The University of Chicago traditionally confers the honorary doctor of divinity, doctor of humane letters, doctor of laws, doctor of music, and doctor of science degrees.
The University’s approach to awarding honorary degrees, however, is unique in that the University does not honor actors, ambassadors, presidents or monarchs unless they meet stringent requirements for scholarship. The University traditionally awards honorary degrees to individuals who have made significant contributions to their fields of study or in service to the University, in the case of those who have served as presidents of the University or chairmen of the Board of Trustees.
University faculty nominate candidates at the level of degree-granting units. Departmental honorary degree committees collect letters of recommendation from outside scholars as well as complete bibliographies of the candidates. They make their recommendations to the divisional committees, which then make their recommendations to the deans.
Honorary Degree Recipient to be awarded at the 539th Convocation on Saturday, June 7, 2025
Eli Tziperman
Pamela and Vasco McCoy Jr. Professor of Oceanography and Applied Physics in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University
Eli Tziperman is a Professor of Oceanography and Applied Physics in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University (since 2003), teaching oceanography, climate change, and applied math. Prior to that, he was a faculty member at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in Physics and Mathematics (1982), and his PhD in Physical Oceanography is from the Joint Program in Oceanography of MIT \& The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (1987). His research interests include large-scale climate and ocean dynamics, including El Niño, meridional overturning ocean circulation, past and future climate dynamics, abrupt climate change, warm climates, glacial cycles, Snowball Earth, as well as advanced methods of data analysis.
