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Honorary Degrees from the University of Illinois are awarded to persons who have made a distinguished contribution to knowledge and creativity in the relevant field of endeavor, or have shown sustained activity of uncommon merit.
The following honorary degree recipients have made a significant impact on the Arts at Illinois.
Nathan Ricker (1843 - 1924)
D. Arch. awarded in 1900 Arhitect; the first graduate of an American school of architecture, established the second program of architecture in the country at Illinois in 1873. Designed several buildings on UI campus.
UI alumnus Lorado Taft (1860 – 1936)
LL.D. awarded in 1929 Sculptor; won major national awards and commissions in the early 20th century; created Alma Mater statue on UI campus
UI alumna Marian Anderson (1897 – 1993)
Doctor of Music awarded in 1964 Operatic and concert singer; first African American to sing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera and at the White House; received Presidential Medal of Freedom
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 – 1967)
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1964 Architect; director of the Bauhaus; works include the Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago and the Seagram Building in New York Kenneth
John Conant (1894 – 1984)
Doctor of Literature awarded in 1966 Architectural historian most notably of the medieval period; member of the Harvard faculty
Walter Gropius (1883 – 1969)
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1968 Architect, director of the Bauhaus school 1919-1928, where the buildings are considered his major works; one of the most influential figures in the development of the Modern Movement in architecture
Gunther Schuller (1925 - )
Doctor of Music awarded in 1968 Composer; conductor; former president of New England Conservatory of Music; artistic director at Tanglewood; Pulitzer Prize winner
Josef Albers (1888 - 1976)
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1969 Artist and teacher; one of longest serving members of the Bauhaus; his book Interaction of Color was one of the major tools of teaching art throughout the world; first one-person show by a living artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Eugene Ormandy (1899 – 1985)
Doctor of Musical Arts awarded in 1969 Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years
Max Abramovitz (1908 - 2004)
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1970 Distinguished architect; designer of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, Assembly Hall and Krannert Center at UI; involved with design of UN Headquarters; UI alumnus
Roger L. Stevens (1910 - 1998)
Doctor of Letters awarded in 1970 First Chairman of Kennedy Center; theatrical producer, First Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts
Merce Cunningham (1919 - )
Doctor of Letters awarded in 1972 Dancer and choreographer; set the precedent for artistic invention involving the interaction of dance, music and the visual arts; partnered in performances with composer John Cage and artist Jasper Johns among others
Dragan Plamenac (1895 – 1983)
Doctor of Music awarded in 1976 Musicologist, specializing in pre-classical music; UI faculty
Hideo Sasaki (1919 – 2000)
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1982 Landscape architect; was internationally respected as a planner, teacher and mentor; pioneered the concept of interdisciplinary planning and design; UI Alumnus
Nakamura Kanzaburo XVII (1910 – 1988)
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1988 World-renowned Kabuki actor; the Nakamura lineage can be traced back to the 17th century, in a continuous line further back than any other acting family in Japan
Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Jr. (1926)
Doctor of Music awarded in 1990 One of the best known composers in the just intonation system, professor emeritus at University of Illinois
Isaac Stern (1920 – 2001)
Doctor of Music awarded in 1992 Violin virtuoso; considered one of the greatest musicians of all time
Allen Weller (1907 – 1997)
Doctor of Humane Letters awarded in 1993 Dean of UI College of Fine and Applied Arts, 1954-1971; founder of Contemporary Arts Festival at UI; noted author on American contemporary art
Katherine Dunham (1909 - )
Doctor of Humane Letters awarded in 1994 Dancer and Choreographer; blended cultural anthropology with dance, producing new forms of movement and establishing black dance as an art form in its own right; her professional dance troupe was a first for African Americans
Billy Taylor (1921 - )
Doctor of Musical Arts awarded in 1994 Jazz pianist; composer; educator
Bruno Nettl (1930 - )
Doctor of Humane Letters awarded in 1996 Professor emeritus of musicology at UI; leading expert in ethnomusicology
Donald Kuspit (1935 - )
Doctor of Humane Letters awarded in 1998 Professor of Art History and art critic; recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design
Shozo Sato (1933 - )
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 1999 Founder of Japan House at UI; Professor Emeritus of Art and Design at UI; kabuki actor; master of Zen arts
Lukas Foss (1922 - )
Doctor of Music awarded in 2001 Composer, conductor, pianist and educator; a musical “wunderkind,” one of the most notable composers of the 20th Century
Agnes Gund (1939 - )
Doctor of Arts awarded in 2002 President Emerita of Museum of Modern Art; philanthropist; received the National Medal of Art for her efforts to make art accessible to all Louise Bourgeois (1911 – Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 2003Modern artist; recipient of National Medal of Arts; first female artist given retrospective exhibit at Museum of Modern Art
Herman Zapf (1918 – )
Doctor of Fine Arts awarded in 2003 Eminent designer of typefaces such as Palatino, Optima and Marconi—the first alphabet designed specifically for digital composition
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