This post is a continuation of my prior post University of Phoenix Bimbo Response by Faculty Recruiter Courtney Hopper.
In the previous post, I shared a series of emails by myself and faculty recruiter, Courtney Hopper, regarding the “mystery” of my official transcripts. It turns out after some discovery and backtracking, the error was caused by Courtney herself when she provided me 5 form emails which contained the wrong ZIP code. When I brought this to her attention, she became strangely quiet and offered no apology and barely an acknowledgment.
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Hello Matthew,
I have forwarded this email to my manager. She or I will be in contact shortly. Thank you.
Warm regards,
Courtney Hopper, MSP
Faculty Recruiter, Faculty Services
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Before this email, I had written University of Phoenix Faculty Services Manager, Sarah Hightower.
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Dear Ms. Hightower,
I am contacting you regarding an unexpected hiccup in the Application Process at the suggestion of Courtney Hopper. The official transcript I ordered on January 10, 2012 has not been delivered to Courtney although I promptly received mine within a few days. I can only surmise that either they did not send it or something else happened to it. Instead of trying to locate it, I have simply ordered another one and marking the request URGENT to once again have it sent to Courtney.
My concern is that the official transcript will NOT arrive PRIOR to Saturday, January 28, 2012. There is a fair chance it will arrive but I am simply not sure. I tend to be conservative in my estimates to be on the safe side. At my own initiative, I have scanned in my copy of the official transcript from my MBA program and attached it. I understand this is not close to your requirements, nor is it meant to be. However, it can be a “placeholder” until the transcript arrives no later than Monday.
In the January 28, 2012 assessment, I am expected to and happy to prepare a 10-minute presentation to be evaluated upon. I know I am NOT being hired. I don’t believe I am being evaluated on my credentials at this time. I understand I am being evaluated on my presentation/instructional/facilitation/verbal communication skills. What harm and hardship can my being permitted to attend and participate in the January 28, 2012 assessment session cause?
If I am approved during the assessment process, the MBA transcript should arrive by Monday. If I am NOT approved, the transcript issue is a non-issue.
What I feel is at stake is the large amount of time invested in the process by several associates and supporters thus far. From what I have been told, the Columbus Campus is expanding and need more instructors. I was told by Dr. Hurtarte at the local campus that he needs Marketing instructors. I stand ready to confidently meet the challenge. My understanding is that instructor assessments happen infrequently and so there is potential for a large time loss. Even if things go as planned, there is an extended period to ramp an instructor up to independent status.
While I have been informed I could come back another time, a price will have been paid by the Columbus GA Campus who is reliant on the home office operation. I am certainly interested in moving forward but by the time another assessment is scheduled, my priorities could significantly change. It is entirely possibly that from UofP’s perspective, if you have more than enough faculty to work with, a delay is negligible.
In Columbus GA, there are a fair share of people with Masters Degrees. That is a given. But in my 11+ years I have been here in Columbus GA, very few have also cutting-edge “in the street” and online experience in the publishing business, real estate investments, property management business, and a web presence/marketing business. I have published and authored over 20+ titles on Amazon.com and produced 100+ marketing related videos. Most of your instructors will likely come from employees working full-time jobs. Nothing wrong with that except that wouldn’t it be nice to have an instructor to be part of UoP that had nearly complete control over their schedules being able to teach both day and night courses as well as attend extracurricular activities? I understand that it is a challenge for adjunct faculty to attend extracurricular activities. And yet, I am prepared to integrate that into my schedule.
I only bring up my experience to convey that I have a lot on my plate but I offer a lot in return. I am currently willing, enthusiastic, and able to commit to UoP. But 4-6 months down the road, my priorities could change significantly.
I know UofP is a large organization with many policies and procedures in place to better govern operations. But in this instance, is granting the latitude of a 2 more days of transcript delivery time asking for too much especially when I have already provided UoP a copy of what you will ultimately see and receive?
