Dear Colleagues, 

We invite you to nominate candidates to receive an honorary degree from the University of Pennsylvania at Commencement. Candidates should exemplify the highest ideals of the University, which seek to educate those who will change the world through innovative scholarship, scientific discovery, artistic creativity, and/or civic leadership. 

We encourage you to involve your faculty colleagues, within and across departments and schools, in the nomination process. Nominations should highlight how nominees meet the criteria for selection. Please do not contact the nominees, as the selection process is confidential and candidates should not know that they are being considered. We particularly encourage nominations from departments and schools whose fields have not been recognized by the awarding of honorary degrees in recent years. You can view a list of previous Penn honorary degree recipients here. 

The University Council Committee on Honorary Degrees welcomes nominations at any time and conducts review on an ongoing basis. Candidates may ultimately be selected several years after their initial nominations. Please note that it is University policy to bar from consideration Penn standing faculty, trustees, or members of school and center boards of advisors. The University Council Committee’s recommendations are forwarded to the Trustee Committee on Honorary Degrees and Awards for final selection. 

If you would like to submit a nomination, please follow this link to additional information on the honorary degrees selection process, including an online nomination form. If you have any questions, please contact Laura Brennan at lmbr@upenn.edu or (215) 573-5047. 

Penn emeritus faculty are eligible to receive honorary degrees through a special nomination process. University deans propose candidates for consideration by the Council of Deans. The Council’s nominations are then reviewed by the President and Provost, and final selection is made by the Trustee Committee on Honorary Degrees. 

Honorary degrees are important statements of Penn’s values and aspirations, and we strongly encourage your participation in this process. 

—Amy Gutmann, President 

—Jonathan Moreno, Chair, University Council Committee on Honorary Degrees