The University’s Distinguished Alumna/Alumnus Award, established in 1971, recognizes alumni for outstanding contributions to humankind. Drawn from nominations from various entities across the campus, including the Carolina Alumni Board of Directors, recipients are recommended by the faculty’s Committee on Honorary Degrees and Special Awards and are approved by the Faculty Council and the Board of Trustees.
2023
James W. Clark Jr. ’65
Thomas F. Darden ’76 (’92 MRP)
Amy L. Greeson ’90
Jenny Han ’02
Adolph L. Reed Jr. ’71
2022
Nicole K. Bates ’00 (MPH, ’08 DrPH)
Jerry Blackwell ’84, ’87 (JD)
F. DuBois Bowman ’00 (PhD)
Karen L. Parker ’65
Charles H. Robbins ’87
2021
Michele Gross Buck ’87 (MBA)
Vincent L. Carter ’99
Estelle Louise Fletcher ’57
Rodney E. Hood ’89
Eugene Y. Lao ’91
Dr. Norman E. Sharpless ’88 (’93 MD)
John D. Swofford ’71
Julian D. Wiles Jr. ’76 (MFA)
2020
Anubha Anand ’95
Dr. Francis Collins ’77 (MD)
Mary Estes ’72 (PhD)
Daniel Patterson ’55 (MA, ’59 PhD)
Peter Skillern ’92 (MRP)
Marla Smith-Nilson ’94 (MSENV)
2019
James E. Delany ’70 (’73 JD)
Nikole Hannah-Jones ’03 (MA)
Jill C. McCorkle ’80
Robert D. Newman ’83
2018
Donald A. Baer ’76
Robert L. Bryant ’79 (PhD)
Vaughn D. Bryson ’60
Peter B. Henry ’91
Tift Merritt ’00
2017
Amy Lansky ’91 (MPH, ’96 PhD)
Berrien Moore III ’63
Judith Phillips Stanton ’78 (PhD)
Richard Y. Stevens ’70 (’74 MPA, ’74 JD)
Mike Wiley ’04 (MFA)
2016
Karen Bruton ’71
Florence Fearrington ’58
Rosalind Fuse-Hall ’80
Sanford “Sandy” Shugart ’78 (’83 MAT, ’90 PhD)
Paula Brown Stafford ’86 (’92 MPH)
2015
Jacqueline Charles ’94
Mona Carol Frederick ’76
Betty Debnam Hunt ’52
Sarah Elizabeth Parker ’64 (’69 JD)
2014
Patricia Dallas Horoho ’82
James B. Hunt Jr. ’64 (LLBJD)
Andrew “Sandy” McNally IV ’63
James R. Patton Jr. ’48
Wade Marvin Smith ’60 (’63 JD)
2013
Stuart Osborne Bondurant Jr. ’50
William Ewart Easterling III ’76 (’81 MA, ’85 PhD)
Karol Virginia Mason ’79
Todd Lincoln Miller ’78 (’81 MRP)
Gary Wilton Parr ’79
2012
Gregory Stanley Allgood ’81
Mary Marshall Clark ’75
Deborah Parham Hopson ’79 (MSPH, ’90 PhD)
Jonathan T. Reckford ’84
2011
Alan Bergman ’48
Denise Jean Jamieson ’92 (MPH)
Frederick Otto Mueller ’61 (’64 MED, ’70 PhD)
Linda Ellen Oxendine ’67
Thomas Hart Sayre ’73
2010
J. Larry Jameson III ’76 (’81 MD, ’81 PhD)
Harry Louis Jones Sr. ’72 (’74 MPA)
Harry Martin ’42
Alane Mason ’86
Charles Shaffer Jr. ’64 (’67 JD)
2009
Janie Fouke ’80 (MS, ’82 PhD)
Santiago Gangotena ’78 (PhD)
Mia Hamm Garciaparra ’94
Walter Hussman ’68
William F. “Bill” Little ’52 (MA, ’55 PhD)
2008
Mary Wilmer “Molly” Barker ’82 (’89 MSW)
William Joseph Bynum Jr. ’82
W. Lowry Caudill ’79
Leah McCall Devlin ’76 (’79 DDS, ’84 MPH)
Debra Wehrle Stewart ’75 (PhD)