If the rules are that inflexible, you will let me know. Ultimately, I will abide by your decision. If the policies and procedures does not allow this small degree of flexibility, then so be it. I accept the message being told to me and clearly this matter becomes closed.
Certainly, it is my hope that everything can go as planned but I am being proactive in reach out to you and solicit your feedback and reaction.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Respectfully,
Matthew Chan
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Sarah Hightower did not respond to this email. Although to be fair, it was fairly late when I sent this email. By the following day, I had sent Sarah another email with my discovery of the ZIP code errors within Courtney Hopper’s email forms.
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Ms. Hightower,
I did not receive a reply yet from you. However, given the new facts I found out about zip code inconsistency in the form letters I received, I hope you might take this into consideration for the delay in my transcript.
Below is the email I sent to Courtney reporting what I discovered. I know it was unintentional but it feels like the Columbus GA campus and I might be unfairly penalized for this. I still believe it would cause no harm for me to attend the January 28, 2012 session if the transcript does not arrive by Friday, January 27, 2012.
Thank you for your consideration.
Matthew Chan
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Hello Mr. Chan,
Thank you for your communication. I have read both of the emails you sent and I am responding to your last email, but will be addressing your inquiry in its entirety.
Let me start off by saying that I apologize for the confusion regarding our correct zip code. As Courtney mentioned, we recently moved building locations and it appears that we missed updating all of our necessary documents. Since this was a mistake on our behalf, I would be happy to look into refunding the cost of ordering the transcript to be sent to us.
In regards to attending an assessment for our Columbus, GA campus; Our policy requires that all faculty candidates are approved by a Program Chair to attend an assessment, and this can only be done with official transcripts. Unfortunately, this is a strict policy and we are unable to provide an exception to this policy. If your transcripts arrive in time to be scanned into the system and we are able to gain approval from a Program Chair, we will proceed. Otherwise there will be no other option but to schedule you for a future assessment.
Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
Sarah Hightower
Faculty Services Manager
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Basically, even though she had a scanned copy of the recently printed transcript, it was insufficient. The official transcript would have arrived by Monday.
After reading her email, I called two of my UOPX friends to discuss it. I stewed on this for 24-hours because I wanted time to think about this and not make a hasty decision or take an action I might later regret.
After I had an entire 24-hour period, I wrote a lengthy email to the Head of Business at the local campus to explain why I became dismayed, disenchanted, and ultimately withdrew from the application process.
After that email, I wrote my final email to Sarah Hightower and also copied Courtney Hopper on it.
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Ms. Hightower,
I have taken 24-hours to reflect on the events of the last few days as well as your and Courtney’s responses.
Originally, I wrote a much longer email before I realized, it would be a wasted effort as has been my prior emails to both of you. I saved the text of what I originally wrote to you for another letter that I will direct to Apollo Group Management.
First, you will be happy to know I have withdrawn from the application process. The problem of the official transcript has now been resolved and the Jan. 28 assessment can continue on with one less candidate. Please discard my official transcripts when they arrive.
Second, I will be sending a formal complaint letter to the appropriate members of the Apollo Group Management. That complaint letter will be made public and inform others of how the UoP faculty recruitment process works and provide insights into how your Faculty Recruitment team operates. You may want to get a copy of this complaint letter. You might learn something from it going forward.
Respectfully,
Matthew Chan
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As I write this, both bimbos Sarah Hightower and Courtney Hopper, do not yet know I have made their embarrassing actions public. But they eventually will because I am working my way to the Apollo Group Management complaint. It is not something I want to do but the fact of the matter is that I used so much of my time and energy during the application process only to have the Bimbo Sisters tell me “too bad so sad”, you can try next time. There is no next time as far as I am concerned.
They are used to treating faculty candidates like a bunch of cattle where people come and go with little or no consequence to them. However, my time is valuable and I don’t like having my time invested go up in smoke because of bimbo decisions and bimbo management.
