Note: List is not comprehensive. Compiled by College Archives
* = Received honorary degree that year.
| YEAR | NAME AND TITLE |
| 1917 | Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin, Ph.D. Professor and Head of the Department of History, University of Chicago |
| 1922 | The Reverend James McGee, Class of 1905* |
| 1923 | Charles Macauley Stuart, Class of 1880, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D.* President, Garrett Biblical Institute |
| 1924 | Albert Ernest Jenks, Class of 1896, Ph.D.* Professor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota Chairman, Division of Anthropology and Psychology, National Research Council |
| 1925 | Henry Moore Bates, Ph.B., LL.D.* Dean of the Law School, University of Michigan |
| 1926 | Daniel Clarence Holtom, A.B., B.D., Ph.D.* Professor of Church History, Japan Baptist Theological Seminary, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1927 | William Lyon Phelps, Ph.D., Litt.D.* Lampson Professor of English Literature, Yale University |
| 1928 | Arthur Holly Compton, Ph.D. Professor of Physics, University of Chicago Chairman, Committee on X-Rays and Radioactivity, National Research Council Recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics, 1927 |
| 1930 | Maynard Owen Williams, Class of 1910, Ph.B.* Foreign Staff Representative, National Geographic Society |
| 1931 | Alexander G. Ruthven* President, University of Michigan |
| 1932 | Allan Hoben, Ph.D., LL.D. President, Kalamazoo College |
| 1933 | William Emilius Praeger, M.S., Sc.D. Professor of Biology, Kalamazoo College |
| 1934 | Vernor Clifford Finch, Ph.D., Sc.D. Head of Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin |
| 1935 | The Reverend Albert W. Beaven, D.D., LL.D. President, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, New York |
| 1936 | Albert Eustace Haydon, M.A., Ph.D. Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Chicago |
| 1937 | John Edgar Hoover, LL.D.* Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice |
| 1938 | Dr. William F. Ogburn Department of Sociology, University of Chicago |
| 1939 | Dr. Carl Frederick Wittke Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Oberlin College |
| 1940 | Donald John Cowling President, Carleton College |
| 1941 | William J. Cameron The Ford Motor Company |
| 1942 | George Peel Gilmour Chancellor, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario |
| 1943 | Homer Ferguson* U.S. Senator (R-MI) |
| 1944 | Dr. J. Hillis Miller Associate Commissioner of Education, State of New York |
| 1945 | George W. Rosenlof, Ph.D., LL.D. Executive Secretary, North Central Association |
| 1946 | Charles Fulton Oursler* Journalist and fiction writer |
| 1947 | Revered Edwin T. Dahlberg, D.D. Pastor, First Baptist Church, Syracuse, New York |
| 1948 | T. Russ Hill President, Martin-Parry Corporation, Detroit |
| 1949 | Dr. George Walter Stewart* Professor of Physics, State University of Iowa |
| 1950 | Carl H. Chatters, Class of 1919 Director, American Municipal Association, Chicago |
| 1951 | Roy E. Larsen* President, Time Incorporated |
| 1952 | Kenneth Scott Latourette* Professor of Missions and Oriental History, Yale University |
| 1953 | Wilbour Eddy Saunders President, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School |
| 1954 | Donald R. Belcher Assistant Director, Bureau of Federal Budget |
| 1955 | William G. Pollard* Executive Director, Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies |
| 1956 | Marston Bates* Professor of Zoology, University of Michigan |
| 1957 | Margaret Mead* Associate Curator of Ethnology, American Museum of Natural Science |
| 1958 | Harlan H. Hatcher* President, University of Michigan |
| 1959 | Paul Woodring* Consultant, The Fund for the Advancement of Education Educational Advisor, The Ford Foundation |
| 1960 | Willard Thorp* Professor and Chairman, Department of English, Princeton University |
| 1961 | Thurgood Marshall* Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund |
| 1962 | Franz Josef Strauss* Minister of Defense, Federal Republic of Germany |
| 1963 | Laurence McKinley Gould* President Emeritus, Carleton College |
| 1964 | John Ciardi* Poetry Editor, Saturday Review |
| 1965 | William T. Gossett* Former Vice-President and General Counsel, Ford Motor Company |
| 1966 | Edouard Morot-Sir* Cultural Counselor, French Embassy |
| 1967 | H. Gardner Ackley* Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers |
| 1968 | Constantinos A. Doxiadis* President, Doxiadis Associates, Inc. |
