| This is Jeffrey Mishlove's doctoral diploma in "Parapsychology" from the University of California, Berkeley.
To our knowledge, he possesses the only doctoral degree in "Parapsychology"
ever awarded by an accredited, American university. Of course, there have
been many other American doctoral dissertations on parapsychological themes.
However, those degrees were awarded in disciplines such as psychology, philosophy,
education or anthropology. His degree was through the interdisciplinary,
individual doctoral program that, unfortunately, is not available to students
any longer at Berkeley. Most of his work in parapsychology was through individual
study. In addition, he took all of the statistics and methodology courses
normally required for doctoral students in psychology. He began this program
in 1973, after receiving his Master of Criminology degree from UC Berkeley.
His B.A. degree was in psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
His dissertation committee at Berkeley included the following professors: C. West Churchman, Faculty Advisor,
Business Administration (systems theory specialist) At the time he received this degree, he was deeply engaged in his investigation of the Ted Owens case. However, he was generally discouraged by his faculty members from emphasizing this work. So, Ted Owens received only a passing mention in his doctoral dissertation -- which was later published as a book called Psi Development Systems. To those who might claim that major universities do not acknowledge parapsychology as a legitimate, academic discipline -- this degree stands as a clear example of the contrary. An additional note regarding the legitimacy of parapsychology as a science is the fact that, since 1969, the Parapsychological Association has been an affiliate organization of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. Return to William James Bookstore
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