A time bomb waiting to explode at Capella

A faculty member (Diane Stottlemyer) at Capella University recently received her PhD from LaCrosse University. She probably paid $2200 for the degree. http://www.capella.edu/aspscripts/schools/technology/fullfaclist.asp

LaCrosse University appears to be a fraud. It has no recognized accreditation. The outfit has been discussed here before. http://www.lacrosseuniversity.com/

 

If I live to be 100, I'll never understand how legitimate schools (Capella certainly is) can let things like this slide by.

I'll also never understand why someone with a decent resume (which Ms. Stottlemyer apparently has) feels compelled to ruin it with stuff like this.

Do I smell another Mercer University incident on the horizon?


Bruce

 

It also appears that Ms. Stottlemyer is an instructor for CALCampus, the late Ray Chasse's enterprise that's connected to American Coastline University. http://www.calcampus.com/faculty.htm

One more troubling thing...Ms. Stottlemyer lists a Master's degree in her Capella bio, but doesn't state where it's from. She doesn't list a Master's in her CALCampus bio. Can possibly have her Master's from LaCrosse also?


Bruce

 

Ms. Stottlemyer

It appears that Ms. Stottlemeyer has certainly made the rounds:

"Diane Stottlemyer is a Certified Software Test Engineer and Programmer. She holds a Masters degree in Computer Science and enjoys teaching. She works for Capella University and Franklin University designing and teaching courses. She also is an instructor for ElementK, CalCampus, SmartPlanet and ConnectedU." http://www.iuniversityonline.com/courses/infotech/D1G21I.html

"DIANE STOTTLEMYER is a certified software test engineer and information technology expert with more than ten years’ experience. She has consulted for several Fortune 500 companies–including IBM and Wachovia–and has designed test plans, scripts, cases, and scenarios for many different projects. She teaches IT and Internet Business courses for AOL, ElementK, Connected University, Franklin University, and Capella University, and has published several articles with Lectures Online." http://www.josseybass.com/Corporate/Website/Objects/Products/0,9049,1284002,00.html

Online resume: http://www.free-for-recruiters.com/Resumes/VA/38447-Resume.html

Steven King

 

Stottlemeyer would have been a colleague of degreeinfo regular Dr. John Wetsch on the Capella faculty. Perhaps he will comment...

 

And also sometimes-regular Paul Coverstone, who is a Ph.D. candidate at Capella.


Bruce

 

I spoke to the Chancellor at Capella, my friend Bruce Francis. He says the person in question is only teaching Bachelor's level courses, and her Bachelor's degree from Indiana is sufficient. However when she asked about teaching Master's courses, she was told she would need a Master's with recognized accreditation. Dr. Francis did not discuss the current situation, but said the person in question has been given six months to become enrolled in a Master's program with recognized accreditation, and that Capella does not accept or recognize degrees from LaCrosse.

 

My sense of all of this is that it depends on what you are looking for in faculty. Since the instructor in question works for me, I can verify that her technical qualifications put her in good stead to effectively teach IT material to her students. She does, no question, a quality job. I've met quite a few Ph.D's who think far more of themselves than their students do. I've also met quite a few Ph.D.'s who are absolutely brilliant and a joy to have teaching. So perhaps the person makes the job, not the degree? I think this is a case of attempting to shore up academic letters to validate information already known. Perhaps there was some prompting in the background to get the percentage of Ph.D.'s at certain institutions up? Since the instructor isn't here to defend herself, this may all be simple conjecture.

 

Welcome to degreeinfo.com and perhaps clarification is in order...

You will notice a broad diversity in the members of this forum. However, many here are united about the utility of properly accredited institutions vs. those with questionable accreditation. With that in mind, a "defense" of less-than-wonderful credentials is not the desire of the original post. I am sure the instructor in question could defend her reasons for attaining her degree - and I haven't noticed the posts calling her technical expertise into question.

Numerous individuals frequent these boards that have attained degrees from questionable institutions. These same people will defend their choices to the death. We who have an affinity for distance education accept that some will fall by the wayside (consider it a type of academic graciousness). People will still opt for the easy, unaccredited pathway to achieve higher education.

Consider the vision of degreeinfo.com to show individuals, and particularly those yearning for higher education that falls within GAAP, the possible, nay, the probable pitfalls of a questionable education.

Regards,
Steven King
For the record,
BA General Ministries, Bethany College, Scott's Valley, CA (RA)
MBA (in progress), Touro University International (RA)

 

To claim a degree that is obtained not from a university, but from a business posing as one, is the commission of a lie. This is true even if the position held does not require a degree at that level.

The process of obtaining a certificate that pretends to be a college degree sullies the purchaser, especially if that person works in higher education.

If the head cook at a Burger King claimed to have attended a chef's school, and it was later determined to be untrue, that person would be fired, even though the BK job does not require attendance at a chef's school. The person would be fired for the lie, not the lack of qualifications.

All that said, I still don't believe it appropriate to divulge the person's name here. Notify Capella, certainly. But then leave it to the school to fix the problem. (And the fix shouldn't be to require her to get a real degree; it should be to discharge her for lying about having one.)

