Honorary Degrees

Prior to 2001, Texas A&M had awarded only 12 honorary doctorates since 1956, when the practice was discontinued after having awarded 54 over a 22-year period. The policy of awarding doctorates on a highly selective basis was reinstituted in 1989 when the honorary degree was bestowed on President George H. W. Bush.

Other recent honorary degrees recipients include:

  • December 2007 - Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture at Texas A&M (more)
  • December 2003 - Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned, Consort to the Emir of the State of Qatar, and Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (more)
  • December 2003 - Donald Zale '54 of Dallas, chairman of the board and CEO of Zale Corporation (more)
  • August 2002 - Dr. Marye Anne Fox, chancellor of North Carolina State University & physical organic chemist (more)
  • May 2001 - Dr. Perry L. Adkisson, chancellor emeritus of the A&M System and a distinguished professor emeritus of entomology at Texas A&M University (more)
  • May 2001 - Dr. Norman Hackerman, professor emeritus of chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin and president emeritus and distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry at Rice University (more)
  • May 2000 - Dr. Michael DeBakey, pioneer in the field of cardiovascular surgery (more)
  • May 2000 - Peter Lax, one of the founders of modern computational mathematics (more)
  • May 2000 - Allen J. Bard, one of the leading analytical chemists in the United States (more)
  • May 2000 - John Hope Franklin, one of the leading historians in the United States (more)
  • May 1999 - Richard H. Battin, engineer, applied mathematician and educator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (more)
  • May 1999 - Robert Byron Bird, Vilas Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (more)
  • May 1997 - Elias Corey, 1990 Nobel Prize in chemistry (more)
  • December 1996 - Paul Erdös, Hungarian mathematician (more)
  • May 1996 - Edward F. Knipling '30, credited with discoveries leading to screwworm eradication (more)

Texas A&M University Rule: Awarding Honorary Doctorate Degrees