Past Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients
The following is a list of past honorary degree recipients and Founders Day speakers. The former are designated by the degree they received.
1888
Susan J. Cunningham, Science - College co-founder and longtime math and astronomy professor
1889
Arthur Beardsley, Ph.D. - Swarthmore professor of civil and mechanical engineering
Isaac Sharpless, Laws - president, Haverford College (1887-1917)
1890
Olivia Rodham, A.B. - botanist and College librarian
1897
Elizabeth Powell Bond, M.A. - Swarthmore's first Dean of Women (1890-1906)
1903
Isaac Hallowell Clothier, M.A. - co-founder, Strawbridge & Clothier department store
John Kelvey Richards '75, Laws - U.S. Solicitor General, Circuit Judge, Sixth Judicial Circuit
Joseph Wharton, Laws - industrialist and founder, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School
1906
Sarah March Nowell, M.A. - College librarian (1888-1906)
1909
Alexander Cummins '89, Letters
1911
David Newlin Fell, Laws - Judge, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
William Plumer Potter, Laws
Wilson M. Powell, Laws - prominent New York attorney
John M. Shrigley, M.A. - president, Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades
1912
William Hyde Appleton, Laws - president, Swarthmore College (1889-91)
1918
Isaac H. Clothier H '03, Laws - co-founder, Strawbridge & Clothier department store
Robert M. Janney, M.A. - former president, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and director, Provident Life & Trust Co.
Ellis Pusey Passmore '93, M.A. - president, Bank of North America & Trust Co.
Edgar Fahs Smith, Letters - notable chemist and educator
1919
Alexander Mitchell Palmer '91, Laws - U.S. Attorney General
William C. Sproul '91, Laws - governor of Pennsylvania (1919-23)
1920
Herbert Clark Hoover, Laws - administered U.S. and European relief services during WWI
Edward Martin '78, Science - professor of surgery, University of Pennsylvania
Edward Wilson '91, M.A.
1921
Morris L. Clothier '90, Laws - merchant and philanthropist
Joseph Swain, Laws - president, Swarthmore College (1902-21)
1922
Thomas Atkinson Jenkins '87, Letters - philologist and educator, University of Chicago
Rufus M. Jones, Laws - Quaker historian and co-founder and first chairman, American Friends Service Committee
M. Carey Thomas, Laws - first dean and second president, Bryn Mawr College
1923
David Barker Rushmore '94, Science - chief engineer, General Electric Co.
Edward Brinton Temple '91, Engineering - chief engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad
Henry Chandlee Turner '93, Engineering - founder, Turner Construction Co.
1924
William C. L. Eglin, Science - famed electrical engineer and five-term president, Franklin Institute
Josiah Harmar Penniman, Letters - president and provost, University of Pennsylvania (1923-26)
1926
John William Graham, Letters - Swarthmore's first Howard M. Jenkins chair of Quaker history and research
Charles Francis Jenkins, M.A. - Quaker historian
1927
Vincent Massey - first Canadian minister to U.S. (1926-30)
1928
Max Mason - mathematical physicist and president, University of Chicago (1925-28)
1929
Lou Henry Hoover, Letters - president, Girl Scouts of America and vice-president, National Amateur Athletic Federation
Howard McClenahan, Laws - secretary, Franklin Institute (1925 - 35)
Marion Edwards Park, Laws - president, Bryn Mawr College (1922-42)
William F.G. Swann, Science - director, Bartol Research Institute (1927-59)
1931
James Rowland Angell - psychologist and president, Yale University (1921-37)
1932
Jane Addams, Laws - founder, Hull House and winner, 1931 Nobel Peace Prize
1933
Frances Wylie, Laws
1934
Abraham Flexner, Laws - first director, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
1935
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Letters - prolific author who popularized Montessori teaching method in U.S.
Rufus M. Jones - Quaker historian and co-founder and first chairman, American Friends Service Committee
William E. Sweet '90, Laws - philanthropist and governor of Colorado (1923-25)
1936
Wilbur L. Cross - governor of Connecticut (1931-39)
1937
Detlev W. Bronk '20, Science - professor of biophysics at University of Pennsylvania (1929-49)
Alan Valentine '21, Laws - president, University of Rochester (1935 - 50)
Raymond Walters, Laws - president, University of Cincinnati (1932 - 51)
Joseph H. Willets '11, Laws - economist and dean, Wharton School
1938
Albert Einstein - winner, 1921 Nobel Prize in physics (above, with President Frank Aydelotte)
1939
Philip Henry Kerr, Laws - British Ambassador to U.S.
