Honorary Degrees

An honorary degree from Clarkson University recognizes individuals who have made outstanding achievements and contributions to an academic discipline or to society. Recipients of honorary degrees reflect the University's high ideals and values, and exemplify the concepts of excellence, service, and integrity. These degrees recognize distinguished scholarship and accomplishments in the professions, sciences, arts, humanities, public service, and service to humanity.

All members of the Clarkson community are encouraged to submit nominations for honorary degree recipients. Up to five highly qualified candidates may be selected as honorary degree recipients for each commencement day using the procedures outlined in our Honorary Degree Policy.

2012 Honorary Degree recipients

		Dr. David G. Nathan M.D., president emeritus of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, physician-in-chief emeritus at Children's Hospital Boston, and Robert A. Stranahan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The degree was awarded for his "his role as a dedicated physician and medical research pioneer, whose advances in research have had a profound and lasting impact on our understanding and treatment of hematological diseases and cancer; and for his role as an innovative administrator and an influential educator, under whose wisdom and guidance several generations of leading physicians have trained.”
		Radovan Stanislav Pejovnik, rector and professor of materials science at the University of Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The degree was awarded for his "remarkable achievements as a materials scientist and his unwavering commitment to and promotion of the pursuit of knowledge through the application of science; and for his ongoing leadership in support of international scientific cooperation, policy, and technology transfer.”
		George C. Schatz, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. The degree was awarded for his "remarkable vision and pioneering research in the field of chemical reaction dynamics that has laid the foundation for today’s research in combustion, atmospheric and space chemistry, and his scholarly achievements in the fields of chemistry, nanoscience, biomaterials and computational electrodynamics; and for his steadfast dedication to mentoring tomorrow’s scientific leaders.”