| 1969 | John Hope Franklin* Chairman of the Department of History, University of Chicago |
| 1970 | Robert K. Merton* Professor of Sociology, Columbia University |
| 1971 | William D. Ruckelshaus* Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency |
| 1972 | Kenneth E. Boulding* Professor of Economics, University of Colorado |
| 1973 | Pauline Kael* Film Critic, The New Yorker |
| 1974 | Ralf Dahrendorf* Commissioner of Education, Science, and Research of the European Communities Director-designate of the London School of Economics and Political Science |
| 1975 | Daniel L. Schorr* CBS Commentator, “American Social Policy” |
| 1976 | Linus C. Pauling* Director and Fellow, Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine |
| 1977 | Joseph Papp* Producer-Director, Shakespeare Festival and Public Theatre |
| 1978 | Elliot L. Richardson* Ambassador-at-Large |
| 1979 | Jacquelyn Anderson Mattfeld* President, Barnard College |
| 1980 | Norman Cousins* Editor of Saturday Review, UN Peace Medal winner |
| 1981 | Paul Simon* U.S. Congressman (D-IL) |
| 1982 | John Brademas* President of New York University, Former US Representative (D-IN) |
| 1983 | Davidson Nicol* First Principal of Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone (1960-1966) and Former UN Undersecretary-General |
| 1984 | Joe H. Stroud* Editor, Detroit Free Press |
| 1985 | Shirley A. Chisholm Professor, Mount Holyoke College, Former US Congresswoman (D-NY) |
| 1986 | Henry Jones Fairlie* Columnist, The New Republic and The Washington Post |
| 1987 | Dennis Brutus* Chairman, Department of Black Community Education, Research, and Development, University of Pittsburgh |
| 1988 | David S. Broder* Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist |
| 1989 | Mark O. Hatfield* U.S. Senator (R-OR) |
| 1990 | William J. Raspberry* Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist |
| 1991 | Howard Wolpe* U.S. Congressional Representative (D-MI) |
| 1992 | Johnnetta B. Cole* President of Spelman College |
| 1993 | Leland Eugene Lubbers, S.J.* Jesuit Priest, Artist, and Founder of SCOLA |
| 1994 | Bruce Benton, Class of 1964 Senior Country Officer, The World Bank |
| 1995 | Gail A. Raiman, Class of 1973 Director of Communications, American Textile Manufacturers Institute |
| 1996 | Myra C. Selby, Class of 1977 Indiana Supreme Court Justice |
| 1997 | R. Moses Thompson, Class of 1970 President and Founder, Team Technologies, Inc. |
| 1998 | Genna Rae McNeil, Class of 1969 Professor of History, University of North Carolina |
| 1999 | Maureen Mickus, Class of 1981 Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Michigan State University |
| 2000 | John E. Sarno, Class of 1944 Professor, Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University School of Medicine |
| 2001 | Dr. W. Maxwell Cowan* SCO, Howard Hughes Medical Institute |
| 2002 | Dr. Mary Patterson McPherson* Vice President, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation President Emeritus, Bryn Mawr College |
| 2003 | none |
| 2004 | Richard Ford* Pulitzer prize-winning Journalist |
| 2005 | Dr. William H. Gass* Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Founder of International Writers Center, Washington University, St. Louis |
| 2006 | Dr. Ha Jin* Professor of English, Boston University |
| 2007 | Ann Patchett* Author |
| 2008 | Aleksandar Hemon* Author |
| 2009 | Chimamanda Adichie* Author |
| 2010 | The Honorable Carl M. Levin* U.S. Senator, Michigan |
| 2011 | Noah Feldman* Author |
| 2012 | Dr. Linda Rae Murray* President, American Public Health Association |
| 2013 | Dr. Walter E. Massey* President, School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| 2014 | Ray A. Suarez, Jr.* Author and Journalist, Al Jazeera America |
| 2015 | David Finkel* Author |
| 2016 | Gay J. McDougall* Member of UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham University School of Law |
| 2017 | Kevin Lobo* Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stryker Corporation |
| 2018 | Deborah Bial* President and Founder, Posse Foundation |
| 2019 | Kenneth G. Elzinga, Ph.D. ’63 Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics, University of Virginia |
| 2020 | Charlotte Hall, M.A. ’66* Editor and Senior Vice President, the Orlando Sentinal |
| 2021 | Julie Mehretu, M.F.A. ’92* Artist |
| 2022 |
Bill Manns* |
2023 Larry J. Bell ’80*
Founder of Bell’s Brewery Inc.
2024 Tamea Evans ’93, MD*
Internal medicine physician
2025 Jody Olsen*
Former Peace Corps Director; Former professor; Author
* = Received honorary degree that year.