Academic Degrees

One "e" and 2,500 miles from UC Berkeley, Dennis J. Globosky churned out bogus university degrees from the phony University of Berkley at an office park in Erie, Pa., selling them on the Internet for as much as $5,000, according to Pennsylvania authorities. Now the former New Mexico state trooper, who often referred to himself as "Dr. Dennis Globosky" despite having only a high school education, could face stiff civil penalties from a lawsuit filed recently by Pennsylvania Atty. Gen.

Suddenly, it seems, the teaching of business needs to learn a lesson. Business schools are in a crisis as applications for masters of business administration degrees are down 20% to 30% at most major universities. Faculties and administrators at 300 business schools nationwide are trying to change their curricula, alter their approaches and lift their enrollments.

In the next 15 years, the job market is expected to change so dramatically in California that the demand for educated workers may significantly outstrip the supply, according to a study released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. As manufacturing continues to slip away, replaced by work in information technology, biotechnology and healthcare for an aging population, the portion of jobs in California requiring a college degree is expected to rise to 39%.

Christopher Reeve will be posthumously awarded an honorary degree at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University's commencement on May 20. Reeve, who starred in four "Superman" films from 1978 to 1987, died Oct. 10 at age 52 of complications from an infection caused by a bedsore. He became a spokesman for spinal-cord injury victims after a 1995 horse riding accident left him a quadriplegic.

For college-bound students who want to be wilderness guides, park rangers or recreation leaders, Ivy League schools just don't cut it. So where do you go? A number of colleges and universities offer degrees that prepare students for outdoors employment. Some emphasize management training while others teach serious rock-climbing skills. Here are a dozen programs around the nation that boost the outdoors quotient. Alaska Pacific University Anchorage, Alaska www.alaskapacific.

Black and Asian women with bachelor's degrees earn slightly more than similarly educated white women, and white men with comparable degrees make more than anyone else. A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned about $37,800 in 2003, compared with about $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released today by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women took home $37,600 a year.

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer announced a $500,000 settlement Friday of a civil suit against a Huntington Park-based adult school accused of giving immigrants bogus high school diplomas after a 10-week course that cost hundreds of dollars.

Young adult whites, Asian Americans and Latinos born in California have earned bachelor's degrees at moderately lower rates than their counterparts from other states, according to a study being released today. The findings indicate weakness in college achievement among native Californians that is often overlooked because so many people who move to the state hold bachelor's degrees.

Personal trainers are as ubiquitous as treadmills on the gym landscape, but not all are created equal. With vastly different backgrounds and levels of experience, trainers can be highly skilled fitness professionals or highly paid baby-sitters. But one university hopes to send its graduates into the field with the skills and knowledge to get people into shape safely and sanely -- while successfully managing their careers.

With a successful business as a personal chef, Elizabeth Simek was living the dream of every weekend gourmet. Her Busy B's Personal Chef Service was pulling in more than $50,000 a year. But Simek worried that it wouldn't last. So the Peoria, Ariz., entrepreneur set out to earn a bachelor's degree in business management through an online program from Florida Metropolitan University, one of dozens of trade and technical colleges run by Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc.