Field of Interest
S. Michael Halloran
Case studies address repugnant moral and ethical behavior experienced in US universities
during many years as a corporate CEO and professor.
Introduction
|
|||
The author attached an appendix entitled Field of Interest to a letter of intent submitted as an application to H&SS/LL&C, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
|
|
||
![]() |
S. Michael Halloran, Chair, LL&C issued a letter of acceptance
H&SS/LL&C had almost six weeks to question the content of the appendix or to ask for clarification. It clearly delineated a plan of study in keeping with the graphic and technical communication program which Robert Krull described and broadly publicized, especially at University of Massachusetts (UMass-Amherst).
As a professor and administrator in the Massachusetts system I could have completed a doctorate at UMass without paying tuition; however, UMass did not have a technical communication program so the dean referred me to Rensselaer based upon Krull’s misrepresentation of the LL&C program.
|
|
||
![]() |
In keeping with the misleading statement on the H&SS/LL&C web site, Krull lied to UMass: “For over 30 years, our PhD graduates have been the leaders in the study of the relationship between communication and technology. As new forms of technologically mediated communication emerge, research and scholarship are needed to describe their nature and account for their unique effects.” He created an absolute travesty for hundreds of doctoral students.
After acceptance for doctoral study, a letter contained a peremptory statement which effectively rejected out of hand the field of study statement submitted with the PhD application. Ironically, the statement reiterated the H&SS/LL&C mission statement.
Appendix to PhD Application
Field of Interest
The relationship of visual communication to science and technology provides for a logical approach to the disciplines and problems of the applied or graphic arts. It allows exploration of the accepted rules and procedures encountered in graphic art which are aesthetically independent of fine art and must be approached according to their own principles.
For two decades there has been an increasing development of communication and reproduction processes to the point where technology and craft are now inseparable. A new and different approach to the subject is necessary if knowledge and experience are to keep pace with the changing times.
Indentured apprenticeships no longer exist, and the creative responsibilities of the art have moved from the craftsman to the designer who must now have an understanding of current and proposed technological changes.
Type is an integral part of communications collateral, yet it is rarely recognized for what it really is, a medium for transmitting information without drawing attention to itself. The complex yet subtle balance that type has with graphic design must be explored logically, with a view to assimilating knowledge and teaching skills necessary to produce quality products.
The typographer must have a concern for the letter form based on an understanding of both the evolution of the various type designs and of modern digitized techniques. Illegible and unreadable type reflects upon the whole communication process and must therefore be considered at the conceptual design stage as an important part of the production. This can only be achieved by a pragmatic approach to the different perspectives of typography. These perspectives include the use of type in the past, present, and future, its inherent rules, and its place as a part of modern communications technology.
Research will be organized under the assumption that the application of communication theory in technical and scientific communication is essential in finding workable solutions to problems. It will be arranged for reciprocity of subject matter, thereby obviating the accumulation of useless and segmented knowledge. The instruments and methods of the new technologies will be studied, and the interdependence of design and reproduction will be considered at length.
Knowledge gained will be applied specifically to the thesis.
Thesis
Relevancy of traditional and Bauhaus concepts and disciplines, and their impact in a highly technological environment.
Background
Work experience, related background, study/research emphasis, and career goals, may be ascertained from the appended documentation. [Curriculum Vitae]
See Also: [Dissertation Suggestions]
|
Contra Cabal web sites have achieved an extraordinary readership. If Paul Trummel dies before he completes his work, then trustees have authority to continue publication as an educational project through the newly formed Contra Cabal Foundation, London which will own all publication rights. The Foundation will publish Contra Cabal in perpetuity in the way that Sonia Orwell posthumously published the collected works of George Orwell. Foundation trustees and directors (professional people, lawyers, and academicians in UK and US connected directly and indirectly with the International Federation of Journalists) will supervise editorial and design functions using young investigative reporters and graphic designers who wish to further their education in journalism. They will receive trade union freelance rates of payment for their work. The Foundation will respect former trustee the late William D Winn's last admonition "Go get 'em!" by continuing to report academic malfeasance and to expose morally repugnant academicians and public officials. Readers should consider the articles and case studies as a work in progress. More information about academic or government fraud and deceit frequently surfaces after victims or their associates read Contra Cabal. That information becomes part of a relevant case study after verification and validation. Students and current faculty members write letters to the editor on politically sensitive issues. Some correspondents request name withholding to avoid retaliation. Contra Cabal electronic magazine contains expose and satire. Probably one of the first to appear on the web, it has now published since 1992. The hits/month range between 100,000 and 150,000 with more than 1.5 million hits by about 60,000 unique visitors during the past twelve months. The "New Releases" menu lists new, updated, or revised articles on the four Contra Cabal sites. |
||
|
Paul Trummel PhD (RPI ABD), PhD (UW ABD), MS (RPI), MSc (UK), BSc (UK) Associate Professor, Communication and Rhetoric (Retired) International Federation of Journalists, Brussels (International Press Card)
|
||
![]() |
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
© Copyright 1985 by Paul Trummel |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
