.D. | Professor and former director of the UNC Institute of Government |
| 2019 | Nelson Schwab III | LL.D. | Chairman of Carousel Capital and former chair of the UNC Board of Trustees |
| 2018 | Phillip Leroy Clay | LL.D. | Professor Emeritus and former Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2018 | James Fletcher Goodmon | LL.D. | CEO and Chairman of the Board of Capitol Broadcasting Company |
| 2018 | Judith Ann Jamison | D.A. | American dancer and choreographer and former artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Theater |
| 2017 | Fred Eshelman | D.Sci. | Chairman of The Medicines Company (MDCO) and Founder of Eshelman Ventures LLC |
| 2017 | Patricia D. Horoho | LL.D. | Served as the 43rd Surgeon General of the United States Army |
| 2017 | Thomas Forrest Kelly | L.H.D. | Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music at Harvard University |
| 2016 | Sandra Cisneros | Litt.D. | Award winning Writer and 1995 MacArthur Foundation Fellow |
| 2016 | Paul Fulton | LL.D. | Former president and CEO of Bassett Furniture Industries and Sara Lee Corporation and former Dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School |
| 2016 | Nell Irvin Painter | L.H.D. | Author, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former Guggenheim Fellow |
| 2016 | Helen Prejean | D.Div. | Author, Spiritual adviser |
| 2016 | Anne Marie Slaughter | L.H.D. | President and CEO of New America and the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University |
| 2015 | Catarina de Albuquerque | LL.D. | International Human Rights Lawyer and Advocate |
| 2015 | Peter Ware Higgs | D.Sci. | Prof. of Physics and Astronomy |
| 2015 | Mary Elizabeth Junck | LL.D. | CEO of Lee Enterprises, Chair of Associated Press |
| 2015 | Charles Loudermilk Sr. | LL.D. | Philanthropist and Community Leader |
| 2015 | Charles W. Millard III | D.F.A. | Art Historian and Curator |
| 2015 | Wyndham Robertson | LL.D. | Pioneering Journalist |
| 2014 | Marjorie Bryan Buckley | LL.D. | Philanthropist, Professor, co-founder of Carolina Center for Public Service |
| 2014 | Atul Atmaram Gawande | D.Sci. | Surgeon, Writer, Public Health Researcher |
| 2014 | Biddy Martin | LL.D. | President of Amherst College, Author, Professor |
| 2014 | Armistead Jones Maupin Jr. | Litt.D. | Author of “Tales of the City” |
| 2014 | Beverly Eaves Perdue | LL.D. | Former Governor of North Carolina |
| 2014 | Anne Firor Scott | L.H.D. | Professor, Author, Pioneering Historian of American Women |
| 2013 | Steve Case | LL.D. | Businessman, philanthropist, founder of America Online |
| 2013 | Bernard Flatow | LL.D. | Businessman (public relations), rare book collector, supporter of U.S.-Latin American exchanges |
| 2013 | Joel Fleishman | LL.D. | Professor; state government administrator instrumental in establishment of Governor’s School and North Carolina School of the Arts; philanthropist |
| 2013 | Freeman Hrabowski | LL.D. | President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
| 2013 | Mary Pope Osborne | Litt.D. | Author of “Magic Tree House” children’s book series |
| 2012 | Michael Rubens Bloomberg | LL.D. | Mayor of New York |
| 2012 | David S. Ferriero | LL.D. | Archivist of the United States |
