Dear All,

Early on, Corrinne Beaumont mentioned the honorary doctorate, and now Michal Popowsky has done the same. There are some confusions on this issue.

The honorary PhD is not generally awarded for being best in a field of professional practice. It is awarded to those who are distinguished for contributions to a scholarly or scientific field. It is unusual for anyone without research publications, scientific achievements, or scholarly achievements to be awarded an honorary PhD. The reason for this is that universities wish to avoid the confusion that can arise when an honorary graduate uses the honorary doctorate as though it were an earned credential. This practice occasionally embarrassed universities in the early days of the 20th century. Today, the honorary degree is properly distinguished by the letters (hc), honoris causa, for example: Euphrastus Mugwump, PhD (hc). It is generally understood that when one earns an honorary degree, one should append the letters (hc) to one's degree to show that it is an honorary award. Thus the DMus awarded to Bob Dylan would properly be shown as DMus (hc) should Dr. Dylan ever have occasion to use it. I was never quite sure what kind of doctorate the University of Nevada awarded to Dr. Frank Sinatra. I assume that the honorary doctorate in design would be DDes (hc), DArch (hc), or DEng (hc), or some appropriate designation, depending on the field.

This is also the case of the higher doctorates, DLitt, DSc, DSocSci. When it is awarded as an honorary degree, the higher doctorate is consider a special kind of honorary degree. The higher doctorate is generally awarded as an honorary degree only in recognition of scholarly, scientific, or academic achievement, and usually to those who already hold an earned doctorate. Even so, if it is an honorary award, one designates it as such by the letters (hc). The reason for this distinction is that some people submit a project or series of publications for the higher doctorate as an earned degree. In other cases, one's graduating university or the university where one is employed may elect to bestow the higher doctorate not as an honorary degree but as an earned degree raising and distinguishing the already graduated or employed doctor. For the higher doctorate, one must have done the same kinds of things to earn one or to be awarded one as an honorary degree. Loughborough University awarded me the DSc honoris causa, thus the (hc) following my Loughborough degree. When our faculty puts forward a distinguished research professor for a higher doctorate as we will do later this year or early next, his will be an "ordinary" DSc -- ordinary, that is, in contrast with honorary.

For being best in a field of practice, the honorary awards are designated by the field. In the field of ministry, it is understood that one' alma mater honors one for distinguished professional practice, and in this one case, the DD is awarded for divinity or ministry. It is understood that this is not a research degree, unlike the STD or Teol.Dr. for those who earn a research degree in theology. One earns the DMus (hc) for the distinguished practice of music , the DA (hc) or DFA (hc) for art, and so on. Many universities also use special awards for people honored for community service or service to the university, such as DUniv. I am not sure how these are distinguished. Since they are only awarded as honorary degrees, they may stand alone. The LL.D. (Doctor of Laws and Letters) is an honorary degree in some nations such as Canada, a higher doctorate in others, and an ordinary doctorate in yet others. In some places, it depends on the university.

There are some honorary PhDs granted to people who are so famous and so well known that no one suspects they have written a thesis to earn the PhD. Presidents and prime ministers are the case in point here. I am reasonably certain that no one will ever suspect that George Bush wrote a thesis to earn his honorary LL.D. at Yale. If you see an honorary doctorate being awarded to the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Pope, the point is moot, since they've usually written a thesis or two, possibly even 95.

There is a rich history of traditions and protocols surrounding the honorary doctorate. It is now quite uncommon that a PhD is awarded as an honorary, and rarer still that anyone who gets one would use it without the (hc).

Yours,

Ken

Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean

Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia

Telephone +61 3 9214 6755
www.swinburne.edu.au/design