What are career outcomes of DL Doctorate holders?

[EliEverIsAHero]

This is more of the type of discussion had on the sister forum, but there are technical issues on that forum with sign-up that prevent me from asking. So I figured I'd ask here.

What are some notable examples of distance learning doctorate holders who've held tenure track positions at universities, permanent teaching faculty positions at LACs/SLACs, full-time paid researchers outside of academia etc. or who managed a career-shift after their DL doctorate? How common is this? 

Speaking anecdotally, I had a class taught by a professor during my second Master's degree who got a Professional Doctorate from Regent, but she also wasn't full-time faculty. The program I was in itself also offered a functionally DL Doctorate program geared mainly towards mid-career military and diplomatic personnel, though it had produced one Doctoral graduate who now participates in thought-leadership via writing and speaking engagements, full-time, for a prominent think tank. 

The common received wisdom I've heard about DL doctorates over the years is that they're often functionally (not so much in the substance of the coursework/research program) box-ticking exercises for mid-career managers in the private sector (eg the same reason online MBAs are so popular), federal civil servants at the higher end of the GS scale, military personnel, etc. 

itt tl;dr what usually happens to DL Doctorate holders:

• In Academia 
  
• Outside of Academia 
  

Can it make a difference?

[FireMedic_Philosopher]

Very interested in this myself. I'm a paramedic and fire dept lieutenant who would very much like to pivot to a full time role in academia, a national defense think tank, or move into the federal government as a defense department civilian.

[Sagan]

Without defining the parameters and elements of your question, it is difficult to imagine being able to supply a cogent response.

In general, academia doesn't want practitioners. That's why there are plenty of books and papers about leaving academia for private practice, but nothing written about going the other way. The main reason is they don't typically see your experience as relevant to theirs. Also, you didn't "grow up" in their system: grading papers as a TA, teaching courses as a grad student, participating in senior professors' research, presenting at symposia, publishing in academic journals, etc. But....

Exceptions can be found. But I can assure you it's not the degree that will get you hired. The degree will ALLOW you to be hired. If a school wants to hire you--usually stemming from an ongoing relationship with them--they will, regardless of where or how you earned your doctorate.

[EliEverIsAHero]

Without defining the parameters and elements of your question, it is difficult to imagine being able to supply a cogent response.

In general, academia doesn't want practitioners. That's why there are plenty of books and papers about leaving academia for private practice, but nothing written about going the other way. The main reason is they don't typically see your experience as relevant to theirs. Also, you didn't "grow up" in their system: grading papers as a TA, teaching courses as a grad student, participating in senior professors' research, presenting at symposia, publishing in academic journals, etc. But....

Exceptions can be found. But I can assure you it's not the degree that will get you hired. The degree will ALLOW you to be hired. If a school wants to hire you--usually stemming from an ongoing relationship with them--they will, regardless of where or how you earned your doctorate.

Whether there is a siloed practitioner-academic divide is entirely path-dependent on your field. 

Public Administration/Policy departments by and large tend to prefer faculty with applied experience, as do niche subtopics under that umbrella. Likewise Ministry-focused, emic approaches to Theology/Religious Studies in D.Min etc. programs; and a faculty member in Geographic Information Systems had better have a record of applied projects and employment beyond their dissertation.

In my experience, even in the heavily-theory-oriented Religious Studies courses I took as an undergraduate, for example, one of the most celebrated faculty members whose presence "filled the seats" was a former Buddhist monk from a Zen-like tradition. Students interested in Security Studies often took courses in the Public Administration department taught by a former Army Foreign Area Officer without a PhD, etc. 

What you are saying about academia not wanting practitioners is true of certain fields (Anthropology, Geography, Politics in some UK programs etc.) in their non-applied, "critical" and heavily theoretical forms. I personally developed a lot of frustration with this mindset while taking a Master's-level Geography course with an instructor who pooh-pooh'd a rigorous, quantitative article on the electoral geography of a deeply contested presidential election, instead favoring a "critical" article we read the same day that patronizingly talked about a rural community's dependence on the industrial sector, depriving its human subjects of dignity or agency in the name of a political point. And that is certainly one way to approach academia.  

But this is not true of programs that seek to produce practitioners and have faculty members on board who can demonstrate competence. My initial alma mater's Emergency Management program, for example, had several faculty who had become certified UAV pilots or ArcGIS experts (while teaching) so that they could both apply those skills on a consultancy basis to local and state government, and so that they could train their students in these same skill sets.

[sanantone]

I think there are other things that are more important than mode of delivery because they oftentimes can't tell how you earned your degree.

PhD or equivalent vs. professional scholarly doctorate (DBA, EdD, DCJ, DMin, etc.) - Having a non-PhD doctorate can lower your chances of landing a tenure-track position at an R1 or R2 university, but it depends on the field.

Rank or reputation of graduate school: Programs rarely hire tenure-track faculty from programs that are ranked far below their own, but there are more unranked programs than ranked programs to apply to.

Overall reputation of school: A degree from a well-known for-profit can make it harder to land a tenure-track position.

Publications and conferences: Have you successfully published in a peer-reviewed journal or presented at conferences?

In the healthcare administration field, I've noticed that many tenure-track/tenured professors do have industry experience, which is the opposite of what I've seen in criminal justice. Community colleges and nontraditional universities value industry experience, but they're less likely to have tenure. In the security studies field, many professors have served in the military or worked with international organizations, but I think this is coincidence in many cases.

[Sagan]

Another factor is embeddedness.

Fully embedded research is done as a part of your job.

Partially embedded research is related to your job. You might use data, equipment, processes, office space, etc. to conduct it.

Non-embedded research is done completely away from your job. This is what I did. Twice.

Why is this a factor? Your research should link to your future. Your degree is more likely to be accepted when seeking employment when it blends with your prior professional experience and future goals.