Honorary degrees are only awarded to persons of acknowledged eminence in the arts, letters or sciences, in the professions, or in public service whose contributions are so significant that benefits are recognized and acknowledged on a state, national or international level. Recipients include:

John A. McDowell June 1924 Pedagogy
Martin L. Davey August 1936 Laws
Benjamin F. Fairless June 1937 Science
Floyd Wesley Reeves June 1940 Laws
John W. Bricker June 1941 Laws
Howard L. Bevis June 1942 Laws
Paul Bellamy August 1942 Laws
John R. Williams June 1953 Laws
Otis C. Hatton September 1954 Laws
Henry J. Robison September 1954 Laws
Roy Harmon Smith September 1954 Engineering
Andrew Wellington Cordier August 1955 Laws
Charles C. Green June 1956 Laws
Charles H. Lake August 1956 Laws
Novice G. Fawcett August 1956 Laws
John Shively Knight June 1958 Laws
Lawrence Gridley Derthick August 1958 Laws
Raymond John Seeger August 1958 Science
Howard Beale June 1959 Laws
Michael V. DiSalle June 1960 Laws
Otto J. Korb June 1960 Laws
Robert C. Dix June 1961 Laws
Harlan Cleveland June 1962 Laws
Lowell W. Herron June 1963 Laws
George A. Bowman August 1963 Laws
Albert L. Caris September 1964 Laws
Joseph W. Cohen September 1964 Humane Letters
John D. Millett September 1964 Laws
Tong Won Lee November 1966 Laws
Milton S. Eisenhower June 1968 Laws
Paul A. Siple June 1968 Science
Oh Ik Kwun October 1968 Laws
George E. Pake March 1969 Laws
John B. Ervin June 1969 Laws
Thomas A. Lambo July 1969 Laws
Harold P. Fawcett August 1969 Pedagogy
Sherman E. Lee August 1969 Humane Letters
Dr. Henry A. Murray June 1971 Science
Dr. Dominic J. Guzzetta August 1971 Laws
Dr. Edvard I. Hambro December 1971 Humane Letters
Arthur A. Fletcher June 1972 Laws
Harold E. Enarson August 1972 Humane Letters
James A. Norton June 1973 Humane Letters
John P. McGovern June 1973 Humane Letters
Maurice F. Strong August 1973 Laws
Charles H. Lawshe June 1974 Laws
James B. Reston June 1974 Humane Letters
Ardeshir Zahedi August 1974 Laws
John I. Goodlad August 1974 Laws
Charles J. Pilliod, Jr. August 1974 Laws
Paul A. Schilpp June 1975 Humane Letters
Maurice L. Huggins June 1975 Science
Oliver Ocasek June 1975 Laws
Benjamin Quarles June 1975 Humane Letters
Lois Wilson June 1975 Humane Letters
Glenn T. Seaborg August 1975 Science
Jose D. Drilon, Jr. June 1976 Humane Letters
Patricia Roberts Harris June 1976 Humane Letters
Robert Hays Stopher June 1976 Laws
John F. Dreyer August 1976 Science
Peter D. Lax August 1976 Science
Charles A. Mosher August 1976 Humane Letters
Dr. Kurt Waldheim June 1977 Humane Letters
Jean-Claude van Itallie August 1977 Humane Letters
Josef Gingold May 1981 Humane Letters
Waldo L. Semon May 1981 Science
John Doyle Ong May 1982 Humane Letters
William H. Eells May 1983 Humane Letters
Julia Montgomery Walsh May 1983 Laws
Newton Becker May 1984 Laws
William Conard Fernelius May 1984 Science
Harold B. Law May 1984 Science
Richard Penrose Schmidt May 1984 Science
Shannon Rodgers December 1985 Humane Letters
Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer May 1986 Laws
Robert C. James May 1987 Science
Vernal G. Riffe May 1987 Laws
Rozella M. Schlotfeldt May 1987 Science
Arthur L. Tuuri May 1987 Science
Louis Lane May 1988 Humane Letters
Steven Alan Minter May 1988 Humane Letters
Richard F. Celeste December 1989 Laws
R. E. "Ted" Turner December 1989 Humane Letters
Stanley J. Aronoff May 1990 Laws
Mary Hatwood Futrell May 1990 Humane Letters
Joseph Chaikin December 1990 Humane Letters
Linda Allard December 1991 Humane Letters
Joseph T. Gorman May 1992 Laws
Barbara A. Donaho December 1992 Laws
Charles J. Ping May 1994 Laws
Donna E. Shalala December 1994 Laws
Louis Leo Holtz December 1994 Laws
Guion S. Bluford, Jr. August 1995 Science
Delano E. Lewis December 1995 Laws
Aleksander Pelczynski December 1996 Science
Christoph Dohnanyi June 1996 Music
Virginia Hamilton September 1996 Humane Letters
Rae Natalie Prosser Goodall March 1997 Science
Earl P. Olmstead September 1997 Humane Letters
Vance George September 1997 Music
Robert S. Cohen March 1998 Science
Judith A. Huntington March 1998 Science
Robert S. Blacklow May 1998 Science
Louis Stokes August 1999 Laws
John L. Scott December 1999 Humane Letters
Arthur C. Martinez March 2000 Humane Letters
Carl E. Hirsch May 2000 Humane Letters
C.R. Rao May 2000 Science
Glenn R. Brown May 2000 Science
Jeanette Grasselli Brown May 2000 Science
Halim El-Dabh May 2001 Music
Joseph Fidler Walsh December 2001 Music
Yoram Lindenstrauss December 2001 Science
William B. DeLauder May 2002 Humane Letters
Kathryn D. Sullivan May 2002 Science
Robert P. Madison August 2002 Humane Letters
David Bergholz December 2002 Humane Letters
Charles D. Spielberger May 2003 Science
John Mack May 2003 Arts
Michael D. Capellas May 2003 Humane Letters
Herbert Gallen August 2003 Humane Letters
Vincent Dowling December 2003 Humane Letters
Ping Chong August 2004 Humane Letters
Ralph Regula May 2005 Humane Letters
Mary Regula May 2005 Humane Letters
Ronald W. Roskens May 2005 Humane Letters
Sandra Pianalto May 2005 Humane Letters
Bernard J. Milano December 2007 Humane Letters
Mark Mothersbaugh May 2008 Humane Letters