Ben Mathes is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who has been actively involved in providing health care in remote regions throughout the world.
He is the founder and president of “Rivers of the World”, an international exploration and development agency that focuses on remote river basins. [1]
He graduated from Rhodes College and earned his Master of Divinity at Columbia Theological Seminary. He finished as a Doctor of Humane Letters at Hampden-Sydney College and a Doctor of Divinity at Washington College.
His work has its focus on a large number of remote areas in several nations, including Zaire, Haiti, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. [2]
Mathes was honored by Rotary International with an Honorary Membership in appreciation for his work fighting polio and river blindness. He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.D.H.) from Hampden-Sydney College in May, 1999.
John Robert Lewis was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where, in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases honoris causa or ad honorem . The degree is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution or no previous postsecondary education. An example of identifying a recipient of this award is as follows: Doctorate in Business Administration (Hon. Causa).
Archibald Alexander was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He served for 9 years as the President of Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia and for 39 years as Princeton Theological Seminary's first professor from 1812 to 1851.
Ray C. Anderson was founder and chairman of Interface Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of modular carpet for commercial and residential applications and a leading producer of commercial broadloom and commercial fabrics. He was known in environmental circles for his advanced and progressive stance on industrial ecology and sustainability.
David Levering Lewis is an American historian, a Julius Silver University Professor, and professor emeritus of history at New York University. He is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, for part one and part two of his biography of W. E. B. Du Bois. He is the first author to win Pulitzer Prizes for biography for two successive volumes on the same subject.
Jim L. Bond is a minister and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene. He was elected at the 24th General Assembly in San Antonio, Texas, in June 1997 and served until retirement in July 2005.
James J. Martin is an American Jesuit Catholic priest, writer, editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America and the founder of Outreach.
Lloyd John Ogilvie was a Presbyterian minister who served as the 61st Chaplain of the United States Senate from the 104th through 108th Congresses (1995–2003).
James Harold Daughdrill Jr. was the 18th president of Rhodes College. He was installed as president in 1973 and retired in 1999. He was the son of James Harold Daughdrill and Louisa Coffee Dozier. In 1964, he was the president of Kingston Mills, a $17 million carpet and textile business, but left that to study for the Presbyterian ministry. After finishing his studies for the ministry, he served as minister of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Arkansas from 1967 to 1970. He served as the Secretary of Stewardship of Presbyterian Church U.S. from 1970 to 1973.
Jo Anne Lyon is Ambassador and General Superintendent Emerita of the Wesleyan Church. Lyon was elected as the first woman General Superintendent at the June 2008 General Conference. In 2012 she was elected as the only General Superintendent of the denomination. Lyon was ordained as a minister in the Wesleyan Church in 1996 the same year that she founded World Hope International, an organization desiring to alleviate suffering and injustice through education, enterprise and community health.
Helene D. Gayle is an American physician, and academic and non-profit administrator. She has been president of Spelman College since 2023. She formerly was CEO of the Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation's leading community foundations. Earlier in her career she was the director of international humanitarian organization CARE, and spent much of her career in the field of public health research in epidemiology at the CDC.
Allan Macdonald Harman, is an Australian Presbyterian theologian and Old Testament scholar. He has been described as a "well-known and highly regarded figure in Christian and especially evangelical circles within Australia and overseas."
John McIntyre was a Scottish minister and theologian. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1982/83 and Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland from 1990 to 1996.
George Addison Baxter was an educator, American university administrator, theologian and author. He served as President of Washington and Lee University from 1799 to 1829 and Hampden–Sydney College from 1835 until his death.
Douglas W. Oldenburg was a Christian pastor and President Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary in the US. He served as the moderator of the 210th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1998.
Moses Hoge was a Presbyterian minister as well as an educator and abolitionist. He served as the sixth President of Hampden–Sydney College.
Richard McIlwaine was the eleventh President of Hampden–Sydney College from 1883 to 1904. He wrote an autobiographical account of his life experiences titled Memories of Three Score Years and Ten.
Nelle Katherine Morton was an American theologian, professor, feminist activist, and civil rights leader. She taught Christian Education for fourteen years at Drew University, during which time she became passionate about improving the position of women within the Christian faith. She wrote prolifically on religion, spirituality, feminism, intersectionality, and language. In 1985, she published an anthology of essays titled The Journey Is Home.
Robert Franklin Bunting (1828–1891) was an American Presbyterian minister and Confederate chaplain.