Honorary degree

Short description: Academic qualification awarded without usual requirements

Not to be confused with Honours degree.

The honoris causa doctorate received by Jimmy Wales from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands (2015)

An honorary degree or degree honoris causa ("for the sake of the honour") is an academic degree, typically a doctorate, conferred without examination to recognise the honoree's achievements and contributions to society. These are normally titular degrees, with fewer rights than substantive degrees.[1][2] It may, more broadly, be any degree awarded without examination in order to recognise a person's achievements or their status in a university.[3]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Modern practice
* 2.1 Posthumous awards
* 2.2 Institutions that do not award honorary degrees
* 2.3 Controversial use
* 3 Other types of honorary or unearned degree
* 3.1 Degrees by inception
* 3.2 Degrees by incorporation
* 3.3 Lambeth degrees
* 3.4 Official degrees
* 3.5 Dignity degrees
* 4 Use of title associated with honorary doctorates
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## History

The forerunner of the modern honorary degree was the degree by creation, referring to a degree "conferred ... without passing through a University course (or after passing through only a partial course) and without performing the exercises". Two of the earliest on record, in the late 15th century, were awarded by the University of Oxford to Lionel Woodville (chancellor of the university 1479–1483 and Bishop of Salisbury 1482–1484)[4] and Thomas Bourchier (Archbishop of Canterbury 1454–1486).[5]

In the late 16th century, the granting of degrees by creation at Oxford became quite common, especially on the occasion of royal visits.[5] On the visit of James I to Oxford in 1605, for example, forty-three members of his retinue (fifteen of whom were earls or barons) received the degree of Master of Arts, and the Register of Convocation explicitly states that these were full degrees, carrying the usual privileges, such as voting rights in convocation and congregation.[5]

The modern titular honorary degree grew out of the degree by creation towards the end of the 17th century, with the first degree explicitly designated honoris causa at Oxford being the honorary MA awarded to Sir Henry Hoo Keate in 1717.[5]

The DD conferred upon Increase Mather by Harvard in 1692 is sometimes cited as the first honorary degree awarded in America.[2] However, the citation for the degree shows that it was a substantive degree awarded on the basis of his published works.[6] Benjamin Franklin's honorary MA in 1753 is considered Harvard's first true honorary degree.[7] Before this, Yale had conferred an honorary MD on Daniel Turner in 1723 in thanks for a donation of books to the college library; it was said by critics that the MD stood for multum donavit ("he gave much").[8][9][10]

In the 1870s and 1880s, the celebration of university jubilees became popular across Europe, with large numbers of honorary degrees being awarded at these festivals.[11] These included 40 honorary degrees at the jubilee of Durham University in 1882,[12] and 140 at the tercentenary of the University of Edinburgh in 1884.[13] This spread to the US, with 42 honorary degrees at Harvard's sestercentennial in 1886, 61 at Columbia's centennial of its refoundation in 1887, and 79 at Princeton's sesquicentennial in 1896. The practice continued in the 20th century, with Yale awarding 60 honorary degrees at its bicentenary in 1901, Columbia giving 43 at the 150th anniversary of its original foundation in 1904 and 134 at the 175th anniversary in 1929, and Harvard awarding 86 at its tercentenary in 1936.[14]

Until 1882, degrees were only awarded without examination at Cambridge by royal mandate (referred to as mandate degrees), after which "full honorary degrees" (official degrees and dignity degrees) were awarded without examination to people appointed to university teaching posts and on Cambridge graduates that became bishops, and titular degrees on other honorees.[15]

In the United States, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree was first conferred as an honorary degree at Bucknell University in 1852 and in 1861 Yale University awarded the first earned PhD, becoming the first American university to do so.[16] Over one hundred institutions in the United States conferred honorary PhD degrees in the 19th century, to more than seven hundred recipients.[16] However, the practice of awarding the PhD as an honorary degree drew condemnation from organizations such as the American Philological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the board of regents of the University of the State of New York prohibited any university in the state from conferring an honorary PhD effective in 1897.[16] The number of honorary PhD degrees awarded in the U.S. declined in the 20th century, and surveys by the United States Office of Education found none conferred in 1940 or later years.[16] One of the last known recipients of an honorary PhD was singer Bing Crosby, from Gonzaga University in 1937.[16][17]

In the run up to and during World War Two, Oxford honorary degrees were used as diplomatic weapons. Lord Halifax, Oxford's chancellor from 1933, also served as minister of war from 1935 to 1938, as foreign secretary from 1938 to 1940, and as British ambassador to the US from 1940 to 1946. Delegations of senior academics travelled from Britain to ceremonies held overseas, or the university was represented by British diplomats. The award of an honorary degree to Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, the Portuguese prime minister, was described by a Foreign Office official as "first-class propaganda for our cause".[18]

By 2001, about 21 U.S. states had begun allowing public schools to grant honorary high school diplomas to military veterans under a program called "Operation Recognition".[19] In Ohio, it was unclear whether public schools had the legal authority to grant them until 12 July 2001, when Governor Bob Taft signed a bill allowing public school districts to grant them to honorably discharged veterans of World War II.[20] Lakota East High School is believed to have awarded the first such diplomas to a group of 20 veterans in May of that year.[21]

