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 Order1977
LOOMIS PATRICK
Lawyer, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees
1978
FRANCIS HORN
Educator, President of the University of Rhode Island
1979
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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
1980
FERDINAND THUN
Business leader, Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees
DEREK CURTIS BOK
Educator, author, President of Harvard University
1981
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
Historian, author, professor
1982
LATTIE F. COOR
Educator, President of the University of Vermont
1983
PAUL EFTHEMIOS TSONGAS
United States Senator
1985
PAUL SPYROS SARBANES
United States Senator
HARRY ELLIS DICKSON
Maestro
ERNEST NUNCIO MANNINO
Director, Office of Overseas Schools, U.S. Department of State
1986
HANNA HOLBORN GRAY
Educator, President of the University of Chicago
1987
EVA-CHRISTINA MÄKELÄINEN
Diplomat, Ambassador of Finland to Greece
ROBERTA BRYARS DEREE
Trustee and Chair of the ACG Board of Trustees
1988
MARIANNE MCDONALD
Classicist, Founder of “Thesaurus Linguae Graecae”
1989
TOM C. KOROLOGOS
Trustee and Chairman of the ACG Board of Trustees
1990
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
1991
MARIKA C. MITSOTAKIS
Benefactress of physically and emotionally challenged children in Greece
1992
WILLIAM DONALD EDWARD COULSON
Classicist, professor, Director of The American School of Classical Studies
KORALIA KROKODILOU
Educator
1993
AFTAB SETH
Ambassador of India to Greece
NICOS HADJIKYRIAKOS-GHIKAS
Artist, Member of the Academy of Athens
PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR
Soldier, author, lecturer, philhellene
1994
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
1995
RICHARD J. BRADLEY
Educational administrator
DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH
Educator, President of Wellesley College
1996
HERBERT MAZA
Educator, Founder of the Institute for American Universities
MARSHA ANNE MCDONOUGH
Educator
1997
JON WESTLING
Educator, President of Boston University
JOHN J. GRAHAM
Lawyer, pubic official, Trustee
DIMITRIS L. AVRAMOPOULOS
Mayor of Athens
1998
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
1999
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
2000
THE RIGHT REVEREND BISHOP KALLISTOS OF DIOKLEIA
Author, lecturer
RICHARD M. FREELAND
Educator, President of Northeastern University
2001
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
2002
NICHOLAS GAGE
Journalist, author
THOMAS J. MILLER
U.S. Ambassador to Greece
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE
United States Senator – Doctor of Laws, 2002
2003
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
2004
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
2005
EUGENE T. ROSSIDES
Founder and General Counsel of the American Hellenic Institute
ANNA BENAKI-PSAROUDA
President of the Hellenic Parliament
2006
DONALD KAGAN
Sterling Professor of Classics and History, Yale University
CHARLES P. RIES
U.S. Ambassador to Greece
2007
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
2008
JOHN S. BAILEY
Educator, President of The American College of Greece
RUTH J. SIMMONS
Educator, President of Brown University
THEODORE LYRAS
Educator
2009
MIKIS THEODORAKIS
Composer, civil rights advocate
JOHN BRADEMAS
Legislator, educator
ANDREW A. ATHENS
Philanthropist, businessman
2010
MARIANNA VARDINOYANNIS
Philanthropist
ANDREAS GERASIMOS TZAKIS
Surgeon, researcher
2011
ELENI TSAKOPOULOS KOUNALAKIS
U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Philanthropist
P. NIKIFOROS DIAMANDOUROS
Educator, European Ombudsman
CAROL T. CHRIST
Educator, President of Smith College
2012
PETER THUN
Benefactor of education
THEODORE PAPALEXOPOULOS
Business reformer
NIKI GOULANDRIS
Philanthropist
2013
GEORGE LOGOTHETIS
Philanthropist, business leader
2014
LINDA P.B. KATEHI
President, UC Davis
2015
DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS
President, Acropolis Museum
2016
MARTIN T. MEEHAN
President, University of Massachusetts
2017
PHILIP C. KOROLOGOS
Chair of Board of Trustees, The American College of Greece
OLGA ELAINE JULIUS
Principal, Pierce – The American College of Greece
2018
NIKOS M. EBEOGLOU
Chair, Alba Board of Directors
DIMITRI V. NANOPOULOS
Distinguished Professor of Physics
2019
GEORGE M. MARCUS
Business leader and philanthropist
2020
DIMITRIS AZEMOPOULOS
Ambassador, Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Canada (2017–2020)
2021
GEOFFREY R. PYATT
U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic
