Apple's chief design officer, Jonathan Ive, was one of nine "distinguished" people to receive an honorary doctorate on Wednesday from the University of Oxford.
Ive became a Doctor of Science during the university's annual Encaenia ceremony, according to the official Oxford website. Other notable figures receiving degrees included director Pedro Almodóvar, economics professor Paul Krugman, and composer Arvo Pärt.
Jony Ive has picked up numerous awards over the years, including several from British organizations like the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Academy of Engineering. At the latter group, he is also an Honorary Fellow.
For years Ive has been responsible for design work on many Apple product lines, ranging from iPods and iPhones through to Macs and the Apple Watch.
As chief design officer Ive has stepped back from some day-to-day involvement in design work, although he is still thought to be playing an important role in things like the company's electric car project. That initiative is effectively an open secret, even if no shipping vehicle is expected to arrive until at least 2019 or 2020.