New Releases Shirley Ann Jackson, the latest arrival in a trio of uncaring Rensselaer presidents: Schmidt (1988), Pipes (1993), Jackson (1999), continued to employ Thomas Phelan, former H&SS Dean, as "university historian" and publicly adulated him at his death (2006), knowing that he had defrauded the university of millions of dollars by posing as a PhD when he did not hold a post-graduate degree. Phelan's fraud trickled down to negatively affect students. Informed about denial of due process of law to untenured faculty and students, Jackson did nothing about it. She maintains a hypocritical political silence on issues that have had a devastating effect on many faculty and student lives while she unashamedly touts an ethical institution. Phelan's deanship allowed him to employ a cabal of unqualified and inexperienced faculty that in turn short-changed hundreds of students who had paid one of the highest rates of tuition in the US. RPI breach of contract left them with a huge tuition debt and cost them millions of dollars in income through loss of their careers. Successive deans Duchin (1996) and Harrington (2002) covered up the criminal activity that they inherited which effectively made them accessories after the fact. 2007 has seen publication of a series of articles that expose academic and criminal fraud at Rensselaer and University of Washington (UW). They describe a cover-up of ongoing fraud that Jackson, Palazzo, and Harrington (RPI) also Emmert (UW) have neglected to address. A list of fifteen articles published during September includes a new series entitled Roll of Dishonor which exposes alleged criminal activity by individual tenured faculty members and administrators. New case studies will continue to appear each month. Information about academic fraud and deceit frequently surfaces after alumni and former faculty members read Contra Cabal. That information becomes part of a relevant case study after verification and validation. Students and current faculty members also write letters to the editor on politically sensitive issues. Some correspondents request name withholding to avoid retaliation which the editor, a professional journalist, honors. Send letters to the editor at: Case studies explain in detail the nature of alleged crimes. |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Letters to the Editor Letters should not exceed 250 words, with preference given to those letters responding to articles published in Contra Cabal. Letters must include the author's name, city, and state, email address, and a phone number for contact and verification. The Editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity and not to publish all letters. By submission of a letter, the author agrees that Contra Cabal may publish and/or license the publication of letters in print, electronically, and for archival purposes.
|
||||||||||
|
|
About the Author |
|||||
|
Paul Trummel (Nmesis) Paul Trummel, published since 1944, uses the pseudonym Nmesis and openly declares personal or conflicting interests. These conflicts may relate to topics or to opinion, especially when the content draws upon advocacy, experience, conclusion, or interpretation. As an accredited journalist, he conforms with the code of conduct and ethics of the journalism profession, tested by courts in both Great Britain and the USA. Since 1947, he has worked as a journalist, an editor (commercial and academic peer-review), a technical communicator, an associate professor (visual communi-cation and rhetoric), and as an administrator at several leading universities. He has held international press credentials since 1959 and holds two elected international graphic arts fellowships. He earned professional letters in the UK that translated into two baccalaureate degrees and a terminal graduate degree in the US. He has also earned a Rensselaer graduate degree and two US PhD degrees (now ABD). He taught graduate level students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Northeastern University, Fitchburg State College, He held an administrative post at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and has lectured at universities in US, Europe, and Japan. In 1957 (London), he founded and operated the first full-service technical communication organization, a group of publishing and technical/graphic communication companies where he held the position of chief executive officer. In 1973 (Connecticut), he designed and marketed the first typesetting system driven by a minicomputer, the precursor for today's desktop publishing systems. He has won an international silver medal for his satire and a US city award for his educational programs for disadvantaged people. Since 1992, he has investigated and written several hundred articles on bureaucratic and elder abuse. He founded Contra Cabal, one of the first electronic magazines to appear on the web, for which he develops the site, writes articles, designs pages, and produces graphics. Contra Cabal has now published for almost fifteen years. Earlier, it published as email for six years. The hits/month now range between 100,000 and 150,000 with more than a million hits during the past twelve months. Articles cover ongoing criminal activity by bureaucrats and elder abuse. They describe the actions of corrupt judges and gross misconduct by lawyers who file frivolous law suits against tenants in government financially-assisted housing. They outline how managers use unlawful retaliatory measures and propaganda to destroy the reputations of people who report illegal activity and racism. Washington Supreme Court unanimously reversed a lower court decision that effectively allowed prior restraint and defined journalism inquiry as surveillance and harassment. Repeatedly, lawyers who could find no fault with content instead personally attacked the author or his genre. A corrupt judge imposed prior restraint and jailed him for contempt when he challenged the court decisions as a basic violation of constitutional and human rights. To further coerce him, in consort with other jurists, the judge then arbitrarily transferred him to solitary confinement among murderers and rapists. His published work in the print media for more than sixty years has received no challenge relating to accuracy. People, among them elected judges and lawyers upon whom the public should be able to rely, have tried to stop him publishing information on politically sensitive issues. That prior restraint, and restrictions on personal mobility, has now become a matter of international concern. American Civil Liberties Union Credential validation upon request by journalists and other responsible parties from:
|
|||||