The award was presented to Sanader at a ceremony in Pittsburgh on Monday by University President Charles Dougherty, who cited Croatia's role in the fight against global terrorism and its efforts to join the European Union and NATO.
Sanader said that Croatia was currently working to achieve two of its key foreign policy goals -- joining the EU and NATO, and that in the process it was making efforts to strengthen democracy and human rights.
Speaking of relations between the EU and the US, Sanader said that preservation of Transatlantic ties and values was vital for maintaining the peace and security. He added that Croatia saw its future membership in the EU as inseparable from its friendship and partnership with the US.
Sanader also said that Pittsburgh was at the heart of the Croatian people because of the large number of Croatian settlers, who started arriving there more than a hundred years ago. He added that the Croats in Pittsburgh had managed to preserve their national identity and culture, at the same time promoting relations between their new, American homeland and Croatia.
The state of Pennsylvania has more than 50,000 people of Croatian descent. Pittsburgh is the seat of the Croatian Fraternal Union, the largest organisation of Croats outside Croatia, which numbers about 90,000 members and which marks its 110th anniversary this year.