Board of Regents

Recognition

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Honorary Degrees

The Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters is awarded by the Board of Regents to individuals distinguished by their national or international reputations or accomplishments in scholarship, public service, profession, industry or other areas.

UH Executive Policy on awarding of honorary degrees.

2023 Recipients

2022 Recipient

2019 Recipients

2017 Recipient

2016 Recipient

2015 Recipients

2014 Recipients

2013 Recipients

2012 Recipients

2011 Recipients

2010 Recipients

2009 Recipients

2006 Recipients

2005 Recipients

2004 Recipients

2003 Recipients

2002 Recipients

2001 Recipient

2000

  • Kim Dae Jung, president of South Korea and Nobel Prize winner

1990–1999

  • Lech Walesa, human rights supporter, former Poland president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1999
  • Toshiko Takaezu, master potter, 1993
  • Thomas Yagi, 1993
  • Monsignor Charles Kekumano, priest, 1993
  • Richard Wong, state senator, Bishop Estate trustee, 1993
  • Robert Oshiro, co-founder, Hawai‘i Democratic Party and state legislator, 1993
  • Calvin Sia, Kapiolani Medical Center trustee, 1992
  • Betty Vitousek, Family Court judge, 1992
  • Danny Kaleikini, entertainer, 1991
  • Alfred Preis, founder, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 1991
  • Masaru Pundy Yokouchi, chair, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 1991
  • Hubert Everly, dean emeritus, UH College of Education, 1991
  • Ralph Kosaki, superintendent of education, 1991
  • Shimeji Kanazawa, Kuakini Health System trustee, 1990
  • Saburo Okita, chair, Institute for Domestic and International Policy Studies, 1990
  • Lloyd R. Vasey, founder, Pacific Forum, 1990
  • William Fulbright, U.S. senator, 1990

1980–1989

  • Herbert C. Cornuelle, James Campbell Estate trustee, 1989
  • Hung Wai Ching, retired businessman, 1989
  • Dai Ho Chun, retired educator, 1989
  • Kan Jung Luke, chairman, Hawai‘i National Bank, 1989
  • Edward Nakamura, Supreme Court associate justice, 1988 (DH)
  • Ah Quon McElrath, social worker, 1988 (DH)
  • Soedjatmoko, United Nations University rector, 1988 (DH)
  • Yehan Numata, founder, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, 1988 (DH)
  • Kenneth F. Brown, architect, former legislator, 1987 (DH)
  • Beatrice Krauss, ethnobotanist, 1987 (DH)
  • Mau Piailug, navigator and explorer, 1987 (DH)
  • Claude DuTeil, founder and head, Institute for Human Services, 1987 (DH)
  • Bhumibol Adulyadej, king of Thailand, 1986 (DH)
  • Robert J. Pfeiffer, chairman and CEO, Alexander & Baldwin, 1986 (DH)
  • George R. Ariyoshi, governor of Hawai‘i, 1986 (DH)
  • D. Carleton Gajdusek, laboratory chief, National Institutes of Health, 1986 (DH)
  • George Fukunaga, chairman, Servco Pacific, 1985
  • Wallace Fujiyama, attorney, 1985
  • Baron Goto, 1985
  • Masaji Marumoto, justice, 1985
  • Allen Neuharth, chairman and CEO, Gannett Company, 1985
  • Mike Mansfield, ambassador, 1983 (DH)
  • Chinn Ho, businessman, 1983 (DH)
  • Soshitsu Sen, grand tea master, 1983 (DH)
  • Spark M. Matsunaga, U.S. senator, 1983 (LD)
  • John D. Bellinger, chairman, First Hawaiian Bank, 1982 (LLD)
  • Arthur Joseph Goldberg, justice, 1982 (LLD)
  • Richard K. Lyman Jr., Bishop Estate trustee, 1982 (LLD)
  • MasayukiTokioka, businessman, 1982 (LLD)
  • Emma Farden Sharpe, educator, 1981
  • Gladys Aiona Brandt. educator, 1981
  • Abraham K. Akaka, pastor, Kawaiahao Church, 1980 (HHD)