## Modern practice

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 nominations usually go through several committees before receiving approval. Nominees 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.[22] On occasion, organisations have been awarded honorary doctorates.[23]

Honoris causa degrees are not considered of the same standing as substantive degrees earned by the standard academic processes of courses and original research, except perhaps where the recipient has demonstrated an appropriate level of academic scholarship that would ordinarily qualify them for the award of a substantive degree.[24] Recipients of honorary degrees typically wear the same academic dress as recipients of substantive degrees, although there are a few exceptions: at the University of St Andrews, honorary graduates wear a black cassock instead of the usual full-dress gown; at Kingston University, honorary graduates wear a distinctive hood; and at the University of Northumbria the colours of the hoods and gowns are different for honorary degrees.[1] At the University of Cambridge, honorary graduates do not wear the hoods of their honorary degrees at the graduation ceremony.[25]

Although higher doctorates such as Doctor of Science, Doctor of Letters, etc. are often awarded honoris causa, in some countries (such as the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) it is also possible to earn these as a substantive degrees.[26] This typically involves the submission of a portfolio of peer-reviewed 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.

Between the two extremes of honouring celebrities and formally assessing a portfolio of research, some universities use honorary degrees to recognise achievements of intellectual rigour. Some institutes of higher education do not confer honorary degrees as a matter of policy—see below. Some learned societies award honorary fellowships in the same way as honorary degrees are awarded by universities, for similar reasons.

### Posthumous awards

In April 2023, the President of Yale, Peter Salovey, awarded M.A. Privatim degrees posthumously to Reverend James W. C. Pennington and Reverend Alexander Crummell, the first two black students at Yale, both of whom faced numerous incidents of discrimination and left Yale without earning degrees.[27][28]

### Institutions that do not award honorary degrees

Some US universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),[29] Cornell University,[30] Stanford University[31] and Rice University,[32] do not award honorary degrees as a matter of policy. The University of Virginia (founded in 1819) was probably the first US university to have an explicit policy of not awarding honorary degrees, at the request of its founder, Thomas Jefferson.[29][33] In 1845, William Barton Rogers, then chairman of the faculty, vigorously defended this policy; in 1861, he founded MIT in Boston and continued this practice.[29][34] The University of Virginia does annually award Thomas Jefferson Medals in architecture and in law, as the highest honours accorded by that institution.[33][35] Cornell did not award honorary degrees under founding president Andrew Dickson White, who thought them "pretended honors" that "tend[ed] to lower respect for many American colleges and universities". However, honorary degrees were briefly awarded under his successor, Charles Kendall Adams in 1886, with White and Cornell alum David Starr Jordan, the president of Indiana University and later the founding president of Stanford, receiving honorary LLDs. Alumni and faculty petitions against honorary degrees led to the ban on honorary degrees being reinstated later that year.[36]

### Controversial use

Elena Ceauşescu becoming Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Manila, Philippines, in 1975

Some universities and colleges have been accused of granting honorary degrees in exchange for large donations.[37]

The nomination of politicians for honorary degrees has often proven controversial. These have included Andrew Jackson's LLD from Harvard in 1833, drawing particular ire from Jackson's political rival, former president John Quincy Adams, then a member of Harvard's board of trustees;[38] the withdrawal of the nomination of Ramsay MacDonald, Britain's first Labour prime minister for an honorary doctorate at Cambridge in 1926;[18] Oxford's award to Dean Acheson, the US Secretary of State, in 1952;[18] Cambridge's award to Viscount Hailsham, the first cabinet minister for science and technology, in 1963, which led to a tightening of the nomination rules to reduce the risk of controversy:[18] Oxford's voting down of honours for Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, in 1975 and of Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of Britain, in 1983 (both Oxford graduates);[18] Yale's award to George W. Bush in 2001, boycotted by some staff and students;[39] and the refusal of an honorary degree to Barack Obama at Arizona State University when speaking at its graduation ceremony in 2009.[40] Such controversies have led some universitas, including Oxford and Cambridge, to institute rigorous policies that restrict controversial awards.[18]

Politics can also be involved in the revocation of honorary degrees. In the 1930s, the University of Berlin revoked the honorary degree it has awarded to author and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann under pressure from the Nazi regime, leading to multiple international universities, including Harvard, awarding him honorary degrees.[18] Keele University revoked Austrian president and former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim's honorary degree after revelations that he had facilitated war crimes during World War Two.[41] In 2007, protesters demanded that the University of Edinburgh revoke an honorary degree awarded to Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe in 1984. The university subsequently reviewed its honorary degree policy and revoked Mugabe's degree, as well as instituting a more rigorous selection procedure for recipients of honorary degrees.[42] His honorary degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Michigan were also revoked following student pressure.[43][44][45] Robert Gordon University revoked then US presidential candidate Donald Trump's honorary DBA in 2015 after his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.[41][46]

Universities have also been accused of giving honorary degrees, particularly to celebrities, in order to attract publicity rather than to recognise achievements.[47][48][49][50] In 1996, Southampton College at Long Island University (now a campus of Stony Brook University) awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters to Muppet Kermit the Frog. Although some students objected to awarding a degree to a Muppet, the small college received considerable press coverage.[51]

## Other types of honorary or unearned degree

The broader definition of honorary degrees used by bodies such as the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education takes in any degree that is not an "academic qualification" (i.e.,an earned degree), whether to honour an individual or to reflect their status.[3] This includes various forms of degrees, some of which are mostly historical but are still used at a few institutions.

