The Ambassador legacy lingers on in an alert I received this evening.......
MacBigot
I’M BOILING MAD about a sullied school reputation, but there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it.
I believe I just found out why my job hunt is taking so long. Potential employers think I am fudging my educational credentials — and though they are meager regardless (an Associates in Computer Information Systems), the misunderstanding throws doubt on the whole of my resume.
The only reason I discovered the issue is that when applying to (finally) work toward a Bachelor’s degree, my transcript was discarded because, in the words of the CSA patiently leading me through the process, my old school, ‘Ambassador University’, was listed as a ‘diploma mill‘.
My eyeballs almost exploded.
Now, anyone who attended those two-and-a-half years with me will tell you that I was not the greatest student, that I didn’t have my personal act together, and that those two claims to infamy were likely responsible for each other in a yin-yang sort of way. But I did manage to escape with a degree, and with a GPA that wasn’t the worst among my cronies. And I was eventually able to parlay that brief collegiate experience into a career history that I am very proud of — with the help of some very good role models in my industry.
HOWEVER…
Fast-forward 20 years, and there is a new ‘institution’ that is clouding up the Google searches, should anyone want to investigate my alma mater.
The web addresses http://www.ambassador.fm (registered in 1999), http://www.ambassador-university.com (2005) and http://www.ambassador-edu.org (2008) point to ‘Ambassador University Corporation‘ — which by all accounts (including their own slimy web presence) is indeed a ‘diploma mill’.
For the record, I did not purchase my diploma from ‘Ambassador University Corporation’, somewhere in the Middle East.
I attended ‘Ambassador University’ in Big Sandy, Texas!
Ambassador College, later renamed Ambassador University ( http://www.ambassador.edu), had been operated by the Worldwide Church of God ( http://www.WCG.org ), now Grace Communion International ( http://www.gci.org ), between 1947 and 1997.
After working under state-only certifications for many years, Ambassador University was accredited in 1994 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
( http://sacscoc.org/
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Association_of_Colleges_and_Schools ).
Unfortunately, the school closed its doors just several years later, due to financial problems rooted in a doctrinal shift among WCG’s teachings. (originally http://www.wcg.org/wn/97/97Jan21/press.htm , Google archive at http://web.archive.org/web/20070615154354/http://www.wcg.org/wn/97/97Jan21/press.htm , PDF of article at Ambassador_University_to_close_in_May_(press_release).pdf
A detailed account of this very-real but now-missing educational institution can be found by anyone curious enough at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_University
I also learned that the CHEA database ( http://www.chea.org/ ) does not list Ambassador as having been accredited, or even that it ever existed (though I was unable to locate in this or any other database where a listing might show *formerly* accredited institutions).
Next week, I’ll try to explain all of this to the Registrar at Liberty.edu — and to several potential employers I have been shopping.
It’s even harder to explain the justice of this to my kids, who would simply like to trust that their Daddy can bring home enough money to pay for the Mac-N-Cheese, and renew the Netflix subscription.
This story is a sad unintended consequence of the demise of Herbert Armstrong’s fear religion business. And, it didn’t have to be this way if Armstrong’s various successors in the mother church and splinter church groups had used their little brains!
ReplyDeleteLet me preface by saying that my roots in Armstrongism goes back to the early 1950s through my grandfather, and I grew up in the church influence in the 1960s through 1976, and that my mother remained in the church going to LCG splinter until her passing in 2009. My sister is an Ambassador College graduate (she attended both Pasadena and Big Sandy).
I am very proud to say that I am an Ambassador College reject. I really should have my reject letter signed by William Stenger, Registrar framed and placed on my office wall. I was told I wasn’t ready for College because I skipped a year of high school graduating after 11th grade, so after AC rejected me I was accepted and enrolled in a local major state University and graduated in 4 years while also working part time/full time. I had my BS degree at age 20, and then enrolled in a prestigious Midwestern private school attaining my Masters at age 22. At this point, I would like to extend my public thanks to William Stenger for rejecting me from AC and telling me that I wasn’t ready for college at age 17 after skipping 12th grade!
About 6 years ago, I wrote an unpublished essay about my reflections and experience in the WCG. I would occasionally publish excerpts on Gavin Romney’s Ambassador Watch. Here is an excerpt from my unpublished essay that is relevant to this post:
What about Ambassador College? What about all the graduates over the years who now have a worthless degree (I’m sorry, but a degree from a defunct college is worthless on a resume). Ambassador alumni don’t even have a campus to re-visit the memories of their youthful college years. Were we so immersed in Armstrongism that we completely missed the conflicting statements of “building colleges” while at the same time hearing Armstrong predicting “time is very short”? If Armstrong really believed his own words, wouldn’t it have made more sense to spend the extorted member money on a massive final warning blitz right before the 1972 German attack - instead of spending tens of millions of dollars on college buildings, campuses, and college operations?
Certainly, other religions have established colleges. The Seventh Day Adventists have long standing educational institutions in Andrews University and Columbia Union College. I received my Masters degree from a private Midwest institution originally founded by the Church of Christ in 1881 – Drake University. Was Herbert Armstrong so selfish that he didn’t even think about an endowment for “God’s college” so it would live on in perpetuity? Apparently, he was!
Herbert Armstrong repelled as many people away from God and religion as he may have lead to God. Personally, I have no desire to attend any church or become involved in any organized religion. The Worldwide Church experience made me very disillusioned about God and religion. My whole concept of God is some being that is going to punish us for being human by causing Germans to attack America in 1972.
End of Excerpt
Richard
I feel sad for you. You're basically a really good guy, as near as I can tell, and you've become just more collateral damage from wrong headed thinking and avarice.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it remind you of Isaiah 59:15? Truth has certainly failed. In departing from evil, you've made yourself a prey.
