# List of recipients of honorary degrees from Central Connecticut State University

Central Connecticut State University has awarded 55 honorary doctoral degrees since 1985. Awardees have included the CEOs or Chairmen of seven major corporations, eight heads of state, and a variety of others. About half of these degrees have been awarded at commencement exercises at the university, and in most such cases, the conferee has given the commencement address.
Although significant non-degree honors have historically been awarded by the institution, honorary doctorates were not conferred until after Central Connecticut State College was renamed Central Connecticut State University in 1983. U.S. President Jimmy Carter became the first recipient on April 16, 1985, receiving a Doctor of Humane Letters.

## List of Recipients

| awardee | | date | degree* |
| Shigenori Adachihara‡ | Mayor, Atsugi City, Japan | 05/23/1990 | L.H.D. |
| Rt. Rev. Justice Akrofi† | Bishop of Accra, Ghana | 05/18/2000 | L.H.D. |
| József Antall Jr. | Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary | 09/30/1991 | LL.D. |
| Leszek Balcerowicz | Professor, Warsaw School of Economics and former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland | 5/21/2011 | Sc.D. |
| Ernest L. Boyer | President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching | 10/05/1987 | L.H.D. |
| J. William Burns | Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Transportation | 01/03/1995 | LL.D. |
| George H. W. Bush$^a$ | President of the United States | 03/11/1999 | LL.D. |
| George W. Bush | President of the United States | 04/18/2001 | LL.D. |
| Alexander M. Butman | Executive director, Emergency Training Institute | 04/28/1994 | Sc.D. |
| Dave Campo† | Head coach, Dallas Cowboys | 05/22/1999 | D.H.P.Ed. |
| Jimmy Carter$^a$ | President of the United States | 04/16/1985 | L.H.D. |
| Noam Chomsky | Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 11/04/2003 | L.H.D. |
| Young Seek Choue‡ | Chancellor, Kyung Hee University | 10/22/1991 | L.H.D. |
| Chungwon Choue‡ | President, Kyung Hee University | 05/23/1998 | L.H.D. |
| Mong Koo Chung | Chairman, Hyundai Precision and Industry Company | 05/26/1989 | L.H.D. |
| Simon A. Clarke | Education Advisor to UNESCO | 05/24/1991 | L.H.D. |
| Lemuel Rodney Custis | Capitan (Connecticut Tuskegee Airman) | 05/26/2001 | L.H.D. |
| Donald W. Davis | Chairman, The Stanley Works | 05/26/1989 | L.H.D. |
| Rainer Dieterich | Universität der Bundeswehr, Hamburg | 05/25/2002 | Sc.D. |
| Richard Fichman† | Developer, Quick Sight method of cataract removal | 12/16/2023 | L.H.D. |
| Bruno Ficili | Commissioner of Education, Siracusa, Sicily | 10/23/1996 | L.H.D. |
| Gerald R. Ford$^a$ | President of the United States | 03/23/1988 | L.H.D. |
| Charles T. Fote | CEO and chairman, First Data Corp | 05/19/2018 | L.H.D. |
| Mary Hatwood Futrell | President, National Education Association | 10/04/1988 | L.H.D. |
| Joseph J. Grano Jr. | Chairman and CEO, Centurion Holdings, LLC | 05/19/2007 | L.H.D. |
| Harry Jack Gray | Chairman and CEO, United Technologies Corporation | 05/17/1985 | D.S.Sc |
| Edward T. Hall | 1st Lieutenant (Connecticut Tuskegee Airman) | 05/26/2001 | L.H.D. |
| Merle W. Harris† | CCSU Interim President, 1995-1996; Deputy Connecticut Commissioner of Higher Education | 12/17/2022 | Ed.L. |
| E. Dorrit Hoffleit | Senior Research Astronomer Emeritus, Yale University | 10/20/1998 | Sc.D. |
| Benjamin L. Hooks | Executive director, NAACP | 05/20/1988 | L.H.D. |
| C. J. Huang | Chairman, C. J. Huang Foundation | 05/10/1990 | L.H.D. |
| F. Don James | CCSU President Emeritus | 10/16/2003 | L.H.D. |
| Eric Jensen | Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General, United Nations | 05/27/1993 | L.H.D. |
| Peter G. Kelly | Senior Principal, Updike, Kelly & Spellacy | 02/25/2003 | LL.D. |
| Jeane Kirkpatrick$^a$ | United States Representative to the United Nations | 04/04/1991 | L.H.D. |
| Henry A. Kissinger$^a$ | Secretary of State of the United States | 03/24/1987 | D.S.Sc. |
| Michael S. Knapp† | President and CEO, CitiFinancial | 05/25/2002 | D.C.Sc. |
| Phyllis Macpherson-Russell† | Minister of Education, Jamaica | 12/04/1999 | Sc.D. |
| Frances P. Mainella† | Director, National Park Service | 05/23/2002 | D.P.S. |
| Paul J. McQuillan$^,$ | Attorney, Januszewski, McQuillan & DeNigris | 02/23/2004 | D.C.J. |
| George J. Mitchell$^a$ | U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader | 04/12/2000 | LL.D. |
| Brian Mulroney$^a$ | Prime Minister of Canada | 04/26/1994 | D.S.Sc. |
| Connie Nappier Jr. | Flight Officer (Connecticut Tuskegee Airman) | 05/26/2001 | L.H.D. |
| Antonia Coello Novello | Surgeon General of the United States | 05/28/1993 | Sc.D. |
| Vincent O’Leary | President, State University of New York at Albany | 05/28/1994 | D.S.Sc. |
| Rabbi Henry Okolica | CCSU Campus Clergy | 05/22/2003 | D.P.S. |
| Scott Pioli† | former assistant general manager, Atlanta Falcons | 05/18/2019 | L.H.D. |
| Irma Margarita Nevares de Rosselló | First Lady of Puerto Rico | 05/20/1999 | L.H.D. |
| Franz J. Rothenbiller | Lord Mayor of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | 06/06/1991 | L.H.D. |
| Helmut Schmidt$^a$ | Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany | 04/28/1993 | L.H.D. |
| Angelo Tomasso Jr. | Chairman and CEO, Tilcon, Inc | 05/25/1990 | L.H.D. |
| Francis T. Vincent Jr.$^a$ | Commissioner, Major League Baseball | 04/28/1992 | L.H.D. |
| Cecile A. Walden | Principal, Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, Montego Bay, Jamaica | 05/27/2004 | Ped.D. |
| Lech Wałęsa$^a$ | President of Poland | 04/10/1996 | L.H.D. |
| Lowell P. Weicker Jr. | US Senator and Governor of Connecticut | 05/27/2009 | D.P.S. |
| Bertram W. Wilson | Lieutenant Colonel (Connecticut Tuskegee Airman) | 05/26/2001 | L.H.D. |
| Andrzej Wiszniewski | Rector, Technical University of Wrocław | 05/28/1993 | Sc.D. |
| Rt. Rev. Msgr. John Paul Wodarski | Pastor Emeritus, Holy Cross Church, New Britain | 04/29/1999 | L.H.D. |