Was the Price of a Ph.D. at the U. of Louisville 9 Credits and a $375,000 Grant?

A high-school superintendent earned a Ph.D. from the University of Louisville in only one semester after awarding a $375,000 grant to a university center run by Robert Felner, Louisville’s former education dean, Louisville’s Courier-Journal reported today.

The explosive news came amid a federal investigation of Mr. Felner over allegations that he misused a $694,000 grant. Among other reviews, the university is auditing finances at its education school, while the University of Rhode Island is inspecting a research center Mr. Felner founded while serving as that institution’s dean of education.

Mr. Felner stepped down from his Louisville post in August, when he was named chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Parkside. Days later, after reports of the Louisville investigation emerged, Wisconsin officials asked for Mr. Felner’s resignation. Today’s development is certain to intensify the firestorm around Mr. Felner’s rocky run through higher education.

In 2002, John E. Deasy, then superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu school district, in California, secured a $375,000 grant for Mr. Felner’s National Center on Public Education and Social Policy to conduct surveys of the school district. Two years later, Mr. Deasy was awarded a Ph.D. in education from the university, after being enrolled for only one semester of nine credit hours, the newspaper reported, citing university records.

The chairman of Mr. Deasy’s dissertation committee was Mr. Felner, who supervised no other doctoral students during his five years at the university. Now the superintendent of the Prince Georges County public schools, in Maryland, Mr. Deasy lists the degree on his Web bio. —Paul Fain

Update: Later today, the University of Louisville’s president, James R. Ramsey, formed a committee to investigate the allegations surrounding the awarding of the degree.