Can an accredited institution (in this case Monmouth College) hire an instructor who has a degree from a suspected degree mill? Are there any rules regarding this?
There are standards that the accrediting agencies expect to be met. If this person's degree is from a 'gray area' school, there would be less likely to be a problem with the accreditors than if it is from an outright phony. The other issue is whether Monmouth or the department in question knew and didn't have a problem, or doesn't know. Would you care to share the school name. Then we can all pontificate in predictable ways.
Monmouth is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. NCA states: "An institution holding status with The Higher Learning Commission meets the following General Institutional Requirements:" Among those requirements: "9. It employs a faculty that has earned from accredited institutions the degrees appropriate to the level of instruction offered by the institution." If a school is employing instructors with unaccredited degrees then that school could be in trouble, UNLESS the instructor also has sufficient accredited credentials.
There is much to be read on this board about that school, and much of that written by its operator. A search of the threads will reveal much. Perhaps someone from your school would like to peruse this site to learn more.
I know. As a Dane I have followed the Knightbridge thread with great interest. The school is not recognised in Denmark and the Ministry of Education warns against it. I am not emplyed or prusue a degree at Monmoth. I was simply wondering if the school is allowed to hire someone with a (in my opinion) bogus degree.
I have been a member of faculty/administrator hiring boards in higher education for some years. No accredited institution of which I am aware would hire a full time faculty member with unaccredited degrees. However, there were times when I had to alert people in the human resources office that were unaware that a given school was unaccredited. One exception to this rule was in the community college arena, where I did see some faculty (usually part-timers) who possessed unacredited doctorates (from Lawrence, Newport, Pacific Western and California Coast). However, the following was always understood: 1. They were required to possess BA and MA degrees from regionally accredited institutions. 2. They were hired based on their masters, not doctoral degrees (PhDs are not required to teach in the CA community college system). 3. The college would not recognize the unaccredited doctorate (they would receive masters-level, not doctoral-level pay). Many years ago, a colleague at my former institution (a community college) completed a doctorate from Lawrence University (before it became the accredited University of Sarasota and, later, Argosy). I read his dissertation, which was of comparable quality to many RA dissertations, but the college refused to recognize the degree, would not allow him to list his PhD in any college publication, did not give him doctoral pay (or even recognize any of his Lawrence units for salary advancements) and did not allow him to use the title "Dr." when conducting any school business. OUCH! Tony Piña Faculty, Cal State U.-San Bernardino
"Laurence University." John provides some history on the split that created the University of Sarasota, University of Santa Barbara, and (a favorite of mine) the University of Central Arizona on this Degreeinfo thread: Click here
