Honorary Doctorate recipients

2022
Businessman, former owner of the Kansas City Royals and benefactor Avron B. Fogelman

2020
Businessman and champion of Holocaust education Kurt Wallach

2018
FAU alumnus, former president of FAU, and Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education for the U.S. Department of Education
Frank T. Brogan ’81

2017
Businessman and founder of BBC International Bobby Campbell
Women's and human rights advocate Zainab Hawa Bangura

2016
Scientist and inventor Dr. Richard DiMarchi ’74

2015
Attorney, author, broadcaster and champion of peace Leon Charney
Vets Helping Heroes founder Irwin Stovroff

2014
Native American leader and advocate Chief Jim Henson
“Father of the Everglades” Aaron L. Higer
Lorain County Community College President Dr. Roy A. Church ’71, ’73

2013
Inventor/entrepreneur Michael R. Levine
Bestselling author James Patterson

2012
FAU alumnus and benefactor Jay Salkini ’85, ’90
FAU benefactors Drs. Joan Rosmarin Chodorkoff and Bernard Chodorkoff
Businessman, entrepreneur, historical scholar and FAU benefactor Marvin Weiner (awarded posthumously)

2011
Experimental psychologist Dr. Michael Posner
President and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets Ralph de la Vega ’74
Experimental psychologist Dr. Michael Turvey
FAU donor and founder of the Wimberly Library's Jaffe Center for Book Arts Arthur Jaffe

2007
U.S. Astronaut and FAU alumnus Steven R. Swanson ’86

2006
Journalist/author and FAU alumna Mirta Ojito ’86

2005
FAU benefactor Barry Kaye

2004
Scripps Research Institute President Richard A. Lerner

2002
U.S. Diplomat Stuart E. Eizenstat
Aviator Gustavus A. McLeod
U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings

2001
Indian industrialist and education leader Karsanbhai Patel

2000
National Hispanic University President B. Roberto Cruz
FAU benefactor Enver Ören
FAU benefactor Christine E. Lynn
Rollins College President and FAU alumna Rita Bornstein ’70, ’71
Miami Ballet founder and artistic director Edward Villella

1999
Rabbi Merle E. Singer
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula
Author and Holocaust educator Elisabeth Maxwell
Former American Medical Association President Nancy Wilson Dickey
Vice President of Ecuador Gustavo Noboa
FAU benefactor Jay J. Raddock
American film director Arthur Hiller
American Jewish Committee Southeast Regional Director William A. Gralnick

1998
Vice Admiral Albert J. Baciocco Jr. (U.S. Navy, retired)
U.S. Astronaut James H. Reilly II
Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Hikmet Cetin
Former U.S. Social Security Commissioner and Texas Woman's University President Shirley Chater
FAU benefactor Carl DeSantis
Boca Raton Police Officer and children's advocate Wayne Barton
Author Dominick Dunne

1997
Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel
U.S. Astronaut Winston Scott

1996
Author Elmore Leonard
Author Isabel Allende
U.S. Astronaut Norman E. Thagard
Metropolitan Opera Star Roberta Peters
U.S. Representative Carrie P. Meek
Former Cornell University President Frank H.T. Rhodes
Author Nelida Pinon

1995
Author Elena Poniatowska
Motorola Director of Applied Research Walt Davis
Author Carl Rowan
Victims’ advocate John Walsh

1994
Former Massachusetts Governor and U.S. Presidential Candidate Michael Dukakis
NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw

1992
University of Stuttgart professor and founder of Synergetics Hermann Haken

1991
Author John Naisbitt

1990
Author Patricia Aburdene

1989
FAU benefactor William F. Dietrich
FAU benefactor Ronald G. Assaf
Siemens Public Switching Systems President and CEO Volker Jung

1987
Palm Beach County Educator Marjorie Davis Crick
FAU benefactor Avery H. Fonda
U.S. Senator Bob Graham

1986
Writer and director Joshua Logan
National Hurricane Center Director Neil L. Frank
U.S. Sugar Corporation President John B. Boy

1985
U.S. Congressman and FAU alumnus Dan Mica ’66

1983
Columbia University Teachers College professor George Z. F. Bereday
FAU founding faculty member Willy Feuerlein
FAU founding faculty member William Sears

1982
FAU benefactor Marjorie Pearlson
FAU benefactor Dorothy F. Schmidt
Human Potential Movement founder Jean Houston

1981
FAU benefactor Margaret Gaines Swann
FAU benefactor Eugene M. Lynn
FAU benefactor Charles E. Schmidt

1980
Florida landscape artist Albert E. "Beanie" Backus
FAU founding faculty member Harold Burris-Meyer

1979
Bettmann Archive Founder and FAU Archivist Otto Ludwig Bettmann
Everglades Preservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas
FAU benefactor Anna Grace O'Dell

1978
FAU founding faculty member Charles R. Stephan

1977
FAU benefactor Thomas M. Chastain
Indian River Junior College President Herman A. Heise
FAU benefactor Alfred A. Richman

1976
FAU benefactor Elizabeth Donnell Kay
German educator Hans-Joachim Meiser

1975
FAU Foundation Chair Kenneth R. Miller
Bethune-Cookman College President Richard V. Moore

1974
FAU "Founding Father" and Former FAU Foundation Chair Thomas F. Fleming Jr.
Florida State Representative Donald H. Reed Jr.
FAU accounting professor Arnold W. Johnson

1973
FAU benefactor Charles Stewart Mott III
FAU Founding President Kenneth R. Williams

1972
Broward Junior College President Alfred Hugh Adams
Palm Beach Junior College President Harold Carl Manor
Dade County Junior College Founding President Peter Masiko Jr.
Vanderbilt University Chancellor George Alexander Heard

1971
University of Miami English Professor William Frederick Shaw
U.S. Congressman Paul G. Rogers

1968
Johns Hopkins University Provost and Vice President William Bevan

1964
U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson
Florida Governor Farris Bryant