§ 1 Pick and Choose
WU has a reputation for being picky when it comes to awarding honorary doctorate degress. Over its history it has done so only 15 times; roughly one per decade. Among those honored were towering figures on the national level. People like Hertha Firnberg, the former minister who, like few others, shaped the modern Austrian University. People like Karl Korinek, the former President of the Austrian Constitutional Court who, like few others, shaped the court’s case law and Austria’s constitution alongside it. And, of course, WU has honored academic giants in economics such as Joseph Stiglitz or James Heckman.
