In a tradition starting at the 1917 Commencement Ceremony, Millsaps College confers honorary degrees upon individuals who have been influential in their respective fields or have made significant contributions to society.

 

2017-18

Dr. Gordon Edgar Brown Jr.  – Doctor of Science

Richard Ford  – Doctor of Humane Letters

Dr. John M. Perkins  – Doctor of Public Service

 

2016-17

Joanne Edgar  – Doctor of Humane Letters

Roberta Kaplan  – Doctor of Laws

Ray Mabus  – Doctor of Public Service

 

2015-16

The Rev. David McIntosh Sr.  – Doctor of Divinity

Jerry Mitchell – Doctor of Public Service

 

2014-15

Rev. Janet Sanderson Ott – Doctor of Public Service

Rev. Luther Ott – Doctor of Public Service

Jack Reed Sr. – Doctor of Public Service

Natasha Trethewey – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

2013-14

Roger Mudd – Doctor of Humane Letters

Lovett H. Weems Jr. – Doctor of Divinity

Elise Varner Winter – Doctor of Public Service

 

2012-13

The Rev. R. Edwin King – Doctor of Divinity

Dr. Aaron Shirley – Doctor of Public Service

Ms. Seetha Srinivasan – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

2011-12

Robert Parker Adams

Judge Neal Brooks Biggers Jr.

Elaine Gradinger Crystal

Charles L. Overby

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward

 

2010-11

Rodney J. Bartlett – Doctor of Science

Robert H. Dunlap – Doctor of Public Service

Larry M. Goodpaster – Doctor of Divinity

Richard C. Miller – Doctor of Science

Leontyne Price – Doctor of Arts

 

2009-10

Fred Banks, Jr. – Doctor of Laws

Christy Gilliland Dunaway – Doctor of Public Service

Rt. Rev. Duncan Gray, Jr. – Doctor of Divinity

Sister Mary Dorothea Sondgeroth – Doctor of Public Service

 

2008-09

Marian Wright Edelman – Doctor of Public Service

Charles Thomas Fingar – Doctor of Public Service

Hugh Gaston Hall – Doctor of Humane Letters

Rowan Hurt Taylor – Doctor of Public Service

 

2007-08

Martha Bergmark – Doctor of Public Service

Greg Iles – Doctor of Humane Letters

Leslie B. McLemore – Doctor of Public Service

John Stone – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

2006-07

Helen B. Barnes, M.D. – Doctor of Science

John D. Bower, M.D. – Doctor of Public Service

The Reverend Ross Olivier – Doctor of Public Service

Joe Frank Sanderson, Jr. – Doctor of Laws

 

2005-06

Randall Pinkston – Doctor of Humane Letters

Satnam L. Sethi – Doctor of Laws

Rev. Keith Tonkel – Doctor of Divinity

Leila Clark Wynn – Doctor of Public Service

 

2004-05

Thad Cochran – Doctor of Laws

Milton Babbitt – Doctor of Arts

Howard L. McMillan, Jr. – Doctor of Laws

Kathryn Loeb Wiener – Doctor of Public Service

 

2003-04

John N. Palmer – Doctor of Laws

Wallace Conerly – Doctor of Science

Bishop Kenneth Carder – Doctor of Divinity

Hugh B. Landrum Jr. – Doctor of Laws

Myrlie Evers-Williams – Doctor of Public Service

 

2002-03

James Barksdale – Doctor of Laws

Sally McDonnell Barksdale – Doctor of Public Service

Turner Cassity – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

2001-02

Rev. Will Davis Campbell – Doctor of Humane Letters

Justice James E. Graves, Jr. – Doctor of Laws

Chief Phillip Martin – Doctor of Laws

Cassandra Wilson – Doctor of Arts

 

2000-01

Reuben V. Anderson – Doctor of Laws

Corinne Claiborne ALindy@ Boggs – Doctor of Laws

Warren Eugene Pittman – Doctor of Divinity

Cokie Roberts – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

1999-2000

Edward L. Moyers – Doctor of Laws

Samuel Jones – Doctor of Humane Letters

Paul Piper, Sr. – Doctor of Laws

Marshall L. Meadors – Doctor of Humane Letters

Jean C. Lindsey – Doctor of Humane Letters (Posthumously)

 

1998-99

William R. Ferris – Doctor of Humane Letters

John Hope Franklin – Doctor of Humane Letters

Mary D. Garrard – Doctor of Humane Letters

Mundell Lowe – Doctor of Arts

 

1997-98

Hodding Carter III – Doctor of Humane Letters

George M. Miller – Doctor of Laws

James Daniel Hardy – Doctor of Science

 

1996-97

Robert W. Pittman – Doctor of Arts

Roland L. Freeman – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

1995-96

Arthur C. Guyton – Doctor of Science

Stuart C. Irby, Jr. – Doctor of Letters

Frank H. T. Rhodes – Doctor of Science

 

1994-95

Charles Bertram Felder – Doctor of Divinity

Elizabeth Becker Henley – Doctor of Letters

Jeremiah Henry Holleman, Sr. – Doctor of Science

William J. Raspberry – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

1993-94

Donald E. Petersen – Doctor of Laws

Mary Ann McDonald Swenson – Doctor of Divinity

 

1992-93

Margaret Walker Alexander – Doctor of Letters

James Boyd Campbell – Doctor of Public Service (Posthumous)

John L. Clendenin – Doctor of Laws

Shelby Foote – Doctor of Humane Letters

Leslie B. Lampton – Doctor of Science

 

1991-92

Robert C. Morgan – Doctor of Divinity

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese – Doctor of Letters

Merrill Odom Hines – Doctor of Sciences

 

1990-91

Robert H. Atwell – Doctor of Laws

Gwin J. Kolb – Doctor of Humane Letters

Hyman F. McCarty, Jr. – Doctor of Laws

Richard D. McRae – Doctor of Public Service

 

1989-90

Charlotte Capers – Doctor of Letters

Thalia Mara – Doctor of Arts

Robert A. Mosbacher – Doctor of Laws

George B. Pickett – Doctor of Public Service

Richard H. Truly – Doctor of Science

 

1988-89

Joseph W. Carroll – Doctor of Divinity

John W. Chandler – Doctor of Laws

LeRoy Percy – Doctor of Letters

Sister Josephine Therese – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

1987-88

Betty Werlein Carter – Doctor of Humane Letters

Charles W. Else – Doctor of Laws

Eloise T. Else – Doctor of Letters

William R. Hendee – Doctor of Science

James T. Laney, Jr. – Doctor of Humane Letters

 

1986-87 

William F. Appleby – Doctor of Divinity

Robert N. Fortenberry – Doctor of Laws

Ellen Gilchrist – Doctor of Letters

Richard F. Rosser – Doctor of Laws

 

1985-86 

Alan J. Pifer – Doctor of Laws

 

1984-85 

Ellen Douglas Doctor of Humane Letters

Garland H. Holloman – Doctor of Divinity

 

1983-84 

Doctor of Science – George L. Maddox, Jr.

Doctor of Divinity – James Maxwell Miller

Doctor of Letters – Mrs. E. H. Sumners

Doctor of Laws – Warren A. HooDoctor of Divinity – Clay F. Lee

 

1982-83

Doctor of Letters – Cleanth Brooks

D.M. – Willard Palmer

Doctor of Laws – William Winter

 

1981-82 

Doctor of Humane Letters – Paul Baddour

Doctor of Commerce – Jesse Brent

Doctor of Laws – C. R. Ridgway

Doctor of Science – R.E. Williams

 

1980-81

Doctor of Divinity – Bishop Carlton P. Minnick

 

1979-80 

Doctor of Humane Letters – Robert Ezelle

Doctor of Laws – John H. Bryan

 

1978-79 

Doctor of Laws – James Herman Hines

Doctor of Divinity – Jim Leggett Waits

 

1976-77 

Doctor of Laws – Ray Marshall

Doctor of Divinity – Joel Duncan McDavid

 

1975-76 

Doctor of Humane Letters – David Herbert Donald

Doctor of Divinity – Homer Ellis Finger, Jr.

Doctor of Laws – Otis Arnold Singletary, Jr.

Doctor of Laws – Louis Hugh Wilson, Jr.

