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
