Clayton College of Natural Health

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Clayton College of Natural Health
Established: 1980
Founder/President: Lloyd Clayton
Director of Academics: Linda Powell, R.N., M.A.Ed.
COO: Kay Channell, MBA
Educational mode: distance learning
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Not to be confused with Clayton College and State University (now Clayton State University), an accredited public university located in Morrow, Georgia.

The Clayton College of Natural Health is a non-accredited distance-learning natural health college based in Birmingham, Alabama, offering an extensive list of classes on natural health.[1] It was founded in 1980 by Lloyd Clayton Jr., N.D.. According to its website, it has matriculated over 25,000 students.[2]

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[edit] Accreditation status

Clayton College of Natural Health does not have educational accreditation from any agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as an accreditor for institutions of higher education.[3] Several state education agencies specifically list Clayton as unaccredited, among them Oregon,[4] Texas,[5] Michigan,[6] and Maine.[7] Degrees issued by Clayton may not be acceptable to some employers or institutions, and use of degree titles granted by Clayton may be restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions.[8][4][5][6][7] The organization Quackwatch has criticized the school's curriculum as unscientific while its principal has been in various legal battles with one of the graduates, Hulda Regehr Clark, for over six years that continue to date.[9]

Clayton College claims accreditation by the American National Naturopathic Medical Accreditation Board[10] and the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.[11][12] These organisations are not recognized accreditation associations of higher learning according to the U.S. Department of Education,[13] and were identified as accreditation mills in a 2007 report by the Seattle Times.[14]

[edit] Alumni

Well-known graduates include television nutrition personality Gillian McKeith[15] and controversial naturopath Hulda Regehr Clark.

McKeith's credentials from Clayton have been the focus of comment in The Guardian's "Bad Science" column, specifically the institution's refusal to make McKeith's doctoral dissertation available for outside review.[16]

[edit] Connected institutions

Chadwick University in Birmingham was started in 1989 by Lloyd Clayton who also started Clayton College of Natural Health.[17] Chadwick was called a diploma mill and its address is in a "four-story building on Birmingham’s Southside was labeled instead as the location of Magnolia Corporate Services," and "a call to a phone number listed for Chadwick went to voicemail for Magnolia Corporate Services."[17]

According to John Bear's guide, Lloyd Clayton also started and operates the non-accredited American Institute of Computer Science and Clayton College of Natural Healing.[18]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Course list available online
  2. ^ Clayton College of Natural Health website
  3. ^ U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs and Database of Institutions and Programs Accredited by Recognized United States Accrediting Organizations, searched November 25, 2007.
  4. ^ a b The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization lists it as an "unaccredited college." "Degree holders are ineligible for Oregon professional practice or licensure."
  5. ^ a b The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board lists Clayton under "Fraudulent or Substandard Institutions with No Known Texas Connection" and states: "No accreditation from a CB recognized accreditor."
  6. ^ a b Non-Accredited Schools
  7. ^ a b The Maine Department of Education lists it as "non-accredited."
  8. ^ "State’s diploma mills draw academic ire", by Adam Jones, published February 11, 2007. Accessed 14 Feb 2007.
  9. ^ Clayton College of Natural Health: Be Wary of the School and Its Graduates, by Stephen Barrett, Quackwatch website, revised March 20, 2007 and accessed December 20, 2007; presents Quackwatch's criticisms of Clayton, together with some of the history of Barrett's investigations of the school, beginning in 1983. A Response to Tim Bolen, by Stephen Barrett, Quackwatch website, revised October 3, 2007 and accessed December 20, 2007; includes information on Quackwatch's legal battles with Hulda Regehr Clark.
  10. ^ ANMAB Accredited Member Institutions
  11. ^ AADP School Listing
  12. ^ What is your accreditation?. Clayton College of Natural Health. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  13. ^ List of accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Accessed 16 Feb 2007.
  14. ^ Teen's death hastened by practitioner who had bogus diplomas, by Christine Willmsen and Michael J. Berens. Published in the Seattle Times on November 20, 2007; accessed November 25, 2007.
  15. ^ Bad Science, The Guardian
  16. ^ Gibson, Owen. "TV dietician to stop using title Dr in adverts", The Guardian, February 12, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-12. 
  17. ^ a b Jones, Adam. "State’s diploma mills draw academic ire", Tuscaloosa News, February 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. 
  18. ^ Bear, John; Mariah Bear (2003-01-01). Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning. Ten Speed Press. ISBN 1-58008-431-1.  page 196

[edit] External links