| 2012 | Thomas W. Lambeth | Litt.D. | Retired Executive Director, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation |
| 2012 | Branford Marsalis | D. Mus. | World-renowned saxophonist |
| 2012 | Katharine Lee Reid | D.F.A. | Retired Director, Cleveland Museum of Art |
| 2011 | Timothy B. Burnett | LL.D. | Service to Carolina; business; philanthropy |
| 2011 | Mary Sue Coleman | LL.D. | President, University of Michigan |
| 2011 | Ernest J. Gaines | Litt.D. | Novelist |
| 2011 | John Grisham | Litt.D. | Novelist |
| 2011 | Dwight T. Pitcaithley | LL.D. | Public Historian; Retired Chief Historian, National Park Service |
| 2011 | Edward O. Wilson | D.Sci. | Founder of ethnobiology and evolutionary psychology |
| 2010 | Paul Rizzo | LL.D. | Chair emeritus, Franklin Street Partners |
| 2010 | Eugene Roberts | LL.D. | Former national editor, New York Times; Executive editor, Philadelphia Inquirer |
| 2010 | Fred Robinson | L.H.D. | Douglas Tracy Smith Prof. of English Emeritus, Yale University |
| 2010 | Patricia Timmons-Goodson | LL.D. | Associate justice, NC Supreme Court |
| 2009 | William J. Armfield IV | LL.D. | Investment executive & Philanthropist |
| 2009 | Eli N. Evans | LL.D. | Writer on Jews in the south; Nonprofit leader |
| 2009 | Charles Sanders | D.Sci. | Physician & Medical executive |
| 2009 | Helen Scheirbeck | LL.D. | Native American activist & Educational leader |
| 2009 | Lee Marshall Smith | Litt.D. | Prolific southern author |
| 2009 | Desmond M. Tutu | D.D. | Nobel Peace Prize winner; South African anti-apartheid campaigner |
| 2008 | Peter Courtland Agre | D.Sci. | Medical researcher; Nobel Prize winner |
| 2008 | Philip Palmer Green III | D.Sci. | Human genome researcher |
| 2008 | Heather Munroe-Blum | D.Sci. | University administrator; Psychiatric epidemiologist |
| 2008 | Anthony Eden Rand | LL.D. | Public service; Champion of the University |
| 2008 | Jessye Norman | D.Mus. | Performing artist, opera & concert |
| 2007 | Madeline Korbel Albright | LL.D. | U.S. Secretary of State |
| 2007 | H. Jack Geiger | D.Sci. | Physician & Humanitarian |
| 2007 | William Ivey Long | D.F.A. | Costume designer |
| 2007 | Richard Wilson Riley | LL.D. | U.S. Cabinet Secretary; Governor, South Carolina |
| 2007 | Dean Edwards Smith | LL.D. | Coach & Humanitarian |
| 2006 | Joyce Conseen Dugan | LL.D. | Educator & Cherokee leader |
| 2006 | Thomas Stephen Kenan III | LL.D. | Philanthropist |
| 2006 | Robert Ray Morgan | Litt.D. | Author & Poet |
| 2006 | John Shelby Spong | L.H.D. | Author & Clergyman |
| 2005 | Nannerl Overholser Keohane | LL.D. | Scholar; President, Duke University; Feminist leader |
| 2005 | Anand Panyarachun | LL.D. | Thai Prime Minister; Diplomat; World leader |
| 2005 | Peter John Gomes | D.D. | Preacher; Author; Minister, The Memorial Church, Harvard |
| 2005 | Frank Borden Hanes, Sr. | L.H.D. | Philanthropist; Author; Business leader |
| 2004 | William Albert Graham, Jr. | L.H.D. | Scholar; Dean, Harvard Divinity School |
| 2004 | Julius Levonne Chambers | LL.D. | Attorney; Civil rights pioneer |
| 2004 | Maurice John Koury | LL.D. | Businessman & Philanthropist |
| 2004 | William Octavius McCoy | LL.D. | Businessman & Interim chancellor UNC-CH |
| 2004 | William Forrest Winter | LL.D. | Former governor, Mississippi; statesman |
| 2003 | Drew Saunders Days III | LL.D. | U.S. Solicitor General; Professor, Yale Law |
| 2003 | Clemmie Dixon Spangler, Jr. | LL.D. | President, University of North Carolina |
| 2003 | Reynolds Price | Litt.D. | Author |
| 2002 | Julian Hart Robertson, Jr. | LL.D. | Financier & Philanthropist |
| 2002 | Verne Edward Chaney, Jr. | D.Sci. | Physician & Humanitarian |
| 2002 | John Reid Edwards | LL.D. | US Senator |
| 2001 | Ricardo Lagos Escobar | LL.D. | President, Chile |
| 2001 | Gladys Hall Coates | LL.D. | Public service |
| 2001 | Dennis Barry Gillings | D.Sci. | Scholar; Founder, Quintiles |
| 2001 | William Edward “Billy” Taylor | D.F.A. | Musician |
| 2001 | Thomas Grey Wicker | LL.D. | Journalist |
| 2001 | David Satcher | D.Sci. | Physician; US Surgeon General |
| 2000 | Stuart Eliot Eizenstat | LL.D. | Diplomat |
| 2000 | Joseph Leo Blotner | Litt.D. | Literary historian |
| 2000 | Walter Horace Carter | LL.D. | Newspaper editor & owner |
| 2000 | Charles Justice | LL.D. | Athlete |
| 2000 | Daniel Alexander Okun | D.Sci. | Scholar & Educator |
| 1999 | William Warren Bradley | LL.D. | Public service |
| 1999 | Marc Basnight | LL.D. | North Carolina Senate; Public service |
| 1999 | Damon Jerome Keith | LL.D. | U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the 6th Circuit |
| 1999 | Nina Woo Matheson | D.Sci. | Librarian |
| 1998 | Susan Pardee Baker | D.Sci | Public health |
| 1998 | Richard Hampton Jenrette | LL.D. | Business; historic preservation; philanthropy |
| 1998 | Betty Ray McCain | LL.D. | Public service |
| 1998 | Elizabeth Spencer | Litt.D. | Author |
| 1998 | Leroy Tashreau Walker | LL.D. | Educator |
| 1997 | Erskine Boyce Bowles | LL.D. | White House Chief of Staff; Investment banker |
| 1997 | Rita Dove | Litt.D. | Poet & Professor |
| 1997 | Eugene Dominick Genovese | Litt.D. | Historian & Professor |
| 1997 | Alice Mitchell Rivlin | LL.D. | Economist; Public service |
| 1997 | William Doyle Ruckelshaus | LL.D. | Environmentalist; Public service; Business |
| 1997 | Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson | Litt.D. | Folk singer |
| 1996 | William Franklin Graham | D.D. | Evangelist |
| 1996 | Seamus Justin Heaney | Litt.D. | Poet |
| 1996 | Rudolph Arthur Marcus | D.Sci. | Chemist; Nobel prize |
| 1995 | Kenneth Merle Brinkhous | D.Sci. | Pathologist |
| 1995 | Johnetta Betsch Cole | LL.D. | President, SpelmanCollege |
| 1995 | Bess Lomax Hawes | Litt.D. | Folklorist |
| 1995 | Hugh Leon McColl, Jr. | LL.D. | Banker |
| 1995 | Louis Decimus Rubin, Jr. | Litt.D. | Professor & Publisher |
| 1995 | Anna Deavere Smith | Litt.D. | Playwright; Performance artist; Professor |
| 1994 | Daniel Terry Blue Jr. | LL.D. | Public service |
| 1994 | Kenneth Lauren Burns | Litt.D. | Documentary filmmaker |
| 1994 | Francis Sellers Collins | D.Sci. | Geneticist |
| 1994 | Walter Joseph Harrelson | Litt.D. | Biblical scholar |
| 1994 | Jane Shelby Richardson | D.Sci. | Protein scientist |
| 1994 | Joseph Curtis Sloane | Litt.D. | Art historian |
| 1993 | William Jefferson Clinton | LL.D. | US President |
