What Are Columbia Pacific Ph.D.s Doing These Days?

Here are some graduates of Columbia Pacific University. Not only is CPU not regionally accredited, it was shut down by the state of California.

So... what should we conclude from this?

Anton Seidl, Southern Ct. State U. http://www.southernct.edu/grad/programs/ENG/index.php?file=gfaculty.html

Lila Lloyd, NC A&T U. http://www.ncat.edu/~bueddept/faculty.html

Beth Hedva, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology http://www.itp.edu/programs/fac_gm.html

Charles Killingsworth, Pittsburg State U. http://www.pittstate.edu/edsc/hper/2faculty.html

Marc Lucas, U. New Mexico http://www.unm.edu/~arted/faculty.html

Gerti Helder, U. Medicine and Dentistry of N.J. http://sn.umdnj.edu/faculty/

Lewis Bornmann, Mesa State College http://www.mesastate.edu/~bornmann/personal/

Brian Tracy, Trustee: The Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/departments/trustees.html

Donald Burleson, E. N.Mex. U. (Roswell) http://www.roswell.enmu.edu/unifaculty.htm

Mitchell Fadem, Kent State U. (Trumbull)
http://www.trumbull.kent.edu/grad/spring2001/faculty.htm

Gerald Stoppell, Master's Divinity School http://www.mdivs.edu/admin&instructors.html

Gene Pollart, U. Rhode Island http://nick.uri.edu/artsci/mus/faculty/faculty.html

Paul Hartal, Founder/director Centre for Art, Science and Technology, Montreal PQ Canada http://art-history.concordia.ca/eea/artists/hartal.html

Mark Hoover, Penn State (Altoona) http://www.aa.psu.edu/div/mns/biology/faculty/part.htm

Betty Cannon, Naropa U. and Colo. School of Mines http://www.naropa.edu/transpersonal/transpersadfac.html

William Redel, Sierra Nevada College http://www.sierranevada.edu/academic/business/faculty.htm

Priscilla Ebersole, San Francisco State U. http://www.sfsu.edu/~bulletin/noindex/9496/faculty/fac-ef.htm

Marilyn Hamilton, Royal Roads U. (Canada) http://www.royalroads.ca/stl/people/hamilton.htm

G. J. Vargo, Rennselaer Polytechnic Inst. http://www.rpi.edu/dept/catalog/oldwww/Engineering/nuclear/faculty.html

Joy Holloway, Carroll College http://www.carroll.edu/academics/psychology/faculty.php

Steven Wehrenberg, George Washington University http://www.gwu.edu/~bulletin/grad/faculty/facw.html

James Fowlie, Anna Maria College http://www.annamaria.edu/Current/Faculty/Graduate_Faculty/

Janet Dye, U. Alaska S.E. http://www.uas.alaska.edu/business/

David Young, U. Florida http://www.arts.ufl.edu/faculty/faculty/young.html

Jerome Workman, chemist Kimberly Clark Corp., editor of 'Handbook of Organic Compounds' and 'Applied Spectroscopy', Academic Press http://www.academicpress.com/infrared/editors.htm

Kathy McCloskey, Wright State U. http://www.wright.edu/sopp/facstaff/mccloskey.html

Bruce Heald, Plymouth State College http://www.plymouth.edu/thirdtier/faculty_member.phtml?department_code=SS&facnum=bheald

Lucille Gambardella, Wesley College http://www.wesley.edu/administration/faculty.html

Rainer Sommer George Mason U. http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/9899/admins.html

Martin Krepcho, U. Texas S.W. Medical Ctr. http://www.swmed.edu/home_pages/famprac/residency/UTSW/faculty/krepcho.htm

Anthony Tercyak, Connecticut State Representative http://www.housegop.state.ct.us/members/bios/tercyakbio.htm

Timothy Brady, S.W. Texas State U. http://www.gradcollege.swt.edu/99-00GCatalog/depthealthadmin.html

Karl Seifert, U. Denver http://www.learning.du.edu/oncampus/cis/facultybiography.asp?EmployeeID=749

Thomas Kolda, Exec. Dir. Univ. Relations, U. Wis. Whitewater http://www.uww.edu/npa/news_releases/1999/01/26_kolda_appointed.shtml

Norman Phillips, U. Dayton http://www.engr.udayton.edu/Civil/phillips.htm

 

You have way too much free time on your hands??


