Bad Dog: Faculty credentials at St. John's University

As I do from time to time, I did a search for academics with degrees from the phony Columbia State University. There were two on the faculty of St. John's University in rural Louisiana...but that's not the real story.

I scanned through St. John's entire faculty list. On a claimed faculty of about 170, 80 have their highest degree from St. John's University (current or former names). When you add in the ones from Kensington, Pacific Western, Columbia Pacific, Clayton, and other such, it comes to more than half.

Of relevance here is that St. John's has officially applied for DETC accreditation. DETC clearly does not take previous-to-accreditation dreadfulnesses into account, but this is rather current. Although, come to think of it, AICS was claiming its dreadful WAUC accreditation until the very day they got their DETC accreditation.

So it'll be interesting to see what DETC does with regard to St. John's later this year.

 

I had looked through the St. John's catalog a few months ago and came to a similar conclusion on their faculty. I thought that the catalog presented itself well and they have been around for awhile. I think that if they receive DETC accreditation based on their faculty we might as well start up the Degreeinfo University and get DETC accredited. This would be a means to finance the web site and not rely on advertisers -- maybe "senior members" could be grandfathered into faculty positions.

John

 

I like the sound of that John. Maybe we could get Deanship's.

North

 

I think we could put together enough faculty members and adminsitration with enough academic credentials to cover President, Provosts, Deans, on down the line....



John

 

Harking back to this thread, I'd like to be Pro-Vice Chancellor. Russell might be a good Anti-Vice Chancellor.

 

I'd like to count the money---------based on what some other schools are taking in I think we could do rather well. I agree, grandfather the senior members!!!!!!!!!1

 

Thank you, Gert! I take that as a compliment, since my CV, experience and expertise would certainly qualify me for this coveted position.

 

My impression is that St. John's is making a real effort to improve. Did Dr. Winkler, the founder, die? It appears his wife is running things. I notice too they have appropriated the seal of Lasalle on their website (how, er...economical). Springfield, by the way is not really a town so much as a township, very close to midway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The nearest town, and not a very big one, I used to live there, is Hammond (the srawberry center of the South). I kind of hate to see a quirky place like St. John's with their strange blend of "theology" (if you could call it that), pop-psychology, hypnosis, and supernatural studies, icongruently offered with police science, security studies, nutrition, and "addictionology" go away. They represented something unique, I am not sure what, on the "educational" landscape. I thought St. John's was sort of the Harvard of the "supernaturalist conspiracy theory--modern medicine is dangerous--I was Ghandi in a past life" crowd. In some way that I can't really articulate, we need places like that. In closing I note that at $150/unit the unaccredited, and likely to stay that way, St. John's may be one of the worst values on the market. Anyway in some sick way, I like em; they are, or used to be, something akin to the American educational system's sense of humor--a semi-serious college degree. On the bad side, the name has probably fooled a lot of people into thinking they have hired a graduate of one of the finest Catholic institutions in the country...not good. Like Old Yeller, a good bad dog.


Craig

 

Well, it's not quite the same, but the regionally accredited John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, CA offers some stuff in that realm; they have programs in parapsychology, consciousness studies, holistic studies, and transpersonal psychology -- but also a business school and, I believe, a law school. Interesting combination of things. They don't have much in the way of distance learning (though they should), but they do cater to people in the workforce, so most of their classes are in the evening, and they offer at least some weekend classes and some nontraditional delivery options...

And they have two campuses that are actually school-like buildings, rather than (as John reported about St. John's) somebody's house with a rusted schoolbus next door and a hand-lettered "Bad Dog" sign in the house across the street.

Not the same as St. Johns, but probably quite a few steps up.

 

You are right, Chip--it would not take much to be a step up. But the rusted school bus...you just are not going to find anything like that elsewhere.

Craig

 

Of the many institutions calling themselves "St. John's University," the one discussed here is the "St. John's University of Practical Theology."

I found the following AED thread: St Johns University, in Louisana. I laughed at the following snippet from Emir Mohammed's post (taken here out of context, I admit): "They ... offer free tuition for prisoners (this might come in useful for me ...)". Heh, heh, heh.

 

JFKU's programs are administered by its five schools:


Graduate School for Holistic Studies
School of Law
School of Liberal Arts
School of Management
Graduate School of Professonal Psychology