Unique degree titles (Wizard of Science?)

Bill Dayson wrote (in another topic)

This reminds me of a story told to me by one of my comittee members. Before is stint in industry, he was a faculty member at MIT. One of the senior professors there, at a faculty meeting, proposed the following degree:

For someone who is getting their third science PhD--in lue of a hooding ceremony, they would come on stage entirely naked and their advisor would clothe them. We would then annoint them "wizard of science".

Back on topic--this gets me thinging of 2 things relating to education in general (and distance ed):

1) unique degree titles--I've seen a number of DE schools giving degrees with unusual names (not just BA/BS/MA/MS/PhD). Why do schools seem to insist on such names? Is it just to distingish their B&M degrees from their DE degrees?

2) Multiple advanced degrees--I've got a PhD and am thinking of an MBA. My wife has a PhD and is in law school. Worse I ever saw was a guy with a PhD in Bio from CUNY, an MD from Mt Sinai, and a PhD from CMU in Computer science. I've seen an increase in the number of people with multiple [legitimate] doctorates. What is it with people going for degree after degree. Are we intelectually curious? Overly attached to institutional approbation? just glutons for punishment?

-me

 

In comparison to some, it would seem you have much distance to travel before being anointed with the the crowning glory of academic titles.

In particular, I'm intrigued by at least one credential of the venerable, Professor Sir Alan Peacock, DSc, MA, DUniv, DEcon, DSc, FBA, HonFLSE, FRSE. Professor Peacock is, among other things, a member of staff at the Heriot Watt University's, Edinburgh Business School.

Does anyone know what "DUniv" may be? I'd never heard of it either here in the U.S. or in Scotland. Given Sir Alan's many academic and professional accomplishments, could it be, "Doctor of the Universe"? And if so, would the subordinate graduate degree be "MUniv", "Master of the Universe"? And if either or both of the foregoing are indeed correct, how might one go about earning such a splendid title?

Another thing, he appears to have two DSc degrees. If I remember correctly, these are NOT honorary titles in the UK, are they? He has eight honorary degrees but I thought it uncommon for these to be listed by an academic, especially without identifying them as such. I don't think any of those listed in the bio are honorary, except perhaps the penultimate professional designation listed above.

A brief bio of Sir Alan can be found at http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/ebs/people/peaco.html

Lawrie Miller, WhOH, As, AVE, ryLarGE, BoIL, ONH, ISBum.

 

yep: you'll get no argument from me on that.

To be fair though, the nicest looking diploma on my wall is my Black Belt certificate from the JKA. Also my pilot's certificate isn't on the wall. Then there's my........

One other possibility. Some European universities seem to have "PhD by publication" for alumni. When I was doing my degree, we had a european student who [I was told], after finishing her US degree, submitted substantially the same work for a doctorate from her european alma matter. She can now list 2 doctoral degrees on her CV.

This incident is one of the [many] reasons I'm less than impressed when someone has more than one doctorate in the same or closely allied fields.

-me

 

I read a faculty handbook from cover to cover when I first attended university in Australia many summers ago. This handbook described the various degrees and their requirements.

From what I remember, the DSc, or Doctor of Science, is above the PhD and only rarely conferred. It is earned through research which makes very substantial and advancing contributions to a field of study, which would be the equivalent to multiple Ph.D's.

Basically, you do so much research as part of your career as an academic, that they could give you a Ph.D for each of them. So the faculty looks at all of your work and decides that it is of such consistently high quality that it warrants a DSc in recognition.

That's my understanding of the DSc and how to obtain it. It ain't easy.

 

Yeah, but there was no humor in that. I'd figured out that "Univ" was "University", but I much preferred the other possibility. Drat! I was looking forward to being the Master of the Universe.

Uh, so the LSE doesn't has plain ol' fellows?

Sort of English equivalent of the Oscars. . .

Well, thank for the input, Jon. So DEcon and DSc you think are are honorary too? If so, isn't Sir alan being economical with the truth in omitting the "honorary" bit from these titles, and is this common practice?

 

This likely depends on the country. In the US I've seen the honorary DSc. Most schools do not offer the earned DSc. Some do, however. Some US schools award the earned DSc and the PhD for equivalent work: for example MIT:

(from http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/c/catalogue/ch4.html )

Some programs and schools only award the DSc (for example the engineering school at George Washington U in DC) for work that is roughly equivalent to the work for a PhD elsewhere, but do not offer the PhD degree.

I have not seen the "super PhD" version of the DSc here in the states, but since the professor in question is in the UK, the custom there might be closer to the Australian one.

 

The University of Massachusetts-Lowell awards the Doctor of Science as an earned academic degree in Computer Science and (I believe) Polymer Science.

Bruce