1939
Eduard Benes - president, Czechoslovakia (1935-38)
1940
Frank Aydelotte, Humane Letters - president, Swarthmore College (1921-40)
Nora Waln Osland-Hill '19, M.A. - prolific author and foreign war correspondent
1941
Rufus M. Jones - Quaker historian and co-founder and first chairman, American Friends Service Committee
1942
Thomas S. Gates, Laws - president, University of Pennsylvania (1930-44)
Milo R. Perkins - New Deal official
Edith Wilder Scott '96, M.A. - horticulturalist
John C. Wister, Science - horticulturalist and first director, Scott Arboretum
1943
Felix Morley - winner, 1936 Pulitzer Prize and president, Haverford College (1940-45)
1944
Dorothy Canfield Fisher - prolific author who popularized Montessori teaching method in U.S.
1945
Brand Blanshard - philosopher and writer
1946
Clarence Streit - journalist and noted Atlanticist
George Arthur Walton, Laws - headmaster, George School (1912-48)
1947
Brand Blanshard, Letters - philosopher and writer
Thomas B. McCabe '15, Laws - president and CEO, Scott Paper Company (1927-67), chairman, Federal Reserve Board (1948-51) and longtime Swarthmore board member
Harold E. Stassen, Laws - national political leader who helped write U.N. Charter
Harold C. Urey - winner, 1934 Nobel Prize in chemistry
1948
Clair Wilcox - economist and Swarthmore faculty member (1927-68)
1949
Victor L. Butterfield - president, Wesleyan University (1942-67)
1950
Anna Cox Brinton, Laws - director, Pendle Hill (1936-56)
James B. Conant, Laws - and administrator, Manhattan Project and president, Harvard University (1933-53)
David M. Dennison '21, Science - physicist who discovered the spin of the proton
Raymond Blaine Fosdick, Laws - lawyer, public official, and president, Rockefeller Foundation
Clarence E. Pickett, Laws - executive secretary, American Friends Service Committee (1929-50)
Charles C. Price '34, Science - chemist and educator
Samuel R.M. Reynolds '27, Science - anatomist
1951
Howard C. Johnson '96, Laws - State Department and Ford Foundation official
Trygve Lie - first U.N. Secretary-General
1952
Clark Kerr '32, Laws - esteemed educator and first chancellor, UC-Berkeley (1952-58)
Patrick M. Malin, Laws - Swarthmore economics professor and executive director, American Civil Liberties Union (1950-63)
Jane Palen Rushmore '83, Letters - general secretary, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (1911-45)
1953
John W. Nason, Laws - president, Swarthmore College (1940-53)
1954
Henry J. Cadbury, Laws - religion scholar and co-founder, American Friends Service Committee, who accepted its 1947 Nobel Peace Prize
Elmer Davis, Humane Letters - national print and broadcast journalist
James A. Michener '29, Humane Letters - winner, 1947 Pulitzer Prize
Philip D. Reed, Laws - president and CEO, General Electric Co. (1940-42, 1945-58)
1955
Hugo Lafayette Black, Laws - Supreme Court justice
Paul H. Douglas, Laws - economist, social activist, and U.S. Senator
Amos Jenkins Peaslee '07, Laws - U.S. Ambassador to Australia (1953-56)
1956
Frank. W. Abrams, Laws - chairman, Standard Oil Co. who in 1953 established the Council for Financial Aid to Education
Katherine E. McBride, Laws - president, Bryn Mawr College (1942-70)
Irving S. Olds, Laws - chairman, U.S. Steel, who joined in 1953 the Council for Financial Aid to Education
Gilbert F. White, Laws - geographer and ecologist
Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr., Laws - U.S. district court judge
1957
Clement M. Biddle, Sr. '96, Laws - merchant, philanthropist, and Swarthmore board member (1927-50)
H. Jermain Creighton, Science - Swarthmore chemistry professor
Lord Geoffrey Crowther, Laws - chairman and editor, The Economist
Marion Bayard Folsom, Laws - Kodak executive and cabinet official for presidents Roosevelt and Eisenhower
Bliss Forbush, Laws - author and Quaker historian
1958
Arthur F. Burns, Laws - economist and president, National Bureau of Economic Research (1957-67)
Frank Porter Graham, Laws - president, Univ. of North Carolina (1930-49), U.S. Senator (1949-50), and U.N. representative
Andrew Wyeth, Fine Art - renowned painter
Jessamyn West McPherson, Letters - prolific author known for short story collections
George Swift Schairer '34, Engineering - aerodynamics chief at Boeing who developed the B-17 and B-52 bombers and the first passenger jet, among others
1959
Gaylord P. Harnwell, Laws - president, University of Pennsylvania (1953-70)
Devereux Colt Josephs, Laws - director, Council on Foreign Relations (1951-58)
Henry Allen Moe, Laws - first president, Guggenheim Foundation (1925-63)
Robert Penn Warren, Humane Letters - winner, Pulitzer Prize in 1947, 1957, and 1979
Wolfgang Köhler, Science - co founder, Gestalt psychology, and Swarthmore professor (1935-58)
1960
W. Curtis Bok, Humane Letters - Pennsylvania Supremem Court justice and author
Milton S. Eisenhower, Laws - president, Pennsylvania State (1950-56) and Johns Hopkins (1956 - 67) Universities
Douglas Bush, Letters - scholar, literary historian, and educator
Martin Schwarzchild, Science - astronomer whose work explained the existence of giant stars
1961
Werner Jaeger, Humane Letters - classicist best known for studies of Hellenic Greeks
Ralph Jackson Baker '07, Laws specialist in trust and corporation law at Harvard University
Crawford H. Greenewalt, Laws - president, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (1948-67)
1962
Constantinos A. Doxiadis, Laws - influential architect and urban planner
Richard H. McFeely '27, Laws - headmaster, George School (1948-66)
Hilton S. Read, Laws - founded program for foreign medical school graduates at community hospitals in the United States
Charlotte Moore Sitterly '20, Science - physicist accalimed for her analysis of solar and atomic spectra
1963
Kermit Gordon '38, Laws - economist who served in various government positions
James A. Perkins '34, Laws - president, Cornell University (1963-69)
Alfred H. Williams, Laws - president, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (1941-58) and dean, Wharton School
Charles Hard Townes, Science - winner, 1964 Nobel Prize in physics
1964
W.H. Auden, Humane Letters - winner, 1948 Pulitzer Prize and member, Swarthmore faculty (1942-45)
Lyndon B. Johnson, Laws - U.S. president (1963-69)
John Jay McCloy, Laws - chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank (1953-60) and the Ford Foundation (1958-65)
Hermann J. Muller, Science - winner, 1948 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
Gunnar Myrdal, Laws - political economist, sociologist, and U.N. and Swedish government official
Alexander C. Purdy, Laws - New Testament scholar and dean, Hartford Seminary Foundation (1954-60)
U Thant, Laws - U.N. secretary-general, (1961-71)
1965
Bertha von Moschzisker, Fine Arts - director, Philadelphia Print Club and curator of prints, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
C. Canby Balderston, Laws - governor, Federal Reserve Board (1954-66) and president, Leeds and Lippincott Co.
Roy Wilkins, Laws - executive director and executive secretary, NAACP (1955-77)
Elliott Carter, Music - winner, 1960 and 1973 Pulitzer Prize
Christian B. Anfinsen '37, Science - winner, 1972 Nobel Prize in chemistry
1966
Colin W. Bell, Laws - executive secretary, American Friends Service Committee (1963-68)
Richard Clarkson Bond '31, Laws - civic leader and president, John Wanamaker's (1950-68)
Eugene P. Wigner, Science - winner, 1963 Nobel Prize in physics
1967
Evan H. Turner, Laws - director, Philadelphia Museum of Art (1964-80)
Kenneth E. Boulding, Laws - advocate of normative economics and the integration of the social sciences
Rosamund Cross, Laws - head, Baldwin School (1941-70)
William W. Scranton, Laws - governor of Pennsylvania (1963-67) and U.S. ambasaador to the U.N. (1967-77)
Claude C. Smith '14, Laws - prominent lawyer and chair, Swarthmore Board (1952-66)
1968
John King Fairbank, Laws - influential Chinese studies scholar and educator
Albert Branson Maris, Laws - judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1938-58)
Howard Charles Petersen, Laws - expert in international economics and trade who served in the administrations of four presidents and CEO, Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co. (1952-77)
