You wrote:
“sometimes I try and apply my dissertation chairman’s exhortations about teaching a certain type of critter to sing.”
My dissertation chairman’s advice was to read deeply the best works, learn the necessary languages, know the cultures involved and use common sense. He also warned against using the passive voice - in that I failed him all the time. Everything else I got right.
I suspect you received a high-quality doctorate from an accredited and respectable university from a committee of sober and well-reasoned scholars.