RE: Liberty University - PhD programs in Calif

[Guest guest]

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 17:04:29 +0000, mike Bowser <naturaldoc1 wrote:

>>So who do you like of those PhD programs in CA? I know of several

who used to offer these like Yuin, Global, Liberty and recently AUCM.

I think that of the current PhD's in TCM/OM AUCM seems to be the best

and most respected due to Jeffrey Yuen and Kiiko Matsumoto being

primary instructors.

 

First, one has to be clear that American Global, and (my impression)

American Liberty are for those who just want to hang the initials

after their name with the least possible effort i.e. questionable if

not fraudulent. (There was another 'PhD', offered by one of the

big-name TCM colleges in the LA area too, some years ago, that also

was fraudulent. I recall Marilyn Nielson long-time executive

director of the Calif. Acup. Board -mentioning how the CAB the BPPVE,

and the State Attorney General were trying to shut that one down.)

 

>>> Have you considered lobbying the CAB to inform the immigrants

that these are illegal/illegit programs?

I did some of that, back when I attended CAB meetings, on behalf of

the school I was representing. The Am.Global " grads " were putting a

lot of pressure on the CAB to OK them. Confronting the Chinese AOM

establishment here in California is not to be done lightly. They are

really the backbone of the strength of TCM/AOM here, and by and large

truly desire higher standards. I trust that the authorities will hold

the line on genuine credentials. Although there is a definite streak

of anti-intellectualism in American society (witness the current

administration's attitude towards science), the academic

establishment here is more generally valued as a major national

treasure. The younger generations of Asians (the " ABCs " or American

Born Chinese) understand more Western values in higher education. The

flood of immigrants has been somewhat stemmed (as a byproduct of

9/11), and those were largely the clients of the easy doctorates.

 

Having said all that, my view is that there are two directions among

the legit doctorates. First, those conforming to the ACAOM model,

which are clinical doctorates, more like MD or DC, for those

interested in a higher level of rigorous clinical background. From my

(limited) knowledge, my guess is the PhDs in China, offered in

partnership with some California TCM schools are along these lines too.

 

Second, a few like AUCM's program led by Jeffery Yuen, are overtly

more academic, which means a different sort of rigor. (All the real

PhDs/clinical-doctorates require some aptitude, and a lot of serious

work.) In fact, though, the AUCM program allows flexibility as to

what one actually makes of it; i.e. one could, effectively, do it as

a more clinical program, or research oriented, or as historical

study, or in the area of theory. (BTW, although Kiiko does lead

workshops sponsored by AUCM, I haven't noticed that they are part of

the PhD program.)

 

According to Jeffery and Kathryn White (chief honcho at AUCM), the

New England School of Acupuncture (NESA), is also trying to develop

this kind of degree program, though it's not finalized or offered

yet. And there may be others in this direction. The issue seems to be

getting TCM oriented faculty onboard to allow it.

 

BTW, Jeffery noted in an aside during last weekend's workshops at

AUCM, that at the Swedish Institute (NYC), where he's a dean as well

as principle teacher in the L.Ac program, he doesn't teach diagnosis,

lest the students end up arguing with the more TCM oriented teachers.

From the viewpoint of entry-level TCM training, his material is

definitely post-graduate in nature.

 

Although not in California, one should remember that Cambridge Univ

(UK) has given us a few notable high-level academic PhDs closely

related to our field. Cases in point: Kim Taylor, Volker Scheid and

Elizabeth Hsu (and maybe others in more recent years). These all

earned doctorates ca. 1998-2000 which resulted in published books

that have added significant depth to our understanding of CM.

 

So I think it's looking pretty good for our field that we have now a

growing range of opportunities to pursue serious post-graduate

degrees, none of which were there 5 years ago (or, say 10 years ago,

in the case of the Cambridge program).

 

 

 

 

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