| Type | Private, distance learning |
|---|---|
| Established | 1991 |
| President | Donald Grunewald |
| Location | , CNMI (U.S. commonwealth) 15°12′24″N145°43′14″E / 15.2066°N 145.7206°E |
| Website | http://www.adamsmith.edu |
 | |
Adam Smith University is a private distance learning university founded in 1991 by Donald Grunewald, who is still its president. [1] Grunewald was president of Mercy College between 1972 and 1984.
Adam Smith's current American mailing address is a private mailbox in Garapan on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth. [1] Adam Smith University asserts the establishment of a French unit called École Supérieure Universitaire Adam Smith, which offers academic degrees for work experience. [2]
Adam Smith University was accredited by the Liberian Ministry of Education since 1995, well before the most recent conflicts, and was accredited as a result of an act of the Liberian legislature. [1] [3] The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board identifies the institution as operating from Liberia and Saipan, but states that it has "no degree-granting authority from Liberia or Saipan." [4] [5]
Steve Levicoff referred to Adam Smith University as a degree mill, and he noted that it operated in Louisiana due to the absence of laws regulating the granting of degrees. [6] Adam Smith University and Columbia State University have the same address, which is "likely a mail forwarding address". [7]
Other critics have described Adam Smith University as a "diploma mill". Alan Contreras from the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization (ODA), an agency of that state's government, called Adam Smith "a diploma mill with a long and unattractive history" in an article [8] written in a personal capacity.
