During the doctoral process, when is it okay to use the title? After a successful defense? Some other point? Just wondering what the conscience of the board might be.
I could be persuaded to change my position, but my first impulse is to say after a successful defense, when one's committee members are saying, "Congratulations, Dr. So-and-so!" If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for anyone.
According to my dissertation chair at UNISA, one is not allowed to use the title until you receive the diploma from them. That is either by walking across the stage or by the mail service. Now, this is from UNISA. He ( my chair) is in the history department. I am assuming that is university wide.
It is okay to use the title of doctor when one is a graduate i.e. when the degree is conferred, either in notice by letter or by ceremony (which ever comes first). Prior to that, a person's status is that of a graduand (which is someone who is about to graduate). A graduand has meet the substantive criteria for fulfillment of a degree, but is still waiting for conferral. If a person really wants to get technical, they can change their work-title from PhD Candidate to PhD Graduand. However, that might confuse people because most people have never even heard of the term graduand.
After one receives official notification from the school - sometimes the awards ceremony can be several months after the official notification.
According Nova Southeastern University's Doctorate Professors, as soon as you completed all the requirements and dissertation committee accepts your dissertation.
I was told I was technically a "doctor designatus" until the academic senate conferred the degree, which in my case was on graduation day. I wasn't bothered in the least, just glad to be done, but to my mind, anyone wanting to use the title after the defense is justified in doing so.
The late Warrior Warrior [sic] had his name legally changed to such in order to avoid a potential lawsuit for taking his wrestling moniker to another organization. Maybe he's on to something! How about you have your first name legally changed to Doctor and your middle name to Matt, then you can drop your University of the Cumberlands program.