Award Recipients

Honorary Doctorates

  • Mr. Lawrence A. Appley
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 1971
  • Mr. Walter Reed Bimson
    Doctor of International Affairs
    January, 1972
  • Dr. Dong Myo Park
    Doctor of Science in Economics
    May, 1972
  • Mr. Frank L. Snell
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1972
  • Mr. Lowell Thomas
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1976
  • Mr. Malcolm Stevenson Forbes
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1977
  • Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 1978
  • Mr. James L. Hayes
    Doctor of Laws
    August, 1978
  • Ambassador Alejandro Orfila
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1978
  • Mrs. Thelma H. Kieckhefer
    Doctor of Humane Letters
    December, 1981
  • Senator Barry Morris Goldwater
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 1984
  • Mr. Berger Erickson
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 1986
  • Mr. Finley Peter Dunne, Jr.
    Doctor of International Law
    March, 1987
  • Mr. George Fulmer Getz, Jr.
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1991
  • Mr. David C. Lincoln
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1991
  • Mr. James G. Parkel
    Doctor of Laws
    August, 1993
  • Mr. Joseph M. Klein
    Doctor of Laws
    August, 1993
  • Mr. Michel Fribourg
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1993
  • Ambassador William C. Turner
    Doctor of Laws
    December, 1993
  • Mr. G. Robert Herberger
    Doctor of Humane Letters
    May, 1996
  • Mrs. Katherine Kierland Herberger
    Doctor of Humane Letters
    May, 1996
  • Mr. Richard Snell
    Doctor of Humane Letters
    May, 1996
  • Mr. Cyrus F. Freidheim, Jr.
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 1999
  • Mr. Stan Shih
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 2001
  • The Lord Browne of Madingley
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 2002
  • Mr. Gary Herberger
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 2002
  • Mrs. Jeanne Herberger
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 2002
  • Mr. Douglas Daft
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 2003
  • Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
    Doctor of International Law
    June, 2003
  • Mr. Samuel S. Garvin
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 2003
  • Mr. Vaclav Havel
    Doctor of International Law
    August, 2005
  • Ambassador Barbara Barrett
    Doctor of International Law
    December, 2006
  • Mr. John E. Berndt
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 2007
  • Mr. Malcolm S. (Steve) Forbes Jr.
    Doctor of International Law
    May, 2008
  • His Excellency Luis Alberto Moreno
    Doctor of International Law Honoris Causa
    December, 2008
  • Mr. Neville Isdell
    Doctor of International Law Honoris Causa
    May, 2009
  • Dr. Rafael Rangel Sostmann
    Doctor of International Law Honoris Causa
    December, 2009
  • Mr. Merle A. Hinrich 
    Doctor of International Law Honoris Causa
    April, 2010
  • Mr. Robert J. Ulrich
    Doctor of International Law Honoris Causa
    December, 2011
  • Mr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez
    Doctor of International Law Honoris Causa
    December, 2012

Thunderbird Global Leadership Awards

The Thunderbird Global Leadership Award is given to select friends and partners of the school who have made an outstanding contribution to Thunderbird's mission to "educate global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide."

  • Nayef Stetieh, president and CEO of the Business Development Center of Jordan, was honored March 26, 2009, for his vision and commitment to creating business development programs in Jordan. The nonprofit organization, which Stetieh co-founded in 2005, promotes micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, increases the competitiveness of Jordanian organizations and commodities, and increases the skill capacity of the country’s youth.

  • Carlos Cruz Limón, president of Innovation and International Development at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, was honored June 5, 2010, for his efforts to build inclusive models of education in Latin America. Cruz has specialized in the design, development and implementation of new strategic projects of national and international education for schools, businesses and governments for more than 30 years.