ONLY here could THIS Happen!! (Almost a Joke of the Day!!)

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:09 pm

Many of you have suffered along lo these several years as I've attempted to get a doctorate in Educational Technology. You gave support as I whined and moaned and finally decided to bag it and convert to a Master's... then as I agonized through the comprehensive exams last fall and so on.

And you've even been kind enough not to laugh at the picture of the old fart looking stupid in her mortarboard

Well today my diploma got here.!!

I was psyched!!

I was thrilled !!

I was ready to break out a frame! :yourock:

and then ... I READ the thing.

"The Board of Trustees for the University...blah blah blah...has conferred upon (my own dear self) the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY "

I stood there for a minute trying to digest this...

and then CRACKED UP!!

Perhaps it's an honorary doctorate? In honor of my great achievements in.... um...... er.....

Only at this institution could such a complete, dumb-ass error be made, and not only be made but be signed by the President of the University and the Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Trustees!!

I LOVE IT!! :hitting:

.... I could frame it and put it on my wall, I suppose...

Except that it's... just wrong. I'm a set of comprehensive exams and a dissertation shy of having a Ph.D.

I will of course call and ask them to send me a correct and VALID diploma tomorrow... but for the moment this is a priceless little bit of humor that I will NEVER forget!!

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:48 pm

Congratulations on your PHD!

I bet they just gave it to you because you're such a nice person!

Post by **JWR** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:53 pm

Well before you request a corrected diploma , see if you can use the one you got for a pay raise

aernath · Post by **aernath** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:06 pm

JWR wrote:Well before you request a corrected diploma , see if you can use the one you got for a pay raise

I second that!

And definitely, if they don't demand it back, Frame That Sucker!!!!

Maybe even if they DO demand it back.

*snicker*
Some moments in life are priceless.
Others you can buy with MasterCard.

*subtle dig for pix of Zel*

Post by **sensei** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:08 pm

I'm a set of comprehensive exams and a dissertation shy of having a Ph.D.

Oh, pooh. Your run-ins with your superiors and your colleagues at the Library constitute the equivalent of comprehensive exams, and your posts on Beta, collected, typed, footnoted, and properly bound, would make a dissertation just as erudite as many that are submitted, and far more readable.

Hang the diploma, order new business cards to match, and insist that we and all your coworkers call you "Dockta Baakay."

kymaera · Post by **kymaera** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:48 pm

So the rumors that I've heard that it's an easy college that you can get a doctorate from just by driving through the town are true after all.

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:34 pm

That's a damn cool mistake, Dr. Baakay.

(Seriously, send it to me. No one will know.)

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:21 pm

Keep it. Consider it a reward for all your years of hard work.

I once knew a guy that got a bachelor's degree in philosophy (aka: underwater basket weaving). When his diploma arrived, it said BS: Engineering. He decided that he'd never get a job with his useless degree in philosophy, so kept the engineering degree. He actually found a company dumb enough to hire him in as a newbie engineer. Basically, he learned as he went and now makes a helluva lot more money than he should.

hyelakingsfan · Post by **hyelakingsfan** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:38 pm

Thats pretty funny.

ZombieBunny · Post by **ZombieBunny** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:07 am

ReiTheJelly wrote:Keep it. Consider it a reward for all your years of hard work.

I once knew a guy that got a bachelor's degree in philosophy (aka: underwater basket weaving). When his diploma arrived, it said BS: Engineering. He decided that he'd never get a job with his useless degree in philosophy, so kept the engineering degree. He actually found a company dumb enough to hire him in as a newbie engineer. Basically, he learned as he went and now makes a helluva lot more money than he should.

Well if the University couldn't even get it right Im sure Baakay will have no problem finding employment! LOL

Congrats Doctor!

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:45 am

ZombieBunny wrote:
ReiTheJelly wrote:Keep it. Consider it a reward for all your years of hard work.

I once knew a guy that got a bachelor's degree in philosophy (aka: underwater basket weaving). When his diploma arrived, it said BS: Engineering. He decided that he'd never get a job with his useless degree in philosophy, so kept the engineering degree. He actually found a company dumb enough to hire him in as a newbie engineer. Basically, he learned as he went and now makes a helluva lot more money than he should.
Well if the University couldn't even get it right Im sure Baakay will have no problem finding employment! LOL

Congrats Doctor!

*snickers*....

Thanks all... well the thing that's so priceless about the entirety is that I'm already a full Professor at this institution, which has confused them no end whatsoever. I've been tenured here longer than I've been a student here. Talk about a "does...not...compute..." moment for petty bureaucrats!!

I'm telling you, I snorted and guffawed and hooted and then giggled non-stop for probably two solid hours. It' the perfect culmination to several years of real pain, physical and mental!

Okuni · Post by **Okuni** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:23 pm

ReiTheJelly wrote:Keep it. Consider it a reward for all your years of hard work.

I once knew a guy that got a bachelor's degree in philosophy (aka: underwater basket weaving). When his diploma arrived, it said BS: Engineering. He decided that he'd never get a job with his useless degree in philosophy, so kept the engineering degree. He actually found a company dumb enough to hire him in as a newbie engineer. Basically, he learned as he went and now makes a helluva lot more money than he should.

Proof that some workplaces look for a simple piece of paper saying "So and so graduated This an' that University for this reason".

ah well.

Anyways, congratulations, Baakay! Before they ask for it back, though, frame it and get a pic of yourself with it. Proving that you were a Dr. at one time!
See if they'd be willing to sell it to you too-- just for posterity. That'd be great!

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:40 pm

Get out your cap and gown and take a picture of yourself holding it and use it for your avatar

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:47 am

glorff wrote:Get out your cap and gown and take a picture of yourself holding it and use it for your avatar

Ooo even better... I'll get out *Nate's* cap and gown and take a picture of myself with it! (My spouzal unit actually *did* receive a Ph. D. in Educational Technology from this esteemed institution, and bought the robe with the third degree on it just because

)

I called the grad school yesterday and had a fabulous laugh with the person who generates these. We have a wonderous new system (Banner software) that has all sorts of pet names among the people who have to operate it. Her comment was that they are continuing to find new "features" of this system every day!

In my case, the system hadn't quite "taken in" the updated info from last fall that I had changed my program of study. Oddly enough, the file from after graduation got loaded just fine, so the transcript is correct. *snicker*

Yet another indication that it's not the tenure system that creates job security in higher ed, but the determination of the schools that they should buy the cheapest product. Always.!!

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:45 am

You mean... You're not getting a raise?!! But you have a baby kenshin to raise!

/wah