For the last year, I've been a full-time Campus College Chair for the University of Phoenix. After taking my Ph.D., I decided to teach part-time for our local UoP campus. Because of my training background, they asked me to run their faculty development program and, immediately afterwards, offered me the Chair's position. So I left AT&T and the training world to enter this field full-time. It was an interesting time, but the income was, well, under-whelming. Recently, I decided to leave UoP full-time (remaining as a consultant and faculty member). Now that the transition is complete, and I'm no longer on staff at UoP, I'll be glad to be a reference point for anyone with questions about UoP. (I did, on occasion, answer UoP-related questions, but I avoided offering advice on enrolling or commenting on the quality of UoP's programs. I'll do the latter as time goes by, but enrollment is still an individual decision.) Why leave? BIG bucks, NO whammy! Also, I came to a crossroads in my career. I had to decide whether or not I was a trainer or an educator. I've decided that I'm a trainer by day and an educator when I can fit it in. So, back to the corporate world. (Note to kf5k/James: make that quintuple the figure discussed before.) In the process, I've decided to decline these opportunties: (a) Dean of Faculty Development at a major DL school and (b) Director of Accreditation at a CHEA- and USDoE-recognized accrediting agency. (Another note to kf5k/James: all of these opportunities, including UoP and the position in the private sector I took, are a direct result of my Union Ph.D. Anyway, I've decided to come back in from the cold. Along the way, I've been impressed with the small-but-active Degreeboard, and disgusted with kf5k/James' board. I trust that anyone who's visited it will know why. As time goes by, I'll probably post a bit about UoP. I'm impressed with the level of effort necessary to pass their courses. (I've taught 10 distinct courses at both the bachelor's and master's level, and I've taught 25 times overall.) They're very concerned about meeting the standard academically, but I'm disappointed in their lack of pursuit of excellence. It's good (in some cases, very good), but it doesn't seek to be great. This is too bad, given they now have more than 250,000 students and 20,000 faculty worldwide.
Thanks for the excellent summary of UoP. I'm very pleased (but not in the least bit surprised) to hear the great opportunities made available in large part because of your Union degree.
Rich- Welcome Back! I'm an UoP Online student and I agree it takes a bit of work to complete the courses. However, I'm considering tranferring out of UoP because I'm afraid of how my UoP degree may/will be percieved by business and academic circles. At this point, I'm thinking of finishing up this academic year with them and taking my units to Excelsior for the actual degree confimation. After all of the unnecessary info... Is UoP concerned about their reputation? Do we/they really know how they are percieved in business and/or academic circles? or further more do they care?
Actually, I haven't noticed. Levicoff's back, too? (Despite Levicoff's Pavlovian need to get personal--and be inaccurate in it--he and I are on the same side of almost every issue.)
UoP is very concerned with its reputation, especially to employers. They see it as having a direct impact on their ability to recruit students (the core of their business, needless to say). I don't think there is any difference, in terms of acceptability, between UoP and Excelsior, unless the scales are slightly tipped towards UoP. In most cases, employers will not know anything about either school. During the past year, whenever I told someone I worked for UoP, they're reaction was normally "Oh, online?" This despite having nine campuses in the Washington, DC metro area! In my year with UoP, I never--ever--heard a negative thing about UoP from the public. And believe me, I was looking for it.
Re: Re: Where's Rich Been? Yeah, it's been weird. When I was in the program, I didn't have any specific plans for using the degree. Now I'm making more than I'd ever dreamed possible, and it is a direct result of the degree. That other schools and an accrediting agency also found my Union degree acceptable is great, too. Except they didn't just find it acceptable, they were very interested in my research and its implications, and thought that Union was a good thing. Of course, I'd rather have a Chadwick degree and be running a hate-filled message board for degree mill shills, but it didn't work out that way. Oh, well.....
Thanks Rich I have been disappointed in the response I am getting on my research and will have to reduble my efforts which are already great. Over the holidays it is easy to wonder if it is all worth it in the end. Your discussion reaffirms my gut feeling there is some gold at the eand of the road...
Hi Rich, I'm glad that you found life "post UoP". I have always considered the U. of Phoenix to be a healthy thing for higher ed in general, as its massive success gives the rest of us at "traditional" universities the kick in the seat that we need. The competition provided by Phoenix and other institutions is affecting the rest of us (who are loath to admit that anything occurs outside of our own walls). As for Union, I have many colleagues with Union doctorates (including a few at my current institution). As far as I can tell, they have been well served by their study at Union. Tony Pina Coordinator of Learning Technologies Northeastern Illinois University
I appreciate that. But I'm not the only UoP "insider" posting here, just the only one who has now left UoP.
