Honorary degrees are typically awarded by William & Mary at Charter Day and Commencement ceremonies as well as other special events to distinguished individuals. Currently, there are usually multiple honorary degree recipients at Charter Day (CD) and Commencement (C). The tradition was begun in 1756 with the granting of an honorary degree to Benjamin Franklin.
When available, lists and general information about honorary degree recipients can be found in the University Archives Subject File Collection folder "Degrees--Honorary." The remarks of honorary degree recipients at Charter Day and Commencement are part of the University Archives in the Special Collections Research Center (most often found in the University Archives Subject File Collection).
Honorary degree abbreviations are generally based on the Latin name of the degree and are used by many universities.
| A.M. | artium magister | Master of Arts |
| Art.D. | artium doctor | Doctor of Arts |
| D.D. | divinitatis doctor | Doctor of Divinity |
| D.P.S. | Doctor of Public Service | |
| L.H.D. | litterarum humanorum doctor | Doctor of Humane Letters |
| Litt.D. (also LTD) | litterarum doctor | Doctor of Letters |
| LL.D | legum doctor | Doctor of Laws |
| Mus.D. | musicae doctor | Doctor of Music |
| S.D. | scientiae doctor | Doctor of Science |
A "C" before the year indicates that the honorary degree was awarded at the William & Mary's commencement and "CD" indicates it was awarded at Charter Day, "SC" indicates a "Special Convocation".
| 1756 | Benjamin Franklin (A.M.) printer, scientist, statesman, and philanthropist |
| 1782 | Marquis Francois Jean de Chastellux (LL.D.) soldier, author |
| 1782 | Jean Francois Coste (M.D.) physician |
| 1782 | Thomas Jefferson (LL.D.) Third President of the United States, Governor of Virginia |
| 1784 | David Rittenhouse (M.A.) astronomer |
| 1785 | James Madison (LL.D.) Fourth President of the United States |
| 1785 | John Page (degrees unknown) patriot, U.S. Representative, Governor of Virginia |
| 1785 | Edmund Jennings Randolph (degrees unknown) patriot, Governor of Virginia, first Attorney General of the United States |
| 1790 | Robert Andrews (A.M.) Episcopal clergyman, educator |
| 1790 | Carlo Bellini (A.M.) professor of modern languages at William & Mary |
| 1790 | Bishop James Madison (D.D.) Bishop of Virginia, college president |
| 1790 | St. George Tucker (LL.D.) professor of law, jurist, poet |
| 1970 | George Wythe (LL.D.) statesman, jurist, college professor |
| 1791 | Humphrey Harwood (A.B.) lawyer |
| 1791 | Granville Sharp (LL.D.) abolitionist, philanthropist, author |
| 1793 | Thomas Andrews (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1793 | John Bracken (D.D.) clergyman, college president |
| 1793 | John Cameron (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1793 | James Maury Fontaine (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1793 | Samuel Smith McCroskey (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1794 | Rev. John Buchanan (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1794 | James Craig (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1824 | Marquis de Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier (LL.D.), soldier, statesman, and patriot |
| 1827 | William Marshall (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1827 | William Meade (D.D.) Bishop of Virginia |
| 1827 | Robert Baylor Semple (D.D.) Baptist clergyman |
| 1833 | Alexander Galt Taliaferro (A.M.) soldier |
| 1835 | Benjamin Watkins Leigh (LL.D.) lawyer, U.S. Senator |
| 1837 | Henry St. George Tucker (LL.D.) U.S. Representative, lawyer, university professor |
| 1841 | William Hickling Prescott (LL.D.) historian |
| 185? | William Cunningham Parham (A.M.) educator |
| 1850 | Robert Christian (A.M.) educated at William & Mary |
| 1850 | Richard Hooker Wilmer (D.D.) Bishop of Alabama |
| 1851 | Hubert Pierre Lefebvre (A.M.) educator |
| 1851 | John Payne (D.D.) Bishop of Cape Palmes, West Africa |
| 1851 | Alexander Eakin Shiras (A.M.) soldier |
| 1851 | Marcus Tullius Cicero Wing (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, educator |
| 1852 | Richard Ford (A.M.) educator |
| 1852 | William H. Gilham (A.M.) soldier, professor |
| 1852 | Dennis Hart Mahan (LL.D.) engineer, educator |
| 1852 | George Parker Scarburgh (LL.D.) lawyer, educator |
| 1852 | John Tyler, Jr. (A.M.) Assistant Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy |
| 1852 | Charles Scott Venable (A.M.) professor, mathematician, soldier |
| 1853 | John Blair Dabney (LL.D.) lawyer, author |
| 1853 | George Littleton Upshur (A.M.) physician |
| 1854 | John B. Cary (A.M.) educator |
| 1854 | James Lewis Corbin Griffin (A.M.) college professor, Universalist |
| 1854 | Charles Frederic Ernest Minnigerode (D.D.) college professor, Episcopal clergyman |
| 1854 | John Bowie Strange (A.M.) soldier |
| 1854 | Littleton Waller Tazewell (LL.D.) U.S. Representative and Senator, Governor of Virginia |
| 1854 | John Tyler (LL.D.) Tenth President of the United States, Governor of Virginia |
| 1854 | Oliver White (A.M.) educator |
| C 1855 | Hugh Blair Grigsby (LL.D.) editor, historian |
| C 1855 | John Johns (LL.D.) Bishop of Virginia, college president |
| C 1855 | Ro. Gatewood (A.M) adjunct professor of mathematics |
| 1855 | William Yelverton Peyton (A.M., B.L.) educator |
| 1856 | William Green (LL.D.) lawyer |
| 1856 | Edward Hugh Henry (A.M.) educated at William & Mary |
| 1856 | John H. Ivey (A.M.) educated at William & Mary |
| 1856 | Christopher J.D. Pryor (A.M.) lawyer, educator |
| 1857 | Mottrom Dulany Ball (A.M.) soldier, lawyer |
| 1857 | Edwin Augustine Dalrymple (D.D.) clergyman, educator |
| 1857 | Samuel Goode Harriss (A.M.) physician |
| 1857 | George Woodbridge (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1858 | George Dodd Armstrong (D.D.) Presbyterian clergyman, professor |
| 1858 | Alexander Taylor Bell (A.M.) physician |
| 1858 | Robert John Morrison (A.M.) college professor |
| 1858 | Nicholas Albertson Okeson (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1858 | Daniel Lee Powell (A.M.) soldier, educator |
| 1858 | George Douglas Wise (A.M.) U.S. Representative |
| 1859 | James H. Barnes (A.M.) Baptist clergyman |
| 1859 | John Albert Broadus (D.D.) Baptist clergyman, educator |
| 1859 | John Collins McCabe (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, author |
| 1859 | John J. McElhinney (D.D.) clergyman, educator |
| 1859 | Reginald Heber Murphy (A.M.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1859 | William Barton Rogers (LL.D.) geologist, educator |
| 1859 | Cornelius Walker (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1860 | H.B. Browne (A.M.) educator |
| 1860 | Caleb S. Hallowell (A.M.) educator |
| C 1860 | William Hodges (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| C 1860 | Silas Totten (LL.D.) Protestant Episcopal clergyman, college president |
| C 1860 | George Thornton Wilmer (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1866 | Channing Moore Williams (D.D.) Bishop of Japan |
| 1867 | James Barron Hope (M.A.) lawyer, editor, poet |
| 1867 | John Reuben Thompson (M.A.) editor, poet |
| 1868 | Edmund R. Bagwell (A.M.) soldier, legislator |
| 1868 | Aurelius Sydney Furcron (A.M.) educator |
| 1868 | Joseph Eggleston Johnston (LL.D.) soldier, U.S. Congressman |
| 1868 | Edmund C. Murdaugh (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1868 | George Hatley Norton (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1869 | John Monroe Bannister (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1869 | Otto Sievers Barten (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1869 | Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (LL.D.) philologist |
| 1869 | Milo Mahan (LL.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1869 | Henry Niles Pierce (LL.D.) Bishop of Arkansas |
| 1869 | Frank Preston (M.A.) college professor |
| 1869 | A. Paul Repiton (D.D.) Baptist clergyman |
| 1869 | Thomas Jefferson Stubbs (A.M.) Presbyterian clergyman, college professor |
| 1869 | Francis Vinton (D.C.L.) clergyman |
| 1869 | William Dwight Whitney (LL.D.) philologist |
| 1869 | Richard Alsop Wise (M.A.) physician, educator, legislator |
| 1869 | Christopher B. Wyatt (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1869 | William McIntosh Young (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1870 | Samuel Benedict (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1870 | William Izard Clopton (A.M.) lawyer, jurist |
| 1870 | Raleigh Edward Colston (A.M.) soldier |
| 1870 | Churchill Jones Gibson (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1870 | John Francis Hoff (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1870 | James Lyons (LL.D.) lawyer, legislator |
| 1870 | William H. McFarland (LL.D.) lawyer, legislator |
| 1870 | John M. Mitchell (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1870 | Reuben Denton Nevius (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1870 | Charles H. Sheild (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1870 | Henry A. Strode (A.M.) educator |
| 1870 | Henry Wall (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1870 | William C. Williams (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1871 | Thomas G. Addison (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1871 | John A. Harrison (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1871 | William Clarkson Meredith (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1871 | William Trebell Saunders (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1871 | John Jackson Scott (LL.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1871 | Horace Stringfellow (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1872 | John Clopton (M.A.) physician |
| 1872 | Charles B. Coffin (A.M.) clergyman |
| 1872 | Charles B. Duffield (LL.D.) |
| 1872 | William Fulton (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1872 | Robert Johnston Graves (D.D.) Presbyterian clergyman |
| 1872 | James Fillmer Hubbard (A.M.) educated at William & Mary |
| 1872 | James Robert Hubbard (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, college professor |
| 1872 | John William Mallot (LL.D.) chemist, educator |
| 1872 | Legrand Winfield Perce (LL.D.) Congressman |
| 1872 | Robert Potts (LL.D.) mathematician, author |
| 1872 | William Henry Sheild (A.M.) physician |
| 1872 | John Randolph Tucker (LL.D.) U.S. Representative, university professor |
| 1872 | Van Franklin Garrett (A.M.) soldier, physician, college professor |
| 1873 | William George Farrington (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1873 | George Frisbie Hoar (LL.D.) U.S. Senator |
| 1873 | Henry Champlin Lay (S.T.D.) Bishop of Arkansas, Bishop of Easton, Md. |
| 1873 | Robert Nelson (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1873 | William Pinkney (LL.D.) Bishop of Maryland |
| 1873 | Charles Henry Wright (?) Episcopal clergyman, educator |
| 1873 | Stocking (D.D.) author |
| 1873 | James H. Ticknor (D.D.) Protestant Episcopal clergyman |
| 1873 | Francis McNeece Whittle (LL.D.) Bishop of Virginia |
| 1873 | Charles Scott Venable (LL.D.) professor, mathematician, soldier |
| 1874 | John Muehleisen Arnold (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, missionary |
| 1874 | Robert Dabney (LL.D.) university professor |
| 1874 | Samuel Smith Harris (D.D.) Bishop of Michigan |
| 1874 | Alexander Hogg (A.M.) college professor |
| 1874 | W. Frank Mitchell (LL.D.) educated at William & Mary |
| 1874 | Elihu Morrisett (A.M.) educator |
| 1874 | John Martin Philip Otts (D.D.) Presbyterian clergyman, author |
| 1874 | Philip Slaughter (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, historian |
| 1874 | Daniel Francis Sprigg (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, editor |
| 1874 | John Henry Ducahet Wingfield (LL.D.) Bishop of Northern California |
| 1875 | Claudius R. Hains, Jr. (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1875 | C.H. Leverett (A.M.) professor |
| 1875 | Matthias Murry Marshall (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1875 | Charles Landon Carter Minor (LL.D.) college president |
| 1875 | Alfred Magill Randolph (D.D.) Bishop of Virginia |
| 1875 | James Clifton Wheat (D.D.) clergyman, educator |
| 1876 | James Craik (LL.D.) clergyman |
| 1876 | Elijah Weaver Hager (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1876 | William Stevens Perry (LL.D.) Bishop of Iowa |
| 1876 | William Stoddert (D.D.) Presbyterian clergyman |
| 1876 | Lyman Brown Wharton (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, college professor |
| 1877 | Thomas Dunn English (LL.D.) lawyer, journalist, legislator |
| 1877 | Samuel Miller Moore (D.D.) Presbyterian clergyman |
| 1877 | Evans Davis (M.A.) clergyman, Diocese of Ontario, Canada |
| 1878 | Mathew Ker (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1878 | Francis Henney Smith (LL.D.) soldier, college president |
| 1878 | Alexander Watson Waddell (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| C 1878 | Edward S. Joynes (LL.D.) |
| C 1878 | T. Grayson Dashiell (D.D.) clergyman |
