PHD accreditations

[Questioninggeller]

I just saw this:

Why Abiogenesis Is Impossible

Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.

First published in CRSQ—Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 4, March 2000

“Abiogenesis is only one area of research which illustrates that the naturalistic origin of life hypothesis has become less and less probable as molecular biology has progressed, and is now at the point that its plausibility appears outside the realm of probability. Numerous origin-of-life researchers, have lamented the fact that molecular biology during the past half-a-century has not been very kind to any naturalistic origin-of-life theory. Perhaps this explains why researchers now are speculating that other events such as panspermia or an undiscovered “life law” are more probable than all existing terrestrial abiogenesis theories, and can better deal with the many seemingly insurmountable problems of abiogenesis.”
...

http://www.trueorigin.org/abio.asp

I thought it strange for a PhD so write such a thing. So I found his biography at A in G, and at least two of these degrees raised red flags:

Education
...
Ph.D. in human biology, Columbia Pacific University, San Rafael, California, 1992.
...
B.S., Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1970. Major area of study was sociology, biology, and psychology.
...

1) His PhD in biology is, well, Columbia Pacific University was never accredited and was shut down by California for operating illegally.

2) His Wayne State University degree isn't listed, but his CV lists three different subjects including psychology. About that,

he was dismissed from his job and sued school that he briefly worked at. But the[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Bergman]"court ruled that the reason he was let go was because of ethics, namely that he claimed to have credentials in psychology when, in fact, he 'had no psychological credentials."

 

[Complexity]

There are two semi-legitimate reasons for this.

The first is that "professor" technically outranks "doctor" as a title (in English), in the same way that "duke" outranks "baron," and so forth. I don't use "dr" my formal correspondence for the same reason that I don't mention my Master's degree; the "professor" title trumps both. And as a practicing academic, the doctorate is more or less implicit anyway.

Many in academia feel this way, of course.

No longer in academia, I find these pecking-order battles to be, well, academic.

 

[ReligionStudent]

Exactly. Moreover, I have never known anyone with a PhD to have a reason (ego?) to put the title in the phone book.

Well some might put doctor in the phone book if it is their business number. i think my father might for his vet hospital (though he is VMD not PHD).

 

[joobz]

Many in academia feel this way, of course.

No longer in academia, I find these pecking-order battles to be, well, academic.

But pecking orders don't exist in industry?
I wonder if a PE would feel the same way, or a EIT or a technician...

Politics exist in either environment.

 

[ReligionStudent]

BTW, I found this one in the disertation search through Columbia U.

Monism, atheism, and the naturalist worldview: Perspectives from evolutionary biology
by Graffin, Gregory W., Ph.D., Cornell University, 2003, 292 pages; AAT 3104570

Much more accredited than all of those creationist guys. (20 Xp to anyone who knows what the author is up to now).

 

[pgwenthold]

1) His PhD in biology is, well, Columbia Pacific University was never accredited and was shut down by California for operating illegally.

His PhD thesis is not listed in the Dissertations database (under either Jerry Bergman or Gerald Bergman - there are a couple of Gerald Bergman's, but neither PhD is in Biology nor from Columbia Pacific). Pretty much any legitimate domestic PhD will be deposited there (mine is there, so is Laura Schlessinger's, Bill Cosby's, and Martin Luther King's)

 

[drkitten]

But pecking orders don't exist in industry?
I wonder if a PE would feel the same way, or a EIT or a technician...

Of course they do, but the pecking orders tend to be more job-related. There are things that a PE can do that an EIT typically can't.

On the other hand, I teach the same courses today, write for the same journals, and fill out the same grant appliations that I did as a wet-behind-the-ears assistant professor, or even as a graduate "instructor" without a professorship or a Ph.D.

There are a couple of subtle points related to the academic titles. A "professor," for example, is typically tenured and a member of the graduate faculty, while an "instructor" is not. This is important if you are trying to fill a Ph.D. supervisory committee. Some committees require certain rank of their members. Knowing who the professors are lets you know which rings to kiss. But it really does work out to be a "to sheep other sheep appear different" situation, by and large.