 

1973-74 

Doctor of Laws – James Sharbrough Ferguson

Doctor of Humane Letters – Paul Ramsey

Doctor of Humane Letters – Patricia O’Brien Smylie

Doctor of Divinity – Mack Boyd Stokes

 

1971-72

Doctor of Laws – Edward Hunter Bacot

Doctor of Laws – Nathaniel Sims Rogers

 

1970-71 

Doctor of Humane Letters – Lehman Engel

 

1968-69

Doctor of Laws – Edward Julian Pendergrass

Doctor of Humane Letters – Eudora Alice Welty

 

1967-68

Doctor of Laws – Robert Mason Stricker Mason Stricker
1961-62

Doctor of Divinity – Roy Clyde Clark

Doctor of Divinity – William Maren Jones

Doctor of Laws – Roy Herbert Black

Doctor of Laws – Robert Murrah Mayo

 

1960-61

 

1959-60

Doctor of Divinity – Thomas Orien Prewitt

Doctor of Divinity – George Richard Williams

Doctor of Laws – John Fontaine Egger

Doctor of Laws – Robert Raymond Haynes

 

1958-59

Doctor of Divinity – Richard Leonard Cooke

Doctor of Divinity – John David Humphrey

Doctor of Laws – William Fitzhugh Murrah

Doctor of Laws – William Bryan Selah

 

1957-58

Doctor of Divinity – George Eliot Jones

Doctor of Divinity – Wiley Clifford Newman

Doctor of Laws – James Milton Ewing

Doctor of Laws – Virgil Derender Youngblood

 

1956-57

Doctor of Divinity – Clyde Hubert Gunn

Doctor of Divinity – Felix Asa Sutphin

Doctor of Laws – William Barnett Dribben

Doctor of Laws – John Cornelius Stennis

 

1955-56

Doctor of Divinity – James Dudley Slay

Doctor of Divinity – Rufus Garrison Moore

Doctor of Humane Letters – Albert Godfrey Sanders

Doctor of Laws – Frederick Brougher Smith

H.H.D. – Alvin Jon King

 

1954-55

Doctor of Divinity – Samuel Edward Ashmore

Doctor of Divinity – Osmond Summers Lewis

Doctor of Laws – Benjamin McClellan Stevens

Doctor of Laws – Edmund Taylor

 

1953-54

Doctor of Divinity – William Robert Lott

Doctor of Divinity – Martin Luther McCormick

Doctor of Laws – Richard Malcolm Guess

Doctor of Laws – James Oliver Emmerich

 

1952-53

Doctor of Divinity – George Hawkins Jones

Doctor of Divinity – William Lawson Robinson

Doctor of Laws – Alexander Boyd Campbell

 

1951-52

Doctor of Divinity – William Jefferson Cunningham

Doctor of Laws – Bishop Marvin A. Franklin

Doctor of Laws – J. P. Stafford

 

1950-51

Doctor of Divinity – John Willard Leggett, Jr.

Doctor of Divinity – Richard Guy Lord

Doctor of Laws – Rex Ivan Brown

Doctor of Laws – Robert Lenoir Ezelle

 

1949-50

 

1948-49

 

1947-48

Doctor of Science – George Lott Harrell

 

1946-47

 

1945-46

 

1944-45

Doctor of Laws – Hugh Clegg

 

1943-44

Doctor of Letters – Roy L. Smith

 

1942-43

 

1941-42

 

1940-41

 

1939-40

 

1938-39

 

1937-38

Doctor of Laws – Sara Frances Sale

Doctor of Letters – Martha Catching Enochs

Doctor of Divinity – Lovick Pinckney Wasson

Doctor of Divinity – Robert Timmons Henry

 

1936-37

Doctor of Divinity – Edgar Lafayette Hillman

Doctor of Laws – George Leslie Morelock

 

1935-36

 

1934-35

Doctor of Divinity – William Nathaniel Thomas

 

1933-34

Doctor of Letters – A. A. Kern

Doctor of Divinity – W. L. Duren

 

1932-33

 

1931-32

 

1930-31

 

1929-30

 

1928-29

Doctor of Divinity – Nolan Bailey Harmon, Jr.

Doctor of Laws – B.B. Jones

 

1927-28

Doctor of Divinity – John Lloyd Decell

Doctor of Divinity – R.H. Tucker

 

1926-27

Doctor of Divinity – C.A. Bowen

Doctor of Letters – George W. Huddleston

 

1925-26

 

1924-25

 

1923-24

Doctor of Divinity – Gypsy Smith, Jr.

 

1922-23

Doctor of Laws – Barney Edward Eaton

 

1921-22

 

1920-21

Doctor of Divinity – Henry Thompson Carley

Doctor of Divinity – John Richard Countiss

Doctor of Divinity – Charles William Crisler

 

1919-20

 

1918-19

 

1917-18