Professors With DL Graduate Degrees

Anyone know of professors who are presently teaching at U.S. colleges/universities/seminaries who got their graduate degrees by distance learning?

 

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.

Do a search on www.google.com using your favorite DL school as a search term. You'll find lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.

Rich Douglas

 

Of course, the extent to which this is true will vary from academic discipline to academic discipline. Yet, as Rich has indicated, the number is significant and growing.

 

Specifically within the theological disciplines, where I know your interests lie, you will find a considerable number of distance-based master and doctorate holders at Bible colleges, Christian colleges, and seminaries.

For example, over time, I have come across professors with degrees from the University of South Africa theology faculty at Fuller, Southeastern Baptist Seminary, Huntington College, Indiana Wesleyan University, Nazarene Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, St. Stephen's College (CA), Grand Rapids Baptist Theological Seminary, Liberty University, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, and a handful of other places.

In addition, several professors in the US have either completed, or are currently pursuing largely distance-based programs through institutions like the University of Wales, Open University, the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, and Highlands Theological College. Of course, these are all well-established residential institutions. Yet, these professors are known to be pursuing their degrees at a distance, and are experiencing much success at having their degrees accepted and respected.

I've run across a couple of Potchefstroom PhD candidates in adjunct positions at Reformed Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Dr. Peace, who holds a prominent role in the faculty of theology at Fuller Sem., completed his PhD from Natal in South Africa largely at a distance.

There are numerous other examples, including specialists in disciplines like Christian Education and Christian Counseling who completed degrees through Sarasota, Walden, Nova SEern, and places like that, as well as degree holders from institutions like Luther Rice Seminary and Regent University.

So, yes, there's a bunch. However, one word of clarification here to make sure I'm painting the most realistic picture possible: a good number of these individuals GAINED their teaching positions as a result of their distance-based degrees. Yet, probably more of them earned their distance-based doctorates after already holding faculty positions gained by means of their traditional, residential masters degrees.

I don't think you should feel uncomfortable about your chances of gaining a teaching position based upon your distance-learning degree. Should you determine to go ahead with Spurgeon's, your degree certificate from Univ. of Wales will say nothing about you being a distance-learning student. As for me, I haven't even completed my masters degree from Spurgeon's yet, and I've already had one very respectable Bible college virtually take me into captivity out of determination to add me to their faculty. So, be encouraged!

I should add that who you are and what gifts you possess (teaching, research and writing, administration) will also have much bearing on whether you are hired. From what I know of you, you have that going for you. So, again, be encouraged!

 

A very significant example that I should mention here is John Sanders of Huntington College in Indiana (and formerly a faculty member at Oak Hills Christian College in Bemiji, MN). Dr. Sanders earned a bachelor's degree at Trinity College in IL, followed by an MA from Wartburg Seminary in IA, and then taught at Oak Hills for a number of years. While there, he completed the DTh from UNISA. His dissertation, in which he argues biblically and philosophically for the "open view" of God's foreknowledge, has been published in the last couple of years, and has been celebrated widely as one of the most significant presentations of this view. Now, mind you, prior to his enrollment at UNISA, Sanders had already distinguished himself as an excellent theologian. His previous book, "No Other Name?", was widely recognized as a significant text, as well; and he has many powerful links with other scholars in the evangelical community. So, it would not be fair to say that his UNISA degree has provided the gateway for John Sanders to advance in the theological community, necessarily. Yet, his UNISA credential has been widely embraced and recognized, and his book based upon his UNISA-supported research has been widely celebrated.

 

Is that the same view as argued for by Gregory Boyd, a professor at Bethel College, in his book "God of the Possible"? It caused back then some upheavel in the evangelical world and I remember there was a critical article in "world magazine" a couple of years ago.

By the way, I'm just curious, is there a possibility to earn a decent theological degree(with an evangelical slant) entirely or to a large extent through examinations similar to what COSC, TESC or Excelsior offer?

