Honoris Causa

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, 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 Order

1976

LOOMIS PATRICK

Lawyer, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees

1977

FRANCIS HORN

Educator, President of the University of Rhode Island

1978

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

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

HANNA HOLBORN GRAY

Educator, President of the University of Chicago

1986

EVA-CHRISTINA MÄKELÄINEN

Diplomat, Ambassador of Finland to Greece

ROBERTA BRYARS DEREE

Trustee and Chair of the ACG Board of Trustees

1987

MARIANNE MCDONALD

Classicist, Founder of “Thesaurus Linguae Graecae”

1988

TOM C. KOROLOGOS

Trustee and Chairman of the ACG Board of Trustees

1989

MATINA S. HORNER

Educator, President of Radcliffe College

MARY CHRIST FLEMING

Educator, Founder of TASIS (The American School in Switzerland)

MICHAEL SOTIRHOS

U.S. Ambassador to Greece

1990

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

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

DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH

Educator, President of Wellesley College

1995

HERBERT MAZA

Educator, Founder of the Institute for American Universities

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

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

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

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

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

MARIANNA VARDINOYANNIS

Philanthropist

ANDREAS GERASIMOS TZAKIS

Surgeon, researcher

2010

ELENI TSAKOPOULOS KOUNALAKIS

U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Philanthropist

P. NIKIFOROS DIAMANDOUROS

Educator, European Ombudsman

CAROL T. CHRIST

Educator, President of Smith College

2011

PETER THUN

Benefactor of education

THEODORE PAPALEXOPOULOS

Business reformer

NIKI GOULANDRIS

Philanthropist

2012

GEORGE LOGOTHETIS

Philanthropist, business leader

2013

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

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

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