| 1993 | Katherine Dunham | D.F.A. | Dancer; Cultural anthropologist |
| 1993 | Eugen Merzbacher | D.Sci. | Physicist |
| 1993 | Carl Thomas Rowan | Litt.D. | Journalist |
| 1993 | Nelson Ferebee Taylor | LL.D. | UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor; Business |
| 1993 | Edwin Milton Yoder Jr. | Litt.D. | Journalist |
| 1992 | David McClure Brinkley | Litt.D. | Television journalist |
| 1992 | Shelby Dade Foote | Litt.D. | Novelist; Civil War historian |
| 1992 | Sherman Emery Lee | Litt.D. | Oriental art scholar; Museum director |
| 1992 | Anne Ellen Queen | LL.D. | Educator |
| 1992 | Thomas Franklin Williams | D.Sci. | Gerontologist |
| 1991 | Federico Guillermo Gil | Litt.D. | Latin American scholar |
| 1991 | Archie Green | Litt.D. | American folklore scholar |
| 1991 | Charles Bishop Kuralt | Litt.D. | Television journalist |
| 1990 | John Marsden Ehle Jr. | Litt.D. | Novelist |
| 1990 | Gertrude Belle Elion | D.Sci. | Biochemist; Nobel Prize 1988 |
| 1990 | Allen Walker Read | Litt.D. | Linguist & lexicographer |
| 1989 | Minnie Miller Brown | D.Sci. | Pioneer in attacking rural poverty |
| 1989 | Robert Francis Furchgott | D.Sci. | Pharmacological researcher |
| 1989 | Robert Venturi | D.Sci. | Architect |
| 1988 | James Evans Davis | D.Sci. | President, American Medical Assn. |
| 1988 | Marian Wright Edelman | LL.D. | President, Children’s Defense Fund |
| 1988 | William Clyde Friday | LL.D. | President, University of North Carolina |
| 1988 | James Bryan McMillan | LL.D. | US District Court Judge |
| 1987 | William Brantley Aycock | LL.D. | Educator |
| 1987 | William Wallace Finlator | D.D. | Minister active in civil rights |
| 1987 | Margaret Taylor Harper | LL.D. | Journalist; public service |
| 1987 | William Neill Hubbard Jr. | D.Sci. | Medical statesman; President, Upjohn; Dean |
| 1987 | Samuel Talmadge Ragan | D.Litt. | Journalist |
| 1986 | James Grubbs Martin | LL.D. | Public service |
| 1986 | Harriet L. Rheingold | D.Sci. | Psychology |
| 1986 | Ivan E. Sutherland | D.Sci. | Computer graphics pioneer |
| 1986 | John Kenneth Terres | D.Litt. | Nature editor & Author |
| 1985 | Mildred Cohn | D.Sci. | Biochemist; Inst. for Cancer Research |
| 1985 | Elizabeth Hanford Dole | LL.D. | U.S. Secretary of Transportation |
| 1985 | Blyden Jackson | D.Litt. | Prof. of English emeritus, UNC |
| 1985 | Emma Neal McQueen Morrison | LL.D. | Chair emeritus, Roanoke Island Historical Ass’n. |
| 1985 | James Dickson Phillips, Jr. | LL.D. | Judge, U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals |
| 1984 | George Richard Herbert | LL.D. | President, Research Triangle Institute |
| 1984 | James Earl Jones | Litt.D. | Stage, screen, & TV actor |
| 1984 | Frank Hawkins Kenan | LL.D. | UNC benefactor |
| 1983 | Henry Parker Brandis, Jr. | LL.D. | Kenan Prof. of Law; Dean, Law School |
| 1983 | Elizabeth Scott Carrington | LL.D. | Benefactor, UNC School of Nursing |
| 1983 | Aloyisis Leon Higginbotham, Jr. | LL.D. | Judge, US Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit |
| 1983 | Joseph Carlyle Sitterson | LL.D. | Chancellor emeritus; Kenan Prof. of History |
| 1983 | Frank Henry Westheimer | D.Sci | Chemist; Harvard professor |
