More Honorary Graduates, both serious and celeb
Previous posts on Honorary Degree recipients have noted that almost all of them fall clearly into one of two categories: they are either serious or celeb. An earlier post and the most recent blog struggle to identify worthy recipients and are largely dominated by the celeb category.
Basically, serious academics, no matter how outstanding their research, if they haven’t got their own TV series or best-selling popular science book, really aren’t going to hit the headlines. Some of these awards we would hope are for real sustained and serious achievement rather than simply for brief celebrity status. Difficult to tell in some cases though…
He’s a scientist
Now here’s a good one to kick off. A famous science communicator who, despite sounding like an ageing British actor, does seem to have made an impact in North America at least (anyone known as ‘the science guy’ has to have something going for him).
Rare recognition for a generally less than visible radio presenter. Sarah Montague, who does an excellent job on the Today programme, picked up an honorary recently from her alma mater, Bristol University
One of Britain’s most popular – if not among the most critically acclaimed – writers was rewarded by the University of Derby. Wendy Holden, for it is she, was honoured to be honoured.
Goldsmiths recently had an excellent set of honoraries headed by P J Harvey (mentioned before) but also featuring Peter Tatchell, Zada Hadid and Neal Ascherson.
Robbie Savage, former footballer and now prominent pundit picked up an Honorary at Glyndwr.
Dr Savage shares a theological joke with a friend
An Honorary Doctorate in Professional Achievement (a new title to me that) was awarded by Teeside University to local hero and comedian Bob Mortimer.
Bob. No Vic
But a special prize in modesty goes to Kanye West who is to receive an honorary degree from the Art Institute of Chicago:
“I was a gifted artist since age 5 and won national competitions and went to art school,” he said in the interview. “I’m actually getting an honorary doctorate on May 5th from the Art Institute of Chicago.”
No doubt there will be many more worthy honorary degree recipients, both serious and celeb, along soon.
