University of Bridgeport

[Mitch Saret]

I just received, in the mail, a poster with response cards attached, from This university in Bridgeport, Connecticut. With all the arguments and claims of martial arts Ph.D's, and professorships, and the like, I thought this was interesting.

They claim to be the first U.S. college to offer a BA in martial arts. A 120 credit, 8 semester program in a liberal arts setting. It also says you will learn the philosphy, history, and so forth. On the poster is a picture and the back of the uniform has the square university logo with Tae Kwon Do surrounding it. There is also a picture of an asian man in a white uniform with black lapels that have two gold stripes down it. One additional picture shows a caucasian man in a black tai chi/kung fu uniform.

Thoughts?

[Saburo]

Thanks Google:

http://www.bridgeport.edu/pages/3870.asp

The Moonies used to own this University at one time something. I don't know if they still do.

[kimiwane]

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

With degrees like these, who needs to think?

Where do I sign?

[Robert Cheshire]

Basically a Liberal Arts degree with an emphasis in martial arts. I have to say that the program was better than I feared when I looked at the classes you have to take. I think there are still schools where you can get a BA degree with general/interdiscipline studies.

All I did was get my professional degree so I could obtain my Social Work license....NOW you tell me I could have done it in martial arts!?!?

I think this falls more under "Why" Budo than anything else.

[P Goldsbury]

I have moved this out of Baffling Budo because there seems to be little baffling about the institution. I do not know how academically respectable are the degrees offered, but it does not appear to be a place where you simply receive degree diplomas by return mail.

There is an institution in Japan, called the International Budo University. Located in Chiba Prefecture, it is a private university, dedicated to the study of modern 'budo'. There are departments in 'budo science', 'sports training science' etc and research degrees are also offered. They put on an international budo seminar every year.

Best regards to all,

[dsomers]

I do not know of their M.A. program, but, the University has been there for years. The University itself is very credible. I grew up about 20 minutes away from there. Somebody actually told me a few years ago, that they were closing U of B down, I thought they did, but, I guess not.

David

[taken67]

Seems pretty interesting to me. Too bad they only offer TKD and Taiji.

[Evan London]

I've been in contact recently about the possiblity of adding traditional budo to their curriculum. I'll let you know how this works out.

Ev

[P Goldsbury]

I've been in contact recently about the possiblity of adding traditional budo to their curriculum. I'll let you know how this works out.

Ev

Evan,

Which institution are you thinking of?

[Cady Goldfield]

As soon as I saw the title of the thread, "MOONIES!" was the first thing that popped into my head. Bleah. As far as I know, it's still a Moonie holding. I advise staying away from institutions run by Sun Myung Moon and his cult. This actually should be back in Baffling Budo because the institution IS baffling.

[Geoff]

There are at least two other accredited universities in the US to offer MA related degree programs. One is Naropa in Colorado which offers a BA in Traditional Eastern Arts; you can frame a concentration in Aikido orTai Chi as well as yoga and other disciplines. Also one of the Indiana campuses offers a MA related program based mainly on Korean MA.

I don't have any personal expereince with either program, but I have read Dakin Burdick's PhD dissertation (the director of the Indiana program) and it is not Bad Budo in my opinion (although elements could certainly be challenged as could any academic work). The Naropa program has been around a long time although I'm not sure how robust it is.


BTW, Tommy the link at the bottom of your sig is not working.

[R A Sosnowski]

As soon as I saw the title of the thread, "MOONIES!" was the first thing that popped into my head. Bleah. As far as I know, it's still a Moonie holding. I advise staying away from institutions run by Sun Myung Moon and his cult. This actually should be back in Baffling Budo because the institution IS baffling.

Like DSomers, I too grew up in the area; most of my family is still there.

I recall hearing from my mother some time ago that the Moon-connection was no longer at UB, but that did it retained it's Korean connection.

My suspicion is that UB uses the same basic education model as the Korean universities, given the Korean connection.

TKD in Korea is governed by the Ministry of Education; it's basically a Phys. Ed. degree with a guaranteed 4-dan (!) upon graduating. Of course, you learn the revisionist history for the origins of TKD. TKD in Korea is treated as a sport and not as a martial art. Olympic/WTF-style TKD is set up as a sport.

If this is what you want, UB seems to be the place to go. If not, look elsewhere.

[Michael Mason]

Reverend Moon spoke there in September 2005.
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/12300

"In 1992, through the Professors World Peace Academy, the Unification Church supplied funds to keep UB open. In exchange, it has the right to name 60 percent of the Board of Trustees. The current president, Neil Salonen, is a church member and a church trustee."

Draw your own conclusions.

[Robert Cheshire]

Put aside the Moonies (I can't get the goonies are good enough for me song out of my head all of a sudden) for a moment and look at the bigger picture of accreditation. Does the degree mean anything? Keep the religious feelings out of it for a moment. I mean if you want to go there look at Baylor University ran by the Baptist (had to go there Phil). It has had some stringent beliefs that it imposes on students and faculty, but, the degree is in high regards.

Would "I" want a MA degree from a university? No. I don't see the need or reason behind it. However, (and I really don't know anything about this University just talking in general) if the school IS accredited then it's legit as far as the degree goes (skills might be a different thing!).

[R A Sosnowski]

Reverend Moon spoke there in September 2005.
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/12300

"In 1992, through the Professors World Peace Academy, the Unification Church supplied funds to keep UB open. In exchange, it has the right to name 60 percent of the Board of Trustees. The current president, Neil Salonen, is a church member and a church trustee."

Draw your own conclusions.

Michael,

Thank you for the update. "Interesting Times" indeed.