### Degrees by inception

MA degrees have been are awarded to BA graduates at some universities without examination since the 18th century, via a process known as inception. They have been referred to as 'honorific' and 'honorary' degrees.[52][53] However, as they are granted on the basis of having passed the BA examinations, they are sometimes considered to be earned degrees.[1]

### Degrees by incorporation

Main article: Social:Ad eundem degree

These are normally substantive degrees, awarded on the basis of having gained the same or a near-equivalent degree at another university.[1]

### Lambeth degrees

The Archbishop of Canterbury has the authority to award degrees, known as "Lambeth degrees", that are sometimes referred to as honorary. These are substantive degrees, awarded under the Peter's Pence Act 1533, "in recognition of [recipients] particular contributions to religious, academic and public life", but without any requirements for residence of examination.[54]

### Official degrees

Some universities and colleges have the custom of awarding "official degrees", normally bachelor's or master's degrees, to staff,[1] which may be considered honorary or substantive degrees. At Trinity College Dublin, any staff member (academic or non-academic) who has over ten years of continuous service may be awarded a Master of Arts jure officii.[55][56] At Oxford, these are degrees by resolution (or, historically, degrees by special resolution and degrees by decree) and at Cambridge these are degrees under Statute B II 2. At Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, these are substantive degrees rather than honorary degrees, with the same rights as incorporated degrees, although sometimes referred to as honorary degrees by modern writers, but in most other universities these are honorary degrees.[1]

Durham awarded official degree as degrees by vote of convocation between 1901 and 1935.[57] As at Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, these were substantive degrees with "the full rights and privileges belonging to the degrees conferred", except that membership of convocation would lapse when the recipient left the university staff and there was no right to proceed to another degree.[58] From at least 1948, Durham granted service degrees to staff.[59][60] In 1974, the awarding of service degrees was explicitly added to the powers of senate in the statutes.[61] Bristol also awarded service degrees in at least the early 20th century.[62]

Grants of degree-awarding powers in England continue to enable providers to confer degrees on members of their staff in addition to earned and honorary degrees.[63]

A similar custom is followed by a few universities in the United States that grant an honorary Master of Arts degree to professors at various stages in their career (in some cases referred to as an ad eundem degree). These include on being awarded tenure, on becoming a full professor, and on retirement. Because these degrees do not involve any further study, many faculty members do not list them on their curricula vitae, although some choose to do so.[64][65][66]

At Brown and Harvard the degrees are awarded to those faculty who are granted tenure and the rank of associate professor, usually after approximately eight years of service to the university as an assistant professor or for a shorter amount of time for a professor with prior service at another university.[67][68][69][70]

At Harvard the degree is described as given ut in grege nostro numeretur ("so that (s)he may be numbered in our flock").[71][72] During the 1950s, it was noted that the degree were "not announced at Commencement, or included in the printed list of honorary degrees circulated at that time, nor is there any 'citation.'"[73] Instead, the President of Harvard would present "the diploma at the first meeting of the faculty following the recipient's appointment to permanent rank."[74]

At Brown, the degrees have been awarded as a part of the annual May commencement ceremony.[75][76]

At Amherst, Wesleyan, and Yale, the degrees are conferred upon those who rise to the rank of full professor.[77][78][79] Yale refers to this degree as the MA Privatim. During the 150th anniversary of Princeton University, in 1896, 16 full professors were awarded the MA Privatim.[80]

At Amherst, in recent years, the degrees are awarded during first-year student convocation in August, at Yale it is an "elegant, brief ceremony, usual in February or March", and at Wesleyan as part of commencement in May.[81][82][83][84][85]

Amherst College grants this degree to college faculty despite the fact that it grants only bachelor's degrees to its matriculated students.[86] However, those professors who already earned a bachelor's degree at Amherst or Wesleyan by attending as an undergraduate are not presented with a second degree.[87] In 2024, Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott called this additional rule a "custom, some might say a strange custom".[88]

### Dignity degrees

A jure dignitatis degree, or degree by diploma at Oxford (and some other institutions), was historically awarded to someone who had demonstrated eminence and scholarship by being appointed to a particular office. Thus, for example, a DD (Doctor of Divinity) might be conferred upon a bishop on the occasion of his consecration, or a judge created LLD (Legum Doctor) or DCL (Doctor of Civil Law) upon their appointment to the judicial bench.[1][55] These are, like official degrees at Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, substantive degrees rather than honorary degrees, but are often referred to as honorary degrees by modern writers.[1] Reforms at Oxford and Cambridge in the 1920s effectively ended dignity degrees;[18] in the modern era, only Oxford continues to award these, and only to heads of state, royalty, and chancellors of the university.[1]

Cambridge's 1882 statutes allowed full degrees to be awarded honoris causa to members of the royal family, peers, privy counsellors, bishops, deans of cathedrals and the royal peculiars, heads of colleges, Cambridge graduates, and holders of university offices. The statutes of 1926 removed this power.[15][89] Durham awarded degrees by diploma from 1840 until 1920.[57] After 1909, these were referred to in the regulations as honorary degrees jure dignitatis, awarded under the statute for honorary degrees, and were listed with honorary degrees rather than degrees by diploma in the calendar.[90]

