Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Consultant urges UW screening changes
UW-Parkside fiasco brings scrutiny to vetting process
The UW System hired consultant Stephen Portch and paid him $12,500 to review the process for hiring chancellors. The move came after Robert Felner, who was supposed to take the reins at Parkside on July 1, resigned from that appointment in the midst of a federal probe involving his use of funds at the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development.
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Posted in Administration
PageOneKentucky.com: Another Degree Scandal Is Brewing at the University of Louisville
Lewis “Sonny” Bass, a very wealthy donor for the University of Louisville, the man who wrote a white wash of a letter to the Courier-Journal in late August, may have wrongly received a degree from the University of Louisville.
His name may be familiar. Bass was a UofL football player in the early 1940s and has given millions of dollars to the University of Louisville over the years. For things like this and this.
Bass, who spent time at UofL during his football years, has decades of successful business and life experience. That’s not to be discounted.
But according to sources at UofL (we can’t reveal who they are, but remember the stories we’ve broken so far– they’re high-level individuals), Mr. Bass was offered an honorary degree over the summer. But he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted an actual, earned degree. So individuals within the College of Education enrolled him in a fast track program that would give him credit for life experience, which has to be documented in the form of a portfolio.
A student was assigned (and paid) to assemble a portfolio for Bass but eventually grew to be uncomfortable with the arrangement. At one point, after complaining, she was reportedly offered more money to appease her worries but eventually backed out of the process. A new student was then assigned.
According to professors we spoke with at UofL, Bass never showed up to classes he was supposed to attend this summer. He never did any of the work required of him. And professors were uncomfortable giving grades to him– that he didn’t earn– since he was never in their classes.
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Posted in Academics, Corruption
WHAS11.com: U of L talking about Robert Felner and alleged misuse of grant money for first time
Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) – Major new developments have surfaced in the Robert Felner investigation.
For the first time the University of Louisville is talking about former dean Robert Felner and the alleged misuse of federal grant money and other problems with his employment.
But as that was going on, WHAS11 News learned that Felner has paid back some money to the university and we’ve also learned more about an associate of his who got a PhD in four months.
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Posted in Administration, Corruption, Legal issues
AP: University of Ill. virtual campus flounders
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — An $8.9 million online campus launched by the University of Illinois nine months ago has had disappointing enrollment and fewer course offerings than expected, but the man who created it isn’t giving up.
Instead, University of Illinois President Joseph White said he wants to turn the school’s Global Campus into an independent, accredited university to speed up development of degree programs.
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Posted in Corporate University
[A lot cheaper than U of Louisville doctorates]
The Chronicle: A Ph.D. in Insurrection
Thai Protesters Offer $3 Doctorates
Where else can you earn a Ph.D. for helping to overthrow a democratically elected government?
For the past few weeks, at a makeshift tent on the grounds of Thailand’s Government House, a degree in political reform from Ratchadamnoen University has been for sale for just $3. True, this university — named for the road where rallies were held to demand that Thailand’s prime minister step down — isn’t exactly accredited. Nor is the “curriculum to rescue the nation” from the “puppet government,” as the certificate declares, approved by education officials. But organizers say that protesters are getting a hands-on political education available nowhere else.
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Posted in Academics
AP: SBOE bars illegal immigrants from Ala. jr colleges
PELL CITY, Ala. (AP) — A pared-down state board of education has passed a new policy denying illegal immigrants admission to Alabama’s two-year colleges.
The policy, which takes affect next spring, was passed on a 4-0 vote Thursday, with one member abstaining. Three others were absent, as was Gov. Bob Riley, the board’s president.
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Posted in Equity
Southern Maryland Online: Deasy’s Resume Shows Questions, Doctorate Remains Under Investigation
WASHINGTON (Sept. 24, 2008) — Prince George’s County Schools Superintendent John E. Deasy has two anomalies on his resume, according to a review of the document by Capital News Service.
Deasy is already under scrutiny for receiving a doctorate from the University of Louisville with only nine credit hours. He was awarded his doctorate two years after giving the research company owned by his adviser, Robert Felner, a three-year, $375,000 contract. Felner is under federal investigation for misappropriation of funds.
Deasy listed a faculty position in the doctoral program of Educational Leadership and Social Justice at Loyola Marymount University, Calif., from 2003 to present. The university’s human resources department could not find him listed as a current or former faculty member.
There also was a date discrepancy on the resume he had on file in the Prince George’s Schools office of the superintendent.
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Posted in Academics, Corruption, Legal issues
The Chronicle: When Professors Print Their Own Diplomas, Who Needs Universities?
David Wiley taught an online course at Utah State University last fall and let anyone fully participate, even if they weren’t enrolled. In the end, five people the registrar had never heard of joined discussions with the 15 or so regular students and got papers graded by Mr. Wiley, who considered the extra work a public service.
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Posted in Academic freedom, Technology
The Chronicle News Blog: Degrees Earned at Megachurch Win Accreditor’s Recognition
After some uncertainty, a regional accreditor has granted recognition to the college degrees earned by 25 students who took classes at a suburban Atlanta megachurch that was affiliated with North Carolina Central University.
Belle S. Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges, was forced to weigh the matter after the university failed to notify the accrediting agency that some of its students were located at the 10,000-seat New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Lithonia, about 20 miles east of Atlanta and about 400 miles west of the main North Carolina Central campus, in Durham.
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Posted in Academics
Inside Higher Ed: Beware the Button Police
Sporting an Obama or McCain button? Driving a car with one of the campaigns’ bumper stickers? You might need to be careful on University of Illinois campuses.