William C.H. Prentice '37, Laws - psychology professor and dean, Swarthmore College, and president,Wheaton College (1962-75)
Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, Laws - civil rights advocate, anti-apartheid activist, and author, Sullivan Principles
1969
Milton Byron Babbitt, Music - composer and leading proponent of serialism, a compositional system that uses mathematical techniques
H. Thomas Hallowell, Jr. '29, Laws - inventor and president, Standard Pressed Steel Co. (1951-86)
Ernst Kitzinger, Humane Letters - influential historian of Byzantine, early Christian, and early medieval art
Jonathan Evans Rhoads, Science - pioneer in the development of total parenteral nutrition and chief of general surgery, University of Pennsylvania (1959-72)
Edgar Trevor Williams, Humane Letters - pro-vice Chancellor, University of Oxford (1968-80) and editor, Dictionary of National Biography
1970
A. Noam Chomsky, Humane Letters - linguist and social/political theorist
John Wainwright Evans, Jr. '32, Science - astrophysicist and first director, National Solar Observatory (1952-74)
Clarence R. Moll, Laws - president, Widener University (1959-81)
R. Stewart Rauch, Jr., Laws - civic leader and president, Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (1955-71)
Barbara Weisberger, Humane Letters - founder and artistic director, Pennsylvania Ballet Co. (1962-82)
1971
Russell Meiggs, Humane Letters - classicist and fellow, Balliol College at Oxford (1945-1970)
Henry S. Reuss, Laws - Wisconsin congressman (1955-83) who introduced first House legislation to establish the Peace Corps
1972
Eleanor Stabler Clarke '18, Humane Letters - member, Swarthmore Board of Managers (1935-71)
Richardson Dilworth, Laws - civic reformer and mayor of Philadelphia (1955-62)
Howard M. Temin '55, Science - winner, 1975 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
1973
Boyd T. Barnard '17, Laws - philanthropist and partner, president and/or chairman of Jackson-Cross Co. (1920-70)
Martin A. Pomerantz, Science - physicist and director, Bartol Research Foundation (1959-87)
1974
Eleanor Flexner '30, Humane Letters - women's rights historian
Richard Wall Lyman '47, Laws - president, Stanford University (1970-80)
Andrew J. Young, Jr., Laws - Georgia congressman and civil rights leader
1975
William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr., Laws - public servant and civil rights and corporate attorney
Michael S. Dukakis '55, Laws - governor, Massachusetts (1974-78, 1982-1990)
Philip T. Sharples '10, Laws - mining executive and philanthropist
Ruth Patrick, Science - founder and chair, Environmental Research Division at the Academy of Natural Sciences (1947-1973)
E. Raymond Wilson, Humane Letters - founder, Friends Committee on National Legislation
1976
David Baltimore '60, Science - winner, 1975 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
Christopher F. Edley, Laws - president, United Negro College Fund (1973-1985)
Alice Mitchell Rivlin, Laws - economist and first director, Congressional Budget Office (1975-83)
Nancy Grace Roman '46, Science - chief, Astronomy and Relativity Programs at NASA (1960-79)
Natalie Hinderas, Music - classical pianist and pioneer in research and performance of music by black composers
1977
Howard Sinclair Turner '33, Laws - president and chairman, Turner Construction Co. (1965-78)
Mary B. Newman '30, Laws - Massachusetts state representative
Elise Bjorn-Hansen Boulding, Humane Letters - sociologist and co-founder, International Peace Research Asso.
James B. Pritchard, Humane Letters - archaeologist and Old Testament scholar
Courtland D. Perkins '35, Engineering - pioneer in the field of in-flight test analysis of aircraft stability
1978
Edward K. Cratsley, Laws - Swarthmore vice president for finance (1951-1978)
Paul N. Ylvisaker, Laws - noted city planner, government official, foundation executive, and educator
Gerard K. O'Neill '50, Science - physicist who invented the colliding-beam storage ring and a leading advocate of space colonization.
