Fakers Found at IUPUI

Thanks to University Diaries for pointing out this story by WTHR-TV in Indianapolis about two Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis employees with questionable degrees. The university is investigating whether Natalia Rekhter, a lecturer in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs who teaches … drumroll please … an ethics seminar, of all things (!), and Tom Hulse, the chief engineer and fire-protection-services manager at IUPUI, padded their CV’s with degrees from diploma mills. An Eyewitness News reporter, Sandra Chapman, reports that …

On her Web site [Rekhter] declares a Ph.D. in Health Sciences from the “World Information Distributed University” in Belgium. The school touts a “royal decree” from its government, but national accrediting officials say it only means WIDU operators have set up a business, not a school. They have alerted IU officials to the fraud after receiving an overseas tip.

“WIDU, in my opinion, is a diploma mill. It does not have appropriate authority to issue secondary degrees from any jurisdiction,” said Alan Contreras from the Office of Degree Authorization.

Rekhter reported the Ph.D. a year after she was hired at IU, but no one checked its validity. The dean says the degree wasn’t necessary for her job.

A bachelor’s degree was a requirement for Hulse’s job, however, and he claimed to have earned one from Knightsbridge University, in Sweden, when he applied for the position in 2001, Chapman reports. Of course, he admitted to Chapman off camera that his degree has no standing in the United States, saying, “We know it’s not an accredited school. It’s not a secret.”