Honorary Degree Recipients
Every year through the Office of the President, The American College of Greece confers honorary degrees on distinguished leaders who rank among the most influential academicians, artists, politicians and philanthropists in the world. Since 1977, 101 men and women who have achieved the highest levels of recognition in their respective fields have been honored at ACG’s commencement ceremonies. Recipients are leaders from both Greece and the United States whose voices continue to inspire the next generation of graduates with visionary ideas and ideals. The conferrals are a celebration of the ideas that shape the world we live in and an affirmation of the College’s commitment to thought leadership.
List of Honorees
Featured in Chronological Order
NAME |
TITLE |
DEGREE |
YEAR |
| LOOMIS PATRICK* | Lawyer, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1977 |
| FRANCIS HORN* | Educator, President of the University of Rhode Island | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1978 |
| EPPIE LEDERER (ANN LANDERS)* | Author, Lecturer, nationally syndicated Columnist | Doctor of Laws | 1979 |
| ALEXANDROS DEMITRIOS KALOVIDOURIS* | Lawyer, Counsel to The American College of Greece for more than fifty years | Doctor of Laws | 1979 |
| FERDINAND THUN* | Business leader, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees | Doctor of Laws | 1980 |
| DEREK CURTIS BOK | Educator, Author, President of Harvard University | Doctor of Civil Law | 1980 |
| DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN | Author, Professor | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1981 |
| LATTIE F. COOR | Educator, President of the University of Vermont | Doctor of Laws | 1982 |
| PAUL EFTHEMIOS TSONGAS* | U.S. Senator | Doctor of Laws | 1983 |
| PAUL SPYROS SARBANES* | U.S. Senator | Doctor of Laws | 1985 |
| HARRY ELLIS DICKSON* | Maestro | Doctor of Fine Arts | 1985 |
| ERNEST NUNCIO MANNINO* | Director, Office of Overseas Schools, U.S. Department of State | Doctor of Laws | 1985 |
| HANNA HOLBORN GRAY | Educator, President of the University of Chicago | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1986 |
| EVA-CHRISTINA MAKELAINEN | Diplomat, Ambassador of Finland to Greece | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1987 |
| ROBERTA BRYARS DEREE* | Trustee and Chair of the Board of Trustees | Doctor of Laws | 1987 |
| MARIANNE McDONALD | Classicist and Founder of “Thesaurus Linguae Graecae” | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1988 |
| TOM C. KOROLOGOS* | Trustee and Chairman of the Board | Doctor of Laws | 1989 |
| MATINA S. HORNER | Educator, President of Radcliffe College | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1990 |
| MARY CRIST FLEMING* | Educator, Founder of TASIS (The American School in Switzerland) | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1990 |
| MICHAEL SOTIRHOS* | U.S. Ambassador to Greece | Doctor of Laws | 1990 |
| MARIKA C. MITSOTAKIS* | Benefactress of physically and emotionally challenged children in Greece | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1991 |
| WILLIAM DONALD EDWARD COULSON* | Classicist, Professor, Director of The American School of Classical Studies | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1992 |
| KORALIA KROKODILOU* | Educator | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1992 |
| AFTAB SETH | Ambassador of India to Greece | Doctor of Laws | 1993 |
| NICOS HADJIKYRIAKOS-GHIKAS* | Artist, member of the Athens Academy | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1993 |
| PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR* | Soldier, Author, Lecturer, and Philhellene | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1993 |
| THOMAS M.T. NILES* | U.S. Ambassador to Greece | Doctor of Laws | 1994 |
| RONALD W. ROSKENS* | Director, U.S. Agency for International Development, and Ambassador | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1994 |
| THEODORE KRITAS* | Impresario | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1994 |
| RICHARD J. BRADLEY | Educational Administrator | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1995 |
| DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH | Educator, President of Wellesley College | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1995 |
| HERBERT MAZA* | Educator, Founder of the Institute for American Universities | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1996 |
| MARSHA ANNE McDONOUGH | Educator | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1996 |
| JON WESTLING* | Educator, President of Boston University | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1997 |
| JOHN J. GRAHAM | Lawyer, Public Official, Trustee | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1997 |
| DIMITRIS L. AVRAMOPOULOS | Mayor of Athens | Doctor of Laws | 1997 |
| RICHARD C. A. HOLBROOKE* | U.S. Ambassador | Doctor of Laws | 1998 |
| JOHN DiBIAGGIO* | Educator, President of Tufts University | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1998 |
| GEORGE J. MITCHELL | U.S. Senator | Doctor of Civil Law | Academic Convocation-1998 |
| His All Holiness BARTHOLOMEW | Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch | Doctor of Humane Letters | Academic Convocation-1999 |
| His Beatitude CHRISTODOULOS* | Archbishop of Athens and All Greece | Doctor of Laws | 1999 |
| R. NICHOLAS BURNS | U.S. Ambassador to Greece | Doctor of Laws | 1999 |
| Father WILLIAM LEAHY | Educator, President of Boston College | Doctor of Humane Letters | 1999 |