Maxine Frank Singer '52, Science - biochemist and president, Carnegie Institution (1988-2002)
Margaret E. Kuhn, Humane Letters - founder, Gray Panthers
1979
Sadie Tanner Mosell Alexander, Laws - lawyer and civil rights advocate
Stephen G. Cary, Laws - peace activist and head, American Friends Service Committee (1979-91)
N. Bruce Hannay '42, Science - chemist, physicist, and vice presdient, Bell Labs (1973-82)
William Hardy McNeill, Humane Letters - influential historian
1980
Marian Wright Edelman, Laws - social activist and founder, Children's Defense Fund
Carl Levin '56, Laws - U.S. Senator from Michigan (1978- present)
Renoo Suvarnsit '47, Laws - secretary general, National Economic Development Board of Thailand
James Tobin, Laws - winner, 1981 Nobel Prize in economics
J. Peter Schickele '57, Music - composer, musician, satirist, and founder, P.D.Q. Bach
1981
Margaret Hope Bacon, Humane Letters - author, activist, and Quaker historian
Henry Max Hoenigswald, Humane Letters - influential linguist
Eugene M. Lang '38, Laws - entrepreneur and founder, I Have A Dream Foundation
Willis D. Weatherford, Jr., Laws - Swarthmore economics professor (1948-64) and president, Berea College (1967-84)
1982
Ernesta Drinker Ballard, Laws - women's rights advocate and director, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (1963-81)
Katherine Merrill Lindsley Camp '40, Laws - national president (1967-71) and international president (1974-80), Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Howard A. Schneiderman '48, Science - developmental biologist, educator, and chief scientist and senior vice-president for research and development, Monsanto Corp. (1979-90)
1983
Julien Cornell '30, Humane Letters - attorney and expert on legal issues regarding conscientious objection and Civilian Public Service
Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre, Humane Letters - influential philosopher
Margaret Byrd Rawson '23, Humane Letters - sociologist, psychologist, and expert on dsylexia
Ellen Ash Peters '51, Laws - first woman justice and later chief justice, Connecticut Supreme Court (1984-96)
1984
Nannerl Overholser Keohane, Laws - president, Wellesley College (1981-93) and Duke University (1993-2004)
Victor S. Navasky '54, Laws - editor, The Nation (1978-95)
Clifford J. Geertz, Humane Letters- prolific and influential cultural anthropologist
Fatima Meer, Humane Letters - author and anti-apartheid activist
William Foote Whyte '36, Humane Letters - influential sociologist
1985
Carol F. Gilligan '58, Science - influential psychologist and founder, Harvard Project on Women's Psychology and Girls Development
Leon Golub, Fine Arts - provocative figurative painter
Jeremy J. Stone '57, Laws - president, Federation of American Scientists (1970-2000)
Richard B. Willis '33, Laws - president, Johnson, Kendall & Johnson Inc.
1986
Jane Shelby Richardson '62, Science - biochemist known for pioneering the revolutionary development in protein depiction
Dorothy Shoemaker McDiarmid '29, Laws - 26-year delegate to Virginia General Assembly advanced public education throughout the state
Gilbert Kalish, Music - influential pianist and educator
Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., '46, Laws - investment banker and philanthropist
Sandra Moore Faber '66, Science - astronomer and educator
1987
Philip D. Curtin '45, Humane Letters - a pioneer in world, comparative, and Atlantic history and in history of Africa and the Caribbean
Vincent G. Harding, Humane Letters - historian, theologian, and first director, Martin Luther King Memorial Center
Mildred Scott Olmstead, Laws - director, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (1946-66)
Robert C. Turner '36, Fine Arts - acclaimed ceramic artist and educator
Sue Thomas Turner '35, Laws - member, Swarthmore Board of Managers (1959-73, 1975-86)
1988
Ernest D. Courant '40, Science - physicist who made key contributions to development of particle accelerators
Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. '53, Laws - leading scholar of legal ethics
Molly Yard '33, Laws - student and civil rights activist and president, National Organization for Women (1987-91)
1989
George H. Crumb, Music - composer and winner, 1967 Pulitzer Prize
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot '66, Humane Letters - influential sociologist and educator and recipient, 1984 MacArthur Fellowship
David C. Page '78, Science - author of fundamental studies of the Y chromosome and recipient, 1986 MacArthur Fellowship
Barbara Hall Partee '61, Science - linguist, educator and a founder of linguistic semantics
William Poole VII '59, Laws - economist, adviser, and president, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (1998-2008)
1990
Heywood Hale Broun '40, Humane Letters - sports correspondent, writer, and actor known for his wit and elegant commentary
David Montgomery '50, Humane Letters - leading labor historian
Robert D. Putnam '63, Laws - influential political scientist and dean, Kennedy School of Government (1989-93)
Robert V. Whitman '48, Science - civil engineer with expertise in earthquake engineering
Mary Patterson McPherson, Humane Letters - president, Bryn Mawr College (1978-97)
1991
Paul Brest '62, Laws - legal scholar, Stanford Law School dean (1987-99), and president, Hewlett Foundation (2000-present)
Cushing Niles Dolbeare '49, Laws -founder, National Low Income Housing Coalition and respected adviser on federal housing policy
Walter Lamb '39, Science - chairman, Robert E. Lamb Inc.