## Use of title associated with honorary doctorates

By convention, recipients of honorary doctorates do not use the title "Dr" in general correspondence. Recipients are not addressed orally or in writing as "Dr" by other academic institutions – and not correctly addressed as "Dr" in their professional/personal life. They continue to be addressed orally and in writing with the form of address to which they entitled prior to receiving the honor. E.g., Mr/Ms/Mrs.[91][92] However, this social convention is not always scrupulously observed.[93] The custom has evolved over the years, with Debrett's advising as recently as 1992 that recipients of honorary doctorates were entitled to use the title, although this had changed to advice that "the recipient does not generally adopt the title of 'Doctor'" by 2021.[1][94] Accepted usage has also varied geographically, with the use of the title being more common in Scotland than in England.[95] Prior to around 1800, it can also be hard to determine whether an unearned degree is substantive (where there is no dispute about the right to use the title) or honorary, and modern authors will often refer to all unearned degrees as honorary.[1]

The use of the prefix by holders of dignity degrees in the 19th century was common and accepted. In Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers, he notes in the conclusion that his character Mr Arabian is now Dr Arabin as "we suppose he must have become a doctor when he became a dean".[96] Similarly, the 18th century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who had been unable to complete his undergraduate studies at Pembroke College, Oxford, due to financial considerations, received an MA from Oxford in 1755,an LLD from Trinity College, Dublin in 1765[97] and a DCL from Oxford in 1775.[98] Although Johnson's degrees are today often considered honorary, they were issued by diploma (the Oxford term for a dignity degree) rather than honoris causa, and he was commonly referred to as Dr Johnson.[99][100][1][94]

Holders of honorary doctorates in positions of academic or ecclesiastical leadership are sometimes referred to as "Dr". The title was used for Bill Bryson as chancellor of Durham University both in the press and by the university.[101][102][103][104][lower-alpha 1] Archbishops of Canterbury to have been referred to as Dr without an earned doctorate include Justin Welby,[107][108] Robert Runcie[109][110] and Michael Ramsey.[111][112]

In Australia, honorary doctorates are purely titular degrees in that they confer no rights on the recipient and carry with them no formal academic qualification. Institutions of higher education generally ask that recipients "refrain from adopting the misleading title"[113] and that a recipient of an honorary doctorate should restrict the use of the title "Dr" before their name to any engagement with the institution of higher education in question and not within the broader community.[114]

Notable people who have used the prefix while holding only an honorary doctorate include:

* Maya Angelou, a memoirist and poet, had no earned degrees, but she received dozens of honorary ones and she preferred to be called "Dr. Angelou" by people other than family and close friends.[115]
* Stephen Colbert, who received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Knox College in 2006, frequently made light of the concept of an "honorary doctor" by offering up scurrilous medical advice in a segment called "Cheating Death With Dr. Stephen Colbert, D.F.A." on his television program The Colbert Report after being awarded a DFA.[116]
* Benjamin Franklin received an honorary master's degree from The College of William and Mary in 1756, and doctorates from the University of St Andrews in 1759 and the University of Oxford in 1762 for his scientific accomplishments. He thereafter referred to himself as "Doctor Franklin".[117]
* Alan García, former Peruvian president and politician, for many years used the title of "Dr." in official presentations as head of state and as a civilian throughout his political career. Heavily criticized by the media when discovering his last degree to be a master's in economic development and not completing his doctoral studies in law, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Delhi in 1987, while making an official visit to India in his first term as president.[118]
* Edwin H. Land, who invented the Land Camera instant camera, and was a co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation, received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University and was often referred to as "Dr. Land", though he did not have any earned degree.[119]
* Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, was awarded 26 honorary doctorates from various international universities including Columbia University, the University of Michigan, the University of Berlin, the Al-Azhar University, the University of Belgrade, the Lomonosov University and many more; and also from domestic universities, including the Universitas Gadjah Mada, the Universitas Indonesia, the Bandung Institute of Technology, and the Universitas Padjadjaran. He had often been referred to by the Indonesian Government at the time as "Dr. Ir. Sukarno",[120] combined with his engineer's degree (Ir.) from Bandung Institute of Technology.

## See also

* Academic degree
* Freedom of the City
* Homage
* Latin honors

## Notes

1. ↑ His education concluded with an undergraduate degree,[105] but Durham University awarded him an honorary DCL the year before his appointment as chancellor.[106]

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Dickson, Neil K. (2020-10-21). "Degrees of Degrees" (in None). Transactions of the Burgon Society 19 (1). doi:10.4148/2475-7799.1171. ISSN 2475-7799. https://journals.newprairiepress.org/burgonsociety/article/id/13439/.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Honorary Degrees: A Short History". Brandeis University. http://www.brandeis.edu/trustees/hdr/.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "QAA Glossary". Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. September 2022. p. 15. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/about-us/qaa-glossary.pdf.
4. ↑ Woodville, Lionel, bishop of Salisbury. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/29938. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Buxton, L. H. Dudley; Gibson, Strickland (1935). "Honorary degrees". Oxford University Ceremonies. Oxford University Press. pp. 85–88. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.157936/page/n105/mode/1up.
6. ↑ Samuel Elliot Morison. The Tercentennial History of Harvard College and University 1636-1936. Oxford University Press. pp. 490–493. https://archive.org/details/bwb_Y0-AEV-831/page/490/mode/1up.
7. ↑ "History of honorary degrees". https://www.harvard.edu/about/history/honorary-degrees/.
8. ↑ "Medical Books at Yale from 1701 to 1933". https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/medical-library/page/library-1.
9. ↑ Stephen Edward Epler (1943). Honorary Degrees A Survey Of Their Use And Abuse. American Council of Public Affairs. pp. 8–9. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58790/page/n19/mode/1up.
10. ↑ Anne S. Pratt; Andrew Keogh (October 1940). "The Yale library of 1742". The Yale University Library Gazette 15 (2): 29–40.
11. ↑ Matti Klinge (2004). "Teachers". in Walter Rüegg. A History of the University in Europe. III. Cambridge University Press. pp. 158–159. https://books.google.com/books?id=entlN4EEPUYC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA158&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity#v=onepage&q&f=false.
12. ↑ "The Jubilee". Durham University Journal V (4): 38–44, 47. 8 July 1882. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Journals/DUJ05/duj05METS.xml&hit.rank=1#page/65/mode/1up.
13. ↑ Robert Anderson (April 2008). "Ceremony in Context: The Edinburgh University Tercentenary, 1884". The Scottish Historical Review (Edinburgh University Press) 87 (223): 121–145. doi:10.3366/E0036924108000073.
14. ↑ Stephen Edward Epler (1943). Honorary Degrees A Survey Of Their Use And Abuse. American Council of Public Affairs. p. 57. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58790/page/n68/mode/1up.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Honorary degrees". https://glossary.lib.cam.ac.uk/term/honorary-degrees.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Lady, R. Andrew (April 1967). "Honoris Causa: An Examination of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree". The Journal of Higher Education 38 (4): 197, 199–200.
17. ↑ Eells, Walter (1960). Academic Degrees: Earned and Honorary Degrees Conferred by Institutions of Higher Education in the United States. Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 42–52. https://books.google.com/books?id=YE8LAAAAIAAJ&dq="first honorary"&pg=RA4-PA42. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 Michael Heffernan; Heike Jöns (December 2007). "Degrees of influence: the politics of honorary degrees in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1900-2000". Minerva 45 (4): 389–416.
19. ↑ Buehrle, Sarah (November 19, 2001). "75-year-old is glad to be grad". The Cincinnati Enquirer: p. B3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123758333/.
20. ↑ ﻿2002 S.B. 30 Report﻿ (Report). Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Legislative Service Commission. October 31, 2002. p. 27. https://lsc.ohio.gov/assets/organizations/legislative-service-commission/files/senate-bill-30-reports-2002-senate-bill-30-report.pdf#page=29. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
21. ↑ Kiesewetter, Sue (May 12, 2001). "Veterans become graduates; New way to honor military service: Lakota East first to award degrees". The Cincinnati Enquirer: p. B3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123757611/.
22. ↑ "What are Honorary Doctorate Degrees?". Education-portal.com. http://education-portal.com/articles/What_are_Honorary_Doctorate_Degrees.html. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
23. ↑ "Honorary Doctorates 2022". Sheffield Hallam University. 2022. https://www.shu.ac.uk/news/all-articles/latest-news/honorary-doctorates-2022.
24. ↑ "Doctorates a dime a dozen?". Archives.dailynews.lk. 11 November 2008. http://archives.dailynews.lk/2008/11/11/fea07.asp. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
25. ↑ "The ceremony". https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-the-university/how-the-university-and-colleges-work/processes/honorary-degrees/the-ceremony.
26. ↑ Doctorates of the University. http://universidadazteca.net/grados_propios/doctor_universitario. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
27. ↑ "Honoring the Rev. James W. C. Pennington and the Rev. Alexander Crummell" (in en). 2023-04-22. https://president.yale.edu/president/statements/honoring-rev-james-w-c-pennington-and-rev-alexander-crummell.
28. ↑ Staff, TheGrio (2023-04-27). "Black men who suffered racial injustice at Yale finally get degrees" (in en-US). https://thegrio.com/2023/04/27/black-men-at-yale-finally-get-degrees/.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 "No honorary degrees is an MIT tradition going back to ... Thomas Jefferson". MIT News Office. 2001-06-08. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/commdegrees.html. :"MIT's founder, William Barton Rogers, regarded the practice of giving honorary degrees as 'literary almsgiving ... of spurious merit and noisy popularity...' Rogers was a geologist from the University of Virginia who believed in Thomas Jefferson's policy barring honorary degrees at the university, which was founded in 1819."
30. ↑ Dear Uncle Ezra, Cornell University. "Dear Uncle Ezra – Questions for Thursday, 15 May 2003 – Cornell University". Ezra.cornell.edu. https://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=1052974800#question19.
31. ↑ "Degree Conferral". Stanford University. https://bulletin.stanford.edu/academic-polices/graduation/degree-conferral.
32. ↑ "The Rice Thresher Online | NEWS | Cosby to speak at '02 graduation". Rice.edu. 2002-05-11. http://www.rice.edu/projects/thresher/issues/88/01.03.30/current/news/story0.html.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Rector and Visitors of The University of Virginia (1995). "Chapter 4: University Regulations: Honorary Degrees". Rector and Visitors of The University of Virginia. http://www.virginia.edu/registrar/records/95gradrec/greg.html#honor. "The University of Virginia does not award honorary degrees. In conjunction with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, the University presents the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture and the Thomas Jefferson Award in Law each spring. The awards, recognizing excellence in two fields of interest to Jefferson, constitute the University's highest recognition of scholars outside the University."
34. ↑ Andrews, Elizabeth; Murphy, Nora; Rosko, Tom. "William Barton Rogers: MIT's Visionary Founder". Exhibits: Institute Archives & Special Collections: MIT Libraries. http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/wbr-visionary/.
35. ↑ "U.Va. To Bestow Annual Thomas Jefferson Medals For Architecture And Law". University of Virginia News. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. 3 April 2001. http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2001/tjaward-april-3-2001.html.
36. ↑ Corey Ryan Earle (8 May 2025). "Bygone Commencement Traditions, from ‘Orations’ to Senior Singing". Cornellians. https://alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/earle-commencement-traditions/. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
37. ↑ Arenson, Karen (31 May 1999). "Recognizing Achievement, Adding Glitz". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/31/nyregion/recognizing-achievement-adding-glitz.html?pagewanted=1.
38. ↑ Stephen Edward Epler (1943). Honorary Degrees A Survey Of Their Use And Abuse. pp. 18–19. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58790/page/n29/mode/1up.
39. ↑ "Yale Boycott". Washingtonpost.com. 2001-05-22. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=digest&contentId=A57583-2001May21.
40. ↑ "Obama turns controversy into jokes, lesson at commencement". CNN. 14 May 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/13/obama.commencement/.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Paul Greatrix (16 January 2018). "Return to sender: more honorary degrees are being revoked". https://wonkhe.com/blogs/return-to-sender-more-honorary-degrees-are-being-revoked/.
42. ↑ MacLeod, Murdo (14 January 2007). "Degree of anger at roll of dishonour". The Scotsman (Edinburgh). http://www.scotsman.com/news/degree-of-anger-at-roll-of-dishonour-1-1425999.
43. ↑ Vaznis, James (6 April 2007). "UMass students aim to revoke honorary degree for Mugabe". The Boston Globe. http://archive.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/04/06/umass_students_aim_to_revoke_honorary_degree_for_mugabe/.
44. ↑ "UMass Mugabe". Umass.edu. 2008-06-12. http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/76038.php.
45. ↑ "Things you may not know about Robert Mugabe". Sowetan Live. 2 April 2014. http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2014/04/02/things-you-may-not-know-about-robert-mugabe.
46. ↑ "Donald Trump: Robert Gordon University strips honorary degree". BBC News. 9 December 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35054360.
47. ↑ Bill Borrows (13 May 2015). "What exactly is the point in giving celebrities honorary degrees?". Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11599831/What-exactly-is-the-point-in-giving-celebrities-honorary-degrees.html.
48. ↑ "Do celebrities deserve their honorary degrees?". The Scotsman. 2 June 2013. https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/do-celebrities-deserve-their-honorary-degrees-1572956.
49. ↑ Sian Griffiths (24 July 2016). "It’s Dr Celeb as worst-ranked universities give 'stunt' degrees". The Sunday Times. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/its-dr-celeb-as-worst-ranked-universities-give-stunt-degrees-qv02pt3xk.
50. ↑ Hannah Finch (28 March 2013). "Are honorary degrees for the famous just a publicity stunt?". Wales Online. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/honorary-degrees-famous-just-publicity-2094000.
51. ↑ "Southampton College News: Kermit's Commencement Address at Southampton College". http://www.southampton.liu.edu/news/commence/1996/kermit.htm.
52. ↑ Edward Hicks (14 August 2024). "A brief history of the ‘honorific’ Oxbridge M.A. degree". https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/08/14/a-brief-history-of-the-honorific-oxbridge-m-a-degree/.
53. ↑ Nicole Stansfield (17 February 2011). "Instant Oxford MAs under fire". Cherwell. https://www.cherwell.org/2011/02/17/instant-oxford-mas-under-fire/.
54. ↑ Archbishop of Canterbury awards Lambeth Degrees. 16 October 2012. http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2649/archbishop-of-canterbury-awards-lambeth-degrees. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 "Old Trinity: A 90-degree university". 23 March 2010. https://www.trinitynews.ie/2010/03/old-trinity-a-90-degree-university/.
56. ↑ "Trinity staff conferred with special masters’ degrees". 19 June 2023. https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2023/trinity-staff-conferred-with-special-masters-degrees/.
57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 "Archives and Special Collections: Durham University Records: Information". Degrees. https://libguides.durham.ac.uk/asc-durham-university-records/lists-information.
58. ↑ Durham University Calendar. 1924. p. 122. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Calendars/1924/ducal1924METS.xml#page/142/mode/1up.
59. ↑ "University of Durham notes". Durham University Journal. June 1948. p. 148. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Journals/DUJ40/duj40METSfile.xml;query="service degree"#page/148/mode/1up.
60. ↑ "Service degrees". Durham University Gazette. 4 March 1954. p. 4. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Gazettes/DUGazetteNS01/DUGazNS01METSfile.xml;query="service degree"#page/52/mode/1up.
61. ↑ "Academic distinctions". Durham University Calendar 1975–76. p. 151. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?query=Service+degree&docId=bookreader/DU_Calendars/1975/ducal1975METSfile.xml&hit.rank=1#page/156/mode/1up.
62. ↑ A. M. Tyndall (August 1956). "A History of the Department of Physics in Bristol 1876-1948". p. 7. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/physics/media/histories/06-tyndall1.pdf.
63. ↑ "Degree awarding powers (DAPs)". Regulatory framework for higher education in England. Office for Students. https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/regulatory-framework-for-higher-education-in-england/part-iv-validation-degree-awarding-powers-and-university-title/degree-awarding-powers/.
64. ↑ Lassila, Kathrin (July–August 2010). "The "private" Yale degree". Yale Alumni Magazine. https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2883-the-private-yale-degree.
65. ↑ Mirkinson, Jack (March 23, 2006). "Profs' degrees are relics of old University tradition". Yale Daily News. http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2006/03/23/profs-degrees-are-relics-of-old-university-tradition/.
66. ↑ Mitchell, Martha (1993). "Honorary Degrees". Brown University Library. https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=H0200.
67. ↑ "Encyclopedia Brunoniana | Honorary degrees". https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=H0200.
68. ↑ "Full Commencement Program 2024". https://commencement.brown.edu/sites/default/files/2024-05/Full-Commencement-Program-2024.pdf.
69. ↑ "University Has Broadened Idea of Honorary Degrees | News | The Harvard Crimson". https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1959/6/8/university-has-broadened-idea-of-honorary/.
70. ↑ "Morning Exercises" (in en). https://commencement.harvard.edu/morning-exercises.
71. ↑ "Honorary Degrees at Harvard: Quick Facts". 3 December 2015. http://guides.library.harvard.edu/hua/honorarydegrees.
72. ↑ Elkins, Kimball C. (1958), "Honorary degrees at Harvard", Harvard Library Bulletin 12 (3): 326–353, http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:419150
73. ↑ (in English) Harvard Library Bulletin Autumn 1958: Vol 12 Iss 3. Internet Archive. Harvard University Library. Autumn 1958. https://archive.org/details/sim_harvard-library-bulletin_autumn-1958_12_3/page/328/mode/2up?view=theater.
74. ↑ (in English) Harvard Library Bulletin Autumn 1958: Vol 12 Iss 3. Internet Archive. Harvard University Library. Autumn 1958. https://archive.org/details/sim_harvard-library-bulletin_autumn-1958_12_3/page/328/mode/2up?view=theater.
75. ↑ "Brown to confer 2,921 degrees at 255th Commencement" (in en). 2023-06-01. https://www.brown.edu/news/2023-05-26/numbers.
76. ↑ Brown University (2023-05-28). 255th Commencement Procession and Ceremonies. Retrieved 2024-08-31 - via YouTube.
77. ↑ "Convocation 2012 | Convocation | Amherst College". https://www.amherst.edu/news/events/convocation/2012.
78. ↑ (in en) Convocation 2022 - Amherst College, 31 August 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVrKdga9asI, retrieved 2023-05-17
79. ↑ "Convocation: Notes on the Class of 2027". https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2023/september/notes-on-the-class-of-2027.
80. ↑ Selden, William K. (1990). ""Honoris Causa" Honorary Degrees at Princeton University, 1748 – 1987". The Princeton University Library Chronicle 51 (3): 283–290. doi:10.2307/26403802. ISSN 0032-8456. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26403802.
81. ↑ "Convocation | Events & Calendars | Amherst College". https://www.amherst.edu/news/events/convocation.
82. ↑ "Academic Ceremonies". https://secretary.yale.edu/university-events/academic-ceremonies.
83. ↑ "New Yale faculty receive honorary Master of Arts degrees" (in en). 2024-03-06. https://news.yale.edu/2024/03/06/new-yale-faculty-receive-honorary-master-arts-degrees.
84. ↑ (in en) Convocation 2022 - Amherst College, 31 August 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVrKdga9asI, retrieved 2023-05-17
85. ↑ "4 Faculty Honored with MA Ad Eundem Gradum Degrees" (in en-US). https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2021/05/26/4-faculty-honored-with-ma-ad-eundem-gradum/.
86. ↑ "Amherst College" (in en-US). https://www.neche.org/institutions/amherst-college/.
87. ↑ "Wesleyan Holds 177th Commencement Ceremony" (in en-US). https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2009/06/04/wesleyan-holds-177th-commencement-ceremonies/.
88. ↑ "Convocation". https://www.amherst.edu/news/events/convocation.
89. ↑ "Honorary Degrees". The Historical Register Supplement, 1921-1930. University of Cambridge. 1932. p. 95. https://archive.org/details/historicalre192130univuoft/historicalre192130univuoft/page/95/mode/1up.
