HLC Recent Actions

If the Catholic Distance University (CDU) achieves HCL accreditation; it would be a horrible name as "Distance" in the name. Since the university moved from Virginia to West Virginia; the school should be renamed as Charlestown Catholic University or Charlestown University (sounds like Georgetown University) or one of the religious saint names.

 

It's funny to me to see "PhD" and Franklin University mentioned together. I'm from Columbus, and Franklin has a pretty good local/regional reputation - mostly as a business or technology school, and it has kind of a niche for "working adults" - it always has, even way back when it was a small, unaccredited business college with night classes. I thought it was interesting that they offered the DPS in Instructional Design, and even considered it as a "someday" possibility - but Franklin has always seemed to be more of an "applied knowledge" type of school, almost like a sophisticated trade or tech school, and a PhD program, especially in ID seems a bit...strange. The DPS already seems like a rather unusual offering, but it seems to go along with their "applied knowledge" type of approach. A PhD? Seems to be a stretch. I'm not sure what else they could call it, though. The DPS is probably too esoteric of a title to attract the clientele they might want, and a PhD is still the "gold standard" doctorate. I suppose they could come up with something like a "Doctorate of Applied Science" - but unless it's a PhD or an EdD, you are still going to be looking at an unusual degree title, and they don't have the appropriate curriculum for an EdD. Maybe a DSc (Doctor of Science)?

 

I don't agree. It's a Catholic university that delivers their programs by distance. Catholic Distance University (CDU). I might not want my degree to advertise that I earned it online, but then I graduated Athabasca which is explicitly an online school, and I'm attending Quantic which is too.

 

He should get a job where he is in charge of naming schools. The number of times Tekman has proposed a name change for various schools is uncountable at this point lol

 

I like your contributions TEKMAN, but chrisjm18 has a point. You do have very strong opinions on college names lol.

 

March 2021 Actions

https://www.hlcommission.org/Student-Resources/march-2021-actions.html

Approval of Request for Change

Capella University, Minneapolis, MN

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Business Administration in Organizational Leadership and Development, General Management, and Strategy and Innovation as direct assessment competency-based education programs.

I find this quite interesting. Does this mean the DBA with the mentioned specializations will be competency-based? If so, is this a good or bad thing? Thoughts?

Bellin College, Green Bay, WI

• Approved the institution’s request to offer a Bachelor of Science in Surgical Technology.
• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice.*

*The DNP is an online cohort-model program.

 

Capella has been heavily promoting their FlexPath for Master's programs. It's natural that they would move to providing them at the doctoral level.

I don't think - and someone please correct me if I'm wrong - there's anything inherently different about completing a course on a competency basis when compared to a traditional one, even at the doctoral level. If you can demonstrate mastery of the material in 4 weeks rather than 8 or 12 weeks you've still arrived at the benchmark.

In September, they rolled out FlexPath for their DNP: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200903005214/en/Capella-University-Launches-Groundbreaking-Direct-Assessment-Doctor-of-Nursing-Practice-DNP-Program

I wonder how the DBA in Strategy and Innovation compares with the Organizational Leadership and Development specialization. I've become increasingly hostile to those organizational leadership degrees, as even though I think the material is very useful, the graduates are not learning hard skills for any particular discipline. While I once strongly considered doing a degree in this area myself, I realize now they're really robbing students of the opportunity to develop a true niche area of knowledge that will set them apart as researchers and practitioners.

 

I have no idea.

 

Let me first say, I also do not like the name "Catholic Distance University." While technically accurate, most schools do not feel the need to include their method of course delivery in the university name. University names have tended to follow simple patterns over the years....named for a place where they are located, named for a famous person who may or may not have a connection to the school or the local area, or named for the field they teach (e.g. "Technology" or "Business" etc) or, a combination of these.

There are universities that have been offering correspondences courses from well before the internet was ever really a thing. Yet they settled on "extension" or something similar to describe their program without renaming the entire school.

All of that said...

I respect what CDU has done and the following it has built. They have an extremely niche offering in that they are one of the few primarily online schools offering religious degrees that are geared toward non-clergy. Their degrees are not really meant for broad appeal and they seem to be well received within the Catholic community as, much more important than accreditation, they possess endorsement from the Catholic church to be recognized as a Catholic teaching institution. They chose their name and they built it into a respectable school. Why change the name now?

 

Because--like you pointed out--it's not a good name (it really isn't) and one without "Distance" in its name would presumably be more marketable, help attract a greater enrollment base, and bring in more funds.

 

The strange thing with the name "Catholic Distance University" is the fact that it sounds to my German ears like the English translation of a German school name.

All you write about school names is of course true for English speaking countries. But naming conventions differ between languages. In German speaking countries, it is not unusual for a school to use the term "Fernhochschule" or "Fernuniversität" as part of its name . Both terms literally mean "Distance University", but only a "Fernuniversität" also offers doctorates.
However, I believe "Distance University" still sounds somewhat better in English than the English translation of the equivalent Italian term, which is "Telematic University".

 

Wow! Great job! I just learned some Spanish right here! Anyways, just gotta wonder how they are going to do the CBE Doctoral degree... it's an interesting concept though... but what about all the residency requirements for dissertations and such...

 

May 2021 Actions

https://www.hlcommission.org/Student-Resources/may-2021-actions.html

Approval of Request for Change

Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Health Administration: Operational Leadership

Colorado State University-Global Campus, Aurora, CO

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Completion Program.

American College of Education, Indianapolis, IN

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Master of Business Administration in Social Impact.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, St. Mary of the Woods, IN

• Approved the institution’s request to offer a Ph.D. in Global Leadership. (This program offers two assistantships with full tuition, not sure if you have to be on campus since it's an online program).

Newman University, Wichita, KS

• Approved the institution’s request to advance the degree for the Nurse Anesthesia program for Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia to the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP).*
• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Business Administration.

*Hybrid

Capella University, Minneapolis, MN

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Education (EdD) specialization in Educational Leadership (which is currently offered in a credit-based model) in its direct assessment delivery option, FlexPath.
• Approved the institution’s request to open an additional location: Orlando Campus Center, 20 North Orange Avenue, Suite 102B, Orlando, Florida 32801.

Lourdes University, Sylvania, OH

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice, Concentration in Nurse Anesthesia.

Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Bartlesville, OK

• Approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).

Denial of Request for Change

Dakota State University, Madison, SD

• Denied the institution’s request to remove stipulations at the doctoral level. (Not sure if this is related to their online and/or on-campus programs). The HLC, however, approved the institution’s request to offer the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science. (This is NOT an online program).

 

20 North Orange Avenue, Suite 102B, Orlando, Florida 32801

Wow! That is a block away from my house. BTW, it is in the market, I am looking to move... https://www.redfin.com/FL/Orlando/155-S-Court-Ave-32801/unit-2202/home/46659858
DSU's Ph.D. programs somewhat mysterious, they don't seem to have any Cybersecurity Doctorate online.