New University of Phoenix campus in Palm Springs area

In my local paper this morning there was notification that the U of Phoenix received planning permission and started building a campus in Palm Desert (near Palm Springs, CA).

Palm Desert is becoming a higher education center with College of the Desert, UC Riverside, Cal State San Bernadino, Chapman, and now UofP campuses (and possibly the World Trade Center University campus).

 

New one in Richmond, Virginia, too. I screened and trained the first group of faculty. They start classes this month.

 

There is a new one in West Palm Beach, FL near my vacation condo in Palm Beach Gardens.

Thinking about going to UofP for my MBA. Like the idea of real world instructors vs full time Ph Ds that never ran a real business in their life!


Just my opinion

 

Of course, UoP isn't the only school that offers practitioner faculty.

Be sure that you're comfortable with the learning team approach--it is no small issue.

 

Hi Ian,

Since I moved from the Palm Desert area to the Chicago area last August, maybe you could give an update on higher education there. Everything in that area seems to be way behind schedule. UC Riverside's branch campus was supposed to have been offering courses in Fall 2003 (have they even finished the buildings yet?). Is Cal State's second building done yet? (it is about two years behind schedule). UoP had plans to establish its center at least two or three years ago. If it was not for the bruhaha over the possible displacement of some fringe-toed lizards, the World Trade Center University would have been completed last year.

Of course there's still the problem that only 3 out of 10 high school graduates in Riverside County go on to college.

Tony Pina
Northeastern Illinois University

(I was with College of the Desert for 7 1/2 years and with Cal State San Bernardino's Palm Desert Campus for about 8 years)

 

There is another choice - the best faculty I've seen have both a PhD and business experience. Practitioners bring a lot to the classroom, but an understanding of underlying theory usually isn't one of their strengthes. Also, pracittioners that teach term at a time as adjuncts don't offer continuity to a school or its students and can vary widely in quality.

I think that AACSB's new approach - to focus on "participating" faculty is the way to go. This doesn't mandate full-time, tenured faculty. It does require faculty to be actively involved in governance of the curriculum, research and teaching.

Regards - Andy

 

I visited the Cypress Creek campus a couple of times to get a feeling about UoP. Most students I spoke with really like the practitioner faculty but are not too keen on the learning teams. Always seems to be at least one slacker in the group.

If I do not go to UoP I will most likely go to NCU. I like the flexibility esp since my business is growing and I do travel around.

I also like Nova Southeastern U. Am taking my time and really investigating the different schools.



Just my opinion

 

I wish I could believe this will happen but when I read the following it made me doubt it could happen:

http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v49/i41/41b01804.htm

If a large percentage of faculty members oppose the new standards who will support the change? This person appears to think the change was designed to make money, not increase the educational experience.

Just my opinion

 

Those activities aren't what determines a "practitioner," IMHO.

At UoP, it is quite common to see faculty with doctorates. It is universal to see them with current, substantive work experience related to the subject(s) they teach.

I'm not sure what the percentage is across UoP, but our graduate programs have nearly all doctoral-qualified faculty. We have a process for waiving that for senior executives (public and private).

The point is, we're not discussing a mutually exclusive dichotomy. It is possible to recruit faculty who have both a doctorate and extensive and current work experience. What UoP doesn't have is a faculty-controlled curriculum, nor does it really have much of a full-time faculty to be the "heart" of the university. I wish it did.

 

If you polled students, I bet the majority would say they don't like the learning teams, most for the reason you just stated. But overcoming a non-performing teammate is quite common in business, too, and it is a skill worth developing.

Faculty are instructed to take these differences into account, even to the point of assigning different grades to individual members for a team project, if it is clear one or more didn't participate fully. But what usually happens is the team carries the non-performer for the duration of the 5- or 6-week course, then declines to work with that person in the next course. After awhile, the non-performers shape up or they run out of teams that will have them. Of course, many drop out before that happens; it's stressful when you don't fit in.