On Almeda

If the PhD student can produce the thesis with this kind of standard, I would say it is not that bad as you think.

And also one of the Almeda faculty member is Prof. Wald Carum.

See below link for one of the thesis by Almeda student.
http://www.cepariseau.com/DISSERTATION-Evolution%20of%20Domestic%20Violence%20Awareness-Final.pdf

 

I find it very interesting that he refers to himself as Dr. and ..., PhD, throughout his dissertation.

The other part I find interesting is that his biographical sketch shows that he "earned" a bachelor's and a master's in January and March 2006, respectively, from Almeda. Then, according to his dissertation, he "earned" his PhD in May 2006. The guy must be a fast learner or maybe there is something wrong with Almeda.

 

Can you tell us anything more about the distinguished Dr. Wald Carum?

His (her?) name doesn't appear anywhere in Google, except in the subject dissertation. If he's an expert, he doesn't seem to have made any impact whatsoever in any field of study. The dissertation itself makes no reference to any publications by Dr. Carum, and offers no indication that Dr. Carum provided any guidance.

Searches of people.yahoo.com and 411.com didn't turn up anyone with the last name of "Carum" in the United States. A more comprehensive search at find.intelius.com found 9 Carums nationwide, but none of them had a first name starting with W.

 

Since we are discussing Almeda's academic standards, it seems relevant to bring up the story of Wally, a 7-year old dog in upstate New York whom Almeda awarded an Associate's Degree in Childhood Development.

According to the WRGB news story, it took about 5 minutes to fill out a form describing Wally's life experience, which included: "Plays with the kids every day...teaches them to interact better with each other...Teaches them responsibilities like feeding the dog."

That (plus $595) qualified Wally for an Almeda degree. He keeps it right over his food dish.

 

Is it even safe to assume he is the true author of the dissertation in question? With no academic processes or supervision, who is to say?

You can't judge the quality of the school that way. If you could demonstrate processes that lead to quality works, and then the quality works themselves, fine. But there are too many missing parts to this story to suddenly award legitimacy to a degree mill.

 

According to the article, the person who made the application made untruthful statements on the application (ie the dog being human, etc). By creating a fictitious application (with the sole purpose of trying to discredit Almeda) and then certifying all information submitted on the application was " true and correct ", Peter Brancato committed perjury.

 

And how many other Almeda graduates have similarly exaggerated or falsified their life experience? Wally's story certainly demonstrates that this is easy to do, regardless of the motives or culpability of his owner.

Almeda apparently takes no steps whatsoever to verify the "life experiences" claimed by applicants, other than requiring applicants to self-certify that such information is "true and correct". Given that Almeda awards degrees based solely on these "life experience" claims, their policies would appear to invite abuse, rather like telling students to self-grade their own examinations or papers.

 

Still doesn't change the fact that Brancato committed perjury.

 

Perhaps not, but the thread is entitled "On Almeda", not "On Brancato".

 

Don't blame me, I didn't bring Brancato into this.

 

OK, we can drop Brancato. Let's get back to Dr. Wald Carum, whom you mentioned in your initial post.

Does he exist?

 

Hmmm,
I'll be the first to admit I'm not a scholar and don't look at dissertations, but in the first 3 pages...

#1. Page 1 says it was "Presented... June 2006", but Page 2 says it was "Approved on May 30, 2006"

#2. Page 1 also has an untraceable ISBN number on it.

#3. Wald Carum does not exist as far as Google, ZoomInfo, and the National Student Clearinghouse are concerned.

#4. Page 3, cites Wikipedia.com as a dissertation source


So, I can accept the explanations of the above as:

#1 - Time travel
#2 - Secret codes
#3 - Secret identities

But, #4, Wikipedia as a dissertation source?!?!?!?!

 

Almeda "University" is a diploma mill with zero validity, and zero credibility. End of story.

Anyone who buys a degree (yes, buys) from Almeda is a scammer. Anyone who believes Almeda is legit is a fool.

The sad part, is that there are many fools out there including employers.

 

Wait, you mean I can't use a web source that can be edited anonymously by anyone in the world for my dissertation?

Good catch.

 

The dissertation appears to be more of a paper containing anecdotes about domestic violence than any real research....smells like a rat.

An 87 page dissertation (with very liberal formatting) on a topic as in-depth as Domestic Violence in Maryland between 1970-2004. 34 years of domestic violence covered in 87 pages...scratch that.....61 pages (the dissertation actually starts on page 10 and the last 16 pages are Appendix, Index & References)...that just doesn't sound right....hmmm....looks like a rat.

My conclusion....must be a rat.

I can't imagine that this paper would ever pass any dissertation committee at any accredited university in the world.

 

'Perjury' is a legal term. It refers to the crime of intentionally lying after being duly sworn (to tell the truth) by a court clerk or other appropriate official. As Brancato was apparently never sworn, it's hard to imagine how he could have committed perjury.

 

Almeda might possibly have grounds for a civil suit against Brancato, and also the WRGB "I-Team", who apparently aided and abetted him. After all, it's unlikely that Brancato would have proceeded without the "I-Team" to pay the $595 application fee, and it's unlikely that any significant damage would have been done to Almeda's reputation if the "I-Team" hadn't broadcast the result.

Yet Almeda doesn't seem to be pursuing the matter. Perhaps they don't want to be put in a position where they could be forced to testify about their degree granting policies.

 

Almeda is bad for your health

"This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the heart, lungs, bronchial area, and nervous system."

http://www.kabalarians.com/Female/almeda.htm

 

Well, I'll just march right down to the school and see what's going on.

Oh, no one knows where they are and they won't tell you.
Huh, wonder why?

 

Perjury - Hahahaha!!!

More like "Tactical Deception" in order to catch a thief - and it worked!