1982

Harry Jack Gray, former chairman, chief executive officer and president, United Technologies – Doctor of Laws

Robert Motherwell, artist – Doctor of Fine Arts

Frank Press, president, National Academy of Science – Doctor of Science

Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, author and historian – Doctor of Letters

1983

Victor Borge, musician and comedian – Doctor of Fine Arts

Malcolm Cowley, author and critic – Doctor of Letters

John H. Filer, chairman and chief executive officer, Aetna Life & Casualty – Doctor of Humane Letters

Clifton R. Wharton, Jr, chancellor, State University of New York System – Doctor of Humane Letters

1984

Homer D. Babbidge, educator, former president, University of Connecticut – Doctor of Laws

John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke professor of history, Duke University – Doctor of Letters

John F. Welch, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, General Electric – Doctor of Humane Letters

1985

John J. Driscoll, president, Connecticut State AFL-CIO – Doctor of Laws

Howard Green, M.D., Harvard Medical School – Doctor of Science

Charles H. Kaman, founder and chairman, Kaman Corporation – Doctor of Laws

Isaac B. Singer, author – Doctor of Letters

Virgil Thompson, composer and author – Doctor of Letters

1986

Ray Bolger, actor and humanitarian – Doctor of Fine Arts

Rafael Caldera, Venezuelan statesman – Doctor of Humane Letters

Jozef A. Gierowski, president, Jagiellonian University, Poland – Doctor of Humane Letters

1987

Marian Anderson, contralto – Doctor of Letters

Roger Tory Peterson author and illustrator – Doctor of Science

Stanley Popiel, humanitarian and founder, Mystic Color Lab – Doctor of Humane Letters

Charles S. Robb, former governor, Virginia – Doctor of Laws

Susan Saint James, actress – Doctor of Fine Arts

Gladys Tantaquidgeon, anthropologist – Doctor of Letters

1988

Nicolaas Bloembergen, physicist – Doctor of Science Physicist

Dorothy C. Goodwin, former state legislator and UConn administrator – Doctor of Laws

Denis F. Mullane, chairman and chief executive officer, Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance – Doctor of Humane Letters

Ann Petry, scholar and author – Doctor of Letters

Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate, author, and humanitarian – Doctor of Letters

1989

James F. McNally, chairman and chief executive officer, Connecticut Bank & Trust – Doctor of Laws

John A. Wheeler, Ashbel Smith and Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin – Doctor of Science