Selected recipients of Honorary Degrees from Knox College, 1849 to present
Knox College awarded its first honorary doctorate to Abraham Lincoln in 1860; previously it awarded honorary master's degrees. Early records do not specify that every commencement speaker received an honorary degree; until the late 1920s, commencement addresses were often given by students from the graduating class. In some years, "Master's Orations" were given by alumni of the College.
Commencement speakersin italics.
2024
Harlan "Harley" Knosher, for his 40-year tenure at Knox as a coach, athletic director, faculty member, and mentor to generations of students and alumni.
Shahid Naeem, Professor of ecology at Columbia University and director of science at the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability
Ngozi O. Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health
Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, senior group leader at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus and a founding member of the Neuronal Cell Biology Program at Janelia
Tom Rivett-Carnac, a founding partner of Global Optimism and an architect of the United Nations Paris Agreement on Climate Change
Brian Wallach and Sandra Abrevaya, the founders of I AM ALS, a patient-led, patient-centric movement created to find a cure for ALS after Brian was diagnosed with the disease.
Tina Tchen, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls
Kwame Dawes, acclaimed author and artist as well as respected actor, playwright, and broadcaster
Jim Owens, chairman and chief executive officer of Caterpillar Inc., chairman of the Business Council, and member of the Business Roundtable and the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
