Honorary Degree
The highest award conferred by the University of Minnesota to an individual who has achieved acknowledged eminence in cultural affairs, in public service, or in a field of knowledge and scholarship.
2023
Zdeněk P. Bažant
Walter P. Murphy Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
McCormick School of Engineering
Northwestern University
2022
Stanley Sandler (ChE Ph.D. '66)
H.B. du Pont Chair of Chemical Engineering, Emeritus
University of Delaware
2011
Chunli Bai
Professor and Executive Vice President
Chinese Academy of Sciences
2009
Chandra M. Varma (Physics Ph.D. ’68)
Long-time Bell Laboratories researcher and Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of California-Riverside
Zenon Mroz
Leader/Scientific Coordinator
Centre of Excellence for Advanced Materials and Structures (AMAS)
2008
Jack Dangermond (Architecture M.S. ’68)
Founder, Environmental Systems Research Institute
2007
Lu Yongxiang
President, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2005
George Bugliarello (CivE M.S. ’54)
Chancellor and former president of Polytechnic University
2004
Jorge Manuel Dengo-Obregon (CivE ’43)
Former vice president, Costa Rica
Marcia K. McNutt
President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Research Institute
Doraiswami Ramkrishna (ChemE Ph.D. '65)
Professor of Chemical Engineering of Purdue University
C.A. "Sy" Syvertson (AeroEng M.S. ’48)
Director, NASA Ames Research Center (retired)
2002
William Bardeen (Physics Ph.D. ’68)
Theoretical Physics Group, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Jeffrey Harvey (Physics and Math,’77)
Professor of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago
2001
Morton Denn (ChemE Ph.D. '64)
Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering
Director, the Levitch Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics
The City College of the City University of New York
Theodore Galambos
Professor Emeritus
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota
James Prestegard (Chem ’66)
Professor of Chemistry and Eminent Scholar Professor
University of Georgia
W. Harmon Ray (ChemE Ph.D. ’66)
Vilas Research Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lee Raymond (ChemE Ph.D. ’63)
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Exxon Mobil Corporation
2000
Andreas Acrivos (ChemE Ph.D. ’54)
Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering
The City College of the City University of New York
Charles Fairhurst
Professor Emeritus
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Minnesota
1999
Guangzhi Tu (Geology Ph.D. ’49)
Professor, Institute of Geochemistry
Chinese Academy of Sciences, People's Republic of China
1995
Ernst R.G. Eckert
Regents Professor Emeritus
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Minnesota