Bruce

 

Re: Re: What Are Columbia Pacific Ph.D.s Doing These Days?

Probably true, but it's Saturday night. Or at least it was.

I made the list long enough to suggest that CPU's acceptance is more than just a fluke.

Which raises obvious questions regarding the advantages of accreditation, the influence of institutional prestige in hiring and all kinds of stuff.

 

Dear BillDayson:

how did you do this? I mean, practically, how did you find these people through the internet?

adelheid

 

Good Morning, I was extremely surprised that someone involved with a state institution in New Jersey would have Columbia Pacific as part of a resume. I thought there were greater checks and balances especially in a medicine related field. I bet it will be removed from the NJ persons credentials within the month. Have a relaxing Sunday. Hille

 

Bill's list is truly revealing.

I wonder whether those responsible for hiring these faculty were cognizant of the accreditation issues associated with their credentials or perhaps it didn't matter?

However, other questions arise as to whether a doctorate was actually required for these faculty positions and they merely listed them as addendums or whether these schools actually accepted a state approved doctorate in lieu of a regionally accredited Ph.D?

 

Gerti Heider is an Asst. Prof. of Nursing, and (in addition to the CPU Ph.D.) she has an M.S.N. from Seton Hall. If you look at her colleagues with the same academic rank, you'll see that many of them have only the Master's degree. So I suspect that she's qualified for the position on the basis of her Seton Hall degree.

 

The person who interests me most is Jerome Workman (chemist at Kimberly-Clark). According to his bio, Workman has 250 scientific publications -- an incredible number for a chemist working in industry (and a prodigious output even for an academic). I thought this was a classic case of an accomplished individual without a PhD who obtained an unaccredited PhD after establishing an extraordinary record. But he obtained his Bachelor's in 1976, his Master's (RA) in 1980 and then his Columbia Pacific PhD in 1984. So this may be a case where the unaccredited PhD predated (and perhaps enabled?) a remarkable career in science.

 

Two possible reasons for glut of CPU grads in responsible positions:

1) They had a lot of graduates with docoral degrees.

2) Maybe they were't as bad as portrayed. They believe they were targeted for reasons that had nothing to do with quality of education. Maybe they were right.

 

Hi Bill and all,

The short answer is that most of us have learned to eliminate the degree from our resumes and continue to harrass CPU or CCU or whatever it calls itself regarding regional accreditation. To continue to include it on ones resume begs embarrassment.

Other readers, though, have made some excellent points. When I had the degree on my resume the outcomes varied. If I was teaching as an adjunct, they only cared about having an accredited degree one level above what program you were teaching in - i.e - Bachelors for an Associates, Masters for Bachelors, Doctorate for Masters.
However I taught as an adjunct in the MBA program of an AACBS and regionally accredited university for 15 years. They either didn't care or didn't look however it/I survived 2 site visits.
I was also College Dean of a new for- profit International Hospitality College and headed the accreditation committee and we received New England regional accreditation with the first application and I was the Chief Academic Officer. This involved a lengthy self study and 3 site visits. Strange !!
Finally, as was pointed out, when many of us earned our CPU degree's many years ago it was a well regarded program, John Bear recommneded, and aggresively pursuing Western regional accreditation at the time - so we were told !
Hope this helps,
Best wishes to all,

Roger

 

Perhaps that in many cases a good, substantive non-RA Ph.D. will suffice--especially for those who already have RA bachelor's and master's degrees and have no plans to use the doctorate in academe.

 

Hi,

I forgot to mention that when I was hired as the Controller of Central Ct. State Univ., they informed me that they considered the degree invalid without regional accreditation and advised that I not utilize it over fears of upsetting tenured faculty. Here's the interesting point, though - the business dept/finance approached me when they required a finance instructor over in Sicily for their international business program. I taught there on 2 occasions. In addition to the academics, it was a great opportunity to visit my grandfathers place of birth.
I have also been denied teaching Masters level courses in Florida for the same reason but am most welcomed to teach A/S and B/S level courses.