1992
Janet S. Dickerson, Laws - Swarthmore dean (1981-91) and vice president, Duke (1991-2000), and Princeton (2000-present) Universities
Eilene Marie Galloway '28, Laws - pioneer in space policy and law, including the act that established NASA
John J. Hopfield '54, Science - physicist and biologist known for inventing the Hopfield, or associative neural, network
Thomas N. Mitchell, Humane Letters - classicist and provost, Trinity College Dublin (1991-2001)
Adrienne Rich, Humane Letters - poet and theorist on the politics of sexuality, race, language, power, and women's culture
1993
Jonathan E. Fine '54, Medical Sciences - founder, Physicians for Human Rights/USA
Arlie Russell Hochschild '62, Humane Letters - influential sociologist and educator
Bernice Johnson Reagon, Humane Letters - historian, activist, and founder, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Jon Sobrino, Humane Letters - pioneering liberation theologian and educator
Harris L. Wofford, Jr., Laws - co-founder, Peace Corps and U.S. senator from Pennsylvania (1991-95)
1994
David S. Bamberger '62, Humane Letters - founder and general director, Cleveland Opera (1976-2004)
Seamus Heaney, Humane Letters - winner, 1995 Nobel Prize in literature
John C. Mather '68, Science - NASA astrophysicist and winner, 2006 Nobel Prize in physics
1995
Barbara Weiss Cartwright '37, Laws - lifelong advocate for peace, criminal justice reform, and public service
Dorwin P. Cartwright '37, Laws - pioneering social psychologist and educator
William H. Cosby, Jr., Humane Letters; Rescinded in 2015
Heidi I. Hartmann '67, Laws - founder and president, Institute for Women's Policy Research
1996
Lani Guinier, Laws - civil rights attorney and scholar
Johnny Irizarry, Laws - educator, artist, and executive director, Taller Puertorriqueño (1985-97)
Bennett Lorber '64, Science - renowned expert in infectious diseases
Andries van Dam '60, Science - computer scientist and graphics pioneer who built first hypertext system
1997
Robert L. Bernstein, Laws - founder, Human Rights Watch and Random House executive (1962-89)
Ronald W. Jones '52, Science - economist and expert on international trade
Charles F.C. Ruff '60, Laws - Watergate prosecutor and White House counsel (1997-99)
Sandra Lewis Sparrow, Humane Letters
1998
Jane Golden Heriza, Humane Letters - founder and director, Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (1984-present)
David Ho, Science - renowned AIDS researcher and early champion of combination antiretroviral therapy to treat the disease
Ulric R.G. Neisser M'53, Science - pioneering cognitive psychologist
Walter Scheuer '44, Humane Letters - investor and philanthropist
1999
Margaret Allen '70, Science - cardiothoracic surgeon, researcher, and public health advocate
Christopher Edley, Jr. '73, Laws - co-founder, Harvard Civil Rights project and dean, UC- Berkeley School of Law
Robert Kuttner, Arts - co-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect
2000
Ian Barbour '44, Science - physicist and theologian
Bill T. Jones, Arts - co-founder, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Elizabeth Martinez '46, Humane Letters - author and social activist
2001
Adrienne Asch '69, Science - bioethicist and civil rights advocate
Ken Hechler '35, Humane Letters - nine-term Congressman, author, and veteran
Abraham Verghese, Arts - author and physician
2002
Denis Halliday, Humane Letters - former U.N. humanitarian coordinator
Josef Joffe '65, Humane Letters - journalist and international relations scholar
2003
Christopher Chyba '82, Science - astrobiologist and public policy expert
Margaret Morgan Lawrence, Science - child psychiatrist
Jed S. Rakoff '64, Human Letters - U.S. District Judge
2004
Patrick G. Awuah, Jr. '89, Humane Letters - founder, Ashesi University College in Ghana
Marjorie Garber '66, Humane Letters - Shakespeare scholar and cultural critic
Joy ('51) and Herbert Kaiser '49, Humane Letters - founders, Medical Education for Southern African Blacks
2005
Jonathan Franzen '81, Humane Letters - author
Daniel Hoffman, Humane Letters - poet and professor of English Literature, Swarthmore College 1956-1965
Anne Schuchat '80, Science - Rear Admiral, United States Public Health Service
2006
