What's cooking for the future in the world of online doctoral programs?

There's many of us not ready for a doctoral program yet but looking to the future and weighing all our options.

Does anybody have any inside information on new doctoral programs in the works? For instance, I know someone here mentioned Sullivan University might have a new PhD program coming out soon.

Please mention anything from fact to rumor, I'd be interested in hearing it all. From what I hear there's quite a few B&M universities mulling online doctoral programs. Who? Where? Please share. Also let us know the expected availability of the program, if possible.

 

Our good friend Dr. Tony Pina is the Dean of Online Studies at Sullivan. Maybe he can shed some light on this question.

 

Hampton University is also accepting applications for their newly proposed doctorates.

Regarding Sullivan University, would be nice if we can get some specific details about the PhD in Management.

 

What kind of details do you want that can't be pulled from the university website?

 

Is a PhD in Management on their web site? I don't see it. I see an interest survey regarding a PhD in Conflict Resolution.

 

Sullivan University's Ph.D Conflict & Resolution online survey.

 

Hi Tom,

What disciplines are of interest to you? What do you plan to use the doctorate for?

 

Well, I can tell you that we have submitted a prospectus to SACS, our accrediting agency, to be able to offer a doctoral program in management, with concentrations in strategic management, conflict management or I.T. management. We are already a SACS doctoral granting institution, but this will be our first online research doctorate, so it will necessitate a site visit from the accrediting agency. Course development is underway in anticipation of a fall 2010 start, but the ball is really in SACS's court wehter we can start in '10 or must wait until '11. Since I make it a policy not to do anything on Degreeinfo that could be construed as shilling, I usually do not promote my own programs (even though I often get tempted to do so), if someone asks me questions, I would be happy to answer them here or offline.

 

Sullivan University?

I honestly can't imagine why anyone would get a doctorate from a place like Sullivan University. At my school, an applicant with a degree from such a place wouldn't even be considered.

Why waste one's time getting a fourth-rate degree? It takes almost as long as a third-rate one.

 

What is your school? Why is it assumed that the purpose of all doctorates is to work in academia at a top-notch school?

 

top-notch school?

]My school is a mid-size state university, Universities-Master's Tier-1.

Hardly top-notch but we get 100 applications for every job opening posted. Most go right into the reject pile. A degree from a place like Sullivan would go into the sub-reject pile.

You don't want to teach in a school that's lower quality than here. Even most of these students are dreadful. A few clever ones get here because of poor high school counseling; I always encourage them to transfer.

Anyone considering being an academic should understand that the market for any respectable job is very, very competitive. A good doctorate is just the beginning.

A non-professional doctorate, especially a fourth-rate one, is pretty useless in the real world.

 

When you say real world, are you referring to the corporate world or academia? I would not consider a school setting real-world.

 

As far as I can tell, Sullivan currently only offers a Doctor of Pharmacy. Does your school get lots of PharmD applicants? I imagine most of those graduates do not go into academia. Also, the potential upcoming doctoral degrees in management and conflict resolution sound like research degrees for a corporate setting to me. Am I wrong in that assumption? Do most doctoral candidates with focuses in management go through their degrees for an entry into academia or industry? I honestly do not know. I've only met a few doctors with management PhDs (in person), but they were all working in industry. My professors with management PhDs are all adjuncts, but still work full-time or as a consultant in industry.

The world of academia is still so alien to me; so much emphasis seems to be on where your degrees are from rather than what else you have accomplished. I've come to find out it's the other way around in the tech world...

 

"Real world" might mean the world where people interact, build lives, and pay bills; that is, the non-psychotic world.

The doctorate is for teaching and research in higher education. In the classroom, it is helpful to know who has been doctorally prepared. On research grants, it is helpful to know the background of the Principal Investigators. It has some clinical uses as well; it is helpful to know who are the MDs. Moreover, PharmDs control drug therapy for a whole host of discontinuous prescribers.

That said, whipping out your doctoral badge outside the clinic or classroom could indicate "the doctor" is presenting a personality disorder, such as narcissism...

 

So anyone that earns a doctorate and does not plan to use it for teaching and research in higher education falls outside the norm? Perhaps they have a personality disorder, such as narcissism...

 

I thought a lot of PhDs work outside of academia. As a matter of fact, there's two in my company; one a with a PhD in physics, and the other in Electrical Engineering. I know plenty work in academia, but I see them all over the place in industry, too.

 

Perhaps Dr Dave will share his motivation behind him earning a PhD.

Dave - was it to work in academia only?

 

How about we revisit the original question of this thread? Dave Wagner's disapproval of doctorates for any purpose other than the one's he's outlined has been duly noted.

We may now move on. Perhaps Dave can start his own thread on the usefulness of doctoral studies?

 

For more on this subject, consult DSM-IV-TR or the proposed DSM-V, especially comorbidity with sociopathy, depression, OCD, and substance abuse disorders...

 

Hi Tony, is this you? Or is Tom associated with Tony? There is no accusation of shilling but just a curious coincidence of a d3c3as3d pr3sid3nt asking about a relatively unknown, proposed doctoral program.