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, 91 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 Order1976

LOOMIS PATRICK
Lawyer, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees
1977

FRANCIS HORN
Educator, President of the University of Rhode Island
1978
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EPPIE LEDERER (ANN LANDERS)
Author, lecturer, nationally syndicated columnist

ALEXANDROS DEMITRIOS KALOVEDOURIS
Lawyer, Counsel to The American College of Greece for more than fifty years – Special Convocation, Doctor of Laws, 1979
1979

FERDINAND THUN
Business leader, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees

DEREK CURTIS BOK
Educator, author, President of Harvard University
1980
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DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
Historian, author, professor
1981

LATTIE F. COOR
Educator, President of the University of Vermont
1982

PAUL EFTHEMIOS TSONGAS
United States Senator
1984

PAUL SPYROS SARBANES
United States Senator

HARRY ELLIS DICKSON
Maestro

ERNEST NUNCIO MANNINO
Director, Office of Overseas Schools, U.S. Department of State
1985
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HANNA HOLBORN GRAY
Educator, President of the University of Chicago
1986
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EVA-CHRISTINA MÄKELÄINEN
Diplomat, Ambassador of Finland to Greece
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ROBERTA BRYARS DEREE
Trustee and Chair of the ACG Board of Trustees
1987
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MARIANNE MCDONALD
Classicist, Founder of “Thesaurus Linguae Graecae”
1988

TOM C. KOROLOGOS
Trustee and Chairman of the ACG Board of Trustees
1989
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MATINA S. HORNER
Educator, President of Radcliffe College
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MARY CHRIST FLEMING
Educator, Founder of TASIS (The American School in Switzerland)

MICHAEL SOTIRHOS
U.S. Ambassador to Greece
1990
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MARIKA C. MITSOTAKIS
Benefactress of physically and emotionally challenged children in Greece
1991

WILLIAM DONALD EDWARD COULSON
Classicist, professor, Director of The American School of Classical Studies
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KORALIA KROKODILOU
Educator
1992

AFTAB SETH
Ambassador of India to Greece

NICOS HADJIKYRIAKOS-GHIKAS
Artist, Member of the Academy of Athens

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR
Soldier, author, lecturer, philhellene
1993

THOMAS M.T. NILES
U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Assistant Secretary of State

RONALD W. ROSKENS
Director, U.S. Agency for International Development, Ambassador

THEODORE KRITAS
Theater impresario
1994

RICHARD J. BRADLEY
Educational administrator
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DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH
Educator, President of Wellesley College
1995

HERBERT MAZA
Educator, Founder of the Institute for American Universities
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MARSHA ANNE MCDONOUGH
Educator
1996

JON WESTLING
Educator, President of Boston University

JOHN J. GRAHAM
Lawyer, pubic official, Trustee

DIMITRIS L. AVRAMOPOULOS
Mayor of Athens
1997

RICHARD C. A. HOLBROOKE U.S.
Diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State

JOHN DIBIAGGIO
Educator, President of Tufts University

GEORGE J. MITCHELL
United States Senator, peace negotiator
1998

HIS ALL HOLINESS BARTHOLOMEW
Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch

HIS BEATITUDE CHRISTODOULOS
Archbishop of Athens and all Greece

R. NICHOLAS BURNS
U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Undersecretary of State

FATHER WILLIAM LEAHY
Educator, President of Boston College

WILLIAM W. MCGREW
Educator, President of The American College Of Thessaloniki
1999

THE RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP KALLISTOS OF DIOKLEIA
Author, lecturer

RICHARD M. FREELAND
Educator, President of Northeastern University
2000

IAN ANDREW VORRES
Patron of the arts, Founder of the Vorres Museum

TERRENCE J. MAC TAGGART
Educator, Chancellor of the University of Maine

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES
Writer
2001

NICHOLAS GAGE
Journalist, author

THOMAS J. MILLER
U.S. Ambassador to Greece
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OLYMPIA J. SNOWE
United States Senator – Doctor of Laws, 2002
2002

YANNIS ZERVOS
Promoter of arts and letters

HARVEY C. MANSFIELD, JR.
William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard University

JOHN LAWSON LEATHAM
Writer, translator, philhellene

ANDREAS ANDRIANOPOULOS
Author, legislator
2003

ADOLF OGI
United Nations Under Secretary General, Former President of Switzerland

CHARLES M. COOK
Educator, administrator, President of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges – Doctor of Education

GEORGE M. BAPIS
Financial executive, Chairman of the ACG Board of Trustees

HARRY MARK PETRAKIS
Writer
2004

EUGENE T. ROSSIDES
Founder and General Counsel of the American Hellenic Institute
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ANNA BENAKI-PSAROUDA
President of the Hellenic Parliament
2005

DONALD KAGAN
Sterling Professor of Classics and History, Yale University

CHARLES P. RIES
U.S. Ambassador to Greece
2006

HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America
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SISSELA ANN BOK
Senior Visiting Fellow, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
2007

JOHN S. BAILEY
Educator, President of The American College of Greece
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RUTH J. SIMMONS
Educator, President of Brown University

THEODORE LYRAS
Educator
2008

MIKIS THEODORAKIS
Composer, civil rights advocate

JOHN BRADEMAS
Legislator, educator

ANDREW A. ATHENS
Philanthropist, businessman
2009
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MARIANNA VARDINOYANNIS
Philanthropist

ANDREAS GERASIMOS TZAKIS
Surgeon, researcher
2010
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ELENI TSAKOPOULOS KOUNALAKIS
U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Philanthropist

P. NIKIFOROS DIAMANDOUROS
Educator, European Ombudsman
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CAROL T. CHRIST
Educator, President of Smith College
2011

PETER THUN
Benefactor of education

THEODORE PAPALEXOPOULOS
Business reformer
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NIKI GOULANDRIS
Philanthropist
2012

GEORGE LOGOTHETIS
Philanthropist, business leader
2013
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LINDA P.B. KATEHI
President, UC Davis
2014

DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS
President, Acropolis Museum
2015

MARTIN T. MEEHAN
President, University of Massachusetts
2016

PHILIP C. KOROLOGOS
Chair of Board of Trustees, The American College of Greece
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OLGA ELAINE JULIUS
Principal, Pierce – The American College of Greece
2017

NIKOS M. EBEOGLOU
Chair, Alba Board of Directors

DIMITRI V. NANOPOULOS
Distinguished Professor of Physics
2018

GEORGE M. MARCUS
Business leader and philanthropist
2019

DIMITRIS AZEMOPOULOS
Ambassador, Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Canada (2017–2020)
2020

GEOFFREY R. PYATT
U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic