Colleges and universities will award honorary degrees to various notable individuals, usually celebrities, politicians, and businessmen, in order to establish or maintain relationships with these people. Sometimes it’s just a matter of gaining fame or trying to get into the public eye. Most recipients haven’t actually done anything to earn them, but they’re still considered something of an honor. However, in terms of realistic credentials, they don’t mean much. And some of the people who have them are pretty amazing.
10. Kermit the Frog and Donald Duck have advanced degrees.
The academic world is known to take itself too seriously sometimes, so in a way it's nice to see that they can break free and be a little silly sometimes, just like the rest of us. That's probably the best way to explain why Kermit the Frog has an honorary degree.
Everyone's favorite Muppet earned an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business in 2015. And that's not his only degree. About a decade earlier, Kermit received an honorary doctorate in amphibian science from Long Island University's Southampton College for his work in environmental conservation. So, Kermit is technically a doctor.
Kermit isn't the only fictional character to have earned a college degree. For many years, the University of Oregon's mascot was a duck. The Oregon Duck was licensed from Disney and more or less resembled Donald Duck, albeit in different clothing. The relationship between Disney and the University of Oregon was so close that the university adopted Donald Duck and awarded him an honorary degree from the school.
In 2010, Disney and the university terminated their licensing agreement, and the duck is now simply Duck, not Donald Duck.
9. The Brothers Grimm received several honorary degrees.
The Brothers Grimm are the source of many of our modern fairy tales. In the modern era, they are mostly known for writing darker versions that people grew up unaware of, thanks to the sanitized versions from Disney and children's storybooks.
During their lifetime, the Brothers Grimm were quite educated men. During their careers, they even worked as librarians and university professors. The brothers received honorary doctorates from the University of Marburg in 1819. Jacob also held degrees from the University of Berlin and the University of Berslau. Although both men are primarily known for writing children's stories, they both went to school to study law.
8. Scotty from Star Trek had an honorary engineering degree.
Most people remember actor James Doohan for his role as Scotty in "Star Trek" Doohan was born and raised in Canada and served in the Canadian Armed Forces, where he was deployed to Europe during World War II and was at Juno Beach on D-Day.
After the war, he returned to Canada and became seriously interested in acting. By 1966, he had landed the role of naval engineer Montgomery Scott in "Star Trek" . He played the role for 3 years, and then again in subsequent films with the original cast. All things being equal, his real-life experience in engineering was quite limited.
Due to his status as one of the most famous engineers in fiction, he was awarded an honorary engineering degree from the Milwaukee School of Engineering in recognition of his role in inspiring children to become engineers in real life.
7. Bill Nye has a bachelor's degree, but also at least 6 honorary degrees.
It is very rare that someone who is a true scientist becomes famous in our world. Obviously, we know some of the most famous scientists in history, like Darwin, Newton, and Einstein, but they are not really celebrities. In today’s world, only a handful of scientists achieve widespread fame. You can probably name them all on one hand, people like Stephen Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Along with them, you can probably also recognize Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
Many kids grew up watching Bill Nye on TV and learning about science from him, and it’s true that he’s a real scientist with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell. But in addition to his degree, Nye has reportedly been awarded six honorary doctorates over the years from Lehigh University, Willamette University, Quinnipiac University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Goucher College, and Johns Hopkins. He also earned a seventh-place honor in science education from Simon Fraser University in 2015.
6. Blondie's drummer received an honorary degree for his many years of work with the drum project.
Many people study music in college and get degrees. However, it is rare to hear of someone receiving an honorary degree solely for their skills as a drummer. But that is exactly what happened to Clem Burke, the drummer for the band Blondie.
Burke was part of a drumming project run by the University of Gloucestershire. The project, designed to study the physical and psychological effects of drumming, was aimed at helping children who were considered unhealthy and obese.
Part of the study, known as the Clem Burke Drumming Project, looked at the physiological effects of drumming. It is said that a drummer's heart rate in the middle of a set matches that of a professional athlete in the heat of a game. Drummers expend a huge amount of energy and require a huge amount of stamina to do what they do.
For his contributions to the project, Burke was awarded an honorary doctorate of music.
