
Firpo Carr
.
I. Designated Research Grant Recipient (2015)
Grant Title: "The Effect of Educational Intervention on Surgeons' Mental Anguish in Non-Blood Treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses"
Grant
Awarded By: University of Phoenix, School of Advanced Studies
.
II.
Adjunct Faculty Member
(a) Center for Healthcare Research, School
of Advanced Studies, University of Phoenix (2014 - present)
(b)
University of Phoenix (1994 - present): College of Humanities and Sciences; College of Health Professions (School
of Nursing, School of Health Services Administration, and School of Public Health)
(c) University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Extension (1994)
(d) Mount Saint Mary's College
(Los Angeles, Chalon Campus) (2004)
.
III. Certified
Advanced Facilitator
University of Phoenix
Courses Approved to Teach:
(a) HCS/482 Health Care Informatics
(b) HCS/483 Health Care Information Systems
(c) HCS/533 Health Information Systems
(d) HSN/375 Informatics for Patient-Centered Care
(e) HUM/115 Critical Thinking in Everyday Life
(f) REL/133 World Religious Traditions I (Eastern Religions)
(g) REL/134 World Religious Traditions II (Western Religions
Article "Facilitating Classroom Harmony with the R.A.W. Deal" by Firpo Carr featured in December 2015 issue
of Phoenix Rising: Faculty Newsletter, College of Humanities and Sciences
Lecture "Determining
if Surgeons and Anesthesiologists Experience Anxiety When Considering Non-Blood Treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses" by
Firpo Carr, September 2015, University of Phoenix Academic Research Symposium.
Article
"Is Blood Transfusion a Dangerously Outdated 'Game'?" by Firpo Carr, June 2015, University of Phoenix, School of
Advanced Studies, Center of Healthcare Research.
Lecture
"Why 'Online Learning' Needs a New Name: Introducing the I.T.E.A.C.H. Modality" by Firpo Carr, September 2014, University
of Phoenix Academic Research Symposium.
.
IV. Doctoral Candidate (2016)
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology
Specialization:
Health Psychology
Northcentral University
.
Doctor of Philosophy
Specialization: Computer Information Systems
Pacific Western University
Before being purchased by
the regionally accredited California Miramar University in San Diego, California, Pacific Western University (PWU), California,
was a State Approved institution authorized to grant diplomas. Instead of being a "diploma mill," it met the same
rigorous scrutiny of the California Bureau of Private Post-Secondary and Vocational Education as did regionally accredited
schools. This classification was acknowledged and validated in a General Accounting Office (GAO) Report to the Senate Committee
on Governmental Affairs Hearings (2004), Washington, D.C. That PWU was a completely legitimate institution of higher learning
was entered twice in the Official Record.
When my Ph.D. was issued, PWU was Authorized to Operate by the State of
California Superintendent of Public Instruciton in accordance with California Education Code Section: 94310 (c).
Regional accreditation
itself is a voluntary process. No school is required, by law, to become accredited. One of the main reasons schools seek accreditation
is to gain access to federal student grants and loans. As Education Services notes, "Almost all accredited schools earn
the majority of their tuition dollars (some as high as 90%) from these federal grant and loan programs." PWU elected
not to seek accreditation as it had no interest in seeking federal student grants or loans.
A disturbing piece
of misinformation is that a degree from PWU is somehow inferior because it came from a non-accredited school. Nothing could
be farther from the truth. The United States Department of Education says "non-accredited institutions are not reviewed
against a set of standards to determine the quality of their education and training. This does not necessarily mean that a
non-accredited institution is of poor quality."
To ensure that PWU was not a "diploma
mill" or "poor quality" institution, the California State Approval process for Pacific Western University included
a qualitative review, assessment, and approval of all of the following:
- Institutional purpose, mission, and objectives.
- Governance
and administration.
- Curriculum.
- Instruction.
- Faculty, including their qualifications.
- Physical
facilities.
