The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) has the honor of presenting distinguished public figures with honorary degrees from GSPIA who reflect the mission and values of GSPIA.
- Kofi Annan
- Wangari Maathai
- Tom Ridge
Kofi Annan conferred upon by Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg with an honorary Doctor of Public and International Affairs on October 21, 2003. The former Secretary-General of the United Nations had visited Pittsburgh to deliver the ninth H.J. Heinz Company Foundation Distinguished Lecture. Annan was also the 2001 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Award.

Wangari Maathai was conferred upon by Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg with an honorary doctoral degree in public service from GSPIA on October 26, 2006. She spoke at the University of Pittsburgh about her 30-year effort to reforest her native Kenya by planting 30 million trees and the seeds of change for the future of women. Maathai also was the 2004 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Award.
Tom Ridge received an honorary Doctor in Public and International Affairs from Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg during the University of Pittsburgh Graduation Ceremony on Sunday, April 29, 2007. Ridge was the nation's first Secretary of Homeland Security appointed by President George W. Bush after 9/11. Ridge is also the former governor of Pennsylvania.
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