| 1982 | William Patterson Cumming | D.Litt. | Prof. of English emeritus, Davidson College |
| 1982 | George Herbert Hitchings | D.Sci. | Burroughs-Wellcome researcher & Administrator |
| 1982 | Myles Horton | LL.D. | Founder, Highlander Folk School |
| 1981 | James Edward Cheek | LL.D. | President, Howard Univ. |
| 1981 | Henry Armfield Foscue | LL.D. | Businessman & Civic leader |
| 1981 | Lawrence H. Fountain | LL.D. | U.S. Congressman |
| 1981 | Sarah Ratner | D.Sci. | Biochemist |
| 1980 | Peter Bommarito | LL.D. | Int’l Pres. United Rubber etc. Workers, AFL-CIO |
| 1980 | David Beers Quinn | LL.D. | Prof. Modern History emeritus, Univ.of Liverpool |
| 1980 | Donald Ray Seawell | Litt.D. | Pres. & Chrm. of Board, The Denver Post |
| 1980 | Cecil Grady Taylor | LL.D. | Chancellor emeritus, Louisiana State Univ. |
| 1979 | Robert Martin Coles | D.Sci. | Harvard research psychiatrist |
| 1979 | John Hope Franklin | LL.D. | Professor; historian; author |
| 1979 | Katharine Jocher | LL.D. | Sociologist & Administrator |
| 1979 | Robert Mayer Lumiansky | LL.D. | Scholar, English literature |
| 1979 | Thelma Gwinn Thurstone | D.Sci. | Co-establisher, UNC Psychometric Lab |
| 1979 | Donald Sharp Frederickson | D.Sci. | Director, NIH |
| 1979 | L. Richardson Preyer | LL.D. | U.S. Congressman |
| 1979 | Frederick Chapman Robbins | D.Sci. | Sr. Research Scholar, Nat. Acad. of Science |
| 1979 | Lewis Thomas | D.Sci. | President & CEO, Sloan-Kettering Institute |
| 1978 | James Baxter Hunt, Jr. | LL.D. | Governor of NC |
| 1978 | Oscar Knefler Rice | LL.D. | Kenan Prof. of Chemistry |
| 1978 | Rafael Montinola Salas | LL.D. | Asst. Secretary General, United Nations |
| 1978 | Berta Vogel Scharrer | D.Sci. | Prof. of Anatomy, Albert Einstein Med. Coll. |
| 1977 | Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans | LL.D | City of Durham - Mayor Pro-tem, Trustee |
| 1977 | Edwin Maurice Gill | LL.D | Treasurer, State of NC |
| 1977 | Edward Morris Bernstein | LL.D | Professor, Economic Adviser |
| 1976 | James William Fulbright | LL.D | Professor and President, University of Arkansas/U.S. Senator |
| 1976 | Eudora Welty | D. Litt. | Pulitzer Prize Author |
| 1976 | Lucy Shields Morgan | D.Sc. | Health Educator |
| 1976 | Walter Reece Berryhill | D.Sc. | Dean of the School of Medicine, UNC |
| 1975 | Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr | LL.D | Chief of Naval Operations |
| 1975 | Rupert Bayless Vance | LL.D | Kenan Professor of Sociology |
| 1975 | Kenneth Bancroft Clark | LL.D | Professor, City University of New York and Civil Rights Leader |
| 1975 | Fletcher Melvin Green | LL.D | Kenan Professor of History |
| 1975 | Paul Christoph Mangelsdorf | D.Sc. | Fisher Professor of Natural History, Harvard University |
| 1974 | Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton | LL.D | Author |
| 1974 | Albert Coates | LL.D | First Director, Institute of Government/Author |
| 1974 | James Eubert Holshouser, Jr | LL.D | Governor of North Carolina |
| 1974 | Louise Maywood Latham | LL.D | Dean of Women, North Carolina Central University |
| 1974 | William Dougald Macmillan, III | D.Litt. | Kenan Professor/Author |
