Honorary degrees are awarded to individuals to recognize outstanding achievement in the honorees’ respective fields and for the advancement of the principles for which the College stands.
| 1876 James Stacy, D.D. A. W. Pitzer, D.D. Isaac J. Long, D.D. | 1878 Henry B. Boude, D.D. | 1880 Samuel W. Davies, D.D. James H. McNeilly, D.D. |
| 1881 U. M. Rose, LL.D. Julien C. Brown, A.M. Walter W. Killough, A.M. | 1883 A. Ross Kennedy, D.D. | 1884 W. P. Paxson, D.D. A. H. Garland, LL.D. |
| 1885 James L. Martin, D.D. | 1888 R. H. Crozier, D.D. | 1889 T. Jeff Stubbs, Ph.D. |
| 1890 Joseph W. Martin, LL.D. Julien C. Brown, LL.D. | 1891 J. R. Hoeverton, D.D. | 1893 J. M. Brown, D.D. |
| 1894 Marshall W. Daggett, D.D. E. M. Munroe, D.D. | 1895 Richard B. Willis, D.D. | 1896 A. W. Milster, D.D. |
| 1900 T. J. Horne, D.D. W. K. Patterson, D.D. | 1901 D. C. Rankin, D.D. | 1903 Arthur G. Jones, D.D. C. P. Bridewell, D.D. |
| 1904 B. M. Shive, D.D. | 1905 Malcolm McKay, D.D. | 1906 E. Dixon Brown, D.D. |
| 1908 C. C. Williams, D.D. Eugene C. Bingham, D.D. | 1914 William Moore Scott, D.D. M. S. Smith, D.D. | 1917 W. S. Lacy, D.D. |
| 1921 H. L. Paisley, D.D. R. K. Timmons, D.D. | 1922 George H. Lacy, D.D. W. R. Anderson, D.D. A. G. Jones, D.D. | 1923 T. C. McRae, LL.D. |
| 1924 William H. Irvine, D.D. John T. Barr, D.D. | 1925 George McKee, ’07, D.D. J. W. Cobb, D.D. J. M. Williams, D.D. E. B. Tucker, D.D. | 1926 Stuart Oglesby, D.D. Frank K. Dudley, D.D. James V. Johnson, D.D. |
| 1927 Hugh Robertson, ’13, D.D. James F. McKensie, D.D. | 1928 R. C. Long, D.D. | 1930 Julian S. Sleeper, D.D. |
| 1931 C. E. Newton, D.D. | 1932 E. David Shepperson ’31 D.D. Omar G. Davis, D.D. Ury McKenzie, LL.D. | 1934 J. N. Heiskell, LL.D. John R. Richardson, D.D. |
| 1935 B. C. Boney, D.D. | 1936 W. B. Sullivan, D.D. A. C. McKinnon, D.D. | 1937 Abner Robertson, ’22, D.D. |
| 1941 Harmon B. Ramsey, ’27, D.D. Robert Dwight Ware, ’04 D.D. | 1942 J. Herndon McCain, ’27, D.D. John D. Spragins, ’20, D.D. | 1943 Otis L. Graham, ’25, D.D. Alexander Henry, ’29, D.D. John P. Morrow, ’28, D.D. |
| 1944 Thomas Brewster, D.D. | 1945 S. T. Bryant, D.D. | 1946 Walker B. Healey, D.D. |
| 1947 R. D. Nolen, D.D. J. W. Butler, D.D. Margaret M. Jacobs, D.D. | 1948 Archie C. Smith, D.D. Horace L. Villee, D.D. Claude D. Wardlaw, D.D. | 1949 Frank R. Young, ’15, D.D. Stuart H. Salmon, D.D. Harry King, D.D. |
| 1950 J. Leighton Scott, D.D. Kenneth F. Snipes, ’29, D.D. W. L. McColgan, D.D. | 1951 Roy L. Davis, D.D. L. T. Lawrence, D.D. H. T. Kidd, D.D. | 1952 James A. Millard, Jr., D.D. Charley Boyce Robinson, D.D. |
