Colleagues with "fake" advanced degrees? Ordered to address someone as "Doctor" (online doctorate)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I come from a family of PhDs and MDs. They all go by their given names except when protocol calls for titles.

It seems like every EdDoc that I know insists on being called "Dr." though...

Oh is this a thing? I have a Ph.D from a top program in the hard sciences. I have literally never once asked someone to call me Dr. but our principal is alllll about being called Dr since she got her degree a couple years ago. I thought it was just her.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Jill Biden
Kermit the Frog. Being a puppet couldn't stop Kermit from receiving an honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters on May 19, 1996 from Southampton College

Sean Combs, aka Puff Daddy, dropped out of Howard University in the '90s, but returned nearly 25 years later. The music legend earned an honorary doctorate degree in humanities from Howard in 2014.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A person who has a Ph.D. and demands to be addressed as Dr. is a jerk regardless of where they earned or bought their degree (the exception is an academic context where all Ph.D. are referred to as Dr.).

I have a PhD and work at a museum with many other PhDs. I would never ask to be addressed as Dr. but I have written reports from "Ms." to "Dr." when other staff--always men--are already identified as Dr.

I work in a public school and have a PhD from a prestigious university. At my last job I didn't ask to be called Dr. and then noticed that the several male PhD's were addressed that way, but I ended up stuck with "Miss" and was unable to change it later. So at my current job, I did indeed put Dr. on my door and ask to be called that unless we were using first names.

[Anonymous]

Doctorates in education aren’t difficult to get. Seems like every dummy who wants a doctorate specializes in education.

[Anonymous]

I have a Masters Degree in Debating.

I like to be addressed as a Master Debater

[Anonymous]

Colleague in a semi-technical role at a tech company has a PhD in Religious History from a divinity school you have never heard of.

He quickly put "PhD" on his business card to mislead customers/others. Never clarifies the PhD was not CS, EE, Physics, or other engineering or hard science.

Separately, I know of government contractors who got an online PhD in "Electrical Engineering Technology", not in EE, with no dissertation, from a diploma mill you have never heard of. Another giveaway is the university is not ABET accredited. Put it on her business card immediately and wants everyone to call her "Dr.."

Lesson: in a friendly way always ask what the Phd degree was in and from which university.

[Anonymous]

Maya Angelou never got a degree but identified as Dr. Maya Angelou.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maya Angelou never got a degree but identified as Dr. Maya Angelou.

Fighting this battle about a woman who died in 2014--you've got your finger on the pulse of today for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A person who has a Ph.D. and demands to be addressed as Dr. is a jerk regardless of where they earned or bought their degree (the exception is an academic context where all Ph.D. are referred to as Dr.).

No, even academics don't use the "doctor" title between peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleague in a semi-technical role at a tech company has a PhD in Religious History from a divinity school you have never heard of.

He quickly put "PhD" on his business card to mislead customers/others. Never clarifies the PhD was not CS, EE, Physics, or other engineering or hard science.

Separately, I know of government contractors who got an online PhD in "Electrical Engineering Technology", not in EE, with no dissertation, from a diploma mill you have never heard of. Another giveaway is the university is not ABET accredited. Put it on her business card immediately and wants everyone to call her "Dr.."

Lesson: in a friendly way always ask what the Phd degree was in and from which university.

Better lesson: don't make assumptions based on alleged academic credentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was out of the workforce for about 15 years, then finished my bachelor's and master's at the end of my SAHM tenure, so I'm not sure if this a recent phenom or I'm just more perceptive of it after a run-in with one of these types.

It began with a professional peer my age randomly adding "Dr." to their internal email. I got wind folks directly under this person were ordered (and corrected) to address them as "Dr. so-and-so" moving forward. "Dr." was added to their desk, board meeting and office door name plates. According to LinkedIn, the "doctorate" was picked up from Walden University, which I had never heard of:

Walden University is an online for-profit university and Public Benefit Corporation headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I was suddenly a credential skeptic. Now I notice so many folks have shaky credentials picked up online (often from cyber for-profit schools) or from hybrid online/weekend pay-as-you-go non-selective programs at good universities that could pass as solid to masses. The persons (who are often dumb as bricks) use these credentials for end-all-be-all superiority. I noticed a correlation between lettered credentials after their name in their email signatures to lack of selectivity of the program they were in.

Does it just not matter where you get degrees anymore, it's just become a box-checking exercise for promotions and raises? I'm not being a snob, my degrees are from a barely top 100 university we lived near.

You sound as snooty as the people you're complaining about...