COLLEGE PARK, MD (December, 2012) Dr. Mariam Jean Dreher, Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, will be awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Oulu in Finland in May 2013. Dr. Dreher has engaged in collaborative research with colleagues at Oulu for over 20 years and was a Fulbright senior specialist there in 2006. The University of Oulu notes that the doctoris honoris causa, or honorary doctor, is the highest honor that it can bestow.
During three–day festivities following medieval tradition, Dr. Dreher will receive the doctor’s hat and sword. The doctor’s hat is “a symbol of liberty, scholarship and freedom of research. The hat is round, because its wearer is supposed to answer questions clearly and naturally and not to split hairs.” The doctor’s sword, which is awarded at the Sword–whetting (Sharpening) Ceremony the evening before the Conferment, is “a symbol for the scientist’s fight for what he or she, in rigorous research, has found to be good, right and true.” The evening before the Conferment, honorary doctors whet their swords, with the assistance of their escort, using a grindstone damped with champagne. The Conferment Ceremony is followed by a dinner and a ball, and on the third day a sailing trip. The University notes that “Despite the ceremonial nature of the occasion, it is also entertaining and festive. The ceremonies are the harvest festival of academic work.”
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