| C 1878 | Thomas A. Tidball (D.D) clergyman |
| C 1878 | Julius J. Sams (D.D) clergyman |
| C 1878 | Frederick Evans (D.D) clergyman |
| 1879 | Douglas French Forrest (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1881 | John S. Cowlick (D.D.) clergyman |
| 1881 | Benjamin Franklin DeCosta (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman, editor, author |
| 1881 | Robert Gatewood (D.D.) college professor, clergyman |
| 1881 | Robert William Hughes (LL.D.) editor, lawyer |
| 1881 | John Summerfield Lindsay (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1882 | Edward Henry Ward (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1883 | Robert J. McBryde (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1883 | Zebulon M. Pike Powers (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1883 | Geoge Wolfe Shinn (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| 1883 | Thomas G. Williamson (D.C.E.) civil engineer |
| 1884 | Charles Rogers (LL.D.) clergyman, author |
| 1900 | Alexander Brown (LL.D.) merchant, farmer, historian |
| 1900 | William Wirt Henry (LL.D.) lawyer, historian |
| C 1903 | William Minor Lile (LL.D.) lawyer, university professor |
| 1905 | Daniel Coit Gilman (LL.D.) university president |
| 1905 | John Goode (LL.D.) lawyer, U.S. Congressman |
| 1905 | Thomas Nelson Page (LL.D.) lawyer, author, ambassador |
| 1906 | Armistead Churchill Gordon (LL.D.) lawyer, author |
| 1906 | William Gordon McCabe (LL.D.) educator, author |
| 1907 | George Clinton Batcheller (LL.D.) manufacturer |
| C 1909 | Phillip Alexander Bruce (LL.D.) historian |
| 1913 | Edwin Augustus Grosvenor (LL.D.) historian, educator |
| C1913 | Gaillard Hunt (LL.D.) author, editor |
| C1913 | Samuel Black McCormick (LL.D.) college president |
| C 1916 | Kate Mason Rowland (LL.D.) author |
| C 1916 | William Glover Stanard (LL.D.) editor |
| C 1918 | Clarence Winthrop Bowen (LL.D.) publisher, author |
| C 1919 | Lyon Gardiner Tyler (LL.D.) college president, historian |
| 1919 | Thomas Woodrow Wilson (LL.D.) 28th President of the United States |
| C 1920 | Douglas Southall Freeman (LL.D.) editor, historian |
| C 1920 | Robert Morton Hughes (LL.D.) lawyer, Rector, member of the Board of Visitors |
| C 1920 | Beverley Dandridge Tucker (LL.D.) Bishop of Southern Virginia |
| 1921 | Westmoreland Davis (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| 1921 | Thomas Fell (LL.D.) President of St. John's College |
| 1921 | Harry Augustus Garfield (LL.D.) President of Williams College |
| 1921 | John Lesslie Hall (LL.D.) college professor |
| 1921 | Warren Gamaliel Harding (LL.D.) 29th President of the United States |
| 1921 | Alton Brooks Parker (LL.D.) Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of New York |
| C 1923 | Berryman Green (LL.D.) clergyman, educator |
| C 1923 | Frank Orren Lowden (LL.D.) lawyer, U.S. Congressman, Governor of Illinois |
| C 1923 | Robert Walton Moore (LL.D.) lawyer, representative for Virginia |
| C 1924 | Dice Robins Anderson (LL.D.) educator, historian |
| 1924 | Charles Richard Crane (LL.D.) manufacturer, diplomat |
| 1925 | Edward Christian Glass (LL.D.) educator |
| 1925 | Robert Riddick Prentis (LL.D.) judge |
| 1925 | George Drayton Strayer (LL.D.) university professor |
| 1926 | Harry Flood Byrd (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia, U.S. Senator |
| C 1926 | Oliver Perry Chitwood (LL.D.) educator, historian |
| 1926 | John Calvin Coolidge (LL.D.) 30th President of the United States |
| C 1926 | John William Henry Crim (LL.D.) lawyer |
| C 1926 | Cary Travers Grayson (LL.D.) physician, naval officer |
| C 1926 | William Arthur Maddox (LL.D.) President of Rockford College (now Rockford University) |
| 1926 | John Barton Payne (LL.D.) lawyer |
| C 1926 | Robert Henry Tucker (LL.D) economist |
| C 1927 | Oscar McMurtrie Voorhees (LL.D.) clergyman, official of Phi Beta Kappa |
| 1928 | Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor (LL.D.) second elected female member of U.K. Parliament |
| C 1929 | Frank Pierrepont Graves (LL.D.) university professor |
| C 1930 | Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (LL.D.) author, editor, naturalist |
| 1931 | Paul Louis Charles Claudel (LL.D.) diplomat, poet, dramatist |
| C 1931 | Henry Jackson Davis (LL.D.) educator |
| C 1931 | James Noah Hillman (LL.D.) college president |
| C 1931 | James Southall Wilson (LL.D.) university professor |
| 1931 | Herbert Clark Hoover (LL.D.) 31st President of the United States |
| 1931 | John Joseph Pershing (LL.D.) soldier |
| 1931 | Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Petain (LL.D.) Commander-in-Chief of French Army in World War I |
| 1931 | John Garland Pollard (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1932 | Edgar Erskine Hume (LL.D.) physician, soldier |
| C 1933 | Archibald Henderson (LL.D.) professor of mathematics |
| C 1933 | Charles Henry Taylor (LL.D.) journalist |
| C 1934 | Kenneth Chorley (LL.D.) corporation executive |
| C 1934 | Cordell Hull (LL.D.) Secretary of State |
| 1934 | George Campbell Peery (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| 1934 | Franklin Delano Roosevelt (LL.D.) 32nd President of the United States |
| C 1935 | Carter Glass (LL.D.) U.S. Senator |
| 1935 | John Lloyd Newcomb (LL.D.) university president |
| C 1936 | James Bryant Conant (LL.D.) college president, diplomat |
| 1937 | Walter Lippman (LL.D.) editor, author |
| SC 1937 | Sir Campbell Stuart (LL.D.) editor |
| C 1937 | Elbert Lee Trinkle (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| 1937 | Alexander Wilbourne Weddell diplomat (LL.D.) |
| C 1938 | Frank Porter Graham (LL.D.) university president, U.S. Senator, diplomat |
| SC 1938 | Georgia O’Keeffe (D.F.A.) artist |
| C 1938 | Claude Vernon Spratley (LL.D.) judge |
| C 1939 | Grover Ashton Dovell (LL.D.) lawyer, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates |
| C 1939 | Ellen Glasgow (LL.D.) author |
| 1939 | W.A.R. Goodwin (LL.D)Episcopal clergyman, educator |
| C 1939 | Ernest Martin Hopkins (LL.D.) college president |
| SC 1939 | Alexander Edward Christian Crown Prince of Norway Frederik Olav (LL.D.) |
| C 1939 | Henry St. George Tucker (LL.D.) Bishop of Virginia |
| C 1940 | Theodore Floyd Adams (D.D.) Baptist clergyman |
| C 1940 | George Arents (Litt.D.) corporation official, bibliophile |
| C 1940 | Sidney Bartlett Hall (LL.D.) university professor |
| C 1940 | Everett Victor Meeks (D.F.A.) architect, educator |
| C 1940 | Charles Edward Wilson (LL.D.) business executive |
| C 1941 | Jesse Wakefield Beams (D.Sc.) physicist |
