how to check if someone has a degree?

[godofpie]

Is there some way to check if someone's degree is real? michael occoner does regressio therpy to contact aliens. forgive my typing. im at our skeptics meeting looking for info.

[drkitten]

Is there some way to check if someone's degree is real? michael occoner does regressio therpy to contact aliens. forgive my typing. im at our skeptics meeting looking for info.

Contact the school from which the degree is supposed to come; they will usually confirm that someone is or is not a graduate.

If you don't know what the relevant school might be, contact the relevant licensure board -- or see if you can find a biography or c.v

[Furcifer]

Is there some way to check if someone's degree is real? michael occoner does regressio therpy to contact aliens. forgive my typing. im at our skeptics meeting looking for info.

Convocation ceremonies might be listed online. If you know the persons real name and school you might be able to cross reference. Notice I said "might". I'm not sure they are.

[drkitten]

Convocation ceremonies might be listed online. If you know the persons real name and school you might be able to cross reference. Notice I said "might". I'm not sure they are.

Depends on the school. It doesn't help that there may well be forty Michael O'Connors graduating from Whatsamatta U. at the same time, given how common a name like that is.

[not daSkeptic]

Even if you verify that someone does indeed have a degree, you've got to look carefully at the school themselves. An academic degree is nothing more than a formal statement made by an institution claiming that the person mentioned has met some sort of criteria. Ask yourself who is behind that institution and what are the criteria. I know of at least one woo vendor who founded his own "university" and apparently gave himself a Ph.D. It's technically legitimate but completely meaningless.

[Jeff Corey]

Is there some way to check if someone's degree is real? michael occoner does regressio therpy to contact aliens. forgive my typing. im at our skeptics meeting looking for info.

Like other posters said, give us more info and we can track this wooster down.

[lionking]

Contact the school from which the degree is supposed to come; they will usually confirm that someone is or is not a graduate.

If you don't know what the relevant school might be, contact the relevant licensure board -- or see if you can find a biography or c.v
I really doubt that would work everywhere. Privacy laws in Australia would prevent the universities from divulging this information.

[pgwenthold]

Is there some way to check if someone's degree is real? michael occoner does regressio therpy to contact aliens. forgive my typing. im at our skeptics meeting looking for info.

Advanced degrees with theses (MA, MS, PhD) will have their theses deposited in the dissertation database. In this case, it is generally pretty easy to find someone if you have a little information.

I can't do it at home, however, and only from my office.

[Jeff Corey]

I can, even from the Planet X. But I need more info.

[godofpie]

Thanks guys. I'll forward this info to our member, Jack, that is trying to debunk this guy and I will try and get more info on this woomiester. One piece of info he did give me is this guy operates out of the Little River area on the NC/SC coastal border.
(http://maps.google.com/maps?q=little%20river&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl)

[Alan]

I know of at least one woo vendor who founded his own "university" and apparently gave himself a Ph.D. It's technically legitimate but completely meaningless.
...I'll be right back. :p

[drkitten]

I really doubt that would work everywhere. Privacy laws in Australia would prevent the universities from divulging this information.

Really? That surprises me. University graduation is a public event -- that would be like refusing to confirm that someone was or was not a Member of Parliament. And the whole point of university education is to issue degrees that can later be validated.

[Furcifer]

Really? That surprises me. University graduation is a public event -- that would be like refusing to confirm that someone was or was not a Member of Parliament. And the whole point of university education is to issue degrees that can later be validated.

Here in Canada when the new privacy act came into effect people just stopped giving out any information. "Better safe than sorry".

My guess is the registrars wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole now.There's too much liability in the case for instance where an employer called to verify a degree and they mistyped the name in and said they had no record of that student attending or graduating or whatever. They'd be told to have the person request an official transcript be mailed to them.

OP: I checked my university website and they have webcasts of convocations all the way back to 2001. Strangely, I can't find a list of graduates to go with them. If you were ambitious enough you could watch the webcasts and try to find the person. That's ambition with a capital "A".