5. Bill Gates never graduated from college, but has numerous honorary degrees.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, famously never graduated from college. However, due to his immense success over the years, many schools have gone out of their way to honor the man. Harvard awarded Gates an honorary law degree in 2007. Gates was once a student at Harvard, but never graduated.
Over the years, he has received several international degrees, including from Nyenrode University of Business in the Netherlands in 2000, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2002, Waseda University in Tokyo in 2005, Tsinghua University of China in 2007, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet in 2007, and the University of Cambridge in 2009. The only other institution in the United States to award him an honorary degree was Northern Arizona University.
4. Mother of blind law student who helped her daughter get college degree receives honorary degree
Earning a college-level degree is no easy task for many people. There are long hours, a lot of studying, and a lot of stress. Not to mention the cost of education that many have to pay. Turkish student Berru Merve Kul had to deal with all of these things in addition to working on her four-year law degree while being blind.
During these four years, Cool was assisted in her studies by her mother, who read her textbooks and lecture notes. When it came time for her to graduate, they made sure her mother was not forgotten. The school awarded Cool's mother, Havva, the same degree, albeit honorary, for doing exactly the same work over the same period of time.
3. Johns Hopkins gave a diploma to a service dog
You might be under the impression that one of the requirements for receiving an honorary degree from the school is that you are actually a person. That's not the case. Of course, most honorary degrees are awarded to people, but back in 2015, Johns Hopkins awarded an honorary degree to Kirsch, a service dog.
Kirsch's owner, Carlos Mora, attended the classes and earned a Master of Science in Counseling. Because Kirsch attended all of the classes with him, the dog was awarded an honorary degree along with his owner. It may have just been a little PR for the school, but the feel-good story was widely shared online, and it's never a bad thing to get some lighthearted news every now and then.
2. Bob Hope - Dozens of Honorary Degrees
It's hard for people who never met Bob Hope to appreciate just how famous Bob Hope was. He wasn't just a comedian; he was a well-rounded entertainer. He didn't just work in Hollywood; he went out and entertained troops during wars all over the world. Congress literally made Hope an honorary veteran, even though she hadn't served in the armed forces. He was quick-witted, charming, and had a way of making people laugh. People loved Bob Hope.
Among Hope's many awards were the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 1985, the Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton in 1995, and even a British knighthood for a British-born artist in 1998, when he was 95.
For a man who was so loved and respected, it’s probably no surprise that he’s been awarded numerous honorary degrees over the years from institutions that want to be associated with him. But at some point, it gets a little overwhelming, and there’s a good chance Hope himself won’t be able to keep track of them all. He received more than 50 honorary degrees in his lifetime. According to his website, the final tally was 58.
The first was a Ph.D. from Illinois back in 1958. He earned numerous doctorates and diplomas in the humanities, as well as several in fine arts and law. Others focused on humanitarian service, international relations, public speaking, and even a few specialties like aviation management and chiropractic.
1. Kanye, Missy Elliott, Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake received honorary degrees
It has been argued in the past that an honorary degree is little more than a publicity stunt for the university. If they choose a popular public figure, especially a celebrity, they may gain some social media clout and perhaps some interest from potential students or donors if that celebrity shows up.
Obviously, every honorary degree is given for a reason, but some of those reasons seem a little more legitimate than others. For example, the sheer number of singers who have received honorary degrees from universities is actually quite astonishing.
Back in 2015, before his career completely went off the rails, Kanye West received an honorary degree from the Art Institute of Chicago for his artistic abilities.
Taylor Swift, who is as familiar with Kanye West as she is with art, has received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from New York University. In her acceptance speech, Swift noted that she never actually attended college and was pretty sure she was only getting the award because she had a song called 22 and was speaking to the class of '22.
In 2019, Justin Timberlake, along with Missy Elliott and Alex Lacamoire, received an honorary degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. And, surprisingly, both Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne were awarded Teacher of the Year in 2011 by the Better Education Place in Florida, which gave out the awards because they felt kids learned a lot from learning the rap lyrics of both artists. Not exactly a degree, but does that make it any more or less legitimate?
Оставить Комментарий