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‘Lynch maintained he was unaware he did not have the degree. “He mistakenly believed that it was complete,” she said.’

Not knowing you don’t have a PhD is the academic equivalent of not being able to find your ass with both hands, thinks ol’ UD.

It’s not as if you can overlook having to write a long manuscript over a number of years and then go to a room full of people and defend its arguments over a number of hours. It tends to concentrate the mind.

Yet the University of Pennsylvania has (had) a dean, a vice-dean of education, who (see this post’s title) has made just this claim. He’s been calling himself doctor for years based on his incorrect assumption that he has a PhD.

It’s like all those German politicians (and one Hungarian) (and millions of Korean) assuring us that they didn’t know they plagiarized their dissertations. It’s just really odd.

Anyway, Penn has put this guy on leave while they untangle the web he weaves.

***************************************

UD thanks Ian.

Margaret Soltan, April 26, 2012 7:20AM
Posted in: kind of a little weird

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12 Responses to “‘Lynch maintained he was unaware he did not have the degree. “He mistakenly believed that it was complete,” she said.’”

  1. theotherprof Says:

    Education vice-dean “Dr.” Lynch
    thought Columbia degrees were a cinch
    so he gave himself two
    one was faux; one came true
    Imaginary will do in a pinch

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    theotherprof: Excellent! You have inspired me to try my hand at one.

  3. Joe Roy Says:

    I wonder how many other administrators at Penn mistakenly believe they have a PhD. The article seems to indicate Lynch defended and was asked to make substantial revisions. There should be a post-hiring degree verification system in place (i.e. if you want us to consider you to have degree X we need a transcript or copy of the diploma).

  4. francofou Says:

    Is a non-degree in education different from a degree in education?

  5. Margaret Soltan Says:

    francofou: LOL.

  6. MattF Says:

    Maybe he got a certificate in Latin that said “Are you f**king kidding me?”

  7. Polish Peter Says:

    If you think you have a degree but you’re not getting the alumni magazine or fund-raising pitches, then you should worry there might be a problem.

  8. Ian Says:

    And he’s gone:
    http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20120426_Penns_vice-dean_resigns.html?cmpid=124488459

  9. Contingent Cassandra Says:

    I’ve had that nightmare. Actually, the nightmare I started having not long after I defended was that I’d somehow neglected to finish high school, and needed to go back (which was even weirder because one of my high school classmates did not, in fact, finish, and graduated from our mutual undergrad institution anyway).

    But I wake up. And if I’m having trouble shaking the nightmare, I can always check my transcript, the bound volume of the diss, the little blue UMI reprint, DAI, my diploma, and/or the photos of myself in what is clearly a Ph.D. gown and hood to make sure I really did finish. Also, my employer was pretty insistent on verifying my actual possession of the degree.

  10. Margaret Soltan Says:

    ContingentCassandra: Funny!

  11. Michael Tinkler Says:

    We have a new paragraph in appointment letters that makes all hiring of faculty contingent upon receipt of official transcripts proving receipt of a terminal degree. And there’s a reason for that – – 2 years ago an assistant professor disappeared in mid-semester and was promptly scrubbed from the website. Turns out he had never finished. His erstwhile dissertation advisor noticed (1) he was employed and (2) was claiming a ph.d. and informed us this was not true.

    I myself have had an occasional (not regular, praise Jesus) dream in which I am called into the Provost’s office, where my own dissertation advisor and at least one other member of the committee are waiting for in full academicals to rescind my ph.d. Yikes.

  12. theprofessor Says:

    Not only have we demanded both undergraduate and graduate transcripts for a long time here, but the academic affairs office has at various times wanted a photocopy of the actual graduate diploma.

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