The Registrar is frequently asked whether our credentials are suitable as gifts. The correct answer is that they are almost exclusively suitable as gifts, and that the share of graduates who purchased their own credential directly, with no intermediary, is smaller than most visitors assume. Most of our alumni were nominated. That is the correct verb for the transaction, and it is the one this guide will use throughout.
What follows is a field guide. It is practical. It assumes a nominator who has already decided, in principle, to confer, and is now working through the details.
Choosing the recipient. The ideal candidate for a conferred credential is a person whose defining characteristic is widely agreed upon within their social circle, but rarely named aloud. The credential does the naming. It is, in this sense, a gift of language — a way of telling a person that you see them clearly, and admire them for exactly the reason they would expect you to. Do not confer on someone whose assholery is in dispute. The credential will not resolve the dispute. It will merely introduce a second one.
Matching the tier to the recipient. The B.A. tier is appropriate for early-career candidates, for colleagues, for the friend who has recently discovered a new and alarming capacity for directness. The M.S. is for mid-career recognition, for the relative who has earned a quieter but more consistent reputation, for the long-standing group-chat presence. The Ph.D. is for the candidate whose body of work speaks for itself. The Honorary is for the rare candidate who would, if consulted, select the Honorary, and the nominator's only real task is to confirm the selection.
Personalization. Our certificates accept a full legal name, a conferred date, and a short citation line. The citation line is where most nominators stumble. The temptation is to be clever. The Registrar advises against cleverness. A cited phrase like "In recognition of sustained excellence in the field" outperforms, every time, a cited phrase like "For that thing you did to Brian." The former is framable. The latter is a text message. A credential should be drily institutional in tone. Let the context — the recipient, the moment, the room — supply the humor. The paper plays it straight.
When to present. Birthdays are adequate but predictable. Retirements are excellent. A promotion within a recipient's existing career is the single best occasion, because the public achievement and the private credential land on the same day, and no further explanation is required. Weddings are acceptable if — and only if — the credential is presented privately, before or after the ceremony, and never on behalf of the couple. A credential conferred on the groom, mid-reception, by a friend who has been waiting all evening to do it, is a moment. A credential conferred on the bride during the toasts is a miscalculation.
Delivery. The credentials arrive digitally. The nominator is encouraged to print, frame, and present in person. The Registrar's office has, over the years, developed a weakness for photographs of the presentation itself — a recipient holding the framed document, eyebrows raised, in the specific moment before they decide whether to laugh or feign offense. That moment is, in the Registrar's view, the actual gift. Vide et ride — see and laugh. The paper is the pretext.
One last note. Gifting a credential is not a joke at the recipient's expense. It is a joke with the recipient, delivered through the institution rather than directly, which is why it lands. The nominator who understands that distinction receives a perfect reaction. The nominator who does not gets an awkward pause and a lesson.
The full catalog is open to nominators at any hour. The Registrar suggests browsing with the recipient already in mind. The credential usually picks itself once the candidate is clear.