Submit your nomination online.

Members of the Amherst College Administration and Staff:

The Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees, which comprises trustees, faculty and students, will meet in early April to begin preparing a list of nominees for honorary degrees to be awarded at Commencement 2015.  Members of the current committee are: Wei Sun Christianson '85, Patrick Fitzgerald '82, Howard Gardner, Arthur Koenig '66, Chris Lehane '90, Andy Nussbaum '85, Hope Pascucci '90, Julie Segre ’87, Shirley Tilghman, Laura Yerkovich '80, Greg Call, Megan Morey, Betsy Cannon Smith ‘84, Jagu Jagannathan, Lisa Raskin, Matt DeButts '14, Nica Siegel '14, KC Fussell '15, and Rama Hagos '15 and me (chair).

The Trustees generally select six to eight people to be honored each year and seek to create a slate of candidates that reflects the broad array of interests and the diversity of the Amherst community. We welcome candidates of distinction, regardless of whether or not they are Amherst College graduates.

Please note that every person considered for an honorary degree must first be nominated by a member of the community and that the broadest range of nominees has traditionally come from faculty, since honorary degrees are awarded in its name with the concurrence of the Board. While that will remain the case, the Committee recognizes that the entire Amherst community has an interest in those we honor, and thus we want to be sure that all community members feel free to advance names. The Committee would thus be most appreciative if you would nominate candidates—again, whether they are graduates of the College or not—whose work and achievements you particularly admire.

You may view a full list of past honorees, as well as submit a nomination here. Please include your reason for nomination and any other supporting documentation (resumes, biographical sketches, articles, letters, reviews, etc.) that will help us in presenting your candidate to the Committee. We accept nominations on an ongoing basis, but in order to be considered for the 2015 Commencement, we ask that you submit nominations no later than March 1, 2014 so that they can be prepared and distributed for the Advisory Committee’s meeting in April.

Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
 
Scott F. Turow '70
Chair, Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees
Amherst College Board of Trustees