9-8-25: Call for Nominations for Candidates for an Honorary Degree
Call for Nominations for Candidates for an Honorary Degree
The Committee on Honorary Degrees is now accepting nominations for candidates for honorary degrees to be conferred at the 2026, 2027, or 2028 commencement exercises. The deadline for nominations is Monday, 29-September 2025. Nominations are sent to Professor Nathan Lents, Chair of the Committee on Honorary Degrees (NLENTS@jjay.cuny.edu), to whom questions may also be addressed. The other elected committee members are Professors George Andreopoulos, Janice Bockmeyer, Katarzyna Celinska, Enrique Chavez Arvizo, Gerald Markowitz, and Mangai Natarajan.
The nominator has the honor of introducing the honorary degree recipient during the hooding ceremony at commencement. In addition, the nominator is invited to the luncheon in honor of the honorary degree recipients prior to commencement, which provides an opportunity for the nominator to meet with the honoree.
The process for selecting and approving candidates for honorary degrees is conducted with strict confidentiality. Until such time that a nominee is invited and accepts, only the committee chair will know the identity of each nominator(s). Neither the Faculty Senate, nor the other members of the Honorary Degree Committee are informed of the nominator's identity to ensure that the candidate will be judged solely on the merits of her or his accomplishments. The Faculty Senate will consider, approve, and rank those recommended by the Committee on Honorary Degrees at its all-day meeting in early December.
To be considered, your nomination must include the following two items:
1.) A nominating letter of 2-3 pages, in which you explain why the person deserves an honorary degree from John Jay. To maintain confidentiality, please do not write this on your personal letterhead or make reference to yourself or your department. Blank college letterhead is preferred. In your nominating letter, you should highlight the major accomplishments of the individual and explain why this person's work and contributions to his or her profession or to society are worthy of an honorary degree. Remember to clearly address why the person you are nominating is particularly relevant to John Jay’s curriculum, mission, or student body.
2.) Supporting documents, such as a curriculum vitae, copies of articles or speeches, major news stories, official reports or informational documents about the organization or agency the person heads, etc. Nomination letters must include supporting material.
These materials must be sent electronically by Monday, 29-September 2025.
Nominators are strongly discouraged from contacting nominees or making their nomination known to others. Besides breaching the confidentiality which ensures an objective process, this risks embarrassing the nominee, nominator, the faculty senate, and/or the college. Many deserving people are nominated, but the college typically only grants two honorary degrees each year. Approved nominees are eligible for three graduation cycles before their nomination expires. Therefore, a nomination approved this year may result in an honorary degree in spring 2026, 2027, or 2028, based on the length of the queue and the availability of other willing candidates to be present at the ceremony. Some worthy and approved nominees may never reach the top of the list to be invited. Only those nominees that commit to appearing at the ceremony may receive the honorary degree.
Please note the following restrictions: 1.) Elected NYC and NYS officials are NOT eligible for honorary degrees from CUNY. 2.) Anyone who has been an employee of CUNY, in any capacity, within the last three years is NOT eligible. 3.) Colleges are discouraged from nominating individuals who have previously received an honorary degree from a CUNY school. A waiver from the Chancellor is required to award a second honorary degree from CUNY to an individual, which will require special justification and explanation of merit earned since the time that the previous degree was conferred. If you are unsure if a candidate has received an honorary degree from CUNY, you may contact the committee chair who maintains the list of past CUNY honorees.
The CUNY Board of Trustees provides the following criteria for honorary degrees. Please keep these in mind when selecting your candidate and completing the nominating letter, as the Honorary Degree Committee and the Faculty Senate will surely do so in its deliberations.
"Honorary degrees are intended to serve as a means by which the University can recognize the achievements of persons who have made significant contributions to the progress of the University, or to its colleges and to the principles for which the institutions stand or to their academic or professional disciplines… In general, candidates for honorary degrees should fall in one or more of the following categories:
1. Persons of national or international reputation in an academic discipline that holds a significant place in the curriculum of the awarding college;
2. Persons who have made significant contributions in either thought or action to American Higher Education or in a professional field closely related to an academic interest of the University or the awarding college;
3. Persons who have made significant contributions over a sustained period of time to the development of major programs at the University or at one of its colleges;
4. Persons who have given long and distinguished service to the University or one of its colleges including those who have been in its employ and who have been retired or otherwise separated from the University or one of its colleges for a period of at least three years;
5. Persons who have made major contributions to furthering principles which are at the center of the University's purpose and mission."
