American Public University

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: American Public University

I missed your point. So having been a FT faculty member at a couple RA universities makes you an accreditation expert.

I have earned one degree from an MSA accredited university and another from an SACS accredited university. I am now working on a degree from an NCA accredited university and I can't tell the difference. But then again I don't claim to be an accreditation expert.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: American Public University

Sorry if I hit a nerve. I understand then that what appears to have been a statement of fact by you is not based on any actual experience either as faculty or an educational administrator at a regionally accredited school?

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: American Public University

I'm pretty sure that nowhere in my postings do I claim to be an "accreditation expert" - or to issue "papal bulls". I have noticed a willingness of people to take cheap shots rather than answer a question.

 

Champ,

There is simply nothing is this response of any substance or merit. A question has been put to Ted regarding what he has based his assertions on. This is very simple and straighforward.

Your claim, otoh, that "I too have been a FT faculty member at an SACS and NCA accredited university" raises quite a few questions.

 

I looked at APUS/AMUs online programs, and was impressed. I hope they do get RA. Looks like they earned it. It was a little too military-oriented for me though, so I chose another school.

I'm curous. Did they really have offices and staff? I remember someone posted a pic of some school in California. It was a brick building in a residential area, small parking lot, near a dumpster. Please tell me APUS/AMU has a real office and staff.

About UMUC. A lot of that is online, so it is an online university, right? They don't have much of a campus overseas I heard, since all their buildings and offices are supplied by the military. As for the place in Adelphi, I heard it's pretty grand, but am not sure how much it is used for f2f classes. According to the UMUC overseas profs and their website http://facultysalaries.sonador.com they're struggling over there because of bad management decisions.

By the way, the new president Susan Aldridge gave an interview to the Washington Times. Here's the link: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/03/20/1472808.htm I got it from www.umucreview.com

UMUC is a well-kept secret and she's vowed to spread the word.

It seems like if APUS/AMU could get RA maybe they could take over the UMUC military programs, since APUS/AMU has such a large and reputable military studies program.

 

Yes, University of Maryland University College is an online school.

 

I looked up AMU on Google maps using the satellite imagry. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's really cool. It's like having your own spy satellite on your computer.

Anyway, AMU looks to be a fairly decent sized office building with a rather large parking lot surrounding it. It is in Manassas, VA.

According to AMU's web site, they have 50 full-time and more than 300 adjunct faculty members. Many also hold teaching positions at other universities.

 

I've talked to a couple of Navy guys the last year or two about their continued education. I must admit slight disappointment that neither of them had heard of AMU. Anyone know what AMU's reputation is like in the military, perhaps it is better known in one branch of the military over the others?

 

Ok, just so those who aren't Catholic (like me) or haven't read Catholic theology (like me, to a point) don't get the wrong idea: there is no such thing as a Papal Bull of Infallibility.

 

AMU was founded by a retired army Major who:

1. Quickly found that he would "always be a major" in the military dominated world of defense contracting and its retired colonels and generals.

2. Perceived a market demand for a degree recognized by the Federal Govt and that would emphasize the "comfort zone" of military personnel.

If anything, he underestimated the demand - kudos to him. OTOH:

1. AMU is not a "research institution" - it's a "check the block" institution (much like Argosy, Roosevelt, NSL, etc.). Officers going to grad school are not sent to AMU. AMU is likely to have a greater reputation OUTSIDE the military (army), where it's reputation is unknown - which is NOT to say it's a bad school.

2. Having faculty that are simultaneously teaching at multiple schools is not an indicator of quality (either way) - and having a set number of FT faculty is a RA requirement. Since AMU has made the effort to gain RA status, the number of FT faculty has greatly increased.

 

Yup. In terms of prestige, it's below other programs associated with the military that have a strongly utilitarian, check-the-block-for-promotion bent, e.g. UMUC, Oklahoma, Troy, Chapman, Webster, National, etc.

Through their loose-affiliation with the military community, these schools fulfill promotion requirements for middle management levels; however, it's rare that a graduate of one of these is promoted to the highest leadership levels (I know of one exceptional case, someone with multiple graduate degrees). In that regard, I would expect an AMU grad to also be "always a Major".

