Past Lesley University Honorary Degree and Commencement Award Recipients: 1955 – present
September 1955
Livingston Stebbins
June 1956
Margery W. Bouma
Dir. Adms.
Owen B. Kiernan
Commissioner of Education, Massachusetts
September 1956
Clara M. Thurber
Dean of Students
Merl Ruskin Wolfard
December 1956
Cora Trawick Court
Faculty & R. D.
April 1957
Ernest R. Caverly
Superintendent of Schools, Brookline, MA
Mary Eliz. O’Connor
Faculty
June 1957
Adele Rowe Gruener
Alumna (Citation)
Doris C. Reed
Treasurer
Doris Boothby
Faculty
September 1958
Anne Savolainen
Alumna
May 1959
Gertrude Malloch
Former Principal
June 1961
Mark V. Crockett
Faculty
September 1963
Louis R. Perini
President, Perini Corp.
Winter 1963
Margaret Mead
Curator of Ethnology, American Museum of Natural History, NY
May 1964
William Hollister, M.D.
Chief, Community Research & Services Branch National Institute of Mental Health
January 1965
Jerome S. Bruner
Center for Cognitive Studies, Harvard University
September 1965
Dr. Ann Roe
Prof. Ed. & Director Career Research Institute, Harvard University
December 1965
Mrs. Arthur Greenwood
Time Stone Farm, Marlborough
April 1966
Herbert Fromm
Composer
Winter 1968
Ronald O. Lippitt
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
February 1969
Kenneth D. Benne
Past Director Human Relations Center, Boston University
Theodore Berenson
Professor of Human Relations
May 1970
Dr. Jerome Kagan
Harvard University
1971
Dr. Dwight W. Allen
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Speaker)
Mary I. Bunting
President, Radcliffe College
Leslie M. Oliver
Faculty (Citation)
Ellis Spear
Faculty (Citation)
1972
Dr. Jeanne S. Chall
Harvard Graduate School (Speaker)
1973
David D. Connell
VP, Children’s Television Workshop (Citation)
Leland P. Bradford
National Institute
Alma B. MacCormack
Faculty (Citation)
1974
Albert Cullum
Professor of Education, Stonehill College (Speaker)
Dr. Ruth Boland ’24 (Citation)
1975
Dr. Margaret Mead
Anthropologist (Citation)
1976
Mrs. Doris Birdsall
Lord Mayor, Bradford, England
1977
Eleanor Duckworth
Educator
1978
The Honorable Thomas P. O’Neill
Speaker of the House
1979
Anne Compton
ABC Network News
David Honick
Teacher, Director of Elderly Home Care
Winifred Lair
Teacher (Citation)
Robert Fawcett
Trustee (Citation)
Hollis Gerrish
Trustee (Citation)
1980
The Honorable Paul Tsongas
U.S. Senator, Massachusetts
Dr. Russell Schofield
Professor, Chaplain (Citation)
1981
Dr. Terrel Bell
U.S. Secretary of Education
Dr. Jose Veiga Simao
President, National Laboratory for Engineering and Industrial Technology, Portugal
1982
Dr. Ruth Love
Gen. Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, IL
Anne Chisholm
Parents and Children’s Services, Children’s Mission, Boston (President’s Award)
Avis Brenner
Professor of Education (Citation)
James Welch
Trustee (Citation)
Thomas Pappas
Philanthropist
1983
Dr. Orley R. Herron
President, National College, Evanston, IL
Martha Ackerson
Director of Admissions (Citation)
1984
Silvio O. Conte
U.S. Congressman
John McGonigle
Sheriff Middlesex County (Citation)
George Miller
VP, UGS (Citation)
1985
Tom Cottle
Psychologist, TV Talk show host
Margaret Burnham
Attorney
Dean Clara Thurber
Former Dean (Citation)1986
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Law Professor, Georgetown University
Harry Ellis Dickson
BSO Youth Concerts, Conductor
Arnold Hiatt
President, Stride Rite
Norma Canner
Associate Professor, Arts Institute (Citation)
John Tucker
VP and Treasurer (Citation)
Barbara Wickson
Secretary Emeritus of the Corporation (Citation)
1987
Anne Hawley
Executive Director, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities
Richard E. Wylie
VP, GS (Citation)
Allan Morris
Professor, Science and Mathematics, UGS (Citation)
L. Lee Knefelkamp
Dean of the School of Education, American University, Washington, D.C.
1988
Irving Harris
William Harris
1989
Philip Morrison
Physicist & Educator
Erik Erikson
Pscyhoanalyst, Author
Joan Erikson
Author, Artist
1990
Diane Weiss and George Weiss
Founders, “Say Yes to Education” Program
Edward E. Phillips
Chairman and CEO, N.E. Mutual Life Insurance Co.
David Rockefeller, Jr.
Chairman, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Chairman, Recruiting New Teachers
1991
Sister Therese Higgins
President, Regis College
Joseph Marr Cronin
President, Mass. Higher Ed. Assistance Corp.