Thanks
Roger

 

There isn't any doubt that there are some very intelligent and prolific individuals who may have obtained unaccedited or state approved doctoral degrees.

However, I can certainly understand why tenured faculty in a university setting would be upset regarding having colleagues with equal status and remuneration who did not have to go through the rite of passage that is intrinsic to obtaining a regionally accredited doctorate.

 

Re: Re: Re: What Are Columbia Pacific Ph.D.s Doing These Days?

I suggest the answer could be related to the average age of these people. What do you think it could be? Work this back to the availability of the Internet and the gradual proliferation of information sources such as these. Without doubt, there is absolutely no reason why someone would need, or contemplate, pursuing an unaccredited PhD in this day and age. But in the late 70's, early 80's - how did people do background checks on what they were walking into? Food for thought.

Cheers,

George

 

Bill:” I made the list long enough to suggest that CPU's acceptance is more than just a fluke.

Which raises obvious questions regarding the advantages of accreditation, the influence of institutional prestige in hiring and all kinds of stuff.”

Well Bill, I say welcome back to reality.

Timmy whose all degrees are US/RA, but will never condemn anyone’s honest achievement except in situations of fraud, lies and deceit as in blatant outright MILLS.

Peace.

 

What Are CPU PhD's Doing These Days

Columbia Pacific used to publish a list of all the institutions where their PhD grads taught. The list was extensive (and I think I have it in one of my 6+ CPU file boxes).

During its heyday, (1980's to mid-1990's) CPU was extremely popular and many of its grads were doing very well with their degrees.

It was after the difficulties with the state (during the appeals from 1998-2000) that a lot of bad press started getting out about CPU, some of it deserving.

Despite its claims that it was organizing itself toward regional accreditation with WASC, such accreditation was not really possible - WASC would not accredit 'no residency' programs.

Looking back I think CPU's owners should have started up a satellite office in NCU's region (or another region) and applied for accreditation there. But I guess they could not see that far ahead.
I am told that CPU's president at the time Dr. Crews (a psychiatrist) liked to play it very safe. I believe this lack of future vision eventually became their undoing in California.

I also believe, based on an indepth analysis that took some years, that there defintely was an intent to bring down the big CA approved schools that were granting liberal amounts of credit. It seems that CPU could not adequately keep up with the changing regulations (particularly on granting liberal credit). Despite that, there is sufficient evidence from acquired CPU documents that the credit granting practice was being curtailed to a lower number within the new regulations.

Some CPU grads are not using their degrees, as Roger mentions. Many are still teaching in accredited schools (CPU was respected during the 1980's and early 1990's, and there contimued to be a wave of tolerance for alternative aproaches). One guy I know is finishing his Canadian PhD and no longer mentions CPU on his resume. He says he did just as much work for his CPU PhD as the Canadian PhD. Although I am not a PhD I continue to write with major academic types and have had two recent publications and one offer of a book writing project from a major UK-based academic publisher. Here's a link for one of the projects; I wrote the epilogue for this book...
https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%203067%206

Oh... I recently wrote my first Heriot Watt MBA exam, but don't know how I did yet.

Earon

 

Why don't the 50 individual states outlaw unaccredited colleges and universities?

 

In my first post, I listed 35 holders of Columbia Pacific doctorates who are, by all appearances, quite successful. The question was what conclusions can be drawn from this raw data. That requires some analysis.

I just looked at all 35 in more detail. I found that they fall into two broad categories.

A. The individuals who hold positions where their CPU doctorate may not have been required.

1. Four hold non-academic positions: the foundation trustee, the university administrator, the artist, the state representative. It's normal to hold these positions without possessing a doctorate.

2. Three teach at community colleges: E.N.M.U.-Roswell, Kent State-Trumbull, Penn. State-Altoona. Many people at these schools have masters degrees, and a some vocational instructors have bachelors, associates or even no degrees.

3. One never completed his CPU doctorate. U. Dayton. He's obviously employed on account of his masters degree and industry experience.

