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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scion who wrote (89002)	12/31/2004 8:55:30 AM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

YOUR HONOR, I HATE TO BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU THIS, BUT Pacific Western University is a Diploma mill =========================== peoriaaz.com Office of the Mayor John Keegan, Mayor John C. Keegan was elected Mayor of Peoria in 1997 and re-elected to four-year terms in 1999 and 2003. He is a fourth generation Arizonan and holds a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from Arizona State University and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from Pacific Western University. He has conducted post-graduate studies in strategic planning at the Naval War College and Harvard University. For over twenty years, Mayor Keegan has owned and operated an engineering and planning consulting firm. In 2000, Mayor Keegan retired with the rank of Commander from the U.S. Naval Reserve after 27 years of service in both the U.S. Army and the U.S.N.R. From 1991 to 1995, he was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. He has been recognized with the Champion of Decency Award from the American Families for Decency; the Samuel Adams Award for Outstanding Leadership in Local Government from the Local Government Council; the Arizona Planning Associations Distinguished Leadership Award; and the Maricopa Association of Governments Distinguished Service Award. Mayor Keegan serves as the district chairman for Western Maricopa County for the Boy Scouts of America Grand Canyon Council and on the Board of Directors of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and the Challenger Education Center. He is a member of the Episcopal Bishop's Strategic Planning Committee and former Senior Warden of St. Christopher's Parish. Mr. Keegan is a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association. In his spare time, he enjoys shooting his reproduction Civil War cannon. John Keegan is married to Lisa Graham Keegan and they have six children and one grandson. Contact Mayor Keegan Back to City Council This Page was last updated on 09/27/04 © City of Peoria, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. =========================================================== November 16, 2004 at 10:07PM MST Investigators: Degrees for Sale The Investigators Protect yourself against identity theft Investigators: Degrees for Sale People around the country walk away with diplomas from online schools in a matter of months. But the degrees they hold may not be worth the paper they are printed on, and you may be picking up the tab. In August, The Investigators on Eyewitness News 4 first reported the possible threat of terrorists crossing the Arizona/Mexico border into the U.S. Now, we've uncovered more evidence the threat along our border is real. Increase your earning power with some cash and a click of the mouse. It may be that easy. People around the country walk away with diplomas from online schools in a matter of months. And some of them earn more money because of it. But the degrees they hold may not be worth the paper they're printed on. And you may be picking up the tab. The Investigators on Eyewitness News 4 show you Degrees for Sale. (Online commercial: ) "Hi, and welcome to Pacific Western University.? You no longer need to sit in a classroom to learn and earn a bachelor, masters or doctorate degree in order to grow and earn more as a professional." This is an online ad for Pacific Western University. But it may not tell the whole story. Pacific Western is one of seven schools labeled as a diploma mill by federal investigators at the U.S. General Accounting Office. Their report was used in a senate investigation this year. Many online schools are perfectly legitimate. But diploma mills issue degrees sometimes without requiring any student academic work or based solely on "life experience." The government's investigation found that federal employees had obtained degrees from the online schools, like Pacific Western , with the U.S. government picking up the tab. "As long as you have a computer and an internet connection you can be a university." Education author John Bear is a former consultant to the FBI task force that cracked down on diploma mills. "The internet is the fondest, wildest dream of the diploma mills operators come true. Most importantly, they can maintain the fiction that they are a real place," says Bear. So the investigators set out to find Pacific Western University. We pay a visit to its "campus" located in Los Angeles. We don't find students, classrooms or professors. Only a small office with two receptionists and a man who introduces himself as the dean. We're handed a small registration packet that boasts successful graduates and high standing faculty. And we're told all course work takes place online. So we ask how fast we can get a degree to teach in Arizona. "Often our courses don't meet what the state requires in Arizona." It won't meet the credentialing requirements for Arizona, this program. But wait a minute. The Investigators found educators who are teaching right here in Tucson and some of them made more money because of degrees from Pacific Western University. Dr. David G. Iadevaia teaches at the Pima Community College east campus. Where he's been on the payroll for more than ten years. While he holds an accredited degree from the University of Rhode Island, he also has a PhD from Pacific Western University. Pima tells The Investigators the PhD put Iadevaia in to a higher salary bracket. Earning him an extra $32,000 since 1992. We also talked to PCC about Dr. David R. Bishop, a faculty member at the downtown campus. While holding credible degrees from two accredited schools, St. Louis University and Loyola University, Bishop also holds a PhD from Pacific Western University. Because of that PhD, Pima says he's been paid an extra $13,000 since 1997. We tried interviewing both men about their PhD's, but neither was interested in going on camera. Both say they feel misled by Pacific Western University. And thought the university was a credible school. Pima Community College conducted their own internal audit of faculty members last July about the same time we began our investigation. They discovered both those professors were using degrees from unaccredited schools.and so revoked their PhD standing, and reduced their salaries. But PCC is not going to ask the professors to reimburse taxpayers or face any disciplinary action. The Investigators wanted to know why. PCC authorities say it was the school's responsibility to check these credentials. Our education expert, John Bear, says human resource departments around the country aren't doing their homework. Patty Weiss: "What I'm astonished at, is the number of employers who don't check." John Bear: "Isn't that amazing? That they don't for such an important thing?" We wanted to know why it took so long for PCC to notice these questionable degrees. They would only provide a statement, saying the college places a great deal of value on the credentials of its faculty. Adding, that the college has now strengthened the process to assess credentials before hiring and also conducts periodic audits. And if you have a story for The Investigators, call our hotline at (520) 624-KVOA.