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[bioengr]

I doubt this is the most appropriate location to post this, but I thought this emerging story was interesting (and will get better as more info comes out).  How can one be on the faculty in different positions for 28 YEARS and only now its found out that they lied about their degrees?  It's not even clear what was incorrect about the degrees she claims to have, but doesnt anyone check this?  Apparently not 28 years ago...

Better question, it's been shown in her 28 years of service that she's more than qualified, she's a DEAN at MIT for pete's sake, so who benefits from forcing her to resign NOW?

Thoughts?

Statement by Marilee Jones
April 26, 2007

"I have resigned as MIT's Dean of Admissions because very regrettably, I misled the Institute about my academic credentials.

"I misrepresented my academic degrees when I first applied to MIT 28 years ago and did not have the courage to correct my resume when I applied for my current job or at any time since.

"I am deeply sorry for this and for disappointing so many in the MIT community and beyond who supported me, believed in me, and who have given me extraordinary opportunities.

"I especially apologize to the Institute's leadership and to my extraordinary staff, whom I have every confidence will continue to deliver on the Institute's mission.

"This is the only public comment I wish to make at this personally difficult time and I hope my privacy will be respected."

[spork]

Not only should she have been fired (long ago) for lying, but anyone involved in reviewing her qualifications, if they are still employed at MIT, should also be fired.

[john_proctor]

I'm not completely clear, but I think she came forward on her own, as well.

In other words, if she hadn't stepped down, she might never have been caught at all (though, I think I read/heard somewhere that she had been caught and was given the option of outing herself and resigning).

[spork]

One of the dirty secrets about academia is that admissions offices are often staffed by people who are not highly educated.

[greyscale]

How can one be on the faculty in different positions for 28 YEARS and only now its found out that they lied about their degrees?

She was staff, not faculty, I believe. And someone called another administrator with doubts about her credentials. It's rather odd that it came out now.

This article has more information: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/04/mit_dean_of_adm.html

[spork]

How can one be on the faculty in different positions for 28 YEARS and only now its found out that they lied about their degrees?

She was staff, not faculty, I believe. And someone called another administrator with doubts about her credentials. It's rather odd that it came out now.

This article has more information: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/04/mit_dean_of_adm.html

That article points to something very fishy that should have been noticed immediately:  people with degrees from places like Union College and RPI don't go to work as administrative assistants.

[bioengr]

WOW!  So, according to the article she claimed THREE degrees and had NONE and was a common spokesperson to denounce how young people were overinflating their resumes????  More amazing IMHO is that MIT apparently never checked to see if ANY of those 3 were legit.  Wow!

"Marilee Jones, MIT's dean of admissions who has spoken out nationally against the craze over beefing up teens' resumes...

Jones listed on her resume that she had degrees from Albany Medical College, Union College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, but she had no degrees from any of those schools, said MIT chancellor Phillip Clay"

I agree w/the above post too, why would anyone w/3 degrees be applying for that position 28 years ago?  A little common sense people!

[csguy]

The academy was a bit more trusting 28 years ago. After several similar cases universities began to insist on documentation.

[vandoesborgh]

I often feel like I'm a fraud doing what I do right now, but at least the people who hired me, the people I work with and just about everyone knows that my real background in humanities.  I can only imagine how she feels since she's a real fraud.

[eumaios]

Marilee Jones rose from administrative assistant to dean of admissions at MIT--not Mudhole Community College, but MIT--even though she lacked the academic credentials she claimed to have. Hm. Maybe this suggests something about the relationship between academic credentials and the ability actually to do a job. Just a thought.

[bioengr]

Or perhaps it shows that no education is required to be dean of admissions even at MIT? :D

[larryc]

I am so taking that Nobel Prize off my vita before someone checks.

[joey_fan]

There's an article in the NY Times about the Admissions Dean of MIT retiring--apparently the Dean had falsified/misrepresented her own academic credentials, and after decades, is now stepping down.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/education/26cnd-mit.html?hp

I have to say I loved this bit from the article:

Many expressed sadness for Ms. Jones. “It’s like a Thomas Hardy tragedy, because she did so much good, but something she did long ago came back and trumped it,” said Leslie Perelman, director of the M.I.T. program in writing and humanistic studies, and a friend of Ms. Jones.

[fiona]

Or perhaps it shows that no education is required to be dean of admissions even at MIT? :D

This is what it looks like to me. If she was doing her job well, why not give her amnesty for the lie 28 years ago?

As many of us know, it's not easy to find competent people to do academic tasks. Humiliate her and have her sit in the stocks for a day or two, and then keep her on the job. She may be the one who knows how to do it best.

The Fiona

[neutralname]

We should be more forgiving.  Hell, there are thousands of people with EdDs who claim to have academic credentials.