This is weird. And cool. https://www.chron.com/news/education/article/New-Hampshire-approves-online-sci-fi-literature-13605393.php https://signumuniversity.org/
There's no indication of it in the article. I reached the conclusion from evaluating their web site, specifically looking for the ingredients of a legitimate university that are missing from their presentation.
My first reading suggested that it was legitimate. Perhaps one of our intrepid members will investigate further. A Tolkien fan? A Trekkie?
I like it. (In fact I'm tempted to apply.) I think that I'm going to add it to Bruce's unaccredited degree programs thread. Signum's an outgrowth of the Mythgard Institute which has been around for a while. We even have at least one old thread on it. https://mythgard.org/ I like the Signum program: https://signumuniversity.org/departments/language-literature/ma-program/ Their courses are absolutely great: https://signumuniversity.org/catalog/ The faculty list includes some interesting people: https://signumuniversity.org/directory/ Corey Olsen, Signum's founder, is reasonably well known in the world of 'Tolkien studies', has written books on the subject and hosts a popular (in its niche) 'podcast'. A web search shows it being mentioned by academics on .edu websites and a number of people say they are presenting papers at Signum's conferences (in medieval style they call them "moots"). All in all, I think that this thing looks more interesting than any number of RA literature offerings, both because of its focus and not least because it's so evidently a labor of love by those who are doing it. An intersection between medieval and imaginative literature is kind of obvious to me, especially after I read Gawain and the Green Knight, which struck me as something akin to medieval science fiction. (Except that it has nothing to do with science.) It's more about imagining that one lives in a world in which a transcendent dimension is real and in some sense omni-present. That's a role that science plays today (or did until recently, the decline of science fiction over the last 20 years and the resurgence of fantasy suggests that's changing). I'm interested in religious studies as well, and the relevance is obvious.
This is just another article on the same subject http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/local-news/2019/02/13/sci-fi-university-comes-to-nashua/
I've long thought Signum was interesting - especially their Early Germanic Languages specialization. I'm not a fan of the Harry Potter stuff. Another thing I'm not a fan of - their insistence that one must have an accredited degree in order to enrol for their UNaccredited one. This is something I've often seen in real MILLS - and I don't regard Signum as a mill. For one thing - I've read a little about their faculty that leaves me with a good feeling. I have a bit of experience with the work of one of the professors, Dr. Michael Drout, who (I believe) has a day-gig as an English professor with a RA school - Wheaton College. A while ago, he created fifteen lectures for one of the well-known Course Companies - on Anglo-Saxon culture and history. Somebody posted them all to YouTube and I listened to the whole series. He's great - and it's a real pleasure to hear him read or recite Anglo-Saxon. He does it superbly and can really roll back the centuries. Yeah! A shout-out for Drout! Hey Grendel! Another round of mead, please!
OK, I know it's a little off-topic but Tolkien's home is for sale https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a29624343/jrr-tolkien-home-for-sale-england/?utm_source=digg
OK, so it's way off-topic but I know you can't get too much Tolkien news https://www.cbs58.com/news/there-and-back-again-marquette-university-loans-priceless-tolkien-manuscripts-to-paris-museum-for-special-exhibition
Signum update https://granitegeek.concordmonitor.com/2020/01/06/online-college-with-j-r-r-tolkein-emphasis-faces-a-tough-vote-in-n-h-house/