State Health Plan Executive Administrator Jack Walker's dissertation is on file in Ann Arbor, Mich., but it's not at the University of Michigan as he thought.
The 197-page dissertation is stored at a company called ProQuest/UMI, which contracts with several hundred universities around the world to store research papers, Dan Kane reports.
Walker wrote the dissertation while enrolled at Columbia Pacific University, a for-profit correspondence school near San Francisco that the state forced closed in 2000.
State officials questioned the school's academic rigor. Walker received his Ph.D. in Administration and Management in 1992, while the school's degrees were still considered legitimate by California. The school has never been accredited by a regional or national entity, as most colleges and universities are.
On Monday, Adam Linker, a blogger with N.C. Policy Watch, called the Ph.D. a fake degree. But Walker said he worked hard on the degree and the dissertation, which is entitled "Closing the Candy Store: Replacing Individual Health Care Wants with Societal Management of These Resources."
Carol Wadke, an author school relations specialist for ProQuest/UMI, said people often confuse the company with the university. They think that UMI refers to the school, when it stands for University Microfilms Inc.
Even if the doctorate is suspect, it could be a moot point regarding the executive administrator's position. Plan spokeswoman Linda McCrudden said a Ph.D. is not a requirement for the job.
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Re: More on Walker's Ph.D. dissertation
considered legitimate but not from an accredited college/university. what a joke. there are a few serious schools like the university of phoenix offering online or absentee based degrees, but many are designed to generate credentials for public employees and educators who are paid not for performance but for a piece of paper.