Hi all, Thanks to Rich's very informative thread regarding BSU faculty, and looking up the link for NCU faculty for another poster, I got the idea to do a quick examination of NCU's faculty roster, since I am heavily contemplating finishing up my doctorate there. I have taken the following information from their Faculty Mentor Listing page, located at: http://www.ncu.edu/faculty_mentoring.asp Total names listed (suspected a few administrators given, too): 354 Doctorate degree holders: 285 (80.5% of all faculty) Master's degree holders: 55 JD holders: 8 MD holders: 2 undetermined: 4 (one is listed as an administrative asst; not sure why she's listed on the faculty mentor page) Of those holding doctorates, 30 received them from NCU; this is 10.5% of the total faculty holding doctorates (i.e., not the aggregate total of faculty). 15 were from the School of Business, 11 from the School of Psychology, and 4 from the School of Education (which, being the newest School, IIRC, would logically have less graduates). Of the total faculty holding doctorates, 132, or 46.3%, are from distance/non-traditional, yet RA schools. Breakdown is below. 152, or 53.3%, are from B&M schools, ranging from Harvard to Univ. of North Dakota. Only one faculty member's credentials rang alarm bells for me: a holder of a Ph.D. in Psychology from California Coast University. Perhaps they allowed this since they are reapplying under DETC to award doctorates? It's a bit confusing, since another faculty member shows a Ph.D. from Columbia Pacific in the description area, but NCU clearly shows that they only grant him status with his M.Ed. from Marquette University. Okay, here's the uni breakdown: NCU, 30 Union, 7 Capella, 26 Nova, 38 Phoenix, 7 Fielding, 3 Touro, 2 U. of Sarasota, 2 Walden, 10 Saybrook, 3 Regent, 1 Argosy, 2 UNISA, 1 I thought this mini-analysis was interesting, so wanted to share. As for my personal thoughts on this, it's about what I expected -- no real surprises. And certainly nothing that would deter me from NCU, if I end up choosing them over returning to Capella. Enjoy, Adrienne
Well, certainly they could, but I decided to count them separately, to get a picture of just the types of doctorates that are usually discussed regarding RA schools on this forum (vis-a-vis the usual discussions of degree utility, faculty backgrounds, employment opportunities w/doctorates from non-traditional schools, etc). JD's are discussed only rarely, and MD's, I think even less. Of course, if you add in the JD's and MD's into the totals, then that provides even more favorable percentages for NCU in terms of # of doctorates held from B&M schools, % of doctorates earned at NCU, etc. And, you're welcome! Cheers, Adrienne
Enlightening The mini-analysis is awesome. Thanks for taking the time to do it. It's definitely very interesting.
They have done a good job in restructuring the faculty and having more Doctorate holders teaching in contrast when I was there for my doctorate some of my facilitators where MBA holders ( I did not like that). Also I see more variety of professor, when I was there the same faculty from SCUPS used to teach (or were listed) at NCU. But they had managed to sort out this quite well.
True -- I couldn't decide whether to lump them together under Argosy, or show the distinction, and thought it might be more interesting to show it, so left it as that. I had considered doing an Ed.D. from there when it was still U. of Sarasota in the late 90's; I was quite sad when I revisited the doctorate thought in 2003 that they had changed to Argosy. No offence to those Argosy learners or graduates; I just don't like the name nearly as much! Thanks for all the kudos, I'm glad y'all enjoyed the analysis. But I think I'll let someone else tackle Capella or any other school. Cheers, Adrienne
Yes, having MBA holders as my facilitators for a doc program would disturb me, too. I'm guessing that with the stringent requirements for RA accreditation, these master's holders are teaching in the undergraduate programs only . . . or at least had better be, if they want to get their accreditation renewal next year. Cheers, Adrienne
I had heard something like that about using the same faculty as SCUPS. I was not too please to learn that. Glad to know they took care of the issue. Thanks for the heads-up!
I thought the same thing. I pass by Sarasota often (it is right off of busy I-75) and thought it was a cool name. We have the University of Miami, the University of Florida, Florida State etc. Guess they thought a more geographic-netural name would be more appealing to students outside of Florida. Doesn't seen to hurt the University of Phoenix however.
I'm trying to remember what the history was of the change; when it was still U. of Sarasota, didn't they just have the two campuses, in Sarasota and Tampa (back in the late 90's)? And then when their parent company (Apollo, is it?) bought them out, that's when the name changed, and campuses became nationwide. Or did they merge with another school? It's been so long since I considered them (and I did take a class with Argosy in 2003, but their format didn't fit for me at that time), I don't really remember. Cheers, Adrienne
I too prefer the name University of Sarasota, because I just generally like place names for schools as they convey (albeit sometimes falsely) that the school is grounded in their community. However, in Argosy's case they merged with other institutions that were decidedly not in Southwest Florida, so I suppose it makes sense. "Argosy" is still weird to me, though. -=Steve=-
I believe that Northcentral is only going to hire mentors with terminal degrees from now on, at least that is what my advisor told me.
Well I know many AACSB schools that consider an LLM as a PH.D equivalent. As for an MBA, well today they are common but what about an MBA with 30 years experience in industry and 20 years teaching. I know quite a few that have run departments at major schools (albeit without a PH.D program).
There will always be the exception, of course. But NCA's accreditation handbook has this to say regarding faculty credentials (teaching at graduate level): 1. Faculty teaching in graduate programs typically hold the terminal degree determined by the discipline; 2. Faculty overseeing doctoral education should know how to conduct research appropriate to the program and degree. This is pretty much in line with all the regional accreditors -- it was certainly the same for SACS, with whom I worked closely on faculty credentials at my own workplace a couple of years ago. Industry experience and teaching are very valuable, and definitely enrich the learning experience for the student. But at the doctoral level, it's also quite important that the faculty and mentors have an intimate understanding of the research process and rigor required to complete a dissertation, since that is the end product. I personally know several MBA holders who are absolutely tops in their professions, and I learn a lot from them as a practitioner in my own field. Heck, I learn something new everyday from my Director. But I would not want him on my dissertation committee, simply because he's never worked through one himself. I need to know that those that are guiding me on this very difficult process have already gone through it. Link to NCA's downloadable accreditation Handbook: http://www.ncahlc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=116 Cheers, Adrienne
There seems to be a trend developing towards schools insisting on "terminal degrees", which can be dangerous in applied subjects where practitioners don't typically earn the terminal degree. I've heard of an art school that recently purged a number of longtime teachers. Some of them only had bachelors degrees, but they were important and productive figures in the art world. They are being replaced with Ph.D.s and departmental emphases seem to be slipping in the direction of 'postmodern' art theory. There was recently a journalism school in the news as well, with practicing journalists being thrown out and Ph.D.s being brought in to replace them. Expect a shift towards scholarly publishing in critical journalism theory. If it's the regional accreditors pushing this, it isn't healthy. The danger is that academic departments will gradually lose touch with practice. In that case it might make sense for employers to look for well-trained practitioners in trade-school settings rather than in universities. This could be a good opportunity for ACICS and ACCSCT to step up with programs that favor substance over form, favoring faculty with close ties to practice as opposed to lots of time spent in graduate school. There's an historical parallel with the Renaissance, when artists, scholars, engineers and humanists typically emerged from their own network of rough and ready master-pupil instruction powered by plenty of patronage from people like the Medicis and the Pope. The universities of the time were still mostly dominated by a medieval scholasticism that produced lots of learned doctors, but little else that anyone remembers today.
I agree as my posts in the past would indicate, at least at the undergrad and masters level. It is good to see that the AACSB recognizes the need for practitioners per their program to recruit them. More information on this is available at: http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/papers/index.asp White Papers Deploying Academically Qualified Faculty: An Interpretation of AACSB Standards Deploying Professionally Qualified Faculty: An Interpretation of AACSB Standards