The university system’s ethics office sent a notice to all employees, including faculty members, telling them that they could not wear political buttons on campus or feature bumper stickers on cars parked in campus lots unless the messages on those buttons and stickers were strictly nonpartisan. In addition, professors were told that they could not attend political rallies on campuses if those rallies express support for a candidate or political party.
Faculty leaders were stunned by the directives. Some wrote to the ethics office to ask if the message was intended to apply to professors; they were told that it was. At Illinois campuses, as elsewhere, many professors do demonstrate their political convictions on buttons, bumper stickers and the like.
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Posted in Free speech
The Chronicle: Ithaca College Professor Says Political Views Influenced Her Tenure Denial
A sociology professor at Ithaca College who has been denied tenure there twice says colleagues and administrators let their political views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict get in the way of their judgments on her tenure bid.
The assistant professor, Margo Ramlal-Nankoe, has hired the same law firm that represented Norman G. Finkelstein, who was denied tenure at DePaul University last year after a highly public battle that focused on his critical writings about Israel. DePaul reached a settlement with Mr. Finkelstein last September (The Chronicle, September 6, 2007).
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Posted in Tenure & Promotion
The Chronicle News Blog: U. of Iowa Fires 2 Vice Presidents Over Handling of Rape Accusations
The University of Iowa has fired two senior administrators who were singled out for criticism in an outside law firm’s investigation of the university’s response to an alleged sexual assault. President Sally Mason had asked the two men — Phillip Jones, vice president for student services, and Marcus Mills, vice president for legal affairs and general counsel — to resign, and when they declined, she fired them, according to a statement on the university’s Web site.
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Posted in Administration
The Chronicle News Blog: Higher Education’s Career Ladder May Be Broken, Study Finds
There aren’t enough young junior-faculty members in the professoriate, and most of them won’t have enough time to rise through the ranks in academe to become a college president, a recent study says.
“Too Many Rungs on the Ladder? Faculty Demographics and the Future of Leadership in Higher Education,” a new report by the American Council on Education, highlights demographic trends that suggest that the traditional career ladder to top administrative jobs in higher education may be in need of repair.
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Posted in Administration, Faculty
Education Week: Probe Into Ky. Grant Leaps State Borders
A federal investigation into the alleged misuse of a $694,000 U.S. Department of Education grant is having ramifications for college and public school administrators in three states.
The probe involves Robert D. Felner, a former dean of the education school at the University of Louisville, Ky., who oversaw the grant. It was created in a 2005 federal spending bill to establish a center at the university to improve student achievement in Kentucky under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
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Posted in Legal issues
The Chronicle News Blog: U. of Georgia Professor Gets Salary Increase in Settlement
A professor of marketing whom the the University of Georgia said had violated a campus antibias policy received a $57,000 salary increase as part of a settlement that also includes her early retirement and an agreement not to sue the university, the student newspaper reported today.
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Posted in Faculty, Legal issues, Salary/Economic Benefits
South Bend Tribune: IUSB professor sanctioned for his conduct
University won’t say what penalties he faces, but he must do his own grading.
SOUTH BEND — An Indiana University South Bend professor has been sanctioned by the university after an investigation into his professional conduct.
Professor Otis B. Grant faces sanctions as a result of student complaints that he allowed a nonemployee to grade student work and access student academic records, a potential violation of federal privacy laws.
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Posted in Faculty
The Chronicle News Blog: Cheney Ordered to Preserve Records in Case Closely Watched by Academic Groups
Washington — A federal judge has ordered Vice President Dick Cheney to preserve all records that relate to his office and official duties pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by a watchdog group and several scholarly associations.
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Posted in Government, Legal issues
South Bend Tribune: IUSB professor sanctioned for his conduct
University won’t say what penalties he faces, but he must do his own grading.
SOUTH BEND — An Indiana University South Bend professor has been sanctioned by the university after an investigation into his professional conduct.
Professor Otis B. Grant faces sanctions as a result of student complaints that he allowed a nonemployee to grade student work and access student academic records, a potential violation of federal privacy laws.
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Posted in Faculty
Courier-Journal: Weaknesses seen in U of L grant monitoring system
Officials admit rigor of the system varies
Last year, the University of Louisville received $77 million in federal grants — just a small chunk of taxpayer awards that flow to universities each year for research in fields ranging from medicine to education.
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At most universities, including U of L, a mix of federal regulations, financial accounting and administrative monitoring provides oversight for those grants and is typically sufficient to deter misuse, experts and grant administrators say.
But a federal criminal investigation into the potential misappropriation of a $694,000 federal education grant has raised questions about whether gaps exist at U of L — at a time when grant funding at the university has risen sharply.
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Posted in Administration
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Stop Trying To Get Tenure and Start Trying To Enjoy Yourself
Inside Higher Ed: Stop Trying To Get Tenure and Start Trying To Enjoy Yourself
By Gary W. Lewandowski Jr.
Congratulations! You have a tenure-track position. Now what? Seriously, how are you going to make the transition from tenure-track to tenured? What is the best way to spend your time? How much emphasis should you put on teaching? What are the scholarship expectations? Where should you publish? Do you need to be first author? Should you continue working with your graduate advisor? Should you stick to safe avenues of inquiry or take chances with new ideas? How many committees should you sit on? How many campus initiatives should you join? What, if anything, can you turn down? What is the relative value of teaching, scholarship, and service?
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Posted in Campus Life, Commentary, Tenure & Promotion