Knox College awarded its first honorary doctorate to Abraham Lincoln in 1860; previously it awarded honorary master's degrees. Early records do not specify that every commencement speaker received an honorary degree; until the late 1920s, commencement addresses were often given by students from the graduating class. In some years, "Master's Orations" were given by alumni of the College.

Commencement speakers are indicated, where known, in italics;  Knox alumni in bold.

• Patrick J. Fitzgerald (pictured), U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
• Garry Wills, renowned cultural historian and author of more than three-dozen books
• Bill Geer, noted geneticist who taught biology at Knox College from 1963 until his retirement in 2000
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  Madeleine Albright (pictured), former U.S. Secretary of State
• Barry Bearak, Knox graduate and New York Times foreign correspondent and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
• Alan I Leshner, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
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  William Jefferson Clinton (pictured), 42nd President of the United States, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative
• Janet McKinley, Chair of Oxfam America
• Douglas Wilson, Lincoln scholar and Professor Emeritus of English at Knox College
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  Stephen Colbert (pictured), political satirist and star of The Colbert Report
• Shirley Barnes, former U.S. ambassador to Madagascar and activist on human trafficking
• Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
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  Barack Obama (pictured), U.S. Senator from Illinois
• Elizabeth Hayford, president of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest
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• Lawrence Brilliant, physician, human rights activist and technology pioneer
• John W. Dower, scholar of Japanese history
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• Admiral William J. Crowe Jr., former chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
• JoAnn M. Burkholder, botanist at North Carolina State University
• Martha C. Nussbaum, philosopher and legal scholar at the University of Chicago
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• Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation and Chair of Human Rights Watch
• Basilio Losada Castro, professor of literature at the University of Barcelona
• Clint Grant, retired chief photographer at the Dallas Morning News
• Anna Sophia Johnson, community environmental activist
• Jane Johnson, community environmental activist
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• Nancy S. Dye, president of Oberlin College
• Dwight R. Crandell, Knox graduate and geologist who predicted the Mount St. Helens eruption
• Terry Evans, photographer and naturalist
• Maury Klein, Knox graduate and scholar of economic history
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  Brian Lamb (pictured), founder of C-SPAN
• Andrew J. McKenna, Jr., Illinois business and political leader and philanthropist
• Cullom Davis, Lincoln scholar
• Victoria Post Ranney, developer and conservationist in Illinois
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