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DSU 86’s D.Sc.; Ph.D. AOK for PR

Speaking of workforce, the South Dakota Board of Regents approved numerous academic program requests to do the bidding of capital last week. Among those requests was Dakota State University’s request to change its doctoral degrees from D.Sc.—”Doctor of Science”—to Ph.D.—”Doctor of Philosophy.”

Back in 2007, when I signed on for four years of Master’s-ful failure to dissert at DSU, I puzzled over why the institution decided to call its doctoral degree a D.Sc. instead of a Ph.D. At some point someone told me we were trying to distinguish our terminal degree-takers as business-ready practitioners rather than ivory-tower academics. (Maybe that’s why I ABD‘d….)

Alas, that distinction appears to have been lost on everyone. The D.Sc. on DSU’s diplomas only made our graduates stand out by making employers wonder, “What the heck is that?” DSU thus proposed this make-over:

When DSU proposed this first doctoral program in Information Systems in 2005, the Board of Regents issued the D.Sc. rather than the traditional Ph.D. designation. In 2014, DSU received authorization from the Board to offer a second doctoral degree, the D.Sc. in Cyber Security. During our doctorate program review, we found the more traditional nomenclature (Ph.D.) to be more relevant to the field and the program’s change in designation will more accurately reflect our current intensive, dissertation required, 88 credit hour program. It is essential that DSU programming reflect current and evolving market awareness and because we have developed a national reputation for excellence in our existing doctoral programs, offering the Ph.D., the most recognizable doctoral degree in the field, helps DSU maintain that reputation. The Ph.D. degree serves us better in this highly competitive and demanding market. Preserving and expanding our niche or place depends on quality programming along with a quality reputation. Although the D.Sc. in Information Systems has a very healthy enrollment of 73 students we only accept about 1/3 of the applicants. This robust enrollment and very selective process allows the program to maintain the highest quality of program. The Ph.D. designation will only further enhance the program’s reputation and it will further benefit in meeting the student’s professional goals because the Ph.D. is more universally recognized [emphasis mine; Dakota State University, proposal, “New Graduate Degree Program,” South Dakota Board of Regents Agenda Item 8-C(2), June 26–28, 2018, p. 3].

DSU is not changing any of the D.Sc.-cum-Ph.D. curriculum. The Ph.D. program remains identical to the D.Sc. program in everything but name. This change is purely cosmetic. But it’s a change for the better, because anyone with letters other than Ph.D. or M.D. after their name can attest to the questions people ask about whether those unusual letters make you a real “doctor.”

And now that they’re using the right letters, maybe I’ll go back to DSU and finish up. I would enjoy getting a Ph.D…. now if I could just get them to expand that new Digital Humanities program into a full bird Doctorate of Blogging!

11 Comments

  1. Debbo 2018-07-02 21:06

    There’s quite a crowd of people who have an ABD. 😄 I researched a ThD– doctorate in theology –and found the best bang for my buck at Princeton! That would have been fun, but I decided I didn’t want to be paying for it till the day I died.

    It’s a smart decision by DSU. Nobody knows other degrees unless you tell them, like I just did above. I can understand the earlier leeriness. Good forbid anyone should believe that a PhD is just a degree in how to be a sharp, reasonable, critical thinker! Eeeeeeek!!

  2. Richard Schriever 2018-07-02 22:21

    LLD, PsyD, EdD, DEng. DCS, DArch., DA, DBA, DC, DNP, DOT, what the heck are those? ha ha; the list goes on and on and on. Seems to me calling every terminal degree under the sun a PhD – is symbolic of the dumbing down of academia right along with the dumbing down of humanity in general. But then, what do I know?

  3. grudznick 2018-07-02 22:31

    We should do away with all the fancy pants titles except for PE, CPA, DBA, and MD. The meaty titles. The rest are fluff, like how people put vests on chihuahuas and claim they should get to go into Tallys because they are an emotional support animal. If you need an EdU you just wasted a few years you could have been making a difference with a child. You want schooling, call grudznick. I’ll set you up with a “Schooled by grudznick” certificate. If I can safely get them out of Mr. Nelson’s garage

  4. mike from iowa 2018-07-03 06:47

    Grudz.let’s keep the BS and PHD titles just for Drumpf in the WH.

    Afterall a guy who claims to have graduated from Wharton School of Business first in his class (he didn’t) and refuses to tell the truth even when it might bolster his opinions deserves all the derision and none of the respect normally reserved for the office he is stinking up.

    Can we agree on this?

  5. Anne Beal 2018-07-03 07:22

    Hardest degree to explain is the DSN, the Doctor of Science in Nursing. I knew someone who had that after her name. A Doctor of Nursing? But not a physician? You spent how many years in school and you’re still a nurse? Why didn’t you just go to Medical School and get an MD?
    Most people, including many physicians and nurses, don’t comprehend that nursing is a separate field from medicine, and suspect that it’s a phony concept to get nurses to hand over tuition money.

  6. mike from iowa 2018-07-03 07:29

    and suspect that it’s a phony concept to get nurses to hand over tuition money.

    That would be Drumpf University’s department.

  7. Richard Schriever 2018-07-03 12:37

    Grudz – I invite you to come ahead and take a crack at earning my PhD (Organizational Psychology), then we’ll see just how “meaty” you think those lesser degrees are in comparison. BTW – do you hold any of those meaty degrees – or have you been letting your meat loaf all these years??

  8. grudznick 2018-07-03 13:44

    Organizational Psychology is a pseudoscience at best, bunk at the worst. Barber Surgery is where it’s at.

  9. Debbo 2018-07-03 14:23

    Richard Schreiver said, “have you been letting your meat loaf all these years??”

    😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

  10. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-07-03 15:22

    Interesting, Anne, that there’s a Doctor of Science in Nursing. Will medical doctors allow us to refer to such academically distinguished nurses as “Doctor”?

    There’s a lot of letter inflation going on.

Comments are closed.