Using an entirely made-up case: The history department of university of Queensland's faculty of arts, has 3 subject areas: European, Asian, and Africa history. If one was to do a doctorate through the history department in Medieval England, what would be appropriate was of describing the degree in a business context? PhD(Queensland) PhD(Arts) PhD(History) PhD(English History) PhD(Medieval England) The reason I'm asking is because in the consulting field you tend to maximise the use of your quals, far more than in academia. So proposals will often have "X has a ...and a PhD in y from the University of Queensland". I just want to be clear on what is kosher to use as "y" in these cases. Are either Arts, History, English History or Medieval England all ok? Also, what should one put on a business card? I've seen just the degree, the degree & university, and the degree and general area. Complicated!
Well, an official ad from Queensland University itself says: "The successful candidate must have a PhD in experimental atom optics". http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/level2/jobs/posi_atomoptics_postdoc.shtml Then again, at Queensland, "The MPhil and PhD are awarded solely on the basis of the director's assessment of the examiners' reports on the thesis." At an American university, where the Ph.D. is conferred based on coursework as well, it might be more appropriate to say "Ph.D. in Physics; dissertation on...".
Another one The most complete version I can recall said something like JS has a PhD in Entrepreneurship from the Black Business School of the Green University, in which his focus was ..... And I've seen: PhD (Black Business School) PhD (Green) PhD (Enconomics) Phd (Green, Economics) PhD (Green, Entrepreneurship) I would venture that almost anyof the variants is ok - if not technically correct - because requirements and usage differ so widely. Use the one that suits you, so long as it isn't misleading and it isn't too long-winded for the suituation. My preference would be to focus on the area of expertise, unless the university is of such a stature that the highlighting of its name is advantageous. So PhD (Stanford) may be generally better than PhD (Otago) (an example - please don't get upset!), so in the latter case it may be better to display PhD (Economics).
