Doctor Vednita Carter?

Vednita Carter, Breaking Free's founder/former executive director/former president/current board member, has been calling herself "Dr. Vednita Carter" and "Minister Vednita Carter" recently, especially on her new Vednita Carter Ministries website. But has she really earned a doctorate degree or any kind of legitimate degree in divinity?

The short answer is no.

As you can see from the above screen capture from the Breaking Free Facebook page, in August 2015, Vednita was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in divinity from CICA-International University and Seminary. Quite an honor, yes?

Not so fast.

Vednita does not have the right to call herself "Dr. Carter" if she's been awarded an honorary doctorate degree: 

The degree is often conferred as a way of honoring a distinguished visitor's contributions to a specific field or to society in general. It is often given to graduation speakers at a university or college, and the university may derive benefits by association with the person in question. The degree is not recognized by employers as having the same stature as a corresponding earned doctorate degree and should not be represented as such.

It is sometimes recommended that such degrees be listed in one's CV as an award, and not in the education section. With regard to the use of this honorific, the policies of institutions of higher education generally ask that recipients "refrain from adopting the misleading title" and that a recipient of an honorary doctorate should restrict the use of the title "Dr" before their name to any engagement with the institution of higher education in question and not within the broader community. (source)

Now that we've cleared that up, let's discuss the "university" that awarded Vednita her honorary degree, CICA-International University and Seminary. After an examination of CICA-International's website, the school appears to be little more than a diploma mill. There is no actual campus (and its mailing address is a UPS post box in Jamaica, New York), there is little information about the faculty, degrees and courses offered, the application process seems sketchy at best and there is no information on the website about tuition or financial aid. 

The CICA-International website states: "CICA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY & SEMINARY is accredited by the Evangelical Order of Certified Pastoral Counselors of America (EOCPCA). The EOCPCA is a Federal Chartered organization with the Canadian Government and operating under Letters Patent". It's strange that an American university would claim to be accredited by a Canadian body. 

Further exploration revealed that EOCPCA is "a chartered organization holding Federal Letters of Patent mandated by the Government of Canada. It is dedicated to promoting and certifying professional standards for psychotherapists and counsellors practicing from a faith-based, biblical, Judeo-Christian perspective". There is no mention on the EOCPCA's site of accrediting universities or of CICA-International University.

I finally visited the United States Department of Education's Database of Postsecondary Institutions and Programs. CICA-International is not listed as being accredited by any legitimate accrediting organization in the United States. 

In other words, Vednita Carter's honorary doctorate degree likely isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

Vednita Carter does not hold a college degree in divinity or any other subject. She attended the University of Minnesota from 1986-1990 but does not list a degree on her Linkedin account. 

So, the long answer is the same as the short answer: 

No, Vednita Carter does not hold a legitimate doctoral degree. 

No, she does not have the right to refer to herself as "Dr. Carter". 

No, she is not a minister, except a self-styled one.

Now you know the truth.