Very unusual Doctorate at Harrison Middleton University (DETC school)

Tell me what you guys think about this doctorate program. It's a doctor of arts degree from Harrison Middleton University. It is a DETC nationally accredited university. They say that you have to order the Great books of the western world (or something like that), and those are pretty much your textbooks. It sounds like something that would be up my ally. It's different and filled with reading and assessing literature and history, humanities, etc. Not a stereotypical program. What do you think? Here is the program from the website Doctor of Arts Degree Program - Harrison Middleton University. These are the classes, and it's totally online:


The Doctor of Arts degree program (60 credit hours) consists of:

•The Great Conversation: The Cornerstone Course ~ 4 credit hours
•Concentration One ~ 24 credit hours
•Oral Comprehensive Examination ~ Part One
•Concentration Two ~ 24 credit hours
•Oral Comprehensive Examination ~ Part Two
•Doctoral Capstone Course ~ 8 credit hours

It sounds very interesting to me because it is so "out of the box" which pretty much describes me. Plus I don't see a lot of the annoying classes that are typically associated with a doctoral program at a regional or national college, etc. Does anyone know about any other really unusual doctorates? This is a program that I would consider pursuing because it's cheaper than a regional college, plus it is not a cloudy, indiscernible, and strange as some of these overseas degrees that I hear about. In addition, the accreditation is legitimate.:wow:

 

Many members of this forum talk about this program/are completers. I hate when people just say use the search box, but for this question, just use the search box :fing02:

 

I still don't get the benefit of a DETC degree...just wouldn't want to work that hard for a degree that wouldn't really move me forward professionally. But your post intrigued me, I think it would be fun to study the great books, so I followed your link, then searched for cost. $350/credit strikes me as crazy. $21,000+ and you have to justify the degree to those that matter (and those that don't matter wont care anyways)....thanks but no thanks.

Am I missing something? Other than spending lottery money on a personal interest degree what would be the utility of such a degree?

 

Harrison Middleton University is quite small, and in practice, it seems that few students complete their programs. According to HMU statistics, they have only issued about 30 degrees total (including bachelor's, master's, and doctorates) since 2003. As of December 2013, they have only issued three doctoral degrees, including two Doctor of Arts degrees and one Doctor of Education degree.

 

Are we seriously doing this AGAIN? LOL!

Where have you gotten the terribly erroneous idea that a DETC degree is useless? I mean, besides the doom rhetoric often expressed in this forum?

 

I don't understand the point of getting this particular DETC degree other than for personal enrichment. Your teaching options would be extremely limited, and it's not exactly an in demand degree in the private sector. Doesn't Faulkner University have a doctorate in the great books? They are RA.

 

I could be imagining this, but wasn't there a thread or post about a Harrison Middleton Doctoral grad who'd gotten tenure at an RA University? I could've sworn I read that here, I can't find it in search though.

 

If that is so, it wouldn't change the fact that teaching options would be limited.

 

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Agreed.

 

Yes you would be limited to one of the 3,000+ or so nationally accredited schools plus apparently one regionally accredited school, and then of course one of the 1,655 community colleges assuming you have a RA graduate degree and use the DA as a differentiator.. very limited teaching options, good point.

 

It's tough for NA grads to land teaching positions at NA schools. Education and Healthcare are two tough nuts to crack for NA degree holders. It happens, but it's tougher.

 

There's a whole bunch of information about it at Home - Harrison Middleton University. Oh, and for opinions about it, you should check out DegreeInfo Distance Learning - online degree forum - The Front Page.

 

You're probably thinking of Travis Wilson, HMU DA student (not yet grad), and (now) associate professor of Interior Design at Western Kentucky University, discussed in this 2010 thread.

Here's Prof. Wilson: 1, 2. Here are faculty and staff in his department, Family and Consumer Science.

It looks like the primary credential supporting his appointment was his Master of Architecture from the University of Oklahoma, which holds both RA and specialized professional accreditation. The MArch is widely considered a terminal master's degree.

Further, every single instructor listed as teaching Interior Design at WKU lists a master's as their highest degree.

Having started his academic career in interior design on the basis of his terminal master's (and surely hard work, smarts, and luck), pursuing the HMU DA seems to be a top-up. It's certainly plausible that it may have helped him along the way. From a distance we can't really tell whether or how much it has.

 

Strawman. That poster didn't say it was "useless." He said he didn't understand pursuing a degree that did move him forward professionally.

It could be useful to some, unless a degree from a regionally accredited school was required.

 

That assumption, that a doctorate from an NA school would somehow be a discriminator at community colleges, is untested and is based on a huge assumption. I'd like to see more than a couple of unconfirmed anecdotes before I would accept it.

 

Strawman? Hardly. The first line of his post: "I still don't get the benefit of a DETC degree..."

It appears he's implying that there is no benefit, or at the very least he does not see a benefit... the proceeding sentence further suggests it. If something has no benefit then it certainly can't be useful.

 

Let's think about what teaching is going on at NA schools. A DA program from HMU will have two concentrations chosen from among Imaginative Literature, Natural Science, Philosophy and Religion, and Social Science, and will be based very strongly in the Great Books of the Western World.

How much teaching in these or closely related subjects is going on in "3,000+ or so nationally accredited schools?" And where a doctorate degree would be highly salient in hiring? Remember that many NA schools offer no degrees, and those that offer degrees skew towards lower degree levels. In a recent survey of about 750 ACCSC schools, 54% of schools offered no degrees at all. "66% of students are enrolled in non-degree programs, 22% of students are enrolled in associate degree programs, 11% of students are enrolled in baccalaureate degree programs and 1% of students are enrolled in master’s degree programs." All ACCSC and ACICS programs are in professional fields. Most DETC degree programs are. Then we have ABHE and TRACS schools where teaching is rooted strongly in Christianity and the Bible. A secular DETC Great Books doctorate would be a curveball qualification to teach at one of these, not unbelievable but surprising.

Sure, but now we're layering on one big assumption that's stated directly (the RA graduate degree), and another assumption just beneath the surface (that others in the applicant pool won't have their own top-ups beyond an RA master's that are equal or potentially stronger, like RA doctoral-level education).

 

Here we go again.

I say do what makes you happy. Get the degree for yourself, not some company or school.

 

I say do what makes you happy -- if you can afford it. Note that this degree costs over $21,000. If you have that kind of cash in your recreation budget, and are fascinated by the Great Books, then go for it.

I would bet that there are lots of people who would love to study the Great Books online with HMU -- but I would also bet that most of them don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spare for this purpose. And that's probably why HMU has only issued three doctoral degrees in its history.

 

I think they call that 'General Education'.