The biography notes that the first Honorary Doctorate he received was from Alliance College in Cambridge Springs, Pa in 1981. President Walesa was unable to attend the graduation, he was under a travel ban at the time as this was during the heart of the Solidarity movement. The following summer, Alliance President Cash Kowalski met Walesa in Poland and presented him with his first honorary doctorate. Walesa has never forgotten his Alliance College degree, it was his first recognition by an institution of higher learning.
Alliance started a trend, as several other American universities and college followed suit, including Columbia and Catholic University the same year. The three colleges in the U.S. in 1981 awarded the degrees as a show of support to this famous Pole.
Wałęsa has been awarded over 30 honorary doctorates by universities around the world, including:
Alliance College, Pennsylvania – 1981
Columbia University – 1981
Catholic University, Louvain – 1981
MacMurray College, Illinois – 1982
University of Notre Dame – 1982
Providence College – 1981
St. Senis University, Paris – 1982
Seton Hall University – 1982
L’Université de Paris – 1983
Harvard University – 1983
Fordham University – 1984
University of Dundee, Scotland – 1984
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada – 1989
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada – 1989
Gdansk University – 1990
Copernicus University, Torun, Poland – 1990
Connecticut State University – 1996
Universidad Anahuac del Sur, Mexico City – 1996
Universidad del San Salvador, Buenos Aires – 1997
Universidad de Mendoza, Mendoza – 1997
Korea University (hon. prof.)
Seul – 1997
Meiji University, Tokyo – 1997
Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri – 1998
Lynn University, Miami – 1998
Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania – 1999
University of Hawaii, Manoa/Honolulu – 1999
Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon
Middlebury College, Vermont – 2000
University of Oregon, Eugene – 2001
Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic – 2001
Saint Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa – 2001
Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ – 2001
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC – 2002.
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada – 2005