1970–1979

  • Daniel K. Inouye, U.S. senator, 1979 (LLD)
  • Yasunari Kawabata, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1970 (LittD)
  • Earl Warren, former chief justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 1970 (LLD)

1960–1969

  • Georg Von Bekesy, UH Hawaiian Telephone Co. Chair in Science and Nobel Prize winner, 1969 (LLD)
  • Hubert H. Humphrey, U.S. vice president, 1966 (LLD)
  • Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines president, 1966 (LLD)
  • John Anthony Burns, governor of Hawai‘i, 1964 (LLD)
  • Taizo Ishikawa, Japanese businessman, 1964 (LLD)
  • Clark Kerr, University of California president, 1964 (LLD)
  • Diosdado Macapagal, president of The Philippines, 1964 (LLD)
  • Joseph Francis C. Rock, botanist, 1962 (DSc)
  • David Timmins Fullaway, entomologist, 1962 (DSc)
  • Robert Leavitt Cushing, PRI, 1962 (DSc)
  • Leonard David Baver, Hawaii Sugar Planters Association, 1962 (DSc)
  • Herbert A. R. Austin, 1962 (DSc)
  • Arturo Frondizi, president of Argentina, 1962 (LLD)
  • Philip E.Spalding, UH regent (chair), 1961 (LLD)
  • Charles H. Edmondson, UH professor emeritus, 1961 (DSc)
  • Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. vice president, 1961 (LLD)
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, former U.S. president, 1960 (LLD)
  • James H. Shoemaker, Bank of Hawai‘i, 1960 (LLD)
  • Mary K. Pukui, Bishop Museum, 1960 (DLitt)
  • Max Levine, UH research associate, 1960 (DSc)
Harry Truman receiving degree

President Harry Truman receiving degree, 1953

1950–1959

  • Daisetz T. Suzuki, Japan author, 1959 (LLD)
  • Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, vice president of India, 1959 (LHD)
  • Hu Shih, ambassador to U.S., 1959 (HHD)
  • Alexander Spoehr, Bishop Museum, 1959 (DSc)
  • Arthur E. Orvis, retired industrialist, 1959 (HHD)
  • Albert J. Mangelsdorf, Hawaii Sugar Planters Association, 1959 (LHD)
  • Robert P. Griffing Jr., director, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1959 (DFA)
  • Raymond Coll, Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, 1959 (LittD)
  • Mayling S. Chiang, Chinese intellectual, 1959 (LLD)
  • Riley H. Allen, editor, Honolulu Star Bulletin, 1959 (LittD)
  • Fred A. Seaton, U.S. secretary of interior, 1959 (LLD)
  • Felix B. Stump, CINPAC administrator, 1958 (LLD)
  • David L. Crawford, UH president emeritus, 1957 (LLD)
  • Carlos P. Garcia, Philippines president, 1957 (LHD)
  • Ezra T. Benson, U.S. secretary of agriculture, 1956 (LLD)
  • Ralph S. Kuykendall, UH historian, 1956 (LHD)
  • Gregg M. Sinclair, UH president emeritus, 1956 (HHD)
  • Walter F. Dillingham, president, O.R. & L., 1955 (LLD)
  • Carlos P. Romulo, ambassador to U.S., 1955 (LHD)
  • Harry David Gideonse, president, Brooklyn University, 1955 (HHD)
  • Mme. Vijaya Lakshmi, Indian intellectual, 1954 (HHD)
  • Charles F. Chillingworth, legislator, 1954 (LLD)
  • George Barati, conductor, Symphony Orchestra, 1954 (DMus)
  • Arthur H. Sulzberger, editor, New York Times, 1954 (HHD)
  • Samuel W. King, governor of Hawai‘i, 1953 (LLD)
  • Louis M. ÄHacker, dean, Columbia, 1953 (LLD)
  • Hiram L. Fong, legislator, 1953 (LLD)
  • Adna G. Clarke, ROTC, alumni secretary, 1953 (LLD)
  • Harry S. Truman, U.S. president, 1953 (HHD)
  • Milburn L.Wilson, director, U.S. Extension, 1953 (HHD)
  • Frederick Ohrt, Department of Water Supply, 1952 (DSc)
  • Oren E. Long, Superintendent, DPI, 1952 (LLD)
  • Colin G. Lennox, Department of Agriculture, 1952 (DSc)
  • Rufus C. Harris, president, Tulane University, 1952 (DCL)
  • Elbert D. Thomas, high commissioner, Trust Territory, 1951 (LLD)
  • Cyril E. Pemberton, Hawai‘i Sugar Planters Association, 1951 (DSc)
  • Leslie A. Hicks, president, Hawaiian Electric Co., 1951
  • Daniel L. Marsh, president, Boston University, 1951 (HHD)
  • Oliver C. Carmichael, university president, 1950 (LHD)

