Joy Harjo
United States Poet Laureate
Eva M. Doyle, '75, '82, Doctor of Humane Letters
Columnist, Educator, Community Activist
Jesse L. Martin, Doctor of Fine Arts
Actor, Singer
Sophia Veffer, '71, Doctor of Humane Letters
Holocaust Survivor, Retired Special Education Teacher
JoAnn Falletta, Doctor of Music
Conductor; Music Director, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Madeline D. Davis, Doctor of Humane Letters
Gay Rights Activist, Author, Musician, Actor
Evelyn S. Lieberman, ‘66, Doctor of Humane Letters
Director of Communications and External Affairs, Smithsonian Institution
Arnold L. Mitchem, Doctor of Humane Letters
Founder and President Emeritus, Council for Opportunity in Education
Carl Wilkens, Doctor of Humane Letters
Activist and Humanitarian
Founder, World Outside My Shoes
Donna M. Fernandes, Doctor of Science
President and CEO, Buffalo Zoo
David Karpeles, Doctor of Humane Letters
Founder and CEO, Karpeles Manuscript Library Museums
Carolyn B. Lamm, ’70, Doctor of Laws
Partner, White & Case LLP
Former President, American Bar Association
Stephen T. Ralbovsky, ’79, Humane Letters
Founder and President, Canvasback Music
Judy L. Elliott, ’82, Doctor of Humane Letters
Chief Academic Officer, Los Angeles Unified School District
Sonia Sanchez, Doctor of Letters
Poet and Educator
Marsha Norman, Doctor of Letters
Playwright, Screenwriter, Novelist
Tom Calderone, ’86, Doctor of Humane Letters
President, VHI
Lorene Cary, Doctor of Letters
Author
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Doctor of Humane Letters
Actor, Playwright, Screenwriter
Hank Nuwer, ’68, Doctor of Humane Letters
Author, Humanitarian
Deborah Oppenheimer
Television Producer
Thomas C. Perry
Chairman, Perry’s Ice Cream
Vern L. Bullough
SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Historian, Author, and Educator
André De Shields
Actor, Author, Composer
Susan Schmidt Bies, ’67
Member, Federal Reserve System Board of Governors
G. Peter Jemison
Artist
Ross B. Kenzie
Community Leader
Buffalo State College Council Chair Emeritus
Darlene Clark Hine
Hanna Distinguished Professor of History, Michigan State University
Monroe Fordham
Professor Emeritus, History and Social Studies Education
Rita Moreno
Actress
Thomas Murphy
Project Chief, Aquatic Remediation Technologies Branch, Environmental Canada National Water Research Institute
Robert Kresse
Attorney, Philanthropist
Christopher Newton
Artistic Director, The Shaw Festival
Oscar Arias Sanchez
President of Costa Rica, 1986–1990
1987 Nobel Peace Laureate
Maurice Sendak
Acclaimed Children’s Author and Illustrator
Barry Callaghan
Author
Allen Tinney
Jazz Musician
Avery Brooks
Professor of Theater, Rutgers University
Actor, Director, Musician
Gen. Colin Powell, USA
Retired
Elaine Wingate Conway
Director, New York State Division for Women
Tom Fontana, ’73
Writer and Executive Producer, “Homicide: Life on the Street”
Horace Mann
Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Exceptional Education, Buffalo State College
Robert N. Pokelwaldt, ’60
Chairman and CEO, York International Corporation
Robert Guthrie, M.D. (posthumously)
Professor Emeritus, University at Buffalo
Laura Rankin
Illustrator, Author
Cornel West
Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Afro-American Studies, Harvard University
Charles Rand Penney
Attorney and Art Collector
Diane English, ’70
Executive Producer, Shukovsky English Entertainment
Milton Rogovin
Photographer
David H. P. Maybury-Lewis
Mary Hartwood Futrell
Former President, National Education Association
A. R. Gurney
Playwright and Novelist
Carl T. Rowan
Syndicated Columnist
Tom Wicker
Paul G. Bulger
Former Buffalo State College President, 1959–1967
Milton Glaser
John Patrick Montague
Katherine Dunham
B. F. Skinner
Willard Genrich
William Cruickshank