Dennis Siemens

 

Yes, Sanders is a close colleague of Boyd (along with guys like Clark Pinnock) in advocating the "open view." The battle between this relatively new view and classical theism continues to wage, and likely will carry on into the future.

At what level are you seeking to earn a theology degree? I'd be glad to see if I could help you find something at the appropriate level.

 

I know at least one person and that person is Ike Okonkwo, who earned his Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Nova Southeastern University and he is now an adjunct professor at a New Jersey public university. He is not a fulltime professor because he gainfully employed in the information technology industry.

Ike Okonkwo
ABD (Ph.D, Information Systems)
NSU

 

Right now I'm busy studying for another degree. But perhaps sometimes in the future I'd be interested. I take an interest in theology and have acquired some knowledge in the course of the years. So I wanted to see how the land lies to utilize this knowledge(maybe by testing out) for a bachelor degree.

Thanks,

Dennis Siemens

 

To fully assess the extent to which DL graduate degrees have become useful credentials for gaining positions with RA residential schools, it may be useful to keep several distinctions in mind:

1. Are these full-time, tenure-track appointments? Don't get me wrong -- I'm not putting down visiting appts., lecturer and adjunct positions, and administrative positions that mix in some teaching. It's just that full-time, tenure-track appointments are the best indicator of whether DL graduate degrees are gaining acceptance in traditional academe.

2. Did the DL graduate degree serve as the person's terminal degree, for purposes of a school's credential requirements? For example, if the position requires a Ph.D., and the candidate was hired based in part on her Ph.D. from Union or Fielding, then that speaks volumes. But if, say, the position requires a Ph.D., and the candidate happened to have both a Ph.D. from Penn State and an MBA from Heriot-Watt, then we can safely assume it was the Penn State Ph.D. that got them over the credential hump.

3. For these holders of DL doctorates who were hired by traditional schools, how many of them followed a more conventional chronological career & life path toward their doctorate and attempted entry into academe? Typical tenure-track hires outside of professional school settings will present c.v.s that are largely academic in content, in that they've basically been students most of their lives and much of their merits as candidates emanate from their residential Ph.D. programs in terms of publications and teaching. We can argue about whether those should be the criteria for hiring, but the point is that the Ph.D. program creates their primary value in the academic marketplace.

Do DL Ph.D. programs deliver similar value? Or are DL graduates who hook f/t teaching positions people who were "stars" before they obtained their doctorate, and the DL program becomes more a means for providing a necessary credential?

 

I think that in some cases the person may already have had a foot in the door. They may already have been teaching as a lecturer with a masters degree or something. When a better position became available the school may have offered it to their colleague, conditional on his or her acquiring an acceptable doctorate. Lots of hiring in all fields happens from "inside".

So while a particular degree may be less viable in a highly competitive hiring situation, if it meets the formal job specs it may serve well in a less competitive situation. I'd expect to see that happening more at small liberal arts or religious colleges than at Harvard or the University of California.

Not very many, I'd guess. If a kid were going to stay in school all of his or her life (undergrad-grad-faculty), they probably would choose an on-campus program. Especially one that would support them with grants and assistantships.

Distance education appeals to people who have other things happening in their lives besides school. A DL graduate is probably going to be bringing more to the table than a conventional candidate would.

So a very big question is what the person was doing besides taking the DL program. A distance doctorate in business may look a lot better if you were a responsible senior executive as well. A "research" degree in archaeology from the University of Leicester may look a lot more competitive if you were working for the National Park Service at Chaco Canyon while you were writing your dissertation on the Southwestern Indians. A distance theology degree may look better earned by a clergyman.

 

Yes, exactly. For the successful business executive or National Park Service ranger, the DL doctorate is more a form of certification of previously developed expertise, though certainly there is "new" learning occurring in the degree program itself.

It also would be interesting to follow the careers of DL doctorate holders who do manage to snag full-time teaching jobs at RA schools. Do they stay? Do they get tenure? And how do they navigate the sometimes incredible levels of bullshit that one can encounter in academic life, esp. given that their non-traditional paths may have left them less prepared for dealing with some of its landmines?