California Coast University is a Family

[Randall Flagg]

"The university was started with family in mind and continues with that today.  In December we lost one of our 'family members'.  Barbara Posthuma, our registrar, passed away at the age of 74.  She started working at CCU as a temporary employee more than 26 years ago.  She has gone through many changes over the years with the university, including the passing of the founder of the school, Thomas Neal Sr. and the achievement of DETC Accreditation.

Barbara was a great spirit who enjoyed working with our students and enjoyed seeing them succeed throughout their careers.  The time she spent with each and every student was very precious to her and she took great pride in helping students.

Brabara left behind 6 children and many great-grandchildren. The family at California Coast University is still at a loss with her sudden passing. However, we do know she thought of us as her family as we did her.
--California Coast University-April 2007

I just wanted to contrast this wonderful lady with those we often see at the DL forums and their constant self promotion.  Thomas Neal and family, along with people like Barbara Posthuma, and others, are the real DL experts.  They are the ones who build and create schools, find people in need of education and provide answers.  With all the self promoters we have running around screaming their own names and pleading for us to please send money, it's nice to see the real experts like Barbara and Tom.  They got up early every single day, went to work, and created things and ideas.  They made schools like CCU work, which allowed adults who missed out on college degrees to get another chance at education via DL.  It's true that Barbara and Tom were not household names but they were true DL experts.  And they learned about DL not by listening to themselves brag and chatter, but by going to work at a fine DL school each day for week after week, month after month, and year after year.  They spent more time on DL in a year than many of the so-called experts have in their entire lives.  

That's how it is done by the real experts, day after day, all year long.  They know what a DL degree will do because they actually do it and see it.  They are the real experts.  We don't often hear their real names or stories, they get drowned out by the people who are busy shouting their own names and giving us their addresses to send them our money, but real experts are out there,  you just  have to look beyond the people shouting.  They don't have time for all the self-promotion we so often see.  They are too busy doing DL and not talking it.  They have been in this thing for the long haul.  These are the people I would speak to and trust, not the ones who are in and out, like this today and like that tomorrow.  They have earned the right to be called DL experts by others.  As was said by CCU, they will be missed.

[Brian Crawford]

"The university was started with family in mind and continues with that today.  In December we lost one of our 'family members'.  Barbara Posthuma, our registrar, passed away at the age of 74.  She started working at CCU as a temporary employee more than 26 years ago.  She has gone through many changes over the years with the university, including the passing of the founder of the school, Thomas Neal Sr. and the achievement of DETC Accreditation.

Barbara was a great spirit who enjoyed working with our students and enjoyed seeing them succeed throughout their careers.  The time she spent with each and every student was very precious to her and she took great pride in helping students.

Brabara left behind 6 children and many great-grandchildren. The family at California Coast University is still at a loss with her sudden passing. However, we do know she thought of us as her family as we did her.
--California Coast University-April 2007

I just wanted to contrast this wonderful lady with those we often see at the DL forums and their constant self promotion.  Thomas Neal and family, along with people like Barbara Posthuma, and others, are the real DL experts.  They are the ones who build and create schools, find people in need of education and provide answers.  With all the self promoters we have running around screaming their own names and pleading for us to please send money, it's nice to see the real experts like Barbara and Tom.  They got up early every single day, went to work, and created things and ideas.  They made schools like CCU work, which allowed adults who missed out on college degrees to get another chance at education via DL.  It's true that Barbara and Tom were not household names but they were  true DL experts.  And they learned about DL not by listening to themselves brag and chatter, but by going to work at a fine DL school each day for week after week, month after month, and year after year.  They spent more time on DL in a year than many of the so-called experts have in their entire lives.  

That's how it is done by the real experts, day after day, all year long.  They know what a DL degree will do because they actually do it and see it.  They are the real experts.  We don't often hear their real names or stories, they get drowned out by the people who are busy shouting their own names and giving us their addresses to send them our money, but real experts are out there,  you just  have to look beyond the people shouting.  They don't have time for all the self-promotion we so often see.  They are too busy doing DL and not talking it.  They have been in this thing for the long haul.  These are the people I would speak to and trust, not the ones who are in and out, like this today and like that tomorrow.  They have earned the right to be called DL experts by others.  As was said by CCU, they will be missed.

That's the amusing part. No member of the gang has attended, designed, developed, implemented, taught, managed or participated in distance learning or distance education in any shape manner or form. They are armchair quarterbacks who sit back and tell the players how to play the sport, yet have never lived it or in any way participated in the game except as a financial recipient.

John B. Bear had his own consulting business where he would evaluate resumes and tell clients "you may have already earned your degree through life experience." He would send those clients off to his wife at CPU who would happily enroll them.