(NAME-MCE) Louisville Says Doctorate Earned in Semester Is Legit

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Louisville Says Doctorate Earned in Semester Is Legit

The University of Louisville has concluded that a much-questioned doctorate
it awarded -- for one semester of study -- was legitimate, The Louisville
Courier-Journal reported. The doctorate was awarded to John Deasy in 2004 --
and appears to violate university rules about residency requirements. Deasy,
as a school superintendent, had given money to a research center headed by
the then-dean of Louisville's education college, who then went on to chair
Deasy's dissertation committee, leading to questions about the legitimacy of
the degree. But the university found that the "totality of the
circumstances" indicated an appropriate process. At the same time,
Louisville announced that it is tightening the procedures about exemptions
from normal procedures for doctorates. The former dean, Robert Felner, was
for years popular with administrators even as he angered many professors. In
October, he was indicted on 10 counts of mail fraud, money-laundering and
income-tax evasion related to charges that he fraudulently obtained grants
for Louisville and the University of Rhode Island. He has denied
wrongdoing.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090421/NEWS01/90421029/1008/U+of+L+to+allow+educator+to+keep+doctoral+degree


April 21, 2009

U of L to allow educator to keep doctoral degree

By Nancy C. Rodriguez • nrodriguez at courier-journal.com  • April 21, 2009

The University of Louisville announced today that it will allow a former
school superintendent to keep a 2004 doctoral degree about which questions
had been raised.

The announcement ends a more than eight-month-long review to determine
whether the degree was improperly award to John Deasy, who now works for the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Former U of L Education Dean Robert Felner, who is facing federal fraud
charges in connection with the alleged misuse of federal grant money, was
Deasy's adviser and chairman of his dissertation committee.

“Based on the totality of the circumstances and the information available,
it is evident that waivers were granted by the then-graduate dean which
permitted the student to register and defend his dissertation in one
semester,” a statement released this afternoon by the university said. “The
dissertation defense before a committee of University of Louisville (College
of Education and Human Development) faculty was successful, and the degree
was subsequently awarded. … The degree stands; no further action will be
taken.”

The statement said the review has been concluded and “confirms the integrity
of our degree granting process. We do not give away degrees.”

Citing federal and state student confidentiality laws, the university said
it would not comment further.

It did, however, note that several changes have or are being instituted at
the graduate school. They include changing the authority of the graduate
dean so that he or she can no longer allow certain types of exemptions and
variances in graduate student programs without specific requests from the
student, the student’s mentor, the department chair, the dean and the
provost.

U of L President James Ramsey called for the review after The
Courier-Journal and WHAS-TV reported in September that Deasy, a former
California school superintendent who had given a research center run by
Felner a $375,000 contract in 2002, subsequently got a doctoral degree from
U of L after studying there only one semester.

That would appear to violate a university rule requiring doctoral candidates
to spend at least two years studying at U of L, including at least one in
full-time residency.

The awarding of the degree has not resulted in the university being
sanctioned by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools, which accredits schools in 11 Southern states,
including Kentucky, according to the association.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education was expected to
review the matter as part of its re-accreditation of the university’s
College of Education and Human Development, which is currently under way.
The association’s president, James Chibulka, was out of town and not
available for comment yesterday.

Felner, who came to U of L in 2003, resigned as dean in June to take a job
in Wisconsin. He withdrew from that position after reports of a federal
investigation into misappropriation of federal and other grant money became
public.

In October Felner and a colleague, Thomas Schroeder of Port Byron, Ill.,
pleaded not guilty to federal charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit
money laundering and defrauding the Internal Revenue Service in connection
with the grant probe.

Government prosecutors allege that the two used their Illinois-based
National Center for Public Education and Prevention Inc. to defraud U of L
and the University of Rhode Island, where Felner was involved in another
research center he helped create.

The government alleges that the men used the Illinois center, which lists
Schroeder as president, to divert funds owed to the two universities,
siphoning $2.3 million.