Dr. Hawkins is the recipient of many awards and honors. In 1986 he was admitted as an honorary member to the National Association of Private Colleges and Universities, Tokyo, Japan (FMICA); In 1987 he was appointed member of the National Blue Ribbon Committee on Global Education, and in 1989 he was invited by the Mayor of Yokohama, Japan, to address the City Planning Board on "Internationalizing Higher Education, at which time he was presented the "Key to the City" of Yokohama by the Mayor.

Hawkins' book entitled Mao Tse-tunq and Education was selected as one of a limited number of "the most important, basic, widely read books in each field" for undergraduates in the Moffitt Library, University of California, Berkeley.

His book entitled Education and Intergroup Relations: An International Perspective (co-edited with Thomas LaBelle) was awarded, "one of the most outstanding books of recent years" by the American Educational Studies Association at their Annual Meeting, 1988.

In 1994 he was the recipient of the "Outstanding Foreign Scholar Award" from the Center for Learning and Evaluation, Yokohama, Japan.

In 1997 he was awarded the medal Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques for services rendered to French Culture, by French Prime Minister Juppe.