Volcano "expert" with credentials from LaSalle (Chicago) and Dallas State

I came by to read what Degreeinfo has on Trombley and his Dallas State degree. Is it possible you folks haven't picked up on this story yet?

Apache Junction man's volcano expertise called into question

When a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland shut down air travel in Europe in April, news media scrambled for volcano experts.

Soon, both the Wall Street Journal and CNN were quoting and chatting with a man who gave the location of his research facility as Apache Junction.

Robert "R.B." Trombley directs the International Volcano Research Centre, where he is also listed as lead volcanologist on the center's website. It bills itself as an organization that conducts volcanic analysis, eruption forecasting and public education.

...

Included is his resume, which contained a discrepancy that he dismissed as an oversight in an interview with The Arizona Republic.

It said he received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Dallas in 1974. The registrar's office said Trombley was never registered at the private Christian school, nor has the school ever offered such a degree.

When confronted about the school's response, Trombley told The Republic his doctorate actually came from Dallas State College. ... The same year Trombley received his doctorate, then-Texas Attorney General John Hill alleged Dallas State College was a "diploma mill" that sold diplomas and degree transcripts for fees ranging from $75 for a high-school diploma to $180 for a Ph.D.Since Trombley's interview with The Republic, his resume has been corrected.

In 1975, a Texas District Court in Dallas permanently prohibited the college from operating in the state for violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

A spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said recently that all degrees from Dallas State College are void.

Trombley's resume also lists a bachelor's degree in law, cum laude, from LaSalle Extension University in Chicago in 1973, just a year before completing his Ph.D.

LaSalle was a program for studying at home. In 1978, the Federal Trade Commission required LaSalle to issue a disclaimer saying that no state accepts any home law course "as sufficient education to qualify for admission to practice law."

LaSalle Extension University is not accredited with the American Bar Association. To practice law in the U.S., a law degree from an ABA-accredited institution is one of several requirements.

Trombley spent time teaching at DeVry University in Phoenix, a for-profit college offering degrees in business, technology and multimedia. He was remembered by staff as a knowledgeable man who told interesting stories about his volcano expeditions.

A company spokesman confirmed Trombley was a full-time faculty member from July 1993 to August 2000, teaching algebra, statistical analysis and program management.

..

Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school and resource center in St. Petersburg, Fla., said, "This has always been a problem in journalism."

He said there are people "who kind of flip though the filters, sometimes because they just seem to be everywhere. In other words, they're quoted, and you think that maybe somebody has gone through the process of checking out their credentials."

Clark said checking credentials may be one of the journalist's most important jobs.

...​

It's a classic.

 

Well his Bachelors was from an accredited school so that was legit. His PhD was from was not. He must have had more education than what was listed unless none of those school he worked for check him out. Great article, as it does apply to distance education.

 

LaSalle did, in fact, qualify graduates to sit for the California law exams. And it was, I think, the first degree-granting program accredited by the National Home Study Council, later to become the DETC.

Dallas State was one of many fake names used by the Fowler Brothers, operating from the south side of Chicago. Jackson State and John Quincy Adams were two others. The seven Fowlers went on trial as part of the FBI's DipScam operation, a long and complex jury trial. (I was one of 100+ witnesses for the prosecution.) The four brothers were found guilty and imprisoned; two wives and their mother were set free.

 

I think this is a case of selective reporting. I am sure he had more credentials than what was reported. He had a full time job teaching; he had to have a masters they chose to leave out of the story to make it seem more exciting.

 

Not necessarily - I know of teachers at CC and vocational colleges who have just a BS (or less in one case). For Cal CC requirements see page 17 of this document:
http://www.collegeofthedesert.edu/fs/dept/hr/Documents/minimum_quals_jan2008.pdf

 

Yes, but this only applies to the vocational side (air conditioning repair, auto repair, etc.) of the CC. I this the concern is how was he able to teach at DeVry without proper checking. The burden is on the school to fact check, but as it has been discussed here many times, HR is not always on top of things.

 

I am going to send this guy an email and ask him. The media would have no problems reporting only what they deem subpar education and for all we know this guy has more education that is legit. I have a feeling there not telling us the whole story.

 

This leads me to believe he has some mathematics education to be teaching these subjects.

 

This is excerpted from his bio on his institute's website:

RBT-Bio

 

From: R. B. Trombley Ph.D. <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: I have a question about your education Ref:News Article about you.
<[email protected]>
Date: Monday, June 7, 2010, 11:48 AM


Hi Cody --

Thanks for your e-mail and question and no, I don't mind answering it at all.

I received my undergraduate degree from the Lawrence Technological University (formerly Lawrence Institute of Technology), Law degree from LaSalle University and Ph.D. from the Dallas State College and completed post-doctorate work at UCLA and the University of New Mexico in geology & physics. I did my PhD work under the auspices of the US Air Force graduate school programme and they paid 80% of the tuition, books, etc.

