Clearing up a degree of some confusion

Curtis Jones Jr. - who beat City Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell in the May primary election - has been falsely claiming that he earned a master's degree from the University of Alabama.

In fact, that "degree" was a professional certification Jones received from a business nonprofit group after attending a series of training workshops.

Jones received a certificate as a Master Compliance Administrator from the American Contract Compliance Association, spokesman Randy Schulz said. The minority-business organization offers courses covering issues like affirmative action, economic development and wage laws.

The program has been held at the University of Alabama, said ACCA founder Kerry Kirkland.

On Friday, prompted by calls from the Daily News, Jones issued a statement saying he had improperly worded his official biography. He did not respond to a request for further comment.

"I take full responsibilitiy for any inaccuracies in the wording of my educational accomplishments," he said in the statement.

Schulz said the biography would be updated to reflect that Jones does not have a master's degree.

Jones, 49, served as president and chief executive of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp. for 15 years before resigning in January to run for City Council.

His official biography - once listed on the PCDC Web site - reads:

"Mr. Jones has completed course study in Boston University's ACCA program. He has a Master's Degree in Contract Compliance from the University of Alabama. In addition, he attended the University of Pennsylvania's Fels School of Government."

But neither Boston University nor Alabama has any record of Jones as a student. In fact, B.U. doesn't have an ACCA program and Alabama does not offer a master's degree in "contract compliance."

The only program Jones - who, according to Schulz, never earned an undergraduate degree - completed was the professional training course through the ACCA.

According to the ACCA Web site, Jones' certification requires 84 "training hours" in the annual workshops and classes.

The program - which offers annual week-long training sessions - was at one point associated with the Boston University School of Social Work, although it never held classes there, Kirkland said.

Kirkland, a former state Democratic Party executive director, praised Jones' performance in the program, saying "Curtis Jones has a reputation in this field as being one of the best in this country."

Jones did take four classes at Fels in the 1987-1988 school year, a Penn spokesman said. Penn would not comment on how he was admitted to the program, given his lack of an undergraduate degree.

The amount of coursework required to earn a traditional academic master's degree varies, but typically ranges from one to three years of full-time study.

For example: to get a master's degree from the Fels school at Penn you must complete 12 courses. With each course running for three hours a week over a 12-week semester, that's a total of about 432 hours just in the classroom. *