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Below is a list of those who received an honorary degree from John Jay in the 21st century. The entire list is published each year in our Commencement program.
2025 Commencement
Donna Ferrato – Award-winning photojournalist and domestic violence activist
2024 Commencement
Elijah Anderson – Professor, Urban Ethnographer, Stockholm Prize Winner
The Hon. Julissa Reynoso-Pantaleón – Lawyer, Diplomat, US Ambassador to Spain
2023 Commencement
Mariska Hargitay – Actor, Activist for victims of domestic violence
The Hon. Eric Holder – Former US Attorney, 82nd Attorney General of the United States
2022 Commencement
Faith Ringgold – Award-winning Artist and Civil Rights Activist
Ellen Ochoa – Astronaut, former director of Johnson Space Center
2021 Commencement (no degrees awarded)
2020 Commencement (no degrees awarded)
2019 Commencement
Loretta Lynch – Former US Attorney and 83rd Attorney General of the United States
The Hon. Alex Calabrese – Administrative Judge of Red Hook Community Justice Ctr.
2018 Commencement
Ronald V. Clarke – Criminologist, Winner of the 2012 Stockholm Prize
Rashida Manjoo – Law Professor, civil rights activist, Special Rapporteur to the U.N.
2017 Commencement
Mary L. Bonauto – Civil Rights Project Director, GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders
Jose Antonio Vargas – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigrant rights activist
2016 Commencement
Kimberlé Crenshaw - Professor of law, scholar, civil rights advocate
Eve Ensler - Playwright, global women's activist
2015 Commencement
The Hon. Robert Katzmann - Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals, 2nd circuit
William Ramirez - Executive Director of American Civil Liberties Union of Puerto Rico
2014 Convocation
The Hon. Sonia Sotomayor – Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
2014 Commencement
Charles Figley – Psychologist, PTSD expert and advocate
Mario Jose Molina – Nobel Laureate, Environmental Scientist
2013 Commencement
Peter J. Neufeld – Co-founder and Co-director of the Innocence Project
Barry C. Scheck – Co-founder and Co-director of the Innocence Project
2012 Commencement
Judith Jamison – Dancer and Choreographer
Michael Meltsner – Death Penalty Abolitionist
Michael Perlin – Mental Health Lawyer and Advocate
2011 Commencement
The Hon. Judith Kaye – New York State Chief Justice (retired)
Tony Kushner – Playwright
Lynn Paltrow – Lawyer and Legal Activist
2010 Commencement
Taylor Branch -- Historian
Seymour Hersh - Investigative Journalist
Anna Deavere Smith - Playwright and Performer
2009 Commencement
Patricia Hill Collins - Professor of Sociology
Ted Koppel - Investigative Journalist and Newscaster
David Levering Lewis - Historian
2008 Commencement
Paul Farmer - Founding Director, Partners in Health
Ellen Wolf Schrecker - Professor of History
Gary L. Wells - Professor of Psychology
2007 Commencement
Patricia Cornwell - Novelist
Richard Delgado - Professor of Law
Deborah Lipstadt - Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies
2006 Commencement
Paul Chevigny - Professor of Law
Carol Gilligan - Professor of Gender Studies
Woodie King, Jr. - Producer and President, New Federal Theater
Manning Marable - Professor of Public Affairs
Herbert Sturz - Trustee of the Open Society Institute
2005 Convocation
Joan Wallace Scott - Professor of Social Science
2005 Commencement
Stephen Bright - Director, Southern Center for Human Rights
The Hon. Baltasar Garzon - Judge, National Court of Spain
Aryeh Neier - President, Soros Foundation
2004 Convocation
The Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
2004 Commencement
Derrick Bell - Professor of Law
Barbara Ehrenreich - Author and Journalist
Fred Gray - Attorney and Civil Rights Activist
Mary Robinson - Professor of Law
2003 Commencement
David Burnham - Journalist
Robert Drinan - Professor of Law
Alvin Poussaint - Professor of Psychiatry
Alice Rivlin - Economist
2002 Commencement
Susan Brown Miller - Author
Kay Redfield Jamison - Professor of Psychiatry
Jessye Norman - Performer, Activist
James McCloskey - Minister, Activist
2001 Commencement
Douglas Lucas - Forensic Scientist
Patricia Williams - Professor of Law
2000 Commencement
The Hon. John Lewis - US Congressman
Marcia Robinson Lowry - Founder and Director, Children's Rights, Inc.
Martin Symonds - Psychiatrist