| C 1941 | George Catlett Marshall (LL.D.) army officer, U.S. Secretary of State |
| C 1941 | Oscar DeWolf Randolph (D.D.) Episcopal clergyman |
| C 1941 | Joseph Henry Saunders (Pd.D.) educator |
| C 1941 | Earl Gregg Swem (LL.D.) librarian, editor, bibliographer |
| C 1941 | Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker (Litt.D.) university professor |
| C 1942 | John Stewart Bryan (LL.D.) publisher, 20th President of William & Mary |
| C 1942 | Robert DeBlois Calkins (LL.D.) economist |
| C 1942 | George Preston Coleman (LL.D.) civil engineer |
| C 1942 | Homer Lenoir Ferguson (LL.D.) engineer |
| C 1942 | Ernest Joseph King (LL.D.) naval officer |
| C 1943 | William Orville Douglas (LL.D.) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court |
| C 1944 | Virginius Dabney (LL.D.) editor, author |
| SC 1944 | Sir John Greer Dill (LL.D.) soldier |
| C 1945 | Schuyler Otis Bland (LL.D.) lawyer, U.S. Congressman |
| C 1945 | Edmund Ezra Day (LL.D.) university president |
| C 1946 | Claude C. Coleman (D.Sc.) surgeon |
| C 1946 | Colgate Whitehead Darden, Jr. (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia, university president |
| C 1947 | Karl Taylor Compton (LL.D.) physicist, college president |
| C 1947 | John Womack Wright (LL.D.) soldier, author |
| SC 1948 | Harold Alexander (LL.D.) soldier, Governor-General of Canada, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis |
| C 1948 | Dudley Redwood Cowles (LL.D.) educator, publisher |
| SC 1948 | William Lyon Mackenzie King (LL.D.) 10th Prime Minister of Canada |
| C 1948 | Leverett Saltonstall (LL.D.) Governor of Massachusetts, U.S. Senator |
| 1948 | Harry S. Truman (LL.D.) 33rd President of the United States |
| SC 1948 | William Munford Tuck (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1949 | John Lesslie Hall, Jr. (LL.D.) naval officer |
| C 1950 | Amos Ralph Koontz (D.Sc.) surgeon |
| C 1951 | Paul Howard Douglas (LL.D.) economist, U.S. Senator |
| C 1951 | Paul Howard Douglas (LL.D.) economist, U.S. Senator |
| C 1952 | Ella Graham Agnew (LL.D.) home economist |
| C 1952 | Frederick Deane Goodwin Ribble university professor (LL.D.) |
| 1953 | John Stewart Battle (LL.D.) lawyer, legislator, Governor of Virginia |
| SC 1953 | Dwight David Eisenhower (LL.D.) 34th President of the United States |
| C 1953 | William Thomas Sanger (LL.D.) educator |
| 1954 | Jessie Ball duPont (LL.D.) business executive, philanthropist |
| 1954 | Rayner Goddard (Baron) (LL.D.) Lord Chief Justice of England |
| C 1954 | John Jacob Scherer, Jr. (LL.D.) Lutheran clergyman |
| 1954 | Earl Warren (LL.D.) Chief Justice of the United States |
| 1955 | Carlos Pena Romulo (LL.D.) editor, soldier, diplomat |
| 1955 | Henry Irving Willett (LL.D.) educator |
| C 1956 | A. Willis Robertson (LL.D.) U.S. Senator |
| C 1957 | Pierson John Dixon (LL.D.) British foreign service officer |
| C 1957 | Oscar Lane Shewmake (LL.D.) lawyer, insurance executive |
| 1957 | James Rhyne Killian, Jr. (LL.D.) college president |
| C 1958 | Dabney Stuart Lancaster (LL.D.) educator |
| C 1958 | Walter Edward Vest (A.M.H.C.) physician |
| SC 1959 | Sir Harold Anthony Caccia (LL.D.) British Ambassador |
| C & SC 1959 | J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| SC 1959 | Ross L. Malone (LL.D.) President, American Bar Association |
| C 1960 | Gaylord Probasco Harnwell (LL.D.) educator, physicist |
| CD 1960 | Alfred A. Knopf (L.H.D.) publisher |
| CD 1960 | Walter Spencer Robertson (LL.D.) government official |
| CD 1960 | Allie Edward Stokes Stephens (LL.D.) lawyer, state official |
| CD 1960 | Jerauld Wright (LL.D.) naval officer |
| C 1961 | Ruby Altizer Roberts (L.H.D.) Poetess of Virginia |
| C 1961 | Robert E. Henley (LL.D.) business executive |
| C 1961 | Winthrop Rockefeller (LL.D.) investment management |
| C 1963 | J.D. Carneal (L.T.D.) business executive |
| C 1963 | Alvin Duke Chandler (LL.D.) President of William & Mary |
| C 1963 | Albertis S. Harrison, Jr. (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1963 | Carlisle H. Humelsine (LL.D.) business executive |
| C 1963 | Floyd L. Thompson (D.Sc.) aeronautical engineer |
| CD 1964 | Laurence Warren I’Anson (LL.D.) jurist |
| CD 1964 | Harold Winfrey Ramsey (LL.D.) educator |
| CD 1964 | Thomas Bahnson Stanley (L.T.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| CD 1964 | Julius Adams Stratton (Sc.D.) university president |
| C 1964 | Otto Lowe (L.T.D.) attorney-at-law |
| C 1964 | Lloyd U. Noland, Jr. (LL.D.) business executive |
| C 1964 | C. Vann Woodward (L.H.D.) university professor |
| CD 1965 | William David Ormsby-Gore, Baron Harlech (LL.D.) British Ambassador to the United States |
| CD 1965 | Richard Lee Morton (LL.D.) educator, historian |
| CD 1965 | Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. (LL.D.) President, American Bar Association |
| CD 1965 | James Moody Robertson (LL.D.) alumnus, lawyer, former Rector of Board of Visitors |
| CD 1966 | Marjorie Hope Nicholson (Litt.D) eminent scholar in English literature |
| CD 1966 | Mills E. Godwin, Jr. (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1966 | Henry Hamill Fowler (LL.D.) Secretary of the Treasury |
| CD 1967 | Leslie Cheek, Jr. (D.F.A.) Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond |
| CD 1967 | Jay Winston Johns (LL.D.) philanthropist, Patron of History Landmarks |
| CD 1967 | John Walker (D.F.A.) Director, National Gallery of Art |
| CD 1968 | Hugh Williams Farmar (LL.D.) clerk, Drapers’ Company |
| CD 1968 | Robert Wright Stopford (D.D.) Lord Bishop of London |
| CD 1968 | Sir Patrick Henry Dean (LL.D.) British Ambassador to the United States |
| C 1968 | Sterling Hutcheson (LL.D.) distinguished jurist and former Rector of the Board of Visitors |
| C 1968 | John Jennings (LL.D.) Director, Virginia Historical Society |
| CD 1969 | William Guy (D.Sc.) Professor Emeritus of Chemistry |
| CD 1969 | Robert Q. Marston (D.Sc.) Director, National Institute of Health |
| C 1969 (summer) | Judge H. Lester Hooker (LL.D.) Chairman, State Corporation Commission, distinguished public Servant |
| CD 1970 | Robert Earl McConnell (LL.D.) philanthropist, mining engineer, government official |
| CD 1970 | Jack Morpurgo (L.H.D.) author, scholar |
| C 1970 | Edmund S. Muskie (LL.D.) U.S. Senator (Maine) |
| C 1972 | Theodore Roosevelt Dalton (LL.D.) federal judge, alumnus |
| C 1972 | Ralph Waldo Ellison (Litt.D.) distinguished author |
| C 1972 | Joseph Andorfer Ewan (Sc.D.) distinguished botanist |
| C 1972 | William Brooks George (L.H.D.) distinguished alumnus, former Rector of the Board of Visitors |
| C 1972 | Abner Linwood Holton, Jr. (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1972 | William Graves Perry (D.F.A.) outstanding architect, chief architect in the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg |
| C 1973 | Warren E. Burger (LL.D.) Chief Justice of the United States |
| CD 1974 | Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. (L.H.D.) President, University of Virginia |
| C 1974 | Arthur B. Hanson (LL.D.) outstanding alumnus, outstanding service in military, community, and legal affairs |
| C 1974 | Granville Pullen, Jr. (L.H.D.) State Superintendent of Schools, university president, outstanding alumnus |
| C 1974 | Addison Roberts (LL.D.) outstanding alumnus, business executive |
| C 1974 | Walter Muir Whitehill (L.H.D.) distinguished historian |
| C 1975 | Kingman Brewster, Jr. (LL.D.) President of Yale University |
| C 1975 | Thomas N. Downing (LL.D.) U.S. Congressman |
| C 1975 | Roy R. Charles (LL.D.) alumnus, philanthropist, civic leader |
| C 1975 | Guy Coheleach (D.Arts) artist, conservationist |
| C 1975 | T. Edward Temple (LL.D.) President of Virginia Commonwealth University |
| CD 1976 | Sir Peter Ramsbotham (LL.D.) British Ambassador to the United States |
| C 1976 | Thomas Roy Jones (LL.D.) corporate executive, civic leader, philanthropist |
| C 1976 | Robert Coles (L.H.D.) author, researcher, poet, psychiatrist |
| C 1976 | Henry Rosovsky (LL.D.) scholar, renowned leader in higher education, alumnus |
| C 1976 | Forrest David Mathews (L.H.D.) Secretary of Health, Education, Welfare, former President of the University of Alabama |
| CD 1977 | Carter O. Lowance (LL.D.) government executive, aide and confidante to six governors |
| C 1977 | Harrry F. Byrd, Jr. (LL.D.) Virginia and U.S. Senator, Newspaperman, public servant |
| C 1977 | Clement E. Conger (L.H.D.) journalist, protocol expert, diplomat, curator, collector, scholar, lecturer, preservationist |
| C 1977 | William H. Rehnquist (LL.D.) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court |
| C 1977 | Dumas Malone (D.Litt.) historian, biographer, political scientist, editor |
| C 1977 | Catherine Filene Shouse (L.H.D.) member, Virginia Commission of the Arts and Humanities, philanthropist |
| CD 1978 | Ernest Leroy Boyer (LL.D.) U.S. Commissioner of Education, university chancellor |
| CD 1978 | Howard K. Smith (L.H.D.) leader in the communications field |
| CD 1978 | Lindley J. Stiles (L.H.D.) professor of education for interdisciplinary studies, sociology, and political science |
| C 1978 | Barbara C. Jordan (LL.D.) U.S. Congresswoman – Texas |
| C 1978 | John Wills Tuthill (LL.D.) Former U.S. Ambassador, president of Salzburg seminar in American Studies |
| C 1978 | Walter J. Zable (LL.D.) business leader, dedicated humanitarian |
| CD 1979 | John Ritchie III (LL.D.) university professor |
| CD 1979 | William Warner Van Alstyne (LL.D.) university professor |
| C 1979 | John Nicholas Dalton (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia, alumnus |
| C 1979 | Daniel J. Boorstin (Litt.D) Librarian of Congress, author, educator |
| C 1979 | Jeffrey Kenneth MacNelly (L.H.D.) cartoonist |
| C 1979 | Richard Beale Davis (Litt.D) educator |
| CD 1980 | Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh (L.H.D.) President of Notre Dame, clergyman, educator |
| CD 1980 | Daniel Bell (Litt.D.) university professor, sociologist |
| C 1980 | Art Buchwald (L.H.D.) humorist, author |
| C 1980 | John Warren Cooke (LL.D.) journalist, publisher, businessman, former Speaker of Virginia House of Delegates |
| C 1980 | Sir Nevill Mott (Sc.D.) scientist, author, Nobel prize winner |
| C 1980 | Rafael Torrens (D.Litt.) physician, teacher, public servant, author, philosopher |
| CD 1981 | Marquis Jean Pierre de Chambrun (L.H.D.) direct descendant of the Marquis de Lafayette |
| CD 1981 | Lewis A. McMurran, Jr. (LL.D.) Chairman, Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission |
| CD 1981 | John W. Warner (LL.D.) U.S. Senator – Virginia; Director, American Revolution Bicentennial Administration |
| SC 1981 | His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (received an Honorary Fellowship not Honorary Degree) |
| C 1981 | William F. Buckley, Jr. (L.H.D.) editor, writer, political philosopher |
| C 1981 | Helen Hayes (L.H.D.) actress, author, humanitarian |
| C 1981 | J. Wilfred Lambert (L.H.D.) Former Dean of Students, William & Mary |
| C 1981 | Edmund Sears Morgan (Litt.D) teacher, historian, author |
| CD 1982 | Hays T. Watkins (LL.D.) corporate executive, civic leader |
| CD 1982 | Edwin D. Dodd (LL.D.) corporate executive |
| CD 1982 | Donald Hillsdon Ryan (LL.D.) corporate executive |
| C 1982 | Garry B. Trudeau (L.H.D.) cartoonist, creator of “Doonesbury” comic strip |
| C 1982 | C. Waller Barrett (Litt.D.) bibliophile |
| C 1982 | Vincent Theodore DeVita, Jr. (D.Sc.) oncologist, alumnus |
| C 1982 | Frederick Campion Steward (D.Sc.) botanist |
| CD 1983 | Charles Spittal Robb (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1983 | Elizabeth Hanford Dole (LL.D.) U.S. Secretary of Transportation |
| C 1983 | Ivor Noel Hume (L.H.D.) archaeologist, author, historian, lecturer, script writer |
| C 1983 | Walter Gordon Mason (LL.D.) businessman, former Trustee, Rector of the Board of Visitors |
| C 1983 | Kenneth Nebenzahl (L.H.D.) rare book and rare map dealer, scholar |
| CD 1984 | J. Carter Brown (D.F.A.) Director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
| C 1984 | Paul A. Volcker (L.H.D.) Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |
| C 1984 | R. Harvey Chappell, Jr. (LL.D.) lawyer, former Rector of William & Mary |
| C 1984 | William Louis Zimmer, III (LL.D.) businessman, Chairman of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia |
| C 1984 | Lawrence A. Cremin (L.H.D.) President of Teachers College, Columbia University |
| CD 1985 | Donald W. Pritchard (D.S.) Professor of Marine Science |
| C 1985 | Grace Murray Hopper (LL.D.) U.S. Navy Commodore, mathematician, computer scientist |
| C 1985 | Walter Edward Hoffman (LL.D.) judge |
| C 1985 | Eudora Welty (D.Litt.) author |
| C 1985 | John Boyd Bentley (D.D.) Bishop of Alaska |
| CD 1986 | Clark Kerr (L.H.D.) President Emeritus, The University of California |
| CD 1986 | Joseph C. Smiddy (L.H.D.) President Emeritus, Clinch Valley College |
| C 1986 | John Bruce Bredin (LL.D.) businessman, Class of 1936, former member of the Board of Visitors |
| C 1986 | Richard Hendrik Fein (LL.D.) Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States |
| C 1986 | George Frost Kennan (L.H.D.) diplomatist and historian |
| C 1986 | Jeane Duane Jordan Kirkpatrick (LL.D.) Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. |
| C 1986 | Charles Robert Longsworth (L.H.D.) President of Colonial Williamsburg |
| CD 1987 | Gerald L. Baliles (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1987 | Denton A. Cooley, (D.Sc.) surgeon |
| C 1987 | Gilbert M. Grosvenor (L.H.D.) Editor, National Geographic Magazine |
| C 1987 | John Hersey (L.H.D.) author, journalist, professor |
| C 1987 | Roger H. Mudd (D.P.S.) journalist, television news anchorman |
| C 1987 | William B. Spong, Jr. (LL.D.) Dean, Marshall-Wythe School of Law |
| CD 1988 | Robert Wedgeworth, Jr. (L.H.D.) Dean, School of Library Service, Columbia University |
| C 1988 | John Angus McPhee (Litt.D) author and essayist |
| C 1988 | Anne Dobie Peebles (L.H.D.) former Rector of William & Mary Board of Visitors |
| C 1988 | Colin L. Powell (D.P.S.) U.S. National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army |
| C 1988 | Diane Sawyer (D.P.S.) CBS News, “60 Minutes”, co-anchor |
| C 1988 | Barbara Wertheim Tuchman (L.H.D.) Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian |
| CD 1989 | Bruce Bernard Weatherill (LL.D.) Speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain |
| CD 1989 | James Peter Hymers Mackay (LL.D.) The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain |
| CD 1989 | H.R.H. The Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (Honorary Fellowship not Honorary Degree) |
| C 1989 | Robert McCormick Adams (L.H.D.) anthropologist, historian, educator |
| C 1989 | Glenn Close (Arts D.) alumna, actress, producer |
| C 1989 | Mary Maples Dunn (L.H.D.) alumna, scholar, historian, President of Smith College |
| C 1989 | Sir Denys H. Wilkinson (D.Sc.) scientist, academic leader |
| CD 1990 | A. Eric Sevareid (L.H.D.) newspaper, radio, television correspondent, CBS newscaster, Emmy Award winner |
| CD 1990 | Dennis F. Thompson (L.H.D.) Director, Program in Ethics and the Professions, Harvard University |
| C 1990 | Lawrence Douglas Wilder (L.L.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1990 | Sir Antony Acland (L.L.D.) British Ambassador to the U.S. |
| C 1990 | Janet Haldane Coleman Kimbrough '21 (L.H.D) alumna – Class of 1921, physician |
| C 1990 | David Tennant Bryan (L.H.D.) newspaper publisher, philanthropist, community leader |
| CD 1991 | Fang Li Zhi (L.H.D.) Chinese astrophysicist and human rights advocate |
| CD 1991 | A.E. Dick Howard (L.L.D.) White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at UVA |
| C 1991 | Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (L.H.D.) tennis champion, author |
| C 1991 | Hanna Holborn Gray (L.H.D.) historian |
| C 1991 | Antonin Scalia (L.L.D.) Supreme Court Justice, educator |
| C 1991 | Frank M. Turner (L.H.D.) historian |
| CD 1992 | D. Allan Bromley (D.Sc.) Assistant to the President for Science and Technology |
| CD 1992 | Sir Cyril A. Clarke (D.Sc.) British biologist |
| CD 1992 | Hermann A. Grunder (D.Sc.) Director, Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility |
| CD 1992 | Richard H. Petersen (D.Sc.) Associate Administrator, Office of Aeronautical and Space Technology |
| C 1992 | Mary L. Good (D.Sc.) Senior Vice President for Technology at Allied Chemical |
| C 1992 | Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr. (L.H.D.) Chairman, Ethyl Corporation |
| C 1992 | J. Bryan Hehir (L.H.D.) Senior Research Scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics |
| C 1992 | Stephen J. Wright, Jr. (L.H.D.) Former President, Fisk University, Nashville |
| C 1992 | James A. Baker III (LL.D.) Secretary of State |
| CD 1993 | Hunter B. Andrews (LL.D.) Senator, William & Mary Alumnus |
| CD 1993 | Harry L. Carrico (LL.D.) Virginia Chief Justice |
| CD 1993 | Jane Goodall (D.Sc.) anthropologist, author |
| CD 1993 | Sir Robin Renwick (L.H.D.) British Ambassador to the U.S. |
| CD 1993 | Robert Charles Gordon Strick (L.H.D.) Clerk of the Drapers’ Company of London |
| C 1993 |
William H. Cosby, Jr. (A.M.)* actor, author, educator, humorist *Rescinded by the William & Mary Board of Visitors, August 10, 2018 |
| C 1993 | Herbert V. Kelly (LL.D.) attorney, alumnus, former Rector |
| C 1993 | William Styron (L.H.D.) author |
| CD 1994 | George F. Allen (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| C 1994 | George F. Will (L.H.D.) columnist and commentator |
| C 1994 | Rozanne L. Ridgway (D.P.S.) former Ambassador to Germany |
| C 1994 | Bernard Bailyn (L.H.D.) professor, Harvard University, historian |
| CD 1995 | David S. Broder (L.H.D.) columnist, author |
| CD 1995 | Damon J. Keith (L.L.D.) circuit judge, U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals, 6th circuit |
| C 1995 | Mark J Wills (L.H.D.) Founder of the Bobbie Bryan House, AIDS/HIV Awareness |
| C 1995 | George Herbert Walker Bush (LL.D.) 41st President of the United States |
| C 1995 | J. Maxwell Irvine (D.Sc.) scientist, educator, President of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland |
| C 1995 | David Beers Quinn (L.H.D.) scholar, educator |
| CD 1996 | Pamela C. Harriman (LL.D.) U.S. Ambassador to France, Philanthropist |
| CD 1996 | Frank Batten (L.H.D.) Chairman, Landmark Communications, publisher, philanthropist |
| C 1996 | Oliver W. Hill, Sr. (LL.D.) civil rights activist, attorney |
| C 1996 | William Jackson Payne (D.Sc.) microbiologist, educator |
| CD 1997 | David McCullough (L.H.D.) historian, author, public television host |
| CD 1997 | Alan A. Diamonstein (LL.D.) lawyer, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, public servant |
| C 1997 | Herbert H. Bateman (LL.D.) U.S. Congressman, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 1997 | Natalie Zemon Davis (L.H.D.) Professor, Princeton University, historian |
| C 1997 | Mark H. McCormack (L.H.D.) entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, William & Mary Alumnus |
| CD 1998 | James Stuart Gilmore III (LL.D.) Governor of Virginia |
| CD 1998 | William W. Abbott (L.H.D.) historian, editor, educator |
| CD 1998 | Raymond A. Mason (L.H.D.) President, Legg Mason, Inc., philanthropist, William & Mary alumnus |
| CD 1998 | Robert M. Gates '65 (L.H.D.) former Director of the CIA, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 1998 | Joseph J. Ellis (L.H.D.) historian, scholar, teacher, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 1998 | Edward E. Brickell (L.H.D.) President, Eastern Virginia Medical School, former member and Rector of the Board of Visitors |
| C 1998 | Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. (D.Sc.) physician, author |
| CD 1999 | Pamela P. Chinnis (L.H.D.) President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, William & Mary alumna |
| CD 1999 | James D. Watkins (D.Sc.) former Chief of Naval Operations, public servant, environmentalist |
| CD 1999 | Richard G. Lugar (L.L.D.) U.S. Senator, Indiana |
| C 1999 | Shelby Foote (L.H.D.) novelist, historian, playwright |
| C 1999 | James E. Ukrop (L.H.D.) Chairman, Ukrop’s Super Markets, Inc., public servant, William & Mary alumnus |
| CD 2000 | Margaret, The Lady Thatcher (LL.D.) former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Chancellor of William & Mary |
| CD 2000 | James W. McGlothlin (LL.D.) entrepreneur, civic leader, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 2000 | Brent Scowcroft (L.H.D.) former National Security Advisor, educator |
| C 2000 | James B. Murray, Jr. (LL.D.) entrepreneur, civic leader, William & Mary alumnus |
| CD 2001 | Lawrence S. Eagleburger (D.P.S.) diplomat, humanitarian, political leader, public servant, former Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, former member of the Board of Visitors |
| CD 2001 | Adolphus C. Hailstork (L.H.D) musician, composer, conductor, educator |
| C 2001 | Madeleine K. Albright (L.H.D.) former U.S. Secretary of State |
| C 2001 | J. Stewart Bryan III (L.H.D.) Chairman, President and CEO of Media General |
| CD 2002 | Mark R. Warner (LL.D.) 69th Governor of Virginia, public servant, entrepreneur, philanthropist |
| CD 2002 | Donald Kennedy (D.Sc.) scientist, teacher, public servant, scholar |
| CD 2002 | Michael K. Powell '85 (D.P.S.) soldier, lawyer, public servant, Chairman of the FCC, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 2002 | A. Lamar Alexander (LL.D.) public servant, educator, businessman, former U.S. Secretary of Education, former Governor of Tennessee, Goodman Visiting Professor of Practice in Public Service at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government |
| C 2002 | Ernest Whitmore Goodrich (LL.D.) William & Mary alumnus, Lieutenant Commander U.S. Navy, former Board of Visitors Rector and Marshall-Wythe School of Law professor, Commonwealth Attorney for Surry County |
| CD 2003 | Kofi Annan (D.P.S.) Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate |
| CD 2003 | Anthony C. Zinni (D.P.S.) General USMC Ret., President Bush’s Envoy to the Middle East |
| CD 2003 | James W. Brinkley (L.H.D.) President and CEO Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc. |
| C 2003 | John Robert Lewis (D.P.S.) public servant, civic activist, protector of human rights, elected to Congress in 1986, member of the U.S. House of Representatives |
| C 2003 | Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan (L.H.D.) international negotiator, advocate for democracy and peace, active patron of many national institutions in Jordan, chair of the King Hussein Foundation established in 1999 |
| CD 2004 | John H. Chichester (D.P.S.) Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore and Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, elected to the Senate in 1978 |
| CD 2004 | Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan (D.P.S.) William & Mary alumnus, U.S. Army Lt. Gen., commanding general of the 3rd U.S. Army |
| CD 2004 | Ronald E. Carrier (L.H.D.) James Madison University President Emeritus, also served as James Madison University chancellor from 1998 to 2002, member of the Planning and Capacity Steering Committee of the state’s Higher Education Summit |
| CD 2004 | George W. Johnson (L.H.D.) George Mason University President Emeritus (serving from 1978 to 1996), opened the region’s first performing arts center, helped found the Northern Virginia Roundtable (an influential business and civic organization) |
| C 2004 | Jon Stewart '84 (M.A.) host and executive producer of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 2004 | William Ivey Long (L.H.D.) costume designer, winner of four Tony awards, historic preservationist, William & Mary alumnus |
| C 2004 | Carolynn Reid-Wallace (L.H.D.) scholar, visionary, educational leader, public servant |
| CD 2005 | James Hadley Billington (Litt.D.) author, scholar, leader, statesman, became Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1973 serving fifteen years, Librarian of Congress since 1987 |
| CD 2005 | John Tilghman Hazel, Jr. (D.P.S.) visionary, advocate, philanthropist, public servant, lawyer, former rector of George Mason University, member of Virginia Business Higher Education Council |
| C 2005 | Sir John Elliott (L.H.D.) scholar, author, expositor, Regius Professor of Modern History Emeritus at Oxford University |
| C 2005 | Margaret McKane Mauldin (L.H.D.) linguist, preservationist, teacher, author, instructor in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Oklahoma |
| CD 2006 | Timothy M. Kaine (LL.D.) 70th Governor of Virginia, former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, former Mayor of Richmond, lawyer |
| CD 2006 | Shirley Ann Jackson (L.H.D.) President of Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, scientific pioneer, public servant |
| CD 2006 | Virginia Forwood Pate Wetter (D.P.S.) chair of The Chesapeake Broadcasting Corporation, entrepreneur, steward of public education, William & Mary alumna |
| C 2006 | Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu (D.P.S.) cleric, author, teacher, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate |
| C 2006 | Willard A. Van Engel (S.D.) Professor Emeritus, VIMS Fisheries Science, founding professor at VIMS, founder of blue crab studies |
| CD 2007 | A. Marshall Acuff, Jr. (L.H.D.) served nine years on William & Mary's Board of Visitors (three of those years as Rector), president of AMA Investment Counsel, LLC., former president and managing director of Smith Barney, William & Mary alumnus |
| CD 2007 | JoAnn Falletta (Art.D.) Music Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, artist |
| CD 2007 | Chuck Hagel (D.P.S) U.S. Senator (R-Nebraska) |
| C 2007 | William T. Coleman, Jr. (LL.D.) Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, noted civil rights advocate and legal scholar |
| C 2007 | William M. Kelso, M.A. '64 (S.D.) Director of archaeology for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, located the James Fort at Jamestown |
| CD 2008 | James B. Comey '82 (LL.D.) former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 2003-2005; General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin, 2005-2010 |
| CD 2008 | Harriet Mayor Fulbright (D.P.S), president of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center |
| CD 2008 | James C. Rees '74 (L.H.D.) executive director of George Washington’s Mount Vernon |
| C 2008 | Rabbi David Ellenson '69 (L.H.D.) president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion |
| C 2008 | Mike Tomlin '95 (L.H.D.) Pittsburgh Steelers head coach |
| CD 2009 | Glenn Lowry (Art.D.), founding director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City |
| CD 2009 | John Hope Franklin (L.H.D), author and James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University |
| CD 2009 | Jim Webb (D.P.S), author and U.S. Senator (D-Virginia) 2007- 2013 |
| C 2009 | Tom Brokaw (L.H.D.), journalist and writer, former Today Show anchor, former NBC Nightly News anchor |
| C 2009 | Linda Lavin (Art. D.), Class of 1959, theater and television actress featured in Alice |
| C 2009 | Sherman Cohen (L.H.D.), philanthropist and real estate developer, donor for the Sherman and Gloria H. Cohen Career Center at William & Mary |
| CD 2010 | Robert F. McDonnell (LL.D.), 71st Governor of Virginia, 2010–2014 |
| CD 2010 | Martha C. Nussbaum (L.H.D), author and Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago |
| CD 2010 | R. Wayne Kernodle (L.H.D.), Sociology professor at William & Mary, 1945-1987 |
| C 2010 | Christina D. Romer (D.P.S), Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Professor of Economics at the UC Berkeley |
| C 2010 | Annette Gordon-Reed (L.H.D), Professor of History at Rutgers University, Professor of Law at New York Law School |
| C 2010 | Paul H. O'Neill (D.P.S.), former Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush, 2001-2002 |
| CD 2011 | Eric Cantor, J.D. '88 (LL.D.), U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader |
| CD 2011 | J. Edward Grimsley ’51 (L.H.D.), editorial page editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and former rector of W&M |
| CD 2011 | Thaddeus W. Tate, Jr. (L.H.D.), Emeritus Professor of History, Director Emeritus of the Omohundro Institute |
| C 2011 | Joseph J Plumeri '66 (D.P.S.), Chariman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings |
| C 2011 | Marian Wright Edelman (D.P.S.), Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund |
| C 2011 | Brian P. Lamb (L.H.D.), Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) |
| CD 2012 | James A. Bill (L.H.D.), Professor Emeritus of Government at William & Mary |
| C 2012 | Jim Lehrer (L.H.D.), PBS NewsHour anchor |
| C 2012 | Carolyn A. Martin '73 (L.H.D.), President of Amherst College |
| C 2012 | Jonathan Jarvis '75 (D.P.S.), Director of the National Park Service |
| CD 2013 | Lois Critchfield, worked for the CIA for 28 years, actively involved with the Reves Center |
| C 2013 | Colin Campbell, President of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Board of Visitors 2008-2012 |
| C 2013 | Warren W. Buck, III, M.S. '70, Ph. D. '76 (S.D.), physicist, chancellor emeritus of the University of Washington-Bothell |
| CD 2014 | Terry McAuliffe, Governor of Virginia |
| CD 2014 | David Lutzer, Emeritus Chancellor Professor of Mathematics |
| C 2014 | Leroy Petry, Medal of Honor recipient, Commencement speaker |
| C 2014 | Alan B. Miller, chairman and CEO of Universal Health Services, namesake of Mason School of Business's Miller Hall |
| CD 2015 | Thomas A. Graves, Jr., HON '02, Twenty-Third President of William & Mary |
| CD 2015 | Grace E. Harris, Professor, former Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University |
| C 2015 | Condoleezza Rice, former U. S. Secretary of State |
| CD 2016 | Jack Edwards, Professor of Government Emeritus |
| CD 2016 | Ellen Stofan '83, NASA chief scientist |
| C 2016 | Jill Ellis '88, Head Coach of the World Cup-winning U. S. Women's National Soccer Team |
| C 2016 | John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises and co-chair of the Service Year Alliance |
| CD 2017 | Millie West, Tribe Athletics coach, administrator and fundraiser |
| CD 2017 | Michael Clemons '89, football All-American |
| C 2017 | Paul Verkuil '61, former William & Mary President |
| C 2017 | Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress |
| C 2017 | Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, former chairman and CEO of CNN |
| CD 2018 | Ralph Northam, Governor of Virginia |
| CD 2018 | Trudier Harris, W&M's first tenured African American faculty member |
| CD 2018 | Frances G. McGlothlin '66, philanthropist |
| CD 2018 | Hunter J. Smith '51, philanthropist |
| C 2018 | Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician |
| C 2018 | W. Taylor Reveley, III, former William & Mary President |
| C 2019 | Glenn Close '74 D.A. '89 (honorary fellowship) alumna, actress, producer |
| C 2019 | Jane Batten HON ’17, philanthropist |
| C 2019 | Denyce Grave, world-renowned opera singer |
| C 2019 | Sybil Shainwald ’48, women’s rights attorney |
| C 2019 | John Gerdelman '75 (L.H.D.) former W&M Vice Rector and Chair of the W&M Real Estate Foundation |
| CD 2020 | Christy Coleman (L.H.D.) Executive Director of Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation |
| CD 2020 | Susan Aheron Magill '72 (D.P.S.) former Rector of W&M Board of Visitors |
| CD 2020 | Thomas A. Shannon Jr. '80 (D.P.S.) former Ambassador and U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs |
| C 2020* | Anthony S. Fauci (Sc.D) MD and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (awarded at Class of 2020 in-person Commencement ceremony in October 2021) |
| C 2020* | Thomas E. Lovejoy (Sc.D) renowned expert in biodiversity, founder of “Nature” on PBS, and professor in the Environmental Science and Policy department at George Mason University (awarded at Class of 2020 in-person Commencement ceremony in October 2021) |
| C 2020* | Donald N. Patten (LL.D.) former member and Rector of W&M Board of Visitors, renowned lawyer in asbestos liability litigation (awarded at Class of 2020 in-person Commencement ceremony in October 2021) |
| CD 2021 | Jayne Barnard (LL.D) James Cutler Professor of Law, emerita |
| CD 2021 | Jacquelyn McLendon (L.H.D.) Professor of English and Africana studies, emerita |
| CD 2021 | Warren Cook, artist and former assistant chief of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe |
| CD 2021 | Patrick O’Connell, chef and proprietor of The Inn at Little Washington |
| C 2021 | Anthony Kennedy, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1988-2018); professor of constitutional law at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific |
| C 2021 | Faith Ringgold, artist of story quilts; author of children's books; performer; professor emerita of art at the University of California in San Diego |