Maxine Asher
Encyclopedia
Maxine Klein Asher an Atlantis
researcher who founded and operates American World University
, an institution which sells academic degree
s, and the World Association of Universities and Colleges
, an institution which "accredits" American World University, as well as other universities selling mail-order degrees which pay for accreditation
by that body.
in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles
, and after graduation, worked as a public school teacher. She later returned to school and earned a master's degree
in ancient history from California State University, Northridge
, a doctorate in education from Walden University
, and a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Granada
. She is married with three children, and suffers from fibromyalgia
.
, in search of the mythical continent of Atlantis off the coast of Cadiz, Spain. Consisting of 70 teachers, students, and other interested parties, the members of the expedition planned to skin dive
along the coast of Spain and Morocco
, seeking evidence of the lost island. Employed at the time by Pepperdine as an audiovisual instruction expert, Asher expressed confidence from the onset that the trip would be a success.
The group subsequently claimed to have discovered and photographed Atlantean artifacts, but they were forced to seek refuge in Ireland
after running afoul of the Spanish government, who believed that they were spies. Asher claims that there were murder attempts, and that at one point she was forced to jump from a moving car to evade kidnappers. She has written an unproduced screenplay about her Spanish experiences. After arriving in Ireland, her group explored inland sites around Galway Bay
, Craughwell
, and the Dingle Peninsula
, and conducted dives in the area of Galway Bay near the coast of the Aran Islands
. These Irish investigations were conducted in the belief that ancient Irish megalith
s are really the work of the Atlantean people.
Asher has continued her studies of Atlantis-related topics. She is the director of the Ancient Mediterranean Research Association, an organization she co-founded with Julian Nava
, and she has written or co-written several books on Atlantis. Her car's vanity license plate is "ATLANTS".
Asher has claimed to have psychic abilities
, and credits these abilities with helping her find Atlantis, as "the highly civilized people of Atlantis also were very psychic". According to her, Atlanteans used these psychic energies as a power source, characterizing them as being as strong as nuclear energy
. She believes that the lost continent was enormous in scope, spanning the gap between Bimini
and the Canary Islands
, and stretching from Ireland to Newfoundland. Asher attributes its sinking to seismic upheavals, but also feels that these upheavals were the result of a cosmically ordained "Divine Retribution", a result of "negative forces" generated by its "evil" inhabitants.
She has also claimed that her discoveries have been suppressed by "the Jews and the Catholics" because the discovery of Atlantis would contradict the teachings of the Bible
. According to her, the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis was the same as the Great Flood described in the Bible. She also holds that there were actually twelve Noah
s who survived the flood, and not just one, with each surviving Noah going on to found one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel
.
, a postsecondary distance learning
institution which is commonly considered to be a diploma mill
. The school, which was founded in 1990, awards course credits for life experiences and does not require fluency in English
. Foreign students make up more than 90% of the "student body", which consists of approximately 7,000 people. Tuition costs vary by country, and international students are attracted through local representatives, who handle regional advertising and in return receive half of the money they generate as a finder's fee.
AWU does not have a physical campus. It was based in Iowa City, Iowa
until forced out by the passage of new state legislation governing postsecondary institutions in 2000. AWU relocated to Rapid City, South Dakota
, but was forced to move again by the creation of a similar law. It is currently based in Pascagoula, Mississippi
, with some operations such as the grading of papers also taking place at Asher's home in Westwood, California
. The school also has a branch in Brazil
, where Brazilian government officials estimate that it generated revenues in excess of four million dollars over its first two years in that country.
AWU is accredited only by the World Association of Universities and Colleges
, an accrediting body founded by Asher which is not recognized by the United States Department of Education
. Founded in 1993, the WAUC offers or offered accreditation to several institutions which have been classified as diploma mills by the federal government or state governments, including Lacrosse University, Columbus University
, and Madison University
. Neither AWU nor the WAUC are officially recognized by either the US Department of Education
or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation.
A degree-fraud expert who has worked with the FBI has described AWU as "dreadful, useless, and terrible", while a former temporary employee describes the operation as a "total fraud", stating that Asher told her to write comments on students' papers "so that students would feel like they were being read". University of California, Berkeley
professor John Bear
, an expert on diploma mills, has described AWU as a "mail drop".
Asher has defended the academic rigor of AWU's curriculum, stating, "We're not Harvard, we're not Princeton, but I think we do a very credible job educating people." She claims that AWU is modeled on a fusion of American and European approaches to higher education.
In 2004, Asher was forced to close down the World University of Iowa, a Hawaii
-based institution similar to AWU. As part of a summary judgement, she was ordered to cease operations, refund tuition money to all students, and pay $240,000 in damages. The action came as part of a statewide crackdown on unaccredited schools, as many had relocated there after 1999 in an effort to evade regulation in the mainland United States. During court proceedings, Asher refused to provide school documentation such as a list of students. Asher characterized the actions against WUI and other Hawaii-based schools accredited by the WAUC as pure harassment.
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
researcher who founded and operates American World University
American World University
American World University is an unaccredited institution offering post-secondary education programs by distance learning. It has no physical campus. It awards academic degrees...
, an institution which sells academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
s, and the World Association of Universities and Colleges
World Association of Universities and Colleges
The World Association of Universities and Colleges, WAUC, is an institutional accrediting body not recognized by the United States Department of Education. It is run by Maxine Asher, director of the American World University, an unaccredited school. WAUC's website claims that "laws in the U.S.A...
, an institution which "accredits" American World University, as well as other universities selling mail-order degrees which pay for accreditation
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
by that body.
Personal life
Raised in California, Asher earned a bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, and after graduation, worked as a public school teacher. She later returned to school and earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in ancient history from California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge is a public university in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States....
, a doctorate in education from Walden University
Walden University
Walden University is a private, for-profit, specialized distance learning institution of higher education. Headquartered in the Mills District in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Walden University offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Public...
, and a doctorate in linguistics from the University of Granada
University of Granada
The University of Granada is a public university located in Granada, Spain that enrolls approximately 80,000 students. The university also has campuses in Ceuta and Melilla. Every year, over 2,000 European students enroll in the UGR through the Erasmus Programme, making it the most popular...
. She is married with three children, and suffers from fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia, a heightened and painful response to pressure. It is an example of a diagnosis of exclusion...
.
Atlantis research
In 1973, Asher organized an expedition, sponsored by Pepperdine UniversityPepperdine University
Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
, in search of the mythical continent of Atlantis off the coast of Cadiz, Spain. Consisting of 70 teachers, students, and other interested parties, the members of the expedition planned to skin dive
Free-diving
Freediving is any of various aquatic activities that share the practice of breath-hold underwater diving. Examples include breathhold spear fishing, freedive photography, apnea competitions and, to a degree, snorkeling...
along the coast of Spain and Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, seeking evidence of the lost island. Employed at the time by Pepperdine as an audiovisual instruction expert, Asher expressed confidence from the onset that the trip would be a success.
The group subsequently claimed to have discovered and photographed Atlantean artifacts, but they were forced to seek refuge in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
after running afoul of the Spanish government, who believed that they were spies. Asher claims that there were murder attempts, and that at one point she was forced to jump from a moving car to evade kidnappers. She has written an unproduced screenplay about her Spanish experiences. After arriving in Ireland, her group explored inland sites around Galway Bay
Galway Bay
Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city is located on the northeast side of the bay. It is about long and from to in breadth...
, Craughwell
Craughwell
Craughwell is a village and townland in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. The name is also used as a surname, properly Ó Creachmhaoil, though often anglicised as Craughwell and Crockwell...
, and the Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
, and conducted dives in the area of Galway Bay near the coast of the Aran Islands
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland...
. These Irish investigations were conducted in the belief that ancient Irish megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
s are really the work of the Atlantean people.
Asher has continued her studies of Atlantis-related topics. She is the director of the Ancient Mediterranean Research Association, an organization she co-founded with Julian Nava
Julian Nava
Julian Nava is an American educator and diplomat.Nava was born to Mexican immigrants in 1927 and is one of 8 children in Los Angeles, California. Nava grew up in the barrio of East L.A. In 1945, he volunteered for the Air Corps of the United States Navy...
, and she has written or co-written several books on Atlantis. Her car's vanity license plate is "ATLANTS".
