Honorary Doctorate

I quite agree. When Sid Craig* donated $10,000,000 (over 10 years, I believe), it was quite clear to most that he was buying his name on to the Sid Craig School of Business (California State University, Fresno).**

However, he was a CSUF graduate, so that made it somewhat less stultifying.



Tom Nixon

*Sid Craig is the former CEO of Jenny Craig, Inc., the weight loss folks.

**They also gave $7,000,000 to the University of San Diego for the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

 

Unlike the general thrust of this website (profitizing a once legitimate academic ceremony), there was a legitimate purpose to the "honorary doctorate", at least to the degree that it resembles the "higher doctorate" of old. Most European universities have gone away from the higher doctorate as of the Bologna accord. However, if you search for information on the higher doctorate, you'll notice that it is possible for faculty at Australian and UK universities to grant the higher doctorate for significant publication in the field by faculty members; typically, a monograph. I seem to recall that the original purpose was to "habilitate" life long faculty members who had forfieted the opportunity to do a research doctorate (Ph.D.) to stay in service at the school, etc. Still, to be eligible that service should have culminated in a large contribution to the discipline. The faculty member must apply and sometimes has to pay a matriculation fee to support the review process. I have a friend who is a visiting professor at a European business school and was asked to submit his post-doctoral work for inspection for the higher doctorate. The granting of such a doctorate also renders the professor an alumnus of the school as well.

Some thoughts,

Dave

 

That website is perfectly straightforward. I see nothing wrong. After all, it says they promote

"the academic recognition of accomplished individuals of all cultures, races, religions and ethic backgrounds".

All ethic backgrounds pretty well covers it, n'est-ce pas?

Gnuts.

 

Once again, Uncle, you've made me howl with laughter with your perceptive post. I think you really hit the nail on the head.

I have done zero research into this place. However, my suspicion is that it is a scam. I'm hoping that they do not really contact real universities but instead will end up offering degree mill degrees in the end.

 

And so it should have been. Goodness, there'd be no buildings on 90% of the campuses in the US if this wasn't possible .

Having a facility that you paid for named after you makes perfect sense to me, and isn't worth complaining about. It certainly isn't the same thing as getting an honorary degree, which was the point of the thread.

 

Every time the subject of naming comes up, I think of two things . . .

The wonderful Spy Magazine "mischief" where they explore whether evangelical Christian schools would change their name to that of a donor who was ready to give them $50 million -- Mrs. Rosenberg. (None of the ten would change the school name, but they all offered an alternative, such as naming a building or a college for her.)

And the University of Virginia wrestling, once, over a donation from the Goodykuntz family who wanted to endow the Goodykuntz Chair in the school of business. (So I just did a Google search for that name, and there are a bunch of them out there, including the film critic for the Arizona Republic, but I didn't find a reference to that Chair.)

 

selling honorary degrees

May be, but it is perfectly legal, and all us ULC legally ordained ministers and legal D.D.'s ( along with Jerry's bulldog) can be called doctor just like those who have worked so hard to earn the title. The only problem is that many in the wider public do not realize that an honorary degree is only a title not an academic qualification.

The Rev Dr R Evans

 

What's the big deal?

These degrees are clearly honorary, which in the US, at least, makes them useless in a practical sense, and are generally connected to either donations or celebrity status anyway?

So I don't see where the problem lies on the educational side.

Now, if I were a customer, and I found out that I would be receiving a honorary doctorate to say, Rochville, St. Regis, etc., I'd be pretty pissed.

Doubtful that non-mills would hand them out for a measly 2500$ anyway.

 

Re: What's the big deal?

I agree that there's no big deal here, but some folks may fool those who do not understand the difference between an earned degree as an academic qualification and an honorary degree as merely a title. It's the dissimulation that can be a problem in some cases; if I were to claim some special theological knowledge on the basis of an honorary D.D. (done all the time, but not by me) and then profit from that claim (say, by selling autographed pictures of Jesus to little old ladies), I would be acting in a dishonest way. That's generally the issue with unearned degrees which are often misunderstood outside academic circles.