Honorary Doctorates

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I always cringe a little when I see someone who has been awarded an honorary doctorate using "Dr" in front of their name. Am I just being snobbish?

[John Upham]

I always cringe a little when I see someone who has been awarded an honorary doctorate using "Dr" in front of their name. Am I just being snobbish?

I assume that since they have not submitted a thesis then they are not entitled to append neither D.Phil. nor Ph.D. to their name but I could easily be wrong.

[Alex Holowczak]

I always cringe a little when I see someone who has been awarded an honorary doctorate using "Dr" in front of their name.

Interesting fact on these lines: Tony Robinson said on a local radio interview that he has more honorary degrees than O Levels.

[Richard Thursby]

Interesting fact on these lines: Tony Robinson said on a local radio interview that he has more honorary degrees than O Levels.

This would apply to anyone born after about 1971 who holds an honorary degree (which admittedly doesn't include Tony Robinson). I remember Brian Clough mentioning that if anyone questioned him about his lack of school qualifications, he would show them his collection of footballing awards.

[Alex Holowczak]

I remember Brain Clough mentioning that if anyone questioned him about his lack of school qualifications

This pun did not go unappreciated.

[AustinElliott]

I've just been explaining to my seven year old daughter why it is NOT correct to call me "Mister grey-haired smelly dad".

I've told her I shall insist, as per my proper academic title, on "Doctor grey-haired smelly dad"

I didn't spend all those years in grey-haired smelly dad graduate school to be called "Mister..."

PS And of course I quite agree people with honorary doctorates SHOULDN'T call themselves "Doctor". Most frightfully vulgar.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Of course it's quite Ok to use the title if you earned your PhD, even though people may still misunderstand. When I first rented a flat, I was told that there was a nurse living by herself on the floor below who was very excited to hear that a doctor would be moving in.

(Nothing happened, but you read until the end of the post, didn't you?)

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

I remember Brian Clough mentioning that if anyone questioned him about his lack of school qualifications, he would show them his collection of footballing awards.

Actually I'm sure Clough got an honorary doctorate at some stage. I don't recall him parading around as "Dr Clough" though.

[Arshad Ali]

I always cringe a little when I see someone who has been awarded an honorary doctorate using "Dr" in front of their name. Am I just being snobbish?

Nope, not being snobbish.The title is being used to give the misleading impression of being a learned person. Counterfeit coin is being passed off as the real thing. In fact I cringe even when someone who has legitimately earnt a doctorate insists on using the title: an attempt is being made to set up a distinction, a gradation, a hierarchy.

[David Robertson]

I quite agree people with honorary doctorates SHOULDN'T call themselves "Doctor". Most frightfully vulgar

I agree with this. And I should know because I have both a PhD and an honorary doctorate. To be awarded a PhD is a great prize, indicating great merit. Let no one belittle the award in any field. It's the highest scholarly qualification a university can bestow (pace DSc holders), recognised to a common standard by all universities. That said, I took enormous pride and delight in being awarded an honorary doctorate by another university in respect of a lifetime's academic contribution to research and public policy in my field. But had that been my only 'doctorate', the pride would have been no less, but I would never use the title. Do I use the 'earned' title anyway? Sparingly, and only in specific professional contexts.

Matters grow yet murkier with the title 'Professor', not a qualification but an honour bestowed by a university to absolutely no common standard. Unlike a doctorate which is the property of the individual forever, a 'professorship' remains the property of the awarding institution, and lapses once an individual leaves that institution. That latter point is not well-understood by a significant number of 'professors' who continue to parade the title as if it were a lifetime award. To this group, we must now add in depressingly greater numbers a host of 'honorary professors' whose title has been bestowed by desperate universities in need of sponsorship or kindred largesse. There can be nothing more vulgar than some celebrity millionaire TV producer of soap operas prancing about the place calling himself 'Professor'. For the record, as with 'Dr', I use my title sparingly and only in professional contexts. So my children merely call me 'sir'

[John Upham]

In the US of A almost anyone who teaches anything is a "Professor" but, this is really only in the literal sense.

In some parts of continental Europe one may be a Doctor raised to greater than a quadratic degree. Indeed, one of my collaborators in the early 1980s was a Herr Doctor Doctor Doctor or "Doctor cubed" as we referred to him.

[David Robertson]

In the USA, 'professor' is used more widely than in the UK. But the tenured (unsackable) full professor equates roughly with the more restricted use of the term in the UK. Of course, in Italy, even school-teachers are called 'professore'

The 'Dr Dr Dr' process is known, mainly in Germany, as the Habilitation. Applied especially in the sciences, it acts as a 'gatekeeper', restricting access to full professorships. It is equivalent to post-doc research in the UK. So most (possibly all) German professors will be 'Prof Dr.' or even 'Ing Prof Dr' (where 'Ing' indicates engineering)

The crucial, indispensable property of the title 'Professor' has to be, in my opinion, that the holder should profess. That is, they should speak out when others cannot or dare not; publish wisely and authoritatively without fear; defend the right to free speech no matter what the threat; and give sober counsel in matters of controversy. Oh, that all Professors should be so bold!

[Nicky Chorley]

The 'Dr Dr Dr' process is known, mainly in Germany, as the Habilitation. Applied especially in the sciences, it acts as a 'gatekeeper', restricting access to full professorships. It is equivalent to post-doc research in the UK. So most (possibly all) German professors will be 'Prof Dr.' or even 'Ing Prof Dr' (where 'Ing' indicates engineering)

Ah, I always wondered what why German academics had, e.g. "Prof. Dr." titles. Thanks .

In any case, agree with the above - people with honorary doctorates shouldn't be referred to as "Dr.". The Wikipedia page on honorary degrees lists several people who have referred to themselves as "Dr.", having only an honorary doctorate.

[AustinElliott]

A German "Habilitation" doctoral is actually a little bit like the DSc ("higher doctoral") degrees some UK Universities still award. Usually what you do for these is bind a collection of your published work and add a kind of "unifying introduction" to make your "Higher doctoral thesis". It has fallen out of fashion in the UK, partly because it doesn't gain you anything in professional terms and usually costs £ 500...! But it remains in Germany as the Habilitation, though there they typically do it after several years of postdoctoral work, rather than after 15 or 20 years in the trade as happened in the UK back in the day with DScs.

The main reason it hangs on in Germany is mainly that you need the Habilitation to get a tenured job in a University.

BTW, a medical doctor in Germany is not formally called "Doktor" unless they have also completed a medical research thesis (called in Germany an MD). Some people in medical research in Germany may do a PhD too. So if you had a medical degree and MD, a PhD AND the Habiilitation you would be "Herr Doctor cubed", or more formally:

"Herr doktor doktor doktor med habil"

The Germans, conversely, take it VERY seriously if you call yourself "Doktor" and are NOT formally entitled to use the title. See, for instance, what happened to the recently departed Defence Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, or "zu Googleberg", as he became known after it emerged he had plagiarized some of the stuff in his doctoral thesis.

[EDIT] Oops, should read more carefully, see David had actually already said some of that stuff. Apologies.

[Arshad Ali]

In the USA, 'professor' is used more widely than in the UK. But the tenured (unsackable) full professor equates roughly with the more restricted use of the term in the UK.

My impression has been that a US associate prof equates to a British lecturer, and a full prof to a reader. An American holding a named chair would be equivalent to a British prof. I may be mistaken.