Rich Douglas

 

And I actually agree with that Stephen. There is no question that there are some pitfalls. Having earned both my BA and MBA through highly respected institutions, however, I am also aware that the degree does not make the person. I am, in addition, more than somewhat surprised to find that someone, anyone, would banter someone elses name around, unless they propose to e-mail her to allow her involvement in the discussion. Perhaps everyone could learn something from this. I also find it rather interesting that of those both initiating this discussion and posting replies to the original message by Ike (whose e-mail is, interestingly enough, not available) very few are actually employed in academia. Either they are ill-informed or haven't been around the block enough times to know how academia work. I agree with Bruce, however, that although most institutions have made internal decisions relative to what degrees are acceptable, in no way should anyone's name be associated with the discussion.

 

I'm surprised, Rich, that you would jump to that conclusion. In point of fact, there was no malfeasance. Everyone, Capella included, has been informed of the degrees. If you thing that there is a single hiring institution in the United States that doesn't know which institutions are accredited, by whom, and for what, you are kidding yourself. Each institution is free to make a choice about what accrediting bodies they choose, or don't choose, to recognize. Do I think you can get a job at, for example, Cal State Northridge with a degree from National Louis? No. Do I think that there are, however, a lot of other institutions who hire, not based on the letters after your name, but based on your ability to inspire your students to learn? You bet. The warning to prospective degree seeking students wishing to work in higher ed (and believe me there is no bias here, since the institution I currently work for doesn't offer degrees) is to know what the institutions you would like to teach at accept, BEFORE you begin the application process.

 

and I agree, that if my Burger King employee lied, I would fire them. BUT, if my Burger King employee worked from some lousy food joint BEFORE he applied with me, am I going to call him a liar because I don't like where we worked before? Of course not. I take the reputation of the employer into account (I would think more of a head chef from Mariott than I would Dora's diner)but I don't call the employee a liar because I don't like where they were employed....any more than calling someone a liar because I don't like where they were degreed. That's irresponsible.

 

PamD wrote

As I see it this is really out of line. Capella should be profusely appoligising at this point, but instead is still listing the faculty member in question as XXXXXX. PhD. on this page

wonder what the accreditor would feel about Capella misleading students and potential students with this degree listing? I agree with Rich--

PamD also Wrote:

We aren't complaining about where she worked before, but the degree she is still claiming to hold (and about the fact that Capella acting in a two-faced manner: advertising the degree to the public while telling her she will need to get a RA masters degree)

 

Perhaps, but she does hold the degree...you just don't like where she holds it from.

 

I wonder how many of you had to work full time and tried to acquire a degree. It is difficult to work and get an education and places like Lacrosse University allow you the flexibility to get a degree. If you go to Lacrosse’s page you will see that they have an accreditation from the WAUC and it is licensed by the board of regents for the State of Louisiana. Lacrosse requires a full course load and a dissertation that is on file. The degree is earned not bought.

 

It's interesting to note that since yesterday, the biography of this person has changed. Although still listed as PhD on the faculty page, the bio itself now states BS and there is NO mention whatsoever about PhD from Lacrosse when just yesterday the masters degree (from no college) and the PhD from LaCrosse were both in the faculty bio.

Capella seems to have forgotten to change the faculty listing. Wonder how long it will take them to catch that one??

And it's quite obvious from the very recent corrections that Capella does indeed know that this is a problem -- and one that they would rather not see come to light with current or prospective students, not to mention accreditors.

 

I don't believe there is a legitimate school anywhere in which one can EARN a doctorate in 14 months and a combination masters/doctorate in 16 months as is advertised at Lacrosse. If so -- point me in that direction. (Remember I said legitimate!!)

As for working full time and trying to get a degree -- add full time mom of teenagers on top of that and I can honestly say I have done so at a RA university.

There are plenty of legitimate schools out there that allow the flexibility of distance learning with minimal residence. To say that one like Lacrosse is the only kind that offers the flexibility is just not so. The only thing Lacrosse offers that legitimate schools do not is a cheap (no pun intended) degree in a ridiculously short amount of time.

I would like to see a list of courses included in the doctoral program (there are none listed on the website that I can find) and some examples of dissertations written for the PhD programs at Lacrosse. If these dissertations are on file why are at least the abstracts not available? In fact, in the degree requirements stated on the website, there is nothing about a dissertation.

excerpt: Graduation may occur at any time, if the student has completed study requirements, met all financial obligations, and submitted a request for graduation.

 

I earned AS, BA, and MA degrees from regionally accredited schools, all while working full-time and then some. It can be done if you want to put in the effort and not take shortcuts.

On the other hand, WAUC is a joke. "Accreditation" from them is academically meaningless, and the sole purpose of having it is to dupe people into thinking they're enrolling a school that has legitimate accreditation.

Is LaCrosse a degree mill? I don't know enough about it to say for certain, but I certainly wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I think Rich Douglas summed it up nicely when he said that LaCrosse is a business, not a school.


Bruce

 

I would like to commend Capella for pulling the LaCrosse reference so quickly. IMO, there were two dangers in listing it on a faculty bio:

1) Those who don't know any better would think LaCrosse was legitimate, since a faculty member at an RA school had a doctorate from them.

2) Those who do know better might look less favorably on Capella for allowing a LaCrosse degree to be listed.

In any case, Capella did the right thing and modified the bio very quickly. Case closed, as far as I'm concerned.


Bruce