Honorary Degrees Committee – Alumni Council 

Louisa Guthrie '79 (Chair)  •  Robert Charles '87 (Vice Chair) •  Cary Boyd '07 •  Veree Brown '93 
Danielle Dyer '81, '89Tu  •  Kaja Fickes '95  •  Bonnie An Henderson '89, '93DMS  •  Thad King '73
John Manaras '67  •  Marisol Negron '93  •  Thomas Oppenheim '83  •  Peter Roby '79

The job of the Alumni Council Honorary Degrees Committee is to submit three to five names of alumni worthy of consideration for an honorary degree from Dartmouth College to the College's Committee on Honorary Degrees, which makes the final decision. 

To be nominated, an individual must have attained intellectual distinction at national and international levels, reached professional achievement of the highest order, or made contributions of genuine significance in areas of public service or Dartmouth College involvement. The Alumni Council Honorary Degrees Committee is tasked with identifying and researching living undergraduate school alumni of this caliber and nominating the best among them.

If you know an alumnus you believe meets the high standards required for an honorary degree, please send the person's name and any information you'd like to share about him or her to Suzanne Wiley Young '77, secretary, Alumni Council Honorary Degrees Committee, 6068 Blunt Alumni Center, Hanover, NH  03755.  All nominations are confidential.

Report from the 198th Alumni Council, May 4–6, 2009:

The Honorary Degrees Committee conducted its fourth and final meeting of the year with 11 of 12 committee members present in person or by phone. The committee reviewed the list of individuals who will be receiving honorary degrees during the 2009 Commencement, including Dartmouth alumni Louise Erdrich '79 and Dr. Raymond B. Johnson '59. The committee then reviewed the 10 finalists who emerged following our last meeting to be considered for recommendation to the president for honorary degrees for the 2010 Commencement. Three were recommended for degrees, four were put on hold for future consideration, and three were archived.

The committee also discussed 11 new potential names for future consideration. Two had previously been awarded degrees, and the other nine will be further researched and discussed in a future meeting. The pipeline, particularly of those in the class of 1961, with their 50th reunion coming up next, needs to be further refined. There was also a good discussion about the attributes the committee seeks in recommending degrees, which include intellectual distinction, professional achievement, public service, and Dartmouth involvement. Additional attributes might include inspirational, aspirational, passion, enduring success, relevance and significance, character, and values. These were summarized in a presentation, which will be made available online, made by the chair to the Alumni Council in a plenary session on Saturday morning. 

Finally, the committee elected Louisa Guthrie '79 as new chair and Bob Charles '87 as new vice chair.