MIT dean of admissions resigns after lying about her academic credentials
 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ...ean/index.html

CNN) -- The dean of admissions at one of America's most prestigious schools resigned on Thursday after the university discovered she had lied about her academic credentials.

Marilee Jones, who joined the staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979 to lead the recruitment of women at the university, stepped down from her post after admitting that she had "misrepresented her academic degrees to the institute," according to a statement posted on MIT's Web site.

"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," Jones said in a posting on the school's Web site.

"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."

Patti Richards, spokeswoman for MIT, said the school had received information about Jones' credentials and investigated them. "At various times she claimed to have received degrees from Albany Medical College, Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute, and Union College and we confirmed that she had not graduated from any of these schools."

"This is a sad and unfortunate event," said Daniel E. Hastings, dean for undergraduate education at the Cambridge school, in a Web posting. "But the integrity of the institute is our highest priority, and we cannot tolerate this kind of behavior."

Jones was named dean of admissions at MIT in 1997 and received MIT's highest award for administrators, the "MIT Excellence Award for Leading Change." She was also the 2006 winner of the "Gordon Y Billard Award" given "for special service of outstanding merit" performed for the school.

Stuart Schmill, MIT's senior associate director of admissions, has been named the interim director of admissions.

I wonder who busted her?

No kidding. Especially after 28 years.

I work at a rinky-dink college with multiple campuses around the world. All staff and faculty have to resubmit resumes and transcripts every two years. I am shocked that MIT doesn't do this.

No kidding, wait til I tell my boyfriend! It was the one school he was rejected from.

i was really disappointed when i heard this - i read her famed essay (last year?) about how the college applications process is becoming an absurd hypercompetition that simply isn't healthy, and i admired her for having the guts to come out and say that. all the admissions office at my school can do is be 'misquoted' (yeah right) in the nyt about how part of the deal in raising tuition to sickeningly high levels (we outrank yale) is that it makes parents think 'oh they must be more selective.'

wonder what made her feel the need to add extra degrees.

if MIT is anything like my school, admissions decisions are made in committee, so while she would have had a say in it, hers wouldn't have been the deciding vote. still, i think part of the embarrasment is that she's such a high-profile and well known admissions officer from MIT - i doubt this would have been such a huge deal had she not been so well known for that essay/her blog/etc

...and she would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids.

Saw this on http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...336353&page=32

My jaw pretty much hit the floor when I read the article. I'm shocked and surprised that MIT never verified her credentials, especially as she was promoted to positions that did require college degrees (her initial job didn't). I hope they did a better job reviewing the professors' backgrounds!

thanks for the info alum, i stand (at least partially) corrected. i didn't realize she signed off on every admit.

scratch what i said earlier, i'd be furious if i/my child had gotten turned down from MIT and that decision was made by her

I think she needed to get fired for lying, no doubt. Only option, period.

It is interesting to note though that she demonstrated that the degrees she would have needed to be considered for her later positions pretty obviously don't require the degree to do the job well.

What's interesting is that her husband also works for MIT (he runs an important research facility). If he knew that her academic background was a pack of lies and he failed to turn her in, should he be fired as well?

Maybe he didn't know - there's that trust between spouses, and if he met her after college/grad school/etc., he may have been just as duped about this whole thing.

I think this is a pretty weak stance to take - there's no evidence MIT admissions suffered because of her lies, and there's absolutely no reason to think your child would have fared differently under a Rhodes scholar.

Actually, it's a really bizarre connection to draw, the more I think about it. She should certainly be fired for lying, but this is not evidence of any sort of endemic flaw in MIT admissions.

I'm not surprised she was able to get away with this, including for the amount of time that she did. It's no secret that references/credentials often go unchecked for "higher up" positions as opposed to entry-level / middle management roles. This is very prevalent in the business world and I guess it does spill over into academia - which surprises me.

About 3-4 years ago, it was discovered that the CEO of Cessna Aircraft at that time had done something very similiar (he bought his degrees from one of those schools that spam your hotmail with those "degree for sale" emails).

At that level, I guess they depend upon "word of mouth"/networking moreso than anything else.

it's true, and i can completely agree with that as a person who has no personal stake in this - i meant it more in the context of wanting someone to blame had i (or my child) not gotten into MIT - a hypothetical. assuming i was qualified enough to attend MIT and had the requisite stellar grades/recs/ECs and got turned down by someone who lied about her credentials to make them more impressive when my genuine credentials weren't 'enough,' she'd make a good target. it's not rational, but i can see it happening.

I wonder when the first lawsuit will occur? Don't forget that a kid at Yale sued Princeton for not admitting him despite his perfect scores.

Okay, but he didn't win, did he? (I actually hadn't seen this news story about the Yale dude.)

He sued for the "principle" of it all. He felt that ORMs are held to higher standards than other ethnic groups as well as legacies, URMs and athletes. Apparently he wanted it as a class action suit, but no one else joined.