| 1953 J. Russell Cross, D.D. Frank H. Harrin, D.D. | 1954 Vance Barron, ’38, D.D. J. W. Bryson, D.D. Ira Nelson Barnett III, ’21, LL.D. | 1956 Ellis G. Mosley, D.D. Frank Lyon, Sr., LL.D. |
| 1957 Stephen L. Cook, ’42, D.D. William C. Brown, Jr., ’15, L.D. | 1958 John S. Bennett, ’36, D.D. | 1960 Lula G. Parse, LL.D. Basil Hicks, ’40, D.D. |
| 1961 Jac Ruffin, D.D. Gen. Hugh Cort (Ret.), LL.D. | 1962 Maynard M. Miller, D.D. Richard B. Hardie, Jr., D.D. | 1964 Jeanette Rockefeller, L.H.D. Evelyn Green, L.H.D. |
| 1965 Margaret P. Lester, LL.D. | 1966 Van Weathersby, LL.D. | 1968 W. W. Shaver, Jr., LL.D. |
| 1972 William K. Kryder, D.D. Joe Norton, LL.D. | 1972 William S. McLean, D.D. Paul M. McCain, Litt.D. | 1977 Edward S. Bayless, D.D. H. G. M. (Gary) Jones, ’50 D.D. J. Gaston Williamson, LL.D. |
| 1980 H. Carter Jeffery, ’32, L.H.D. Glenn A. Railsback, Jr., L.H.D. | 1981 Robert K. Bennett, D.D. Thelma Pickens, ’22, Litt.D. | 1982 J. Howard Edington, D.D. |
| 1983 William H. Dunklin, LL.D. | 1985 Stanley D. Farmer, D.D. John E. Mays, L.H.D. Robert H. Leslie, D.D. | 1987 John W. Edwards, L.H.D. |
| 1988 Hillary R. Clinton, LL.D. Lyndon M. Jackson, D.D. | 1989 Roberta D. Brown, Litt.D. Marion B. Lyon, L.H.D. | 1990 Mary Barton, Litt.D. David B. Orr, L.H.D. |
| 1991 J. William Fulbright, LL.D. | 1992 Bess Millen Wolf, ’30, L.H.D. | 1993 Ben E. Owens, ’59, L.H.D. Dan C. West, D.S.T. |
| 1994 William Carl Garner ’38, L.H.D. Harold F. Ohlendorf, L.H.D. John J. Truemper, Jr., L.H.D. | 1995 Violet W. Miller, L.H.D. Thomas E. Lasswell, ’40, L.H.D. Fred T. Griffin, ’33, L.H.D. Robert A. Young III, L.H.D. | 1996 David H. Pryor, LL.D. Edwin A. Lupberger, L.H.D. |
| 1997 Charles J. Hoke, L.H.D. Virginia Porter Kirk, L.H.D. Frank Lyon, Jr., L.H.D. | 1998 Roberta M. Bustin, ’64, L.H.D. | 1999 Martha Heasley Cox, ’38, L.H.D. Hester Ashmead Davis, L.H.D. Dale L. Bumpers, LL.D. |
| 2000 Graham Holloway, L.H.D. Doyle W. Rogers, L.H.D. | 2001 John Eldon Miller, LL.D. John V. Griffith, L.H.D. Harry P. Ward, L.H.D. | 2002 Wanda M. Hicks, ’53, L.H.D. Doin E. Hicks, ’53, L.H.D. |
| 2003 George Kell, L.H.D. Wilson Powell, L.H.D. | 2004 Alan G. MacDiarmid, L.H.D. Thomas “Mack” McLarty, L.H.D. Lloyd John Ogilvie, L.H.D. | 2005 Gen. Wesley Clark, LL.D. Jo Luck, L.H.D. |
| 2006 Richard H. Ekman, L.H.D. Stephen J. Trachtenberg, L.L.D. Mary Steenburgen, L.H.D. | 2007 Paul Greenberg, L.H.D. Keith Jackson, L.H.D. | 2008 David L. Warren, L.H.D. |
| 2009 David Chester Itkin, L.H.D. John David Mooney, L.H.D. | 2010 James R. Cheek, L.H.D. | 2011 William Branch, Jr., L.H.D. Dickson Flake, L.H.D. |
| 2013 Raymond A. Lacroix, Jr., L.H.D. | 2017 James D. Simpson III, L.H.D. Charles B. Whiteside III, L.H.D. | 2021 Terrell Tebbetts, L.H.D. |
| 2025 Henry Nichols, L.H.D. |