Trinity International University of Ambassadors (TIUA)

Saw this person come across my LinkedIn: Dr. Michele D. Clark of "LIFT After Breast Cancer." It was interesting that she lists herself as Dr. Michele D. Clark, LMSW.

I was expecting to see a DSW or maybe an EdD, but the lack of postnominal threw me off.

On her LinkedIn under education, she lists an "Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy Entrepreneurship and Bisiness Administration" from Trinity International University of Ambassadors (TIUA) School of Business.

According to their website, TIUA may not have an accreditation recognized by CHEA, though I'm open to heing corrected if anyone recognizes these: https://www.trinityiua.org/accreditation/?lang=ena

Pretty misleading to use the honorific while not holding an earned PhD, especially when the honorary PhD is from an unaccredited school offering life experience degrees.

I also wonder if the Michigan Board of Social Work would permit that usage, but a quick search didn't turn up anything clear.

 

Using the title "doctor" is unregulated. No one is going to arrest Julius Erving, you know?

But using it fraudulently can very much be a problem, even if the degree itself is from a legitimate source.

And no one awards honorary PhD's anymore. John Bear attributes this to a time in the 1930s when Gonzaga University gave Bing Crosby on, and he subsequently made great fun of being "Dr Crosby" on his radio show. These days, schools generally award degrees whose titles are clearly honarary.