The service's best and brightest are sent to graduate programs at civilian schools completely unaffiliated with the services, or to the service's own resident senior service universities (National War College, Naval Postgraduate School, Postgraduate Intelligence Program, etc.).

 

AMU Pay

How and how much does AMU pay its professors? Anybody know?

 

Thanks for the interesting responses.

BTW, Major doesn't seem to be such a shabby rank to me. Although I had a friend who retired a Colonel and he was not at all satisfied with that.

 

Bill, "command" leadership is the ultimate measure of distinction in military service.

Someone who retires at Major has generally held command only once, at the rank of Captain (Commander for the naval services). A Colonel has held command three times, at successively higher levels.

Someone who retires at Major is generally regarded to have not distinguished themselves while holding command as a Captain. My boss is one of those retired Colonels who holds retired Majors in disdain precisely for this reason. In Army parlance, a retired Major is generally considered a "leaf eater", not a "meat eater".

These generalizations don't apply to officers in the specialty branches - special ops, aviation, medical, legal, etc.

 

Hmm, a review of the USAF Air Staff, Air Secretariat, and MAJCOM commanders (a relatively small number of personnel) reveals a few Central Michigan, Golden Gate, and Troy State alumni. It also has a few whose only graduate work is from the National War College and the various Staff and Command Colleges. The other notable thing about many of those with graduate degrees through more traditional programs were AFROTC students during the Vietnam Era and had their commisions deferred while attending graduate school immediately following completion of their undergraduate requirements.

Due to the impending retirement of the leaderhip that entered service during th Vietnam era, I expect to see more senior officers with non-traditional (nights, weekends, and eventually DL) in upcoming years.

 

You guys are all retired military, right? I'd join too if they would only make me a field marshall or a 7-star general. I'd like to design my own cluster of stars.

Is APUS/AMU all military? I'm getting that drift from this thread. Are they going to get RA and then start an aggressive advertising campaign to attract all the online military people? It's a smart business move. What's their teaching faculty like (F/T or P/T)?

I'm better go & have a look at their web site. Now I'm really curious.

 

APUS (APU. AMU) is not strictly for members of the military as many of their students, like myself, are civilians not affiliated with the military. In my case, the subjects interest me and align well with the transferable skills I have developed in my present career, and a potential career change in a few years have been a good match.

 

Online chemistry course

Has anyone here taken APU's online chemistry course?
Thanks

 

General Info

Hope this helps your discussion:

Founder was a Marine Major in the aviation field who had prior enlisted service and earned his bachelor's degree while serving. Retired at 20 years to start an online school for military officers to earn a military-related degree...institution transformed over years by following needs of military and public service sectors.

APUS (AMU/APU/ACC) was premature effort to realize the founder's grand vision to educate the public and eventually become a publicly-held entity. Didn't work, caused confusion, and a branding/naming study is underway to fix it.

If NCA RA achieved (NCA Review Committee session is May 8), we will retain DETC accreditation as well. DETC and NCA combined standards and expertise make for a stronger institution. Plus a loyalty bond with DETC. NCA has been a four year process. We explored SACS, but at the time (1997) their criteria were very input/prescriptive and a for-profit, total DL, fledgling institution did not meet their 16 eligibility requirements. Accrediting bodies (national and regional) are so different that they are difficult to compare, and one surely cannot make qualitative judgements on their standards. All are good, just different.

We have more than 100 full-time staff members and 35 full-time faculty members. We own two office buildings (historical renovations) in downtown Charles Town (16K sf combined) and rent two others. We are relocating our Manassas offices to a larger (25K sf) facility to better house our marketing and student services operations).

We are in process of preparing for Title IV participation on/about July 1. This culminates a three-year process with the DoEd.

Been with AMU/APUS since 1995; manage accreditation efforts.

JimH

 

Thanks so much for replying. I am a student at AMU and have been in contact with the provost there. Many ( I mean many) students are interested in a PhD program in history and or military history. The interest is there. I even set up a poll on here and on other forums. It was overwhelming. As I told the provost, one school has to step up and take the lead in offering history PhD's by DL. The school may take hits at first, but eventually the wall will have been breached and this will be feasible for many schools to try this. AMU (APUS) can always say they were the first. If you would like to PM me, I would be open to suggestions. By the way, there was a major interest in the BBS boards at AMU as well.