UNC Greensboro conferred an honorary degree on Constance “Connie” Hughes Kotis during the university’s Doctoral and Master’s Commencement Ceremony at the First Horizon Coliseum May 8. Kotis received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree for her contributions to the creative and performing arts.
Honorary degrees recognize extraordinary individual achievements that highlight the values that have animated UNCG since 1891. They provide positive acknowledgement of the importance of these contributions to the university, its people, and the broader society.
Kotis’s impact on her community and on UNCG are exemplary, says UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. “Connie Kotis has always been motivated to make her community stronger, and her career successes have given her the resources to make that dream a reality.”
In addition to earning a Bachelor of Music degree in 1965, Kotis was something of a trailblazer at UNCG: the first person to receive a Master of Music degree in applied music-piano accompanying, in 1977. Today, the comparable degree is the Master of Music in Music Performance, Collaborative Piano.
During her career, Kotis taught music at Northeast High School in Greensboro and NC A&T State University. In 1983, she joined the Greensboro Music Academy, now known as the Music Academy of North Carolina, as co-founder and chair of its piano division. In 2008, the Academy held the first Constance Kotis Piano Festival and Competition, established in her honor. In 2016, she was named Teacher of the Year by the North Carolina Music Teachers Association.
As a pianist, Kotis has played accompaniment for the Bel Canto Company, the Greensboro Opera Company, and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, as well as other organizations across the state. She also performed abroad as staff accompanist for International Workshop with performances in Canada, Norway, Scotland, Austria, and France.
Alongside her career in music, Kotis and her husband, Bill, successfully established one of North Carolina’s most prominent commercial real estate properties.
A proud alumna, Kotis has stayed connected to the UNCG campus community in many ways. She gave her first financial gift to UNCG around four decades ago. Most recently, the Kotises established the Kotis Music Fund in Piano, which provides scholarships for exceptional piano majors who aspire to a career in pedagogy. Kotis has remained engaged with current students and alumni through volunteerism and advocacy, contributing her time and talent to numerous boards and performing at university events. She currently serves on the College of Visual and Performing Art’s Board of Visitors.
Chancellor Gilliam expressed gratitude for Kotis’s contributions to the community. “As an institution, we are deeply grateful for all she has done on a personal and professional level to better the Greensboro community and to bring joy to the lives of her students,” he says. “Connie Kotis has been an enduring luminary for music and the arts for decades.”
Previous Honorary Degree awardees include individuals like Maestro William Henry Curry, businessman and community leader David Sprinkle, innovative business leaders Dennis Quaintance and Nancy King Quaintance, Tony Award recipient Beth Leavel, research pioneer Dr. Maunuskshi Wani, former North Carolina Poet Laureate Fred Chappell, former North Carolina Chief Justice Henry Frye, and former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt.
Learn more about UNCG’s May 2025 Commencement here.
By Mercer Bufter, University Advancement
Photography by Sean Norona, University Communications