| 1973 | Archie Randolph Ammons | D.Litt. | English Professor, Cornell University |
| 1973 | John Nathaniel Couch | D.Sc. | Kenan Professor |
| 1973 | Juanita Morris Kreps | LL.D | Professor of Economics, Duke University |
| 1972 | Bernard R. Berelson | LL.D | Professor |
| 1972 | Alfred Theodor Brauer | LL.D | Kenan Professor Emeritus |
| 1972 | James Penrose Harland | D.Litt. | Archaeologist |
| 1972 | Elizabeth Duncan Koontz | LL.D | Educator |
| 1972 | Walker Percy | D.Litt. | Essayist and Novelist |
| 1971 | Philip Handler | D.Sc. | Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University |
| 1971 | Gustavo Lagos | LL.D | Professor of International Relations, University of Chile |
| 1971 | Charles Phillips Russell | D. Litt. | Professor Emeritus of the School of Journalism, UNC |
| 1971 | Benjamin Franklin Swalin | LL.D | Director of North Carolina Symphony |
| 1970 | Elbert Clifton Daniel, Jr. | D.Litt | Associate Editor, The New York Times |
| 1970 | Robert Burton House | D.Litt | First Chancellor, UNC |
| 1970 | Robert Walter Scott | LL.D | Governor of North Carolina |
| 1970 | Susie Marshall Sharp | LL.D | Associate Justice, Supreme Court of North Carolina |
| 1969 | William LeGette Blythe | LL.D | Journalist |
| 1969 | Hubert Crouse Heffner | D.Litt | Professor/Associate Director of the Carolina Playmakers |
| 1969 | James A. Shannon | D.Sc. | Director, National Institutes of Health |
| 1969 | George Lee Simpson, Jr | LL.D | Chancellor, University System of Georgia |
| 1969 | Herman Everett Spivey | LL.D | Professor |
| 1968 | Herman Glenn Baity | LL.D | Professor |
| 1968 | Irving Edward Carlyle | LL.D | Attorney and State Representative |
| 1968 | George Alexander Heard | LL.D | Chancellor, Vanderbilt University |
| 1968 | George Watts Hill | LL.D | Trustee of UNC |
| 1968 | Dan Mabry Lacy | D.Litt | Libraran, Scholar, Archivist and Editor |
| 1968 | James Barrett Reston | D.Litt | Sports Publicist |
| 1967 | Josef Albers | D.FA | Artist |
| 1967 | Gordon Williams Blackwell | LL.D | Professor and Director of the Institute for Research in Social Science |
| 1967 | Archibald Kimbrough Davis | LL.D | Senator |
| 1967 | Oscar Ross Ewing | LL.D | Administrator of the Federal Security Agency |
| 1967 | Asa Timothy Spaulding | LL.D | President of the NC Mutual Life Insurance Company |
| 1967 | John William Gardner | LL.D | Cabinet Member, President of the United States |
| 1966 | Jesse Spencer Bell | LL.D | Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit |
| 1966 | Howard Holderness | LL.D | President, Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company |
| 1966 | Paul Jackson Kramer | D.Sc | Professor of Botany, Duke University |
| 1966 | Daniel Killian Moore | LL.D | Governor of North Carolina |
| 1966 | Glenn Irving Tucker | D.Litt | Journalist, Historian and Biographer |
| 1965 | Oliver Cromwell Carmichael | LL.D | University Administrator |
| 1965 | Connie M. Guion | LL.D | Physician and Emeritus Professor |
| 1965 | Douglas Maitland Knight | LL.D | President of Duke University |
| 1965 | Sturgis Elleno Leavitt | LL.D | Kenan Professor of Spanish, Emeritus |
| 1965 | Thomas Henry Wright | D.D | Bishop of Diocese of East Carolina |