Toshikazu Maeda
President, Senzoku Gakeun College
Nathaniel R. Jones
Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
1992
Madeleine May Kunin
Former Governor of Vermont; Distinguished Visitor in Public Policy, Radcliffe College
1993
Alexis Herman
Assistant to President Clinton and Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison
1994
Eli J. Segal (4/8/94)
President and CEO. Corporation for National and Community Service
Maria de Jesus Barraso Soares
First Lady of Portugal
Deborah Prothrow-Stith
Assistant Dean for Government and Community Programs, Harvard University
Dr. Marie Clay (10/20/94)
Developmental Child Psychologist, Professor Emeritus, University of Auckland, New Zealand
1995
Donna E. Shalala
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Hubert E. Jones
Human Services educator, practitioner and community activist
Tashia F. Morgridge, G’75
Educator
John P. Morgridge
Chairman, Cisco Systems, Inc.
1996
Rudolph F. Crew
Chancellor of the New York Public Schools
Jerome H. Grossman
Chairman and CEO, Health Quality, Inc.
Thomas W. Payzant
Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools
Marge Piercy
Poet and Novelist
1997
Thomas Moore
Author & Philosopher
Mary Lou McGrath
Superintendent, Cambridge Public Schools
Robert Moses
Founder & President, The Algebra Project
1998
Deborah Meier
Author, The Power of Their Ideas and Principal, Mission Hill School
Charles “Chad” K. Gifford
Chief Executive Officer, BankBoston
Glendora Putnam
Retired Civil Rights Attorney
1999
Monica McWilliams
Co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and member of the new Northern Ireland Assembly
Sonia Nieto
Professor, Language, Literacy, and Culture, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Jeffrey B. Swartz
President and Chief Executive Officer, Timberland Company
November 7, 1999
Don Holdaway
Scholar and Author
2000
Louise Bourgeois
Artist and Sculptor (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Gordon Parks
Photographer, Filmmaker, Author, and Composer (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Robie H. Harris
Children’s Book Author
Margot Stern Strom
Executive Director and President of the Board of Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation
2001
Michael Mazur
Artist (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Sabastiao Salgado
Photographer (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Debbie Allen
Actor, Author, Director, Dancer/Choreographer, Producer
H. Peter Karoff
Founder and Chairman of The Philanthropic Initiative, Inc.
Margaret H. Marshall
Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
2002
April Greiman
Designer and Educator (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
The Reverend Dr. Ray A. Hammond
Pastor, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Jamaica Plain
Jonathan Kozol
Social Activist and Author
2003
Anne Ford
Chairman Emerita, National Center for Learning Disabilities
The Honorable John Lewis
U.S. Congressman (D-Georgia)
Jerry Pinkney
Artist/Illustrator (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
2004
Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes
Plummer Professor of Christian Morals & Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, Harvard University
Marian Heard
President & CEO, United Way of Mass Bay
David Macaulay
Author and Illustrator (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Catherine N. Stratton
Community Volunteer
2005
Robert D. Ballard
Founder & President, Institute for Exploration
Florence C. Ladd
Author, Social Critic, and Psychologist
Eugene E. Richards
Photographer, Writer, Director, and Producer (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Eliot I. Snider
President, Massachusetts Lumber Company and Former Lesley Trustee and Chair of the Board
2006
Dr. Paul E. Farmer
Physician, Anthropologist, Author
Katharine “Kitty” Dukakis ‘63
Pro Bono Social Worker, Former First Lady of Massachusetts, and Former Member of the Lesley Board of Trustees
Michael Dukakis
Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University and Former Governor of Massachusetts
Theodore Landsmark
President and CEO, Boston Architectural Center (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
2007
JudyAnn Bigby, M.D.
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Gary Hirshberg
Chairman, President, and CEO, Stonyfield Farm
Jill Medvedow
Director, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts)
Terry Tempest Williams
Naturalist, Writer, Environmental Activist
Margaret A. McKenna
President Emerita, Lesley University
2008
James P. Comer, M.D.
Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Child Study Center
David R. Godine
Publisher, Founder and President of David R. Godine, Inc.
Maxine Greene
Professor Emerita, Philosophy and Education and William F. Russell Professor in Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University
Robert Pinsky
Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Essayist, Literary Critic
2009
Marc Brown
Author, Illustrator and Producer
Luba Lukova
Artist and Designer
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education, Harvard University
Tina Packer
Artistic Director and President, Shakespeare & Company
2010
Chinua Achebe
Novelist, poet, critic and Professor of Africana Studies, Brown University
Roz Chast
Illustrator and cartoonist for The New Yorker
Arne Duncan, Commencement Speaker
United States Secretary of Education
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Degree conferred posthumously
Victoria Reggie Kennedy
President and co-founder of Common Sense about Kids and Guns
2011
Vicki Goldberg
Photography Critic, Author and Art Historian
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Professor of Medicine Emeritus, University of Massachusetts
Alan Khazei
Founder, Be the Change, Inc., Co-Founder, City Year
Judith Lewis Herman
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School