2007
Clyde Ritchie Bell ’43 (’49 MA)
D. Benjamin Cameron ’75
Alan Stewart Murray ’77
Anne Ponder ’71 (’73 MA, ’79 PhD)
Charles Thomas Scott ’70
2006
Valerie Alayne Batts ’74
Angela Rebecca Bryant ’73 (’76 JD)
William Burwell Harrison Jr. ’66
Weiming Lu ’56 (MRP)
Charles Barnet Nemeroff ’76 (PhD, ’81 MED)
George Edwin Stuart III ’75 (PhD)
2005
Ana Almeida Gazzola ’74 (MA, ’78 PhD)
Thomas Forrest Kelly ’64
James Arthur Merchant ’73 (DRPH)
Roy Hampton Park Jr. ’61
2004
Elson Sylvester Floyd ’78 (’82 MED, ’84 PhD)
Charles Melvin Hudson Jr. ’62 (MA, ’65 PhD)
William Carter Jenkins ’77 (MPH, ’83 PhD)
John Frederick Schultz ’65 AB
Marilyn Zschau ’59 AB
2003
Mary Sue Coleman ’69 (PhD)
Katherine Ann High ’78 (MD)
Shirley F. Weiss ’58 (MRP)
2002
Philip Leroy Clay ’68
Benjamin Franklin Long IV ’67
2001
James Alan Duke ’52 (’55 MA, ’60 PhD)
Hugh Leon McColl Jr. ’57
Anthony Eden Rand ’61 (’64 LLBJD)
P. Kay Wagoner ’70 (’78 MSN, ’86 PhD)
2000
Russell Earl Banks ’67
Nancy Stooksberry Cole ’67 (MA, ’68 PhD)
Walter Estes Dellinger III ’63
Patricia Stanford Love ’50 (’66 MA, ’78 JD)
Willis Padgett Whichard ’62 (’65 LLBJD)
1999
Jerry Dean Campbell ’72 (MSLS)
Joel Lawrence Fleishman ’55 (’59 JD, ’69 MA)
Howard Nathaniel Lee ’66 (MSW)
Margaret Elizabeth Senter ’73
Edward Harris Wagner ’72 (MPH)
1998
George Alexander Heard ’38
Bertha Merrill Holt ’41
William Harris Hooks ’47 (’50 MA)
Banks Dayton Kerr ’43
John Lassiter Sanders ’50 (’54 JD)
Bailey Daniel Webb ’39 (MS, ’41 PhD)
1997
William Clyde Friday ’48 (LLB)
Mary Elizabeth Junck ’71 (MA)
Hugh MacRae Morton ’43
William Stevens Powell ’40 (’47 BSLS, ’47 MA)
George Cashel Stoney ’37
1996
Carol Ann Kemp Aschenbrener ’71 (MD)
Herman Blumenthal ’37
William Alexander Darity ’64 (PhD)
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti ’41
John Paul Nickell ’42 (MA)
1995
Harlan Edward Boyles ’51
Dorothy Sattes Ridings ’68 (MA)
Roberts Edgar Timberlake ’59
1994
Ida Howell Friday ’47 (MPH)
Martha Nell Zant Hardy ’51 (MA)
Arthur Stanley Link ’41 (’42 MA, ’45 PhD)
Mary Pope Osborne ’71
Melvin Luther Watt ’67
1993
Mary Elizabeth Burkett ’75 (MSN)
Mary Lindsay Elmendorf ’37
William Happer ’60
Joseph Quincy Mitchell ’29
James Dickson Phillips Jr. ’48 (JD)
James Worrell Pruett ’55 (’57 MA, ’62 PhD)
James Terry Sanford ’39 (’46 LLBJD)
Louis Cornelius Stephens Jr. ’42
1992
Marie Waters Colton ’43
James G. Exum Jr. ’57
Frank Russell Reynolds ’41 (’43 CMED)
Eugene Leslie Roberts Jr. ’54
Donald Keith Sultan ’73
1991
Beatrice Cummings Mayer ’43
Gaillard Fitzsimons Ravenel II ’70 (MA)
Kenneth Claiborne Royall Jr. ’40
Vermont Royster ’35
1990
Stephen Cambreleng Cowper ’60 (’63 LLB)
C. Luke Powell Jr. ’69
Eleanor B. Sheldon ’42
1989
Taylor Branch ’68
