$147,000 for a Bossa Nova?

The former Chancellor of Phillips Community College (with campuses in DeWitt, Helena, and Stuttgart, AR) of the University of Arkansas—Steven W. Jones, Ed.D.—takes his place as President of Amarillo College on October 15, 2003.

[From the Amarillo College Web site announcing Jones' arrival]

Dr. Jones earned his doctoral degree in higher education administration from Nova Southeastern University; his master's degree in management and economics from the University of Mississippi; and his bachelor's degree in business administration from Northwestern Oklahoma State University. He is a Certified Fund Raising Executive by the Association of Fund Raising Professionals and a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources by the Personnel Accreditation Institute. Jones has also served on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Colleges and was the AACC Board Liaison to the White House Transition Team in 1993-94. Dr. Jones has been a contributing writer in three books and is the author of Exemplary Practices in Community College Marketing, which is scheduled for release in 2004. Jones will replace Dr. Bud Joyner at the helm of the college. Joyner was named president by the board in June of 2002 after former AC president Dr. Fred Williams resigned for health reasons. Joyner also served as Amarillo College's president from 1992-1999.

The blurb doesn't mention that Joyner also served as the consultant to the Board of Regents in the search for the last two presidents of Amarillo College. Can anyone spell double-dipping? Truth be known, the last president that Joyner found for the College—Fred Williams—was FIRED by the Board of Regents. Williams—a stealth president—was seen less often than Elvis or Howard Hughes. He presided over a bungled transition to proprietary institutional software and took the fall for incompetents in the IT shop. However, Williams had no local connections and—because of his reclusive behavior—no local defenders. The IT bumblers were longtime Amarillo residents. The Board of Regents then brought Luther Bud Joyner (only in Texas!) back to save the College and the day.

Thanks to Joyner and a meddling (what else) former Regent, Amarillo College will be led by a guy with an Ed.D. from (Bossa) Nova Southeastern University. I went to the (Bossa) Nova Web site and discovered that an Ed.D. in higher education could be had in TWO YEARS, with no dissertation!

All it takes is $13,584 per year. This tuition is payable in quarterly installments of $3,396 with each registration, plus a $30 registration fee each term. If a participant completes the National Ed.D. Program for Educational Leaders in fewer than 2 years, 2 full years of tuition payments are still required. Tuition beyond the second year of the Program is $1,650 per 3-month term. (Nova Online Catalog) This is about as close to a diploma mill as it comes. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools should be ashamed! I am!

To add insult to injury, Jones will be the highest paid president in the history of Amarillo College. On top of that, I have questions about his integrity. The publisher he lists for his forthcoming book must be housed in his garage because the publisher cannot be found in Books In Print. On top of that, Jones claimed to be the author of books edited by others; in one case, his contribution amounted to a single page! (Bossa) Nova + a fraudulent bibliography makes me want to puke! And, $147K (salary only), to boot! If this guy is worth 3x as much as me, I want to see him leap tall buildings in a single bound, stop a locomotive, and outrace a speeding bullet! Molly Ivins ought to get a whiff of this stuff! This makes the NYSE Board of Governors' salary package for Richard Grasso look like (comparative) chump change!

If this be (fair & balanced) outrage, so be it.