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 executsive officer, Aetna Life & Casualty - Doctor of Humane Letters
Clifton R. Wharton, Jr , chancellor, State University of New York System - Doctor of Humane Letters
1984
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
Isaac B. Singer, author - Doctor of Letters
John J. Driscoll, president, Connecticut State AFL-CIO - Doctor of Laws
Virgil Thompson, composer and author - Doctor of Letters
Charles H. Kaman, founder and chairman, Kaman Corporation - Doctor of Laws
Howard Green, M.D., Harvard Medical School - Doctor of Science
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 Petersonm 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
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, anthropologist - Doctor of Letters
Susan Saint James, actress - Doctor of Fine Arts
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
Information on the History of Commencement pages was researched and compiled by Mark J. Roy