Anne Coffin Hanson ’51 (MACA)
Alexander Julian ’69
Warren Winkelstein Jr. ’43
Jonathan Yardley ’61
1988
Edward George Bilpuch ’50 (’53 MS, ’56 PhD)
Gail Godwin ’59
Richard Knight Jr. ’77 (MPA)
Thomas Willis Lambeth ’57
Roger Harrison Mudd ’53 (MA)
1987
Eli N. Evans ’58
O.B. Hardison Jr. ’50 (’50 MA)
George Mills Harper ’51 (PhD)
Judith Albergotti Hines ’61
Roy Parker Jr. ’52
1986
Henry Ell Frye ’59 (JD)
Jeffrey Kenneth MacNelly ’69
John Atterbury Montgomery ’51 (PhD)
Rolfe Neill ’54
Banks Cooper Talley Jr. ’50 (’56 MA, ’66 PhD)
1985
Richard Hampton Jenrette ’51
H. Bryce Jordan ’56 (PhD)
Jane Carswell Roberts ’54
Lindsay Carter Warren Jr. ’46 (’51 JD)
1984
John Marsden Ehle ’49 (’53 MA)
Kathrine Robinson Everett class of 1920 (LLBJD)
Sarah Taylor Morrow ’42 (’43 CMED ’60 MPH)
James Wesley Silver ’27
Sherwood Hubbard Smith Jr. ’56 (’60 JD)
1983
Julius LeVonne Chambers ’62 (LLBJD)
Herman Howe Fussler ’35 (’36 ABLS)
Jane Smith Patterson ’61
William Edgar Thornton ’52 (’63 MD)
1982
Kay Knight Clarke ’60
George Grizzard ’49
Mary Elizabeth Mebane ’61 (MA, ’73 PhD)
David Stick ’41
1981
Richard Adler ’43
C. Knox Massey ’25
Adeline Denham McCall ’22 (’49 MA)
Henry William Scott Jr. ’37
Colin Stokes ’35
1980
Paul Alexander Johnston ’50 (’52 LLBJD)
Guy Owen Jr. ’47 (’49 MA, ’55 PhD)
Julia Cherry Spruill ’23 (MA)
Comer Vann Woodward ’37 (PhD)
Edwin Milton Yoder Jr. ’56
1979
Victor Silas Bryant class of 1918
Jacob Berke Freedland ’33
May Belle Penn Jones ’23 (’24 MA)
Frank Hawkins Kenan ’35
Joseph Maryon Saunders ’25 (’26 MA)
1978
William McWhorter Cochrane ’37 (’41 LLBJD)
Andrew Samuel Griffith ’49
Eugene Pleasants Odum ’34 (’36 MA)
Howard Thomas Odum ’47
David Coston Sabiston Jr. ’45
1977
Nathanial Perkinson Hayes Sr. ’21 (’22 BSCE)
Phillip Hettleman ’21
Susie Marshall Sharp ’29 (LLB)
William Davis Snider ’41
Shepperd Strudwick Jr. ’29
1976
William Haywood Bobbitt ’21
W. Clement Eaton class of 1919 (1920 MA)
Walter Gordy ’33 (MA, ’35 PhD)
Louis Harris ’42
Charles Raper Jonas Sr. ’25 (’28 JD)
1975
Shelby Dade Foote ’39
Gordon Gray ’30
Frank Borden Hanes ’42
Guion Griffis Johnson ’27 (PhD)
Guy Benton Johnson ’27 (PhD)
1974
Archibald K. Davis ’32 (’76 MA)
L. Holt McPherson ’28
Thomas Bradley Stroup ’26 (’27 MA, ’33 PhD)
Katharine Way ’38 (PhD)
Thomas Grey Wicker ’48
1973
Page Ackerman ’40 (BSLS)
Samuel J. Ervin Jr. class of 2017
James Kerne Kyser ’27
Hugh Thomas Swedenberg Jr. ’37 (PhD)
1972
William T. Couch ’26
Emanuel J. Evans ’28
Charles B. Kuralt ’55
James Clarence Wallace ’44 (’47 AB, ’47 LLBJD, ’57 MA, ’74 MSPH)
Capus M. Waynick class of 1911
1971
Luther H. Hodges Sr. class of 1919
Robert Mayer Lumiansky ’42 (PhD)
Grover Elmer Murray ’37
Frances Gray Patton ’26
Oliver Lawrence Sause ’39