| WILLIAM W. McGREW | Educator, President of the American College of Thessaloniki | Doctor of Education | 1999 |
| The Right Reverend BISHOP KALLISTOS OF DIOKLEIA* | Author, Lecturer | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2000 |
| RICHARD M. FREELAND | Educator, President of Northeastern University | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2000 |
| LOUIS de BERNIERES | Author | Doctor of Letters | 2001 |
| TERRENCE J. MacTAGGART | Educator, Chancellor of the University of Maine | Doctor of Laws | 2001 |
| IAN ANDREW VORRES | Patron of the Arts, Founder of the Vorres Museum | Doctor of Fine Arts | 2001 |
| OLYMPIA J. SNOWE | U.S. Senator | Doctor of Laws | 2002 |
| THOMAS J. MILLER | U.S. Ambassador to Greece | Doctor of Laws | 2002 |
| NICHOLAS GAGE | Author | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2002 |
| ANDREAS ANDRIANOPOULOS | Author, Lecturer, Former Parliamentarian & Cabinet Minister | Doctor of Laws | 2003 |
| JOHN LAWSON LEATHAM* | Writer, Translator, Philhellene | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2003 |
| YANNIS ZERVOS | Promoter of Arts and Letters | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2003 |
| HARVEY C. MANSFIELD JR. | William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2003 |
| ADOLF OGI | United Nations Under Secretary General, Former President of Switzerland | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2003 |
| HARRY MARK PETRAKIS* | Author and Lecturer | Doctor of Literature | 2004 |
| GEORGE M. BAPIS (posthumously)* | Chairman of the Board of Trustees | Doctor of Laws | 2004 |
| CHARLES M. COOK | Educator and Administrator | Doctor of Education | 2004 |
| ANNA BENAKI-PSAROUDA* | President of the Hellenic Parliament | Doctor of Laws | 2005 |
| EUGENE T. ROSSIDES* | President of the American Hellenic Institute | Doctor of Laws | 2005 |
| CHARLES P. RIES | Diplomat | Doctor of Laws | 2006 |
| DONALD KAGAN* | Educator | Doctor of Letters | 2006 |
| SISSELA ANN BOK | Philosopher and Scholar | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2007 |
| His Eminence ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS | Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2007 |
| RUTH J. SIMMONS | Administrator and Educator | Doctor of Laws | 2008 |
| THEODORE ELIA LYRAS | Professor and Administrator | Doctor of Education | 2008 |
| JOHN STEPHEN BAILEY* | International Educator | Doctor of Laws | 2008 |
| ANDREW A. ATHENS* | Philanthropist, businessman | Doctor of Laws | 2009 |
| JOHN BRADEMAS* | Legislator, educator | Doctor of Laws | 2009 |
| MIKIS THEODORAKIS* | Composer, civil rights advocate | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2009 |
| ANDREAS GERASIMOS TZAKIS | Surgeon, researcher | Doctor of Science | 2010 |
| MARIANNA VARDINOYANNIS* | Philanthropist | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2010 |
| CAROL T. CHRIST | Educator, President of Smith College | Doctor of Letters | 2011 |
| P. NIKIFOROS DIAMANDOUROS | Educator, European Ombudsman | Doctor of Laws | 2011 |
| ELENI TSAKOPOULOS KOUNALAKIS | U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Philanthropist | Doctor of Laws | 2011 |
| NIKI GOULANDRIS* | Philanthropist | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2012 |
| THEODORE PAPALEXOPOULOS* | Business reformer | Doctor of Laws | 2012 |
| PETER THUN | Benefactor of education | Doctor of Laws | 2012 |
| GEORGE LOGOTHETIS | Philanthropist, business leader | Doctor of Laws | 2013 |
| LINDA P.B. KATEHI | President, UC Davis | Doctor of Science | 2014 |
| DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS* | President, Acropolis Museum | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2015 |
| MARTIN T. MEEHAN | President, UMASS System | Doctor of Laws | 2016 |
| OLGA ELAINE JULIUS | Principal, Pierce – The American College of Greece | Doctor of Letters | 2017 |
| PHILIP C. KOROLOGOS | Chair of the Board of Trustees, The American College of Greece | Doctor of Laws | 2017 |
| DIMITRI V. NANOPOULOS | Distinguished Professor of Physics | Doctor of Science | 2018 |
| NIKOS M. EBEOGLOU | Chair, Alba Board of Directors | Doctor of Laws | 2018 (Alba) |
| GEORGE M. MARCUS | Business leader and philanthropist | Doctor of Laws | 2019 |
| DIMITRIS AZEMOPOULOS | Ambassador, Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Canada (2017 – 2020) | Doctor of Laws | 2020 |
| GEOFFREY R. PYATT | U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic | Doctor of Laws | 2021 |
| MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN | Founder, Children’s Fund | Doctor of Laws | 2022 |
| PETER EDELMAN | Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center | Doctor of Laws | 2022 |
| MARGARET ATWOOD | Canadian Author, Poet, Novelist and Cultural Activist | Doctor of Humane Letters | 2023 |
| ALBERT BOURLA | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer | Doctor of Science | 2023 |
| JOHN P. CALAMOS Sr. | Founder, Chairman and Global Chief Investment Officer, Calamos Investments | Doctor of Laws | 2023 |
| JAMES E. RYAN | President, University of Virginia | Doctor of Laws | 2023 |
| PAUL ALIVISATOS | President, University of Chicago | Doctor of Science | 2024 |
| VERONICA ANTETOKOUNMPO | Philanthropist, Director, “The Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation” | Doctor of Laws | 2024 |
| ANDREW LIVERIS | Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Daw Chemical Company | Doctor of Laws | 2024 |
| DANIEL BENNETT SMITH | U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic 2010-2013/Chair, Board of Trustees | Doctor of Laws | 2025 |
* deceased