| 1964 | Olin Trivette Binkley | D.D | President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary |
| 1964 | Sidney Alderman Blackmer | L.HD | Actor |
| 1964 | George Myers Stephens | LL.D | Author and Publisher |
| 1964 | Kemp Malone | D.Litt | Professor of English |
| 1964 | Dean Rusk | LL.D | Secretary of State, United States |
| 1964 | Fred Wilson Morrison | LL.D | Educator, Attorney and Philanthropist |
| 1964 | Berthold Louis Ullman | D.Litt | Kenan Professor of the Classics, Emeritus |
| 1963 | James Gordon Hanes | LL.D | Business Executive |
| 1963 | Joseph Ezekiel Pogue | D.Sc | Geologist |
| 1963 | Thomas James Wilson | D.Litt | Director, Harvard University Press |
| 1963 | David Grier Martin | LL.D | President, Davidson College |
| 1962 | Fred T. Foard | LL.D | Executive, Public Health |
| 1962 | Archibald Henderson | D.Litt | Kenan Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus |
| 1962 | Arthur Stanley Link | D.Litt | Professor of History, Princeton |
| 1962 | Robert Franklin Moseley | LL.D | Attorney and Legislator |
| 1962 | Willis Duke Weatherford | LL.D | Professor |
| 1962 | Robert Francis Goheen | LL.D | President and Professor, Princeton University |
| 1962 | Julian Deryl Hart | LL.D | President, Duke University |
| 1961 | Christopher Crittenden | LL.D | Historian |
| 1961 | Roger Atkinson McDuffie | PharD | Pharmacist |
| 1961 | Thomas Jenkins Pearsall | LL.D | Attorney, Business Executive and Philanthropist |
| 1961 | Kenneth Bryan Raper | D.Sc | Professor of Bacteriology |
| 1961 | Joseph Treloar Wearn | LL.D | Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs, Emeritus, of Western Reserve University |
| 1961 | John Fitzgerald Kennedy | LL.D | President, United States of America |
| 1961 | Terry Sanford | LL.D | Governor of North Carolina |
| 1960 | Kemp Davis Battle | LL.D | Attorney |
| 1960 | Lenoir Chambers | LL.D | Journalist and Editor |
| 1960 | Hunter Johnson | D.Mus | Composer |
| 1960 | John Lindsay Morehead | LL.D | Textile Executive |
| 1960 | Sidney Walter Martin | LL.D | President, Emory University |
| 1960 | Nathan Marsh Pusey | LL.D | President, Harvard University |
| 1959 | Robert Ervin Coker | LL.D | Professor of Zoology |
| 1959 | Baldwin Maxwell | D.Litt | Professor of English |
| 1959 | Vermont Connecticut Royster | LL.D | Editor and Navy Lieutenant |
| 1959 | Ellen Black Winston | LL.D | Professor of Sociology |
| 1959 | Comer Vann Woodward | LL.D | Professor of History |
| 1958 | Carl Thomas Durham | LL.D | U.S. Congressman |
| 1958 | Robert Lee Humber | LL.D | Attorney |
| 1958 | Robert MacDonald Lester | LL.D | Executive, Carnegie Corporation |
| 1958 | Robert Hunt Parker | LL.D | Judge, Superior Court |
| 1958 | John Archibald Wheeler | D.Sc | Professor of Physics |
| 1957 | William Haywood Bobbitt | LL.D | Associate Justice, Supreme Court of North Carolina |
| 1957 | Samuel Cornette Collins | D.Sc | Professor of Mechanical Engineering |
| 1957 | Joseph Gregoire De Roulhac Hamilton | LL.D | Professor of History and Political Science |
| 1957 | John Wesley Umstead, Jr | LL.D | Executive, Life Insurance Company |
| 1956 | Victor Silas Bryant | LL.D | Attorney |
| 1956 | Paul Eliot Green | D.Litt | Author |
| 1956 | Jefferson Deems Johnson, Jr | LL.D | Appellate Judge |
