Honorary Degrees
At most Convocation ceremonies, the University confers an Honorary Degree on an individual, who then gives an address. The tradition of granting honorary degrees at the University of Alberta dates back to our first Convocation, in 1908.
Honorary degrees are generally awarded for one of three reasons: to recognize extraordinary intellectual or artistic achievement; to honor service to the university and to the wider society; and to recognize men and women who might serve as examples to the institution's student body. An honorary degree, it is said, honours both the grantee and the spirit of the institution.
Conferred honoris causa, "for the sake of honor," honorary degrees are awarded as one of three types:
- Doctor of Laws, honoris causa
- Doctor of Letters, honoris causa
- Doctor of Science, honoris causa
The PhD is granted only as an earned degree.
Honorary Degree Books Collection
To celebrate each honorary degree recipient, librarians in Bruce Peel Special Collections specially select a rare book or artwork. Each selection both recognizes the recipient's achievements and enriches the Peel library's research and teaching collections. Discover the collection of over 400 rare books and artworks that the Peel library has acquired since the program began in 1987, showcased in the digital exhibition.
March 2026 Honorary Degree Recipients + Convocation Speakers
Honorary Degree Recipient: March 18, 3 p.m.
Dr. Richard Sutton is a University of Alberta professor who has distinguished himself as one of the world’s leading innovators in artificial intelligence. A professor in the Department of Computing Science and a founder of modern computational reinforcement learning, Sutton has been instrumental in shaping Alberta into a world-renowned AI hub since arriving at the U of A in 2003.
Sutton got his start at Stanford University as an undergraduate studying behavioural psychology. He went on to earn his master’s and PhD in computer science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he met longtime collaborator Andrew Barto. In 1998, they published Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction , which has remained an essential text in the field. Reinforcement learning is a branch of machine learning in which AI systems learn to solve problems through a trial-and-error process that mirrors how humans learn. The usefulness of Sutton’s visionary research has expanded far beyond computer science, with wide-ranging applications in medicine, economics, engineering and agriculture.
Sutton’s impact on Alberta’s AI leadership began when he moved to Edmonton to teach at the U of A. From there he went on to serve as Chair of Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence at iCORE/AITF until 2018, and founded the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Lab, where he is now a principal investigator. Sutton is also chief scientific advisor at Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair.
In 2017, he co-founded Google DeepMind Alberta, the company’s first international research lab. That same year, he announced a partnership with the celebrated video game engineer John Carmack and took on the role of research scientist at Carmack’s Keen Technologies.
Sutton’s scientific publications have been cited approximately 150,000 times, and he continues to leave an indelible mark on the field of AI as a mentor. One of his former doctoral students, David Silver, worked with Sutton and Martin Müller to develop AlphaGo, a computer program that defeated the best human Go players in 2016 and 2017.
In 2018, the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association recognized Sutton with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Society of London and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Most recently, he was a co-recipient of the 2024 Association for Computing Machinery A.M. Turing Award, the world’s most prestigious prize in computing science.
Convocation Speaker: March 17, 3 p.m.
TBC
Convocation Speaker: March 18, 10 a.m.
TBC
Selection process
Honorary Degree recipients are chosen by the University Senate.
Past recipients
The complete listing of honorary degrees granted is published in the University Calendar and on the Senate website.