Honorary degree recipients of NYU are typically persons of great distinction or achievement who are nationally or internationally prominent in their subject areas or disciplines and who reflect the values of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. As a whole, the group of honorees vary in their fields of endeavor, and are diverse in ethnicity, race, background, and gender. Among some of the distinguished recipients honored in recent years at Commencement are the following: *

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

, artist * Aretha Franklin (Hall of Fame artist) *

Robert Rubin Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...

, 70th

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

* Claire Marie Fraser (Genomicist) *

Dylan Tilley (Exogeologist, Mineralogist) Dylan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bob Dylan (born 1941), American singer and songwriter ** ''Dylan'' (1973 album), a 1973 album by Bob Dylan ** ''Dylan'' (2007 album), a 2007 compilation album by Bob Dylan * Dylan (musician), profess ...

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...

, internationally renowned pianist * Omara Khan Massoudi, Afghan Museum Director and Preserver of Cultural Patrimony *

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court * Oliver Stone, film director and NYU Tisch Alum * David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times *

Patrick Desbois Patrick Desbois (born 1955, in Chalon-sur-Saône) is a French Roman Catholic priest, former head of the Commission for Relations with Judaism of the French Bishops' Conference and consultant to the Vatican. He is the founder of the Yahad-In Unu ...

, President, Yahad-In Unum *

Charles Weissmann Charles Weissmann (born 14 October 1931) is a Hungarian-Swiss molecular biologist. Weissmann is particularly known for the first cloning and expression of interferon and his contributions to the unraveling of the molecular genetics of neurogener ...

, Professor and Chairman, Department of Infectology, The Scripps Research Institute *

Janet Yellen Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. Yellen is ...

, Federal Reserve System Chair * Darren Walker, President of the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

. *

Emmanuelle Charpentier Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she ...

, scientist whose research led to some of the most important tools for genome “editing”, and Scientific Member and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, and Visiting Professor at Umeå University. *

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

, comedian, actor, producer, writer, director, and 1970 alumnus of the Tisch School of the Arts. *

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

, courageous leader of the U.S. civil rights movement and a Member of Congress since 1986. * Margaret Marshall, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and the first woman to hold that position, wrote the first high court opinion in the U.S. permitting same-sex marriage. *

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, 42nd President of the United States. *

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada *

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

singer-songwriter *

Sanna Marin Sanna Mirella Marin (; born 16 November 1985) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Finland since 2019. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), she has been a Member of Parliament since 2015. ...

, 76th Prime Minister of Finland ''(upcoming)''

References

{{New York University

*Honorary degree recipients Honorary degree recipients