UI&U doctorates

I recently requested information from Union Institute & University about their doctorate degree programs. I was particularly interested in the concept of designing your own degree program. Not traditional in any sense of academia but was interested in applying.

I received a letter today stating that UI&U was not accepting any students into the doctorate programs and are not sure when they will start accepting. The information states they are transitioning from the "scholarly" doctorate programs and adding professional doctorates, i.e. the Ed. D., the Psy. D.

I am not quite sure what a Ph. D. in Interdisciplanary Studies is all about. Is this a generic degree and what fields may it be used in other than possibly education?

I kind of like the approach of incorporating more than one focal area in a doctorate degree. Unique approach.

Do any of you think it would be worth the wait to apply for the doctorate?

 

While I believe that Union will pull out of it's current problems (I was under the impression that they were accepting new applicants) I also believe that time is the most valuable commodity that we have. If you have no alternatives then clearly you should wait. If you have alternatives then I would suggest you pursue them. Not because I don't believe in Unions ability to solve their current problems, but because life is short.
Jack
(If you'd like to say something about your interests then we might be able to make alternative suggestions.)

 

(1) Union Institute www.tui.edu is, I believe, a good nontraditional school in Cincinnati, Ohio, and they have been in existence since 1964. They are also one of the few options for liberal arts docs via DL (the only ones, in many cases, if you exclude foreign dissertation-only doctorates). They received a ten-year re-accreditation (the longest period possible) at the most recent visit from the North Central Association, though it should be noted that their accreditation is on notice. They also recently received a three-year conditional re-authorization by the Ohio Board of Regents. OBR seems to be very supportive of UIU and hopes to see them work through their current problems.

I had inquired of Susan Amussen recently re a PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences that would tie together Ancient & Mediaeval History, Languages, & Literature. I was advised that if one applies by July 5th, 2005 and enrolls in an entry colloquium by September 2005, one could be guaranteed to be "in the pipeline" and thus allowed to complete one's degree even if your major is phased out. I posted so at the time (prior to July 5) but that deadline has now come and gone so I guess I shall just have to see if their history doctorates are still on offer when they resume accepting doctoral students. A note regarding the situation appears on the North Central Association website and they say that social science doctorates are most likely to be preserved. Professor Amussen says that certainly she would fight to preserve the doctoral programs in the cultural studies areas. As to the changes going on at Union, it appears that they are going to have to limit the number of PhD fields on offer. Rich Douglas (PhD, Non-Traditional Education, Union Institute & University, 2003) suggests that they might be allowed six PhD fields. Thus, the PhD in Education and the PhD in Psychology are being "bled into" the EdD and the PsyD. But it was news to me that they are not currently accepting doctoral students.

(2) The PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences has a definite concentration field, but must have an interdisciplinary component (such as history and literature/languages). Dr. Rich Douglas' PhD took in both non-traditional education and human resource management. I believe that his dissertation had to do specifically with the acceptance of non-traditional degrees in the corporate world. I believe that Dr. Steve Levicoff (PhD, Relifgion & Law, Union Institute, 1991) wrote his dissertation on a case study of the history of a prison church. Union does emphasize the freedom to study seemingly unrelated fields. But, make no mistake about it, there still must be a very narrowly-defined dissertation topic.

(3) It depends. If my chosen field of doctoral studies was something commonly available (business, education, psychology), I'm not sure I'd wait.

 

Unfortunately, I seem to be getting one of those obnoxious "this page cannot be displayed" messages when I try to go to the Union website. Wonder what that means.

 

Websites go down all the time. But I wonder if Union's is related to their changes.

Union has no choice--as posed by the Ohio Board of Regents--but to limit their doctoral offerings. The concentrations are what were to be limited, but more and more it looks like Union will have to offer non-Ph.D. doctorates. I hope some form of the interdisciplinary Ph.D. will survive.

Ted captures the situation well. However, my own degree included the intertwining of human resources development, higher education, and business administration.

There is no compelling reason to rush into a Union degree. (Jack's advice about short lives included.) Union's situation will straighten out in the next few months, or the school will implode entirely. Awaiting its response to the OBR (October seems to be an important month) is reasonable.

 

Reasonable...

...posts, reasonable assessment, reasonable posters.

If you want to see what the usual critics of UIU sound like, I have an amusing quote from them on the Hayes birthday thread.

Regards to yuns, J.

 

Re: Reasonable...

Oh, do share.

 

Union's site is back up. No apparent changes.

 

Okay. Just got into their website this morning. Emailed them re doctoral admissions.

 

Also, there is a third Union doc running around this board. Tony Marano (PhD, Environmental Studies, 1997) wrote his dissertation on human health risks from carcinogens in Chesapeake Bay fish and shellfish.

 

Maranto.

 

Janko: Thanks.
Tony: Sorry.

 

And the answer is, per an email from Amy B. Miller, Doctoral Admissions Counselor, Union Institute, that there was a one-month doctoral admissions suspension, but they plan on resuming doctoral admissions indefinitely thereafter. Said admissions suspension was (note the past tense) from July 6 to August 1.

 

Thanks guys. I hope UI pulls through. I like Dr. Douglas' degree that incorporates education and HR. That is something I would like to do.

I received my letter from UI this week. It is postmarked Aug 8. The letter is from the The Doctoral Admissions Committee.

I will re-enquire about admissions. The letter stated that the University would update on the admissions in the future.

I may hold out for a couple of months to see what happens. Fingers are crossed about the Interdiscip degree.

Thanks again

 

The university needs about 30 new doctoral enrollments each month to keep that program going financially. It is not clear, however, how capable the rest of the university is in carrying the doctoral program during this suspension.

I suspect this is due to the changes they're going to implement. I haven't heard anything to indicate otherwise, but I'll snoop around.

 

Just don't eat the chili.

 

Robbie: Always glad to help a fellow distance learner. If you want to specialize in distance learning, Dr. Rich Douglas and Dr. John Bear would be the two that I would name as adjunct committee members.

Rich: The doctoral admissions suspension was just for one month (July 6 to August 1). Doctoral admissions have resumed. Yes, it had to do with the changes they're going through.

Janko: What do admonitions not to eat the chili have to do with Union doctoral admissions?

 

It's a Cincinnati thing. They put cinnamon in it. Absit omen!

 

Oh! I've only been to Cincinnati once. Actually, I went through Cincinatti to find the birthplaces of a couple of old Civil War generals - Lieutenant General Ulysses Simpson Grant and Brevet Brigadier General Benjamin Harrison. Didn't have the chili.

 

!!??!!CINNAMON??!!??