Is there a Doctor in the house?

[dremiel]

I've been sorting out the last few boxes of stuff from Mom's house - the ones that have been lingering in the back of the hall closet for two years now - and honestly, I think I may just tape them back up and shove them back in the closet. Well, I think I can get it all down to one box at least but I have no idea what to do with these things and

Comments

[ancarett]

In Germany and the German-speaking world, Doctor is a highly-coveted title and rarely accorded to people whose degrees are granted from "suspect places". Lots of US universities aren't recognized as conveying the doctorate for German purposes under German law. No place in Canada, as far as I know (that's more a question of Germany just not caring about Canada or getting many people there with Canadian doctorates).

I use the title in two ways. One is with my freshman class because so many of them, I kid you not!, believe that their university professors just have a B.A. or B.S. So letting them know that we have that extra bit of education is helpful. Also, when I was hired at my university, several old-time profs who were nothing but deadwood had been hired ABD and never finished, including one jerk in our department. So my colleagues were quick to insist that I be referred to as Dr. Mylastname in all sorts of correspondence or addressing, in order NOT to be equated with Prof. Despised and that's stuck in terms of the university's records or listings.

I'm pretty happy to be called anything as long as it shows decent respect. Nobody pronounces my surname correctly, though!

[dremiel]

This makes a lot of sense and supports my assumption that someone in Zurich made the call and my Dad just used the cards they gave him, possibly checking to see if it was his name on the cards but not necessarily. I'm afraid that my father embodied several tired cliches of the mathematically gifted (although I'm virtually certain he could ties his shoes.)

And yes, reinforcing your position with incoming freshman and a department with lingering ABDs sounds pretty wise!