By Dan Frazier
Tea Party Editor

A former Northern Arizona University professor who was named “Arizona Professor of the Year” in 1998 listed among his credentials a degree from a Russian academy that some say never existed. Flagstaff Tea Party learned in July of the allegation from two separate sources who came forward independently. The allegation, if true, could help to explain Clara Lovett’s unexpected decision to step down from her post as president of NAU.

The allegations involve Randy Rhoton, who was in the middle of another controversy that made headlines in April, 2001. That was when the National Collegiate Athletic Association released a report stating that in 1999 three NAU professors had improperly changed the grades of a student athlete or posted grades early at the request of the student. Rhoton was one of the professors implicated in subsequent news reports. The improper grade changes allowed the student athlete to participate in football games that he would have otherwise been inelligible to participate in. The NCAA investigation resulted in various penalties being imposed on NAU by NCAA, including a reduction in the number of football scholarships NAU can award. The university was also put on probation for three years.

By the time the NCAA scandal made the news, Rhoton was no longer employed at NAU. The university declined to comment on why he had departed. Rhoton also declined to speak to an Arizona Daily Sun reporter. However, the other two professors involved in the NCAA scandal did speak to the press, and at least one of the two still works at NAU. (The other spoke on the condition of anonymity.)

News reports from 1998 and an NAU course catalog published about the same time indicate that Randy Rhoton, former dean of the School of Fine Arts, claimed to hold a master of fine arts in photographic arts from the Pushkin Art Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, sources, who spoke to the Tea Party recently on the condition of anonymity, said that the Pushkin Art Academy never existed. One source claimed an investigation by an agency with specialized search resources turned up no trace of the Pushkin Art Academy. An extensive investigation by FTP suggested that the Pushkin Art Academy does not currently exist and there is no readily available evidence that it ever existed.

Though Rhoton declined to comment for this story, his wife, Wendy, said in July that the allegations against her husband are false.

“The Pushkin Academy was a legitimate school and his degrees were legitimate,” said Wendy.

She added that she suspected she knew who the anonymous sources were that were bringing allegations against her husband.

“There’s a group of people who just want to see Randy Rhoton dead and buried and just want to see him dragged through the mud.”

Asked why Rhoton’s accusers might want to bring him down, Wendy said, “Because they’re jealous. They’re people who feel like their whole mission in life is to just bring other people down. Especially people that have risen to power. …”

She noted that her husband has many commendable qualities some of which she felt were more newsworthy.  For instance, he holds three degrees from NAU. By all accounts he was well liked by his students at NAU, where he worked for nearly 10 years. His wife says that he has survived three battles with cancer, and is currently a doctoral student with a 4.0 grade point average. He no longer lives in the Flagstaff area.

Rhoton’s degrees from NAU include a bachelor of science in history, a master of arts in education, and a masters of arts in history. These degrees have not been called into question.

Randy Rhoton and his family are no strangers to the ups and downs that often come with a successful career and public recognition. Rhoton’s father, the late Nelo Rhoton, a very successful insurance salesman, made headlines in 1986 when he was indicted by a Coconino County grand jury on “38 felony counts of bilking five customers out of almost $600,000 in phony annuity schemes between 1981 and 1985.”  In happier days, Nelo had been the president of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce and president of the Flagstaff stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He played a key role in the building of the massive church on Cherry Hill and is credited in Mountain Town, a history of Flagstaff, with assisting in efforts to found a new hospital for Flagstaff in the 50s. 

Randy Rhoton started working at NAU in 1991, working for a time as a photography lab coordinator. In 1998, when he was named Arizona Professor of the Year, he was the director of the Museum Faculty of Fine Art at NAU. News reports at the time focused on how he went out of his way to be accessible to his students, even taking calls from students at 11 p.m.

A story published on Oct. 19, 1998 in NAU Today discussing Rhoton’s award began with this:

“Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull and Northern Arizona University President Clara M. Lovett are proud to announce that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named William “Randy” Rhoton of NAU the 1998 Arizona Professor of the Year. Rhoton now is eligible for the National Professor of the Year award.”

Hull was quoted as saying, “Randy Rhoton is an assett to the educational system of Arizona, and he sets a great example for people who are striving to become educators themselves.”

Lovett said, “The faculty and staff at NAU couldn’t be happier with the choice of Randy Rhoton for Professor of the Year.”

The story went on to say of Rhoton, “He teaches some of the most highly successful classes on NAU’s Interactive Television Network, like Art 300, Contemporary Art Trends.” The story was written by Kris Knight in NAU’s Public Affairs office. Another story in the Arizona Daily Sun noted that Rhoton taught all of his courses on TV or the Web.

One source said recently that Rhoton was nominated as Arizona’s Professor of the Year by Clara Lovett in part because of his enthusiasm for distance learning, a concept that has hardly been fully embraced by some NAU professors. The source added that the nomination was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.

“So important (was it) that ABOR’s agenda — distance education — be validated, that Lovett overlooked this professor’s past history of fraud. … Surely Lovett and ABOR knew fully well that Mr. Randy Rhoton was a fraud,” said the source.

“Rhoton was quickly fired last year, when the NCAA learned about a grading scandal,” added the same source. “Two weeks later, Lovett announced that she would not be seeking ABOR’s approval to stay one more year.”

In fact, according to published reports, Lovett announced her intention to step down about one week after NCAA enforcement staff met for the first time with NAU administrators to discuss matters related to the year-long investigation of the grade-change scandal. The investigation had been begun by NAU at the request of The Big Sky Conference following an anonymous tip.

Both of Rhoton’s accusers, interviewed separately, said that Rhoton’s degree scandal was “the tip of the iceberg,” a symptom of corruption at NAU, and an indication of the lengths to which the administration and ABOR will go to promote distance learning.

Whether or not the brewing NCAA investigation or the questionable credentials of key figure Randy Rhoton had anything to do with Lovett’s decision to step down is impossible to say with certainty. Lovett declined to comment for this story. What is known is that eight months before she announced her resignation, she sent an e-mail to faculty members to quiet rumors that she might be leaving NAU. The rumors had started because she and her husband had bought a second home in Phoenix. The e-mail, which was published in the Sun, explained that Lovett’s husband needed to spend more time at lower elevation for health reasons. “We look forward to many more years of service to NAU and the Flagstaff community,” wrote Lovett.

Though the timing of Lovett’s resignation with regard to the unfolding NCAA inquiry is curious, there are other possible explanations for Lovett’s resignation. Two months prior to her resignation, she was involved in a rollover accident on Interstate 40. Though she was not seriously injured, she spent two or three days in the hospital.

Grenetta Fink, an NAU graduate student who occasionally worked with Lovett, suspects the accident may have played a role in Lovett’s decision to step down. (At the time she was interviewed, Fink was not aware of the new accusations involving Randy Rhoton.)

“She was never frightened in her whole life (other) than when that accident happened. And it made her reevaluate her life. And I think that and the fact that her husband had this altitude sickness and just couldn’t stick around. I think she just decided, ‘You know what, I need to move on,’” said Fink.

According to the Sun, at the time she announced she would step down, “Lovett, 61, said she had accomplished her goals, which included strengthening NAU’s academic reputation, expanding recruitment of ‘top-notch’ Arizona students, improving diversity in the student body, staff and faculty and increasing resources through grants and appropriations.”