Asher has claimed to have psychic abilities
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
, and credits these abilities with helping her find Atlantis, as "the highly civilized people of Atlantis also were very psychic". According to her, Atlanteans used these psychic energies as a power source, characterizing them as being as strong as nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. She believes that the lost continent was enormous in scope, spanning the gap between Bimini
Bimini
Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas composed of a chain of islands located about 53 miles due east of Miami, Florida. Bimini is the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States and approximately 137 miles west-northwest of Nassau...
and the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, and stretching from Ireland to Newfoundland. Asher attributes its sinking to seismic upheavals, but also feels that these upheavals were the result of a cosmically ordained "Divine Retribution", a result of "negative forces" generated by its "evil" inhabitants.
She has also claimed that her discoveries have been suppressed by "the Jews and the Catholics" because the discovery of Atlantis would contradict the teachings of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. According to her, the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis was the same as the Great Flood described in the Bible. She also holds that there were actually twelve Noah
Noah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
s who survived the flood, and not just one, with each surviving Noah going on to found one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel
Israelite
According to the Bible the Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited the Land of Canaan during the monarchic period .The word "Israelite" derives from the Biblical Hebrew ישראל...
.
Higher education
Asher is the founder of American World UniversityAmerican World University
American World University is an unaccredited institution offering post-secondary education programs by distance learning. It has no physical campus. It awards academic degrees...
, a postsecondary distance learning
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
institution which is commonly considered to be a diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
. The school, which was founded in 1990, awards course credits for life experiences and does not require fluency in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Foreign students make up more than 90% of the "student body", which consists of approximately 7,000 people. Tuition costs vary by country, and international students are attracted through local representatives, who handle regional advertising and in return receive half of the money they generate as a finder's fee.
AWU does not have a physical campus. It was based in Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
until forced out by the passage of new state legislation governing postsecondary institutions in 2000. AWU relocated to Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid...
, but was forced to move again by the creation of a similar law. It is currently based in Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...
, with some operations such as the grading of papers also taking place at Asher's home in Westwood, California
Westwood, California
Westwood is a census-designated place in Lassen County, California, United States. Westwood is located west-southwest of Susanville, at an elevation of 5128 feet...
. The school also has a branch in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where Brazilian government officials estimate that it generated revenues in excess of four million dollars over its first two years in that country.
AWU is accredited only by the World Association of Universities and Colleges
World Association of Universities and Colleges
The World Association of Universities and Colleges, WAUC, is an institutional accrediting body not recognized by the United States Department of Education. It is run by Maxine Asher, director of the American World University, an unaccredited school. WAUC's website claims that "laws in the U.S.A...
, an accrediting body founded by Asher which is not recognized by the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
. Founded in 1993, the WAUC offers or offered accreditation to several institutions which have been classified as diploma mills by the federal government or state governments, including Lacrosse University, Columbus University
Columbus University
Columbus University is an unaccredited distance education institution that has been based at different times in Louisiana and Picayune, Mississippi....
, and Madison University
Madison University
Madison University is a non-accredited distance learning college located in Gulfport, Mississippi. The state of Mississippi considers Madison an "unapproved" college. Madison is also listed as an unaccredited and/or substandard institution by four other U.S. states...
. Neither AWU nor the WAUC are officially recognized by either the US Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation.
A degree-fraud expert who has worked with the FBI has described AWU as "dreadful, useless, and terrible", while a former temporary employee describes the operation as a "total fraud", stating that Asher told her to write comments on students' papers "so that students would feel like they were being read". University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
professor John Bear
John Bear
John Bjorn Bear is an American authority on distance education and a writer of creative reference works. Bear holds bachelor and master degrees from University of California, Berkeley and a doctorate from Michigan State University...
, an expert on diploma mills, has described AWU as a "mail drop".
Asher has defended the academic rigor of AWU's curriculum, stating, "We're not Harvard, we're not Princeton, but I think we do a very credible job educating people." She claims that AWU is modeled on a fusion of American and European approaches to higher education.
In 2004, Asher was forced to close down the World University of Iowa, a Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
-based institution similar to AWU. As part of a summary judgement, she was ordered to cease operations, refund tuition money to all students, and pay $240,000 in damages. The action came as part of a statewide crackdown on unaccredited schools, as many had relocated there after 1999 in an effort to evade regulation in the mainland United States. During court proceedings, Asher refused to provide school documentation such as a list of students. Asher characterized the actions against WUI and other Hawaii-based schools accredited by the WAUC as pure harassment.