90. ↑ Durham University Calendar 1921–1922. Durham University. pp. 129, 589. https://archive.org/details/calendar2122durhuoft/page/129/mode/1up.
91. ↑ "The Honorary Degree". West Virginia University. http://honorarydegrees.wvu.edu/history. "[H]onorary degree recipients should not refer to themselves as "Doctor", nor should they use the title on business cards or in correspondence. However, the recipient is entitled to use the appropriate honorary abbreviation behind their name"
92. ↑ "How to Address Those With Honorary Degrees". Protocol School of Washington. http://www.formsofaddress.info/Degree_Honorary.html.
93. ↑ Mannheim, Markus (19 November 2014). "Universities tell Finance Department head Jane Halton to stop calling herself 'professor'". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/universities-tell-finance-department-head-jane-halton-to-stop-calling-herself-professor-20141119-11pk93.html.
94. ↑ 94.0 94.1 Zellick, Graham (2021). "'Degrees of Degrees': An Alternative Structure". Transactions of the Burgon Society 20 (1): 166–174. doi:10.4148/2475-7799.1185.
95. ↑ Dickson, Neil K. (2021). "Response to Professor Zellick’s Article". Transactions of the Burgon Society 20 (1): 175–176. doi:10.4148/2475-7799.1186.
96. ↑ Anthony Trollope (1859). Barchester Towers. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.. p. 439. https://archive.org/details/trollope-barchester-towers/page/439/mode/1up.
97. ↑ Dr. Johnson. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/305432/Samuel-Johnson/14771/Dr-Johnson. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
98. ↑ Brute Johnson: A Critical Look at the Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, L.L.D.. 12 August 2008. http://www.hamiltoninstitute.com/brute-johnson-a-critical-look-at-the-life-of-dr-samuel-johnson-l-l-d/. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
99. ↑ James Boswell. Boswell's Life of Johnson. p. 441. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Boswell_s_Life_of_Johnson_Including_Thei/ctwlJRN2TCEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA441&printsec=frontcover.
100. ↑ James Boswell. Boswell's Life of Johnson. pp. 564–566. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Boswell_s_Life_of_Johnson/-rNEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA565&printsec=frontcover.
101. ↑ "Durham University Records: Central Administration and Officers". Dr Bill Bryson. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1tx31qh77k.xml#UNDall-5194.
102. ↑ Jonathan Glancey (16 September 2011). "The votes are in: your favourite British building". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/sep/16/britains-best-building-readers-vote-results.
103. ↑ "Degree honour for four". Teesside Live. 5 January 2026. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/degree-honour-for-four-3781688.
104. ↑ "Cathedral fightback starts". The Northern Echo. 29 June 2007. https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1507223.cathedral-fightback-starts/.
105. ↑ John Crace (15 November 2005). "Bill Bryson: The accidental chancellor". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/nov/15/highereducationprofile.highereducation.
106. ↑ "'He famously offered readers his car to go and visit Durham'". Times Higher Education. 8 April 2005. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/he-famously-offered-readers-his-car-to-go-and-visit-durham/195166.article.
107. ↑ "Charlie Hebdo attack 'a moment for courage' says Archbishop of Canterbury". BBC News. 9 January 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-30753409.
108. ↑ Keith Perry (23 December 2023). "Justin Welby 'to be knighted by the King'". The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/religion/article/justin-welby-to-be-knighted-by-the-king-md9g8ghs8.
109. ↑ Stephen Bates (12 July 2000). "Runcie: maligned man of God". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jul/12/religion.uk4.
110. ↑ "AROUND THE WORLD; Foes of Papal Visit Silence Anglican Prelate". The New York Times. 12 March 1982. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/12/world/around-the-world-foes-of-papal-visit-silence-anglican-prelate.html.
111. ↑ "Outspoken Anglican Arthur Michael Ramsey". The New York Times. 10 July 1968. https://www.nytimes.com/1968/07/10/archives/outspoken-anglican-arthur-michael-ramsey.html.
112. ↑ Philippa Hitchen (14 October 2016). "Welby and Francis continue work of Ramsey and Paul VI". Church Times. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2016/14-october/news/world/welby-and-francis-continue-work-of-ramsey-and-paul-vi.
113. ↑ McNeilage, Amy (4–5 October 2014). "Ian Thorpe now Dr Thorpedo, man of letters". The Sydney Morning Herald: p. 31. http://www.smh.com.au/national/ian-thorpe-now-dr-thorpedo-man-of-letters-20141002-10ozg8.html.
114. ↑ "Honorary Doctorate Guidelines". University of Southern Queensland. 2012. https://www.usq.edu.au/~/media/USQ/About-USQ/About us/Honorary Doctorate Guidelines FINAL_29 May 2012.ashx.
115. ↑ Gillespie, Marcia Ann, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. Long. (2008). Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-385-51108-7
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117. ↑ Honorary degree recipients on the Special Collections Research Center Wiki
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119. ↑ Bonanos, Christopher (2012). Instant: The Story of Polaroid, Princeton Architectural Press, p. 13. ISBN 978-1616890858
120. ↑ "Ketetapan Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Sementara Republik Indonesia No.XXXIII/MPRS/1967 Tentang Pencabutan Kekuasaan Pemerintah Negara Dari Presiden Sukarno". http://www.tatanusa.co.id/tapmpr/67TAPMPRS-XXXIII.pdf.

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