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Humane Letters - philosopher and African studies scholar
Neil Gershenfeld '81, Science - scientist and inventor
Mary Murphy Schroeder '62, Humane Letters - Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
2007
Marcia A. Grant '60, Humane Letters - founder, Effat College in Saudi Arabia
Robert Parris Moses, Humane Letters - civil rights leader and founder, Algebra Project
J. Robert Prichard '71, Science - president and CEO, Torstar Corporation
2008
Alberto Mora '74, Humane Letters - former general counsel, Department of the Navy
Robert Storr '72, Arts - dean, Yale University School of Art
Phyllis Wise '67, Science - researcher, provost, and executive vice-president, University of Washington
2009
Alfred H. Bloom, Humane Letters - president, Swarthmore College 1991-2009
Mary Schmidt Campbell '69, Arts - educator and dean, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts
James C. Hormel '55, Humane Letters - philanthropist and former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg
2010
Bonnie Bassler, Science - educator and microbiologist
John Braxton '70, Humane Letters - educator and labor leader
Robert Michael Franklin, Humane Letters - president, Morehouse College
Stephen Lang '73, Arts - actor and author
2011
David Bradley '75, Humane Letters - publisher and philanthropist
David Kennedy '80, Laws - criminologist and youth advocate
Iqbal Qadir '81, Humane Letters - entrepreneur and educator
2012
Lotte Bailyn '51, Humane Letters - author, academic, and promoter of gender equality in the workplace
Frank Easterbrook '70, Laws - legal scholar and chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Judy Richardson '66, Arts - civil rights activist, editor and publisher, and documentary film director and producer
2013
Tralance Addy '69, Humane Letters - entrepreneur, humanitarian, and founder and CEO of Plebys International
Lorene Cary, Arts - novelist and social activist
2014
Thomas Laqueur ’67, Humanities - scholar and writer
Barbara Norfleet ’47, Arts - documentary photographer and professor
Vaneese Thomas ’74, Arts - vocalist and composer
Christopher Van Hollen ’83, Laws - congressman
2015
John Alston, Arts - founder & director, Chester Children's Chorus
Randy J. Holland '69, Laws - legal scholar and Delaware Supreme Court justice
Molly Miller Jahn '80, Science - scientist and educator
2016
Leo Braudy '63, Humane Letters - film critic and cultural historian
F. Stuart "Terry" Chapin '66, Science - ecosystem ecologist
Carol Padden, Humane Letters - scholar and advocate for deaf communities
2017
David Gelber '63, Arts - documentary film producer and journalist
John Goldman '71, Business - philanthropist
Anna Deavere Smith, Humane Letters - actress, playwright, and educator
2018
Edgar Cahn ‘56, Laws - social justice advocate
Sonia Sanchez, Arts - poet and writer
Francisco Valero-Cuevas '88, Science - biomedical engineer
2019
Njideka Akunyili Crosby ’04, Arts - visual artist
Jon Lorsch ’90, Science - biochemist, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Bryan A. Stevenson, Laws - founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative
2020
Adele Diamond ’74, Sciences - neuroscientist
Saidiya Hartman, Humane Letters - cultural historian
David T. Linde ’82, Humane Letters - CEO, Participant Media
2021
Elizabeth Anderson ’81, Humane Letters - philosopher
Rachel Levine, Science - assistant secretary of health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dawn Porter ’88, Humane Letters - filmmaker and the co-founder of Trilogy Films
2022
T. Alexander Aleinikoff ’74, Laws - immigration law scholar and director of the New School's Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility
Marshall Curry ’92, Arts - Academy Award-winning filmmaker
Josh Green ’92, Science - lieutenant governor of Hawaii
Virginia Johnson, Arts - artistic director and founding member, Dance Theatre of Harlem
2023
Marianne McKenna ’72, Arts - architect
Karama Neal ’93, Laws - U.S. Department of Agriculture administrator
Amy Vedder ’73, Science - wildlife conservationist and educator
Bill Weber '72, Science - wildlife conservationist and educator
2024
Louis Massiah, Arts - documentary filmmaker
Lulu Miller '05, Science - science journalist
