Its honorary doctorate season again. Here are some results and notes, so far. Additions welcome, of course. ------------------------------------------------------------------- HONORARY DOCTORATES, 2010 Who: Antonio Banderas From: University of Malaga, Spain Comment: He is from there. Will he ride a white steed to the podium? Who: Doc Watson From: BerkLee College Comment: Arthel Watson becomes a real Doc. Who: Michael J. Fox From: Karolinska Institute Comment: Could he be under consideration for a Nobel? Who: C. V. Singer, Rutgers women’s basketball coach From: University of Iowa Comment: Will Don Imus have anything to say about her cap? Who: Wynton Marsalis From: Harvard Comment: He wrote at length about the experience on his FaceBook page. Who: Michelle Kwan and Steve Peat From: Southern Vermont College, Sheffield Hallam University Comment: Gold medal achievements Who: Sarah Obama From: Great Lakes University, Kenya Comment: Could being Barack’s step-grandmother possibly have had anything to do with it? Who: Sheila E From: Musicians Institute, Los Angeles Comment: State approved for Bachelor's degrees. Will she be "Doctor E"? Best name of recipient: Doctor Crazy Bull Cheryl Crazy Bull, President of Northwest Indian College, from Seattle University Fastest (and perhaps slowest) recipient: Usain Bolt, University of Belfast (they offered it, and gave him 18 months to decide whether to accept). Best excuse for returning an honorary degree: Manuel Parililian, fired by his Philippine university after plagiarizing a major speech, turned in his honorary doctorate, apologizing for his “verbal malfunction.” Amazing coincidence between name of university and name of presenter: Limkokwing University, Malaysia, awarded an honorary doctorate to a Sarawak official. The degree was presented by Doctor Lim Kok Wing. Best title to go along with an honorary doctorate: Limkokwing University also named that Sarawak official as “National Icon of Transformational Leadership.” The “Omhoog jouw, King Albert” doctorate: University of Antwerp awards an honorary to Richard Dawkins. The royal family of Belgium are not only devout Catholics but members of Opus Dei to boot. Most pleasing (and unexpected) real doctorate: Brian May, founder of the rock group Queen, completed the work for his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Imperial College, London. (He began work 30 years ago, but abandoned it to go on tour.)
I must admit to being partial to guitar playing doctors--because "I are one" If anyone deserved an honorary doctorate having Berklee College of Music confer one on "Doc" Doc Watson at least makes some sense. By the way, Dr. Brian May (another great guitarist) is also Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.