4. One teaches at a non-accredited school. Master's Divinity School, one of those "sound-alike schools" that I confused with the RA Master's College and Seminary when I was making my list.

5. One is an analytical chemist in private industry. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but when I was a biology major in the early 70's, many masters graduates in chemistry got industrial jobs as analytical chemists. Ph.D.s were more for research and teaching. But this guy has turned into a rather prolific author on subjects like spectroscopy, so perhaps he felt that he needed a doctorate as a writer's credential.

6. Three have RA doctorates as well as the CPU doctorate. Sierra Nevada, Wright State and George Mason. In the GMU example, the guy earned his CPU Ph.D. in 1991, then earned a (residential) GMU Ph.D. in 1998. Evidently this individual felt the desire to upgrade.

7. 18 work in non-community college departments or programs in which other people are teaching with only a masters degree, or occasionally even less:

GWU, U. Denver, URI, Mesa St., Wesley, NC A&T, ITP, UMDNJ, Naropa, SF State, Rennselaer, Royal Roads, UNM, Carroll College, SW Tx State, Anna Maria, U. Alaska SE, Plymouth State.

This is by far the mode here, since more than half the sample fall in this class. It's hard to say what effect the CPU doctoral degree had on these people's hiring, except that it didn't discredit them.

************************

B. The other class is that in which the CPU degree seems to have met some kind of doctoral requirement.

There are only four of these, so I'll look at them in more detail.

So. Ct. State U. The English department has 17 faculty members. 15 have RA Ph.D.s, one has an MFA (a terminal degree), and our CPU Ph.D. who is classified as an "associate professor".

U. Texas S.W. Medical Center. This gnetleman's department is all doctors, Ph.D.s and/or M.D.s. I should also point out that this is a pretty prestigious medical school.

Pittsburg State U. (in Kansas). The Health, PE and Rec. department has 10 members: 8 RA doctors and one masters holder who is classified as an "instructor". The CPU doctor is an "associate professor".

U. Florida. The Theater and Dance department has 16 members: 6 RA Ph.D.s and 8 RA MFAs. There is also an older gentleman whose bio blurb didn't list any degrees, but who is apparently an institution in the Florida arts world. Our CPU Ph.D. seems to have some impressive stage experience himself.

I'd speculate that the department wants to bring in top performing artists, but the university administration, mindful of rising in the "tiers", puts pressure on departments to ensure that everyone has terminal degrees.

**************************

Conclusion... It's too early for that. I'm not sure what I think.

But I'll say tentatively that this data suggests that the truth is somewhere in-between the warnings from the prophets of doom, and the dreamy assertions of the "accreditation doesn't matter" crowd.

Frankly, Columbia Pacific did better than I expected. There isn't any evidence here that possessing the degree is a black mark or an embarrasment. Obvously this sample doesn't tell us about all the CPU graduates who were turned down for jobs. But the fact that people who were already qualified for their positions went out and earned a CPU degree, and list it now without embarrasment, suggests that they didn't see any stigma attached.

But there is the evidence that most of these people occupy positions that they probably could have qualified for without their doctorate. So what did the degree do for them? Was it simply ignored? Was it given weight, but less than RA? Was it a tie breaker of some kind? Or was it weighted equally with an RA Ph.D.?

I doubt the latter, simply because non-RA doctoral degrees are so scarce in the teaching ranks. Obviously they are not given equal weight, or else we would see many more of them on faculty rosters. There are 116 state-approved doctorate granting schools in California alone, but their penetration remains low. Most RA schools have none, and the few that do employ them have only one or two. Ironically, when you look at the teaching rosters of the CA-approved schools themselves, they are weighted towards RA graduates as well. Even the state-approved schools prefer RA.

Bottom line: Earning a decent state-approved degree hurts less than critics fear, but accomplishes less than proponents promise.

 

CPU also seems to be popular as a degree for authors. John Gray (of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" fame) and Barbara DeAngellis (of both book and infomercial fame) have their doctorates from CPU. Before degrees via distance learning told hold at the RA schools, both CPU and Cal Coast were rather respectable. The influx of major universities onto their "turf" just raised the bar a bit too high.

Tony