Honorary Degree Nominations
University of Pennsylvania
Each year at Commencement, Penn's President bestows Honorary Degrees upon chosen figures who exemplify the University's highest ideals. The Penn community is welcome to nominate candidates for consideration.
Nominations should highlight how nominees meet the criteria for selection. Please do not contact the nominee. The nomination process is confidential and nominees should not know that they are being considered. We particularly encourage nominations from fields which have not been recognized by the award of honorary degrees in recent years.
For general purposes, fields of consideration for honorary degree nominations are as follows:
- Arts and Culture
- Business
- Education
- Entertainment and Media
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Public Affairs (government, law)
- Scholarship/Academia
- Science, Technology and Medicine
Please note that we will not review candidates in the following categories:
- Posthumous nominations
- In absentia nominations
- Organizations or institutional bodies
- Groups of individuals
- Self-nomination
- Penn standing faculty, trustees, or school and center advisors