1940–1949

  • Mary D. Frear, UH regent, 1943 (DLitt)
  • Arthur R. Keller, UH administrator, 1942 (DSc)

1930–1939

  • George G. Wilson, Harvard professor, 1937 (LLD)
  • Walter F. Frear, governor of Hawai‘i, 1937 (LLD)
  • Alexander Meiklejohn, president, Amherst, 1937 (LLD)
  • Helen S. Carter, patron, 1937 (MA)
  • C. Montague Cooke, Bishop Museum, 1936 (DSc)
  • Edwin R. Embree, Rosenwald Foundation, 1936 (DLitt)
  • Col. Allen W. Guillon, U.S. Army, 1934 (LLD)
  • Margaret Bergen, UH professor, 1934 (MA)
  • Nell Findley, department head, 1933 (MA)
  • Stanley D. Porteus, Psychology Clinic director, 1933 (DSc)
  • Edward M. Ehrhorn, Board of Water Supply, 1932 (MS)
  • Tatsuki Harada, president, Doshisa University, 1932 (LLD)
  • Anna C. Cooke, art patron, 1931 (MA)
  • Ethel M. Damon, author, 1931 (MA)
  • Thomas G. Thrum, author and editor, 1931 (MA)

1919–1929

  • Frederick E. Muir, Hawai‘i Sugar Planters Association, 1924 (DSc)
  • G. Howard Hitchcock, painter, 1924 (MA)
  • Gerrit Wilder, UH professor, 1924 (MS)
  • Frederick Krauss, UH professor, 1921 (DSc)
  • Sanford B. Dole, governor of Hawai‘i, 1919 (LLD)
  • Marion M. Scott, DPI, 1919

Honorary Degree Conferee

Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum

Conferred December 19, 2015

Ms. Nussbaum is the Ernstfreund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School, an Associate in the Classics Department and the Political Science Department, a Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, a Board Member of the Human Rights Program, and is the founder and Coordinator of the Center for Comparative Constitutionalism, all at the University of Chicago. Her publications include Aristotle's De Motu Animalium, The fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy Love's Knowledge, Poetic Justice, For Love of Country, Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reformin Liberal Education, Upheavals of Thought: The intelligence of Emotions, Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership, and Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities.

Ms. Nussbaum received her BA from NYU and her MA and PhD from Harvard. She has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities. From 1986 to 1993, Ms. Nussbaum was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, apart of the United Nations University. She has chaired the Committee on International Cooperation and the Committee on the Status of Women of the American Philosophical Association, and currently chairs its new Committee for Public Philosophy and is a member of the Associations National Board. Ms. Nussbaum has been a member of the Council of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Board of the American Council of Learned Societies. She has received honorary degrees from various colleges and universities including Grinnell College, Williams College, The College of William and Mary, The University of St. Andrews (Scotland), the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and the New School University. She received the Barnard College Medal of Distinction in 2003, the Radcliffe Alumnae Recognition Award in 2007, and the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University in 2010. She received the Brande is Creative Arts Award in Non-Fiction for 1990, and the PEN Spielvogel-Diamondstein Award for the best collection of essays in 1991, won the Ness Book Award of the Association of American Colleges and Universities in 1998, and the Grawemeyer Award in Education in 2002.