But then, if you need a bit more than Mac-N-Cheese and a Netflix subscription, you might consider reading just a little further in the chapter. If things work the way they have for me, I suspect that in awhile, though you might have some tough times, things will work out.
This story is a sad unintended consequence of the demise of Herbert Armstrong’s fear religion business. And, it didn’t have to be this way if Armstrong’s various successors in the mother church and splinter church groups had used their little brains!
ReplyDeleteLet me preface by saying that my roots in Armstrongism goes back to the early 1950s through my grandfather, and I grew up in the church influence in the 1960s through 1976, and that my mother remained in the church going to LCG splinter until her passing in 2009. My sister is an Ambassador College graduate (she attended both Pasadena and Big Sandy).
I am very proud to say that I am an Ambassador College reject. About 6 years ago, I wrote an unpublished essay about my reflections and experience in the WCG. I would occasionally publish excerpts on Gavin Romney’s Ambassador Watch. Here is an excerpt from my unpublished essay that is relevant to this post:
What about Ambassador College? What about all the graduates over the years who now have a worthless degree (I’m sorry, but a degree from a defunct college is worthless on a resume). Ambassador alumni don’t even have a campus to re-visit the memories of their youthful college years. Were we so immersed in Armstrongism that we completely missed the conflicting statements of “building colleges” while at the same time hearing Armstrong predicting “time is very short”? If Armstrong really believed his own words, wouldn’t it have made more sense to spend the extorted member money on a massive final warning blitz right before the 1972 German attack - instead of spending tens of millions of dollars on college buildings, campuses, and college operations?
Certainly, other religions have established colleges. The Seventh Day Adventists have long standing educational institutions in Andrews University and Columbia Union College. I received my Masters degree from a private Midwest institution originally founded by the Church of Christ in 1881 – Drake University. Was Herbert Armstrong so selfish that he didn’t even think about an endowment for “God’s college” so it would live on in perpetuity? Apparently, he was!
End of Excerpt
Richard
Was Herbert Armstrong so selfish that he didn’t even think about an endowment for “God’s college” so it would live on in perpetuity?
ReplyDeleteI propose that he was extremely short sighted. It is evident he expected Ambassador College / University to last up to the end -- the return of Jesus Christ. It's doubtful he had enough foresight to see that the insane delusions under which he was operating would collapse after his death -- and, you must know, he never expected to die up until the very end.
But yes: He was also selfish.
I have seen those links for Ambassador University and Ambassador University Bookstore a lot in the last year. I am sure that is what the guy is referring to. Someone is making good use of the name.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that someone from GCI has not sued them for appropriating the name. Unless that sold rights to that too.
There was never any endowment to the college because the church was going to flee. So why collect money for the long run.
Almost all colleges have alumni associations that raise millions of dollars for their schools. Armstrongism never had any alumni associations because it was too worldly and because so many never wanted to join one. For so many after they left AC/AU they never looked back. It was an embarrassing blip in their lives.
Most people in Pasadena no longer even remember the college. Those that do only remember it for the concert series and for the work the students did for the Rose Parade.
NO2HWA,
ReplyDeleteI am also surprised that GCI has not sued the degree mill and the bookstore for appropriating the Ambassador name. After all, GCI still operates AC as an on-line Christian education program similar to LCG's Living University.
The other thing that surprises me - particularly since Church of God land is running out of names - is that Tkach hasn't sold (or thought of selling) the name "Worldwide Church of God" to one of the splinters since Tkach is no longer using the WCG brand name.
As I was reading your posts on the UCGaIA split and speculation as to what the new splinter would be called I thought to myself, "If they want the Armstrong brand in their new splinter name, why doesn't one of the organizers pick up the phone and call Joe Tkach and ask him if he would consider selling the name, "Worldwide Church of God"?
Tkach sold the significant Armstrong copyrights to Gerald Flurry for $3 Million. How much would he sell the WCG name for?
Richard
Nothing surprises me about the Armstrong empire any more. Armstrongism, to paraphrase a well known corporate slogan, is "the gift that keeps on giving!" Unfortunately, these gifts are mostly negative.
ReplyDeleteBB
Douglas,
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with you. HWA was extremely short sighted. HWA achieved business success in this life, but has no positive legacy to be remembered by. Success without a successor to protect a legacy is ultimately failure.
Few lay members in the 1970s/1980s expected HWA to die. He was suppose to lead the true Philadelphians to a place of safety (Petra) for 3 1/2 years while the Great Tribulation occurred culminating with the return of Jesus Christ.
Armstrong's death was outside the prophetic speculation scenarios. I will give credit where credit is due - in my WCG sermon notes from the 1960s/1970s C. Wayne Cole is the only WCG minister to publicly propose the possibility that time could go on for a long time. In a Feast of Tabernacles sermon at Mount Pocono, Pa. in the early 1970s, Wayne Cole asked the question, "What if time went on another 40 years, who would be the leaders in the Church of God?"
In some ways with this statement, C. Wayne Cole was a better prophetic speculator than boss Herbert Armstrong. Of course, the point Cole was making at the time went over everyone's head including yours truly.
Richard
I would recommend to Dan that he add the following statement and link to any published resume where he discloses his education: "For more information visit http://www.ambassador.edu/"
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for the innocent victims who got caught in the crossfire of the religious war that errupted for control of Herbert Armstrong's business empire following his death in 1986.
Richard
Eric Warren, a current pastor in the Canadian church, claims to have received "a degree from Ambassador University", although both he and his wife attended prior to 1982. I know that one of the ex-members of one of the congregations I attended also spreads this particular lie (claiming to have a university degree, when they really attended AC in the 60s or 70s).
ReplyDeleteLooks good on them, that they won't be able to use this particular deception anymore.