An Honorary Doctorate is entirely legitimate and allows the title conferred to be used like any other. The degree is awarded to those who have demonstrated an Honoris Causa, or cause to be honored. This program is offered only to a select group of highly accomplished individuals.  As a professional, a degree -- or additional degree -- will allow you to make a greater impact. The expedient way of showing the world your knowledge, abilities, experience and talents is with your degree and use of your titles.

Honorary degree

An honorary degree ^[1] (Latin: honoris causa ad gradum) is an academic degree awarded to an individual as a decoration, rather than as the result of matriculating and studying for several years. An honorary degree may be (and often is) conferred by an institution that the recipient never attended. The degree itself may be a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree — the last being by far the most common. Usually the degree is conferred with great pomp and ceremony as a way of honoring a famous or distinguished visitor's valuable contribution to society. The university derives benefits by association with the person's status and so enhances its networking and publicity.

Introduction

Honorary degrees are usually awarded at regular graduation ceremonies, at which the recipients are often invited to make a speech of acceptance before the assembled faculty and graduates – an event which often forms the highlight of the ceremony. Generally universities nominate several persons each year for honorary degrees; these nominees usually go through several committees before receiving approval. Those who are nominated are generally not told until a formal approval and invitation are made; often it is perceived that the system is shrouded in secrecy, and occasionally seen as political and controversial – in recent years a trend lamented by many has been to award degrees to popular icons, such as politicians and actors, rather than to scientists and scholars.

In some sense, the term 'honorary degree' is a slight misnomer: honoris causa degrees (the term means 'for the sake of the honour') are real degrees, formally awarded by a university under the terms of its charter. They differ only from 'earned' degrees in that the university has chosen to waive the usual study, research, residence and examination requirements. In popular usage, however, this distinction has become blurred, and honoris causa degrees are often considered not to be of the same standing as substantive degrees, even when the recipient has demonstrated a level of eminence and scholarship which would be sufficient to formally earn such a degree.

An ad eundem or jure dignitatis degree is sometimes considered honorary, although they are only conferred on an individual who has already achieved a comparable qualification at another university or by attaining an office requiring the appropriate level of scholarship.

The first honorary degree was awarded to Lionel Woodville in the late 1470s by the University of Oxford. He later became Bishop of Salisbury.

It is worth mentioning the point that although higher doctorates such as DSc, DLitt, etc, are often awarded honoris causa, in many countries (notably the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand) it is possible formally to earn such a degree. This typically involves the submission of a portfolio of peer-refereed research, usually undertaken over a number of years, which has made a substantial contribution to the academic field in question. The university will appoint a panel of examiners who will consider the case and prepare a report recommending whether or not the degree be awarded. Usually, the applicant must have some strong formal connection with the university in question, for example full-time academic staff, or graduates of several years' standing.

Some universities, seeking to differentiate between substantive and honorary doctorates, have a degree (often DUniv, or 'Doctor of the University') which is used for these purposes, with the other higher doctorates reserved for formally-examined academic scholarship.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has the power to award degrees. These 'Lambeth degrees' are often, erroneously, thought to be honorary; however the Archbishop has for many centuries had the legal authority (originally as the representative of the Pope, later confirmed by a 1533 Act of Henry VIII), to award degrees, and regularly does so to individuals deemed to have satisfied the appropriate requirements in some way.

Between the two extremes of honoring celebrities and formally assessing a portfolio of research, many universities use honorary degrees to recognize achievements of intellectual rigour that are comparable to an earned degree.

Practical use

Recipients of an honorary doctorate do not normally adopt the title of "doctor", though it may be appropriate to use the title provided it was conferred based on some tangible and relevant achievement. The recipient of an honorary degree may add the degree title postnominally, but it should always be made clear that the degree is honorary by adding "honorary" or "honoris causa" or "h.c." in parenthesis after the degree title. In many countries, one who holds a honorary doctorate may use the title "doctor" prenominally, abbreviated Dr.h.c. or Dr.(h.c.). Sometimes, they use "Hon" before the degree letters, for example, Hon DMus.

In recent years, some universities have adopted entirely separate postnominal titles for honorary degrees. This is in part due to the confusion that honorary degrees have caused. It is now common to use certain degrees, such as LL.D. or Hon.D., as purely honorary. For instance, an honorary doctor of the Auckland University of Technology takes the special title Hon.D. instead of the usual Ph.D. Some universities, including the Open University grant Doctorates of the University (D.Univ.) to selected nominees, while awarding Ph.D. or Ed.D. degrees to those who have fulfilled the academic requirements.

Many American universities award the LL.D. (Doctor of Laws), the Litt.D. (Doctor of Letters), the LH.D. (Doctor of Humane Letters), the Sci.D. (Doctor of Science), the Ped.D. (Doctor of Pedagogy) and the D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) only as honorary degrees. An earned degree in law would be the J.S.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science); earned degrees in the liberal arts, humanities, or sciences are generally the Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy); the Ed.D. (Doctor of Education) or Ph.D. are education degrees; and the Ph.D., Th.D. (Doctor of Theology), S.T.D. (Doctor of Sacred Theology) or D.Min. (Doctor of Ministry) are awarded in religion and theology depending on the particular program. American universities do not have the system of "higher doctorates" used in the UK and at other universities around the world. The earned Ph.D. is the highest formal academic degree offered in the United States.

 Customary degrees (Ad eundem degrees)

Some universities and colleges also have the custom of awarding a master's degree to every scholar it appoints as a full professor who had never earned a degree there. At the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge many senior staff are granted the degree of Master of Arts after three years of service, and at Amherst College all tenured professors are awarded a Master of Arts degree at academic convocation in the autumn even though the school only offers an earned Bachelor of Arts degree (Amherst awards honorary doctorates at commencement in the spring to notable scholars and other special invitees).

These ad eundem degrees are earned degrees, not honorary, because they recognise formal learning.

Similarly a jure dignitatis degree is one awarded to someone who has demonstrated their eminence and scholarship by being appointed to a particular office. Thus, for example, a DD might be conferred upon a bishop on the occasion of their consecration, or a judge created LLD or DCL upon their appointment to the bench. These, also, are properly considered substantive rather than honorary degrees.

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