- Administrative personnel.
- Procedures for keeping educational records.
- Tuition,
fee, and refund schedules.
- Admissions standards.
- Financial aid policies and
practices.
- Scholastic regulations and graduation requirements.
- Ethical principles
and practices.
- Library and other learning resources.
- Student activities and services.
- Degrees
offered.
Interestingly, some states require institutions of higher learning that may
have regional accreditation to be State Approved before they can grant degrees. As noted above, PWU's "curriculum,"
"instruction," "admission standards," and "ethical principles and practices" were carefully
scrutinized before being State Approved. PWU is considered one of the first (if not the first) institution of higher learning
to offer distant learning. My employer at the time, International Business Machines (IBM) recognized
the potential of distant learning and paid 100% percent of my tuition. Still, the education industry looked askance at distant
learning.
Illustrating this point is an article from the Independent
of Sunday (London) dated July 11, 2004. I was the subject of its cover story in my role of spokesman for the Jackson
family during the trial of Michael Jackson. The byline stated in part: “Dr. Firpo Carr, a man with two degrees who felt
the need to augment his qualifications with a PhD from an on-line university.” Going into more
detail within the article itself, Robert Chalmers, the investigative reporter, wrote:
“Carr’s
enemies focus on his doctorate, a qualification in Computing Information Systems from the Californian branch of the Pacific
Western University, based in Hawaii, an on-line institution widely critiqued as a ‘diploma-mill’. But when I called
the relevant universities to check on his previous degrees (the first, also in computing, from the University of San Francisco,
the second a Master’s in management from the University of Redlands, California) both confirmed his CV as genuine. So
did his former employers, including the LAPD. Carr currently works part-time for a satellite campus of the University of Phoenix,
lecturing in Comparative Religion.”
Pacific Western University was no “diploma-mill.”
It was simply decades ahead of its time insofar as distant-learning as an educational approach was concerned. Now, one would
be hard pressed to find a regionally accredited university (including the top Ivy League schools) that does not offer either
online distant-learning courses or degrees.
This is also true in the UK where Chalmers and the
Independent on Sunday can be found. Oxford University offers distant-learning online courses, as does Cambridge University.
In fact, Cambridge offers what it calls “MOOCs,” meaning “massive open online courses.”
It cannot be overstated. In offering distant-learning courses and degrees, PWU
pioneered the way, and in time the rest of the world followed.
.
Master's Degree,
Management (1986)
University of Redlands.
.
Bachelor's Degree, Information Systems Management (1982)
University of San Francisco
.
V. Student Advisory Board Member (2016)
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Department of Psychology
Northcentral University
.
VI. Student Affiliate Member (2014)
American Psychological Association (APA)
.
VII.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Office of Continuing
Education in Psychology (CEP)
APA Annual Convention in Denver, CO, August
4-August 7, 2016
Assigned Student Monitor (Representing CEP and APA)
.
(a) "Spiritual Practices in Psychotherapy: Thirteen Tools for
Enhancing Psychological Health"
(b) "Best Practices in Gifted Assessment"
.
VIII. Scholarly Peer-Reviewed Contributions
(a) Coauthor of the article "Jehovah's Witnesses"
in the two-volume encyclopedia set,
African American Religious Cultures (2009)
(b) SOURCE: Publisher's
Preface for Publication of
Leningradensis
[Codex Leningrad B19a, or,
Leningrad
Codex] • Released: 1998
"It is a source of pride for the Ancient Biblical Manuscript
Center, and West Semitic Research, along with the University of Michigan, to offer the world of biblical scholarship this
facsimile edition of Leningradensis, the oldest complete Hebrew Bible in the world. A microfilm copy of the Codex which has
been used for the printed editions of Biblia Hebraica (1937) and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (1967/1977) has existed for
over sixty years. A facsimile edition of the Codex using the available films was published by Makor Press in 1970. Even so,
it was clear that the Codex should be rephotographed using the latest technology.