Honorary Degrees

Wesleyan has announced the speaker and honorary degree recipients for its 189th Commencement. The date of Commencement was previously announced as May 30th; however, given current pandemic conditions, the University is reviewing other options for the last week of May. The University is currently planning to hold the ceremony in-person on Wesleyan’s Middletown campus, though off-campus guests will be restricted to virtual attendance given the ongoing threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. More details about the ceremony and a definitive date for Commencement will be announced by the end of March. Reginald Dwayne Betts, an award-winning poet, memoirist, and teacher,…

Wesleyan presented honorary doctorates to Bryan Stevenson, Patti Smith and Kwame Anthony Appiah during the University’s 184th Commencement on May 22. Bryan Stevenson is a human rights lawyer who has dedicated his life to fighting racial injustice and discrimination in the criminal justice system. He is executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), an Alabama-based group that has won numerous legal challenges on behalf of the poor and incarcerated, including a historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling holding that life-without-parole sentences for children aged 17 or younger are unconstitutional. He founded the Equal Justice Initiative in 1989 to help prisoners on death…

During Wesleyan's Commencement Ceremony on May 25, Wesleyan President Michael Roth awarded honorary degrees to Hayden White, Theodore Shaw '76 and Helena Chmura Kraemer. Theodore Shaw '76 For decades, Theodore (“Ted”) Shaw has been one of the nation’s strongest advocates for equity and inclusion in our society. In courts throughout the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court, he has argued cases involving voting rights, education, housing discrimination, capital punishment, and civil rights. He played a key role in initiating and drafting the admissions policy that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger, and he has often…

Wesleyan will honor three extraordinary alumni at the University’s 181st Commencement on May 26. Joss Whedon ’87, film and television director, writer and producer, will deliver the commencement address. Honorary degrees also will be presented to environmental and social justice leader Majora Carter ’88 and Jim Dresser ’63, whose many years of service to Wesleyan include having chaired the Board of Trustees. Joss Whedon ’87 is an award-winning writer, director and producer. He is the force behind such popular television shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and the 2012 superhero blockbuster film, The Avengers. The son and grandson of successful television writers,…

"Keep the habits of critical analysis you've learned at Wesleyan. This may sound like an austere and overly-sober message," said Dr. Paul E. Farmer. "But by critical I don't mean you should be contrarian...By being critical I mean taking an extra moment to interrogate accepted wisdom." This observation was the cornerstone of the address delivered by Dr. Farmer at the 179th Commencement Ceremonies at Wesleyan University, on Sunday, May 22. Farmer, a physician-anthropologist and author, founded Partners in Health, an international nonprofit organization that provides direct health care services to the sick living in poverty. Partners in Health also undertakes…

Wesleyan Announces Its 2021 Honorary Degree Recipients

Stevenson, Smith, Appiah Receive Honorary Degrees

Wesleyan Confers Honorary Degrees on White, Shaw ’76, Kraemer

Wesleyan Announces Commencement Speaker, Honorary Degree Recipients

Wesleyan Celebrates 179th Commencement, Class of 2011