| 1956 | Barnaby Conrad Keeney | LL.D | President, Brown University |
| 1956 | William Asbury Whitaker | LL.D | Scientist |
| 1955 | Jonathan Worth Daniels. | LL.D | Journalist |
| 1955 | Lennox Polk McLendon | LL.D | Attorney |
| 1955 | Hubert McNeill Poteat | LL.D | Professor of Latin |
| 1955 | Watson Smith Rankin | D.Sc | Trustee of the Duke Endowment |
| 1955 | Carl Sandburg | LL.D | Poet |
| 1954 | William Henry Hoyt | LL.D | Attorney |
| 1954 | Robert Obediah Huffman | LL.D | Director, National Association of Manufacturers |
| 1954 | William Picard Jacocks | LL.D | Medical Doctor and Director, Division of Nutrition |
| 1954 | Arthur Cleveland Nash | LL.D | Architect |
| 1954 | William Bradley Umstead | LL.D | Governor of North Carolina |
| 1954 | Charles Scott Venable | LL.D | Professor and Director of Chemical Research for The American Viscose Corporation |
| 1953 | Jefferson Barnes Fordham | LL.D | Professor of Law |
| 1953 | Robert Frost | D.Litt | Philosopher, Lecturer and Teacher |
| 1953 | Francis Pendleton Gaines | LL.D | President, Washington and Lee University |
| 1953 | James Spencer Love | LL.D | Trustee, UNC and Chairman of Burlington Mills Industries |
| 1953 | Mary Martin Sloop | LL.D | Medical Doctor and Administrator of Garrett Memorial Hospital at Crossnore |
| 1953 | Wendell Holmes Stephenson | LL.D | Professor of History and Chairman of the Division of Social Sciences of Tulane University |
| 1952 | Aubrey Lee Brooks | LL.D | Attorney and Author |
| 1952 | Ellis Merton Coulter | LL.D | Distinguished Professor at the University of Georgia |
| 1952 | Harold Wayland Tribble | LL.D | President, Wake Forest College |
| 1952 | Henry Otis Lineberger | LL.D | Dentist |
| 1951 | William Clyde De Vane | LL.D | Dean of Yale and Director of its Division of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| 1951 | Arthur Hollis Edens | LL.D | President of Duke University |
| 1951 | Samuel James Ervin, Jr | LL.D | Associate Justice, Supreme Court of North Carolina |
| 1951 | Thor Martin Johnson | D.Mus | Conductor and founder of the first soldier symphony orchestra |
| 1950 | Frank Porter Graham | LL.D | U.S. Senator and President of UNC |
| 1950 | Osborne Bennett Hardison | LL.D | Admiral, U.S. Navy |
| 1950 | William Thomas Sanger | LL.D | President, Medical College of Virginia |
| 1950 | William Kerr Scott | LL.D | Governor of North Carolina |
| 1950 | Goodrich Cook White | LL.D | President, Emory University |
| 1950 | Louis Booker Wright | D.H. | Director, Folger Shakespeare Library |
| 1949 | Beatrice Cobb | LL.D | Editor and Publisher |
| 1949 | Harry Fulcher Comer | LL.D | Secretary of the YMCA |
| 1949 | John Rood Cunningham | LL.D | President, Davidson College and Pastor |
| 1949 | Robert Bingham Downs | LL.D | Director of the Library and Library School |
| 1949 | Norman Foerster | Litt.D | Author and Editor |
| 1949 | Gordon Gray | LL.D | President of the Piedmont Publishing Company and Owner of the Winston-Salem Journal |
| 1949 | Carl Vernon Reynolds | LL.D | Medical Doctor of the University of the City of New York |
| 1949 | James Webb | LL.D | Attorney in the office of O. Max Gardner and Major, U.S. Marine Corps |