The article is a little unfair as Lindsey Collum somewhat contridicts herself by virtue of the fact that she did certify that I was a professor at DeVry, etc. She fail to mention that I am credentialed in 3 states (MI, CA & AZ). Inorder to be credentialed one must have the respective universities, etc. SEND certified transcrapts to the credentialling institution. The person being certified DOES NOT send anything of that nature. The point being if credentialed, then the persons education, experience, etc. if certified by the state as being leagal, legitamate, etc.. She failed to mention any of that and so if I was not legitamite as she proposes, then how canI have been certified and become a professor for 7 years that she also checked out, etc. ?


Many thanks again Cody.


Respectively,

INTERNATIONAL VOLCANO RESEARCH CENTRE

"R.B."

R.B. Trombley, Ph.D.
Director & Principal Research Volcanologist

 

There you go, he must be "legitimate".

A

 

There are two sides to every story. I placed a phone call and checked on his undergrad degree and he is telling the truth. The whole PhD thing I have no idea about, was it legit when he went? It’s clear the school was at some point a mill, but was it always? The whole point of me doing this is to show that the media only prints what they want to. They chose to leave out his RA undergrad degree from a good school and chose to only point out his DL degree and his mill degree.

 

Lawrence Technological University (formerly Lawrence Institute of Technology) is indeed a legitimate school. However, it is not noted as a school for vulcanology, geology, or earth sciences generally. At present, Lawrence appears to offer a few courses in earth sciences, but it does not offer geology or earth science degrees, and I doubt that it ever did so in the past. This may explain why the expert in question indicates that he has a bachelor's degree from this school, but does not specify his major.

According to the news story quoted above: "A spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said recently that all degrees from Dallas State College are void." That should help to answer your question.

The media could have checked into another point: vulcanology is a branch of geology, and Arizona (like most US states) licenses professional geologists. This particular expert is apparently unlicensed, based on Arizona's public database of licensed geologists.

So the expert in question does not appear to hold any legitimate degree or professional license in his claimed field of expertise. I could be an expert in any number of fields on that basis.

 

In fairness, his resume does specify that his Lawrence bachelor's degree was in "Electronic Engineering".

I don't doubt that this is a legitimate degree, but I am not convinced that it makes one an expert in vulcanology.

 

Good work b4cz28 in tracking down his bachelors degree.

Most ethical media outlets submit articles to named persons/organizations for comment prior to publishing to avoid legal trouble.

I checked the membership roster for the American Geophysical Union (that has a volcanology section) and did not see Mr. Trombley, nor any of his 'staff' listed - kind of surprising since membership is only $20 per year and many experts in volcanoly are members (and anyone interested in geophysics can join as an associate member).

 

It does seem kind of surprising, given that he claims to be an AGU member.

Possibly he prefers not to be listed in the public member directory.

 

It’s clear he is not a Geologist. My main point was they omitted his whole education to make him appear worse than his was.

 

I used the AGU member only directory - perhaps his membership lapsed - I only update mine when it is requested by someone.

Actually he does not claim to be a member but a "registered Volcanologist" with the AGU. Again I can find no such classification on the AGU website.

I did find him listed as a member of IAVCEI but I did not check to see what membership requirements are.

What I do find amazing is that he did post-doc work at UCLA; UC schools are extremely picky with regards to academic credentials when selecting post-docs.

I have no doubt that Mr. Trombley is an enthusiastic amateur volcanologist.

 

But he is not the specialist he claims. If I claimed to be a chemical engineer but was not, would it really matter if I had a legit literature degree?

 

The "Registered Volcanologist" claim is indeed puzzling. But in addition, the resume separately states that he is a "Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU)" in the "Professional Organizations" listing near the bottom.

According to the resume, the individual conducted post-doctoral studies of "Relativistic Physics" and "Particle Physics" at UCLA in 1981-1982, and "Adv. Phys. Geology" and "Paleogeology" at the University of New Mexico in 1989-1990.

It seems unlikely that a PhD from unaccredited Dallas State College would be considered a strong candidate for post-doctoral research at either institution. Furthermore, his PhD advisor, Dr. Richard T. Hauinog, is otherwise unknown to Google (in fact, Google knows of no one in the world with the last name of Hauinog). So he couldn't have received much of a boost from either his school or his advisor.

One alternative possibility is some non-degree coursework was taken at these schools, and that the individual considers it post-doctoral, because it clearly post-dates his 1974 unaccredited PhD. In other words, possibly the individual may regard his UCLA and UNM studies as post-doctoral, but the schools in question may not. However, this suggestion is purely speculative.