"No record of academy head’s doctoral degree; Where deeds are honored, one is in doubt" by Todd Wallack | Globe Staff, June 04, 2013
CAMBRIDGE — Every fall, Leslie Cohen Berlowitz, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, oversees the induction of hundreds of the brightest scholars, artists, and leaders into the prestigious organization, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected honorary societies, whose membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
But records show that Berlowitz, who has led the academy for 17 years, has exaggerated her own academic achievement as part of efforts to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in government funding.
In at least two applications for federal grants over the past decade, Berlowitz said she received a doctorate in English from New York University in 1969, a degree NYU said she never earned.
Translation: She lied.
Berlowitz said in the applications for funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities that she had a “D. Phil” — the British abbreviation for a doctorate of philosophy or PhD — from NYU. The academy also described her repeatedly as a doctor in an employment ad.
But NYU spokesman James Devitt said the university has no record of her receiving a doctorate or completing her dissertation....
Berlowitz, a 69-year-old New York native, declined repeated requests for interviews over the past two weeks and refused to meet with a reporter who stopped by the academy Monday morning. The academy referred calls to an outside public relations consultant, Ray Howell, who declined to answer specific questions but issued a general statement Monday evening:
“Neither the academy nor President Berlowitz is going to respond to subjective, interpretive, and gossipy allegations from former employees and unnamed sources,” Howell said in the statement. “Nor are they going to respond to personal questions that are irrelevant, do not belong in the public domain and, frankly, smack of sexism.”
Notice he didn't say she had a doctorate. It's a non-denial denial!
The misleading resume is just the latest controversy to shadow Berlowitz’s tenure at the academic think tank, which was founded during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, and other Harvard College graduates as Boston’s answer to Benjamin Franklin’s American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.
Oh, she just misled, she didn't lie. The distinction is very important when it comes to the jewspaper.
Staff members have long complained that Berlowitz micromanages their work and that she dishes out frequent tongue-lashings. Some workers left after only a few days or weeks.
What is it with people in authority in AmeriKa?
“She’s an impossible executive,” said Robert Haselkorn, a University of Chicago plant biologist and former member of the governing board who stopped paying dues more than a decade ago because he was so upset with Berlowitz’s leadership.
But she is an extremely well-paid executive. The academy recently reported that her paycheck has risen to more than $598,000 for the fiscal year ending March 2012, far more than her peers, according to tax records. In fact, Berlowitz earned more than most university presidents, even though the academy has only a few dozen employees and a comparatively small budget.
Oh, look, ANOTHER MONEY JUNKIE heading an AmeriKan institution!
Despite the complaints, Berlowitz has impressed directors by raising money, balancing the budget, and launching new programs, according to several former members of the governing board.
“She has done quite well,” said Carolyn Shoemaker, a past board member and noted astronomer who acknowledges that she had little contact with academy staff members because she lived in Arizona. “Though we might not always approve of the way she treated staff, she was pretty effective as a fund-raiser and getting good publicity for the American Academy.”
Not now, and they knew about the problem? What is this, the Rutgers athletic program?
Berlowitz also made a point of cultivating relationships with members of the board. One recalled that she offered to have the academy cover most of his expenses to attend a meeting in Italy.
“She was quite effective in handing out the goodies,” said Martin Dworkin, a former board member and microbiologist at the University of Minnesota. He noted that staff members sometimes said that “she kissed up and kicked down.”
Translation: She is an asshole.
Dworkin credits Berlowitz with helping to energize a once-sleepy institution by stepping up fund-raising and launching new initiatives, such as fellowship programs. But Dworkin said he ultimately concluded Berlowitz should be let go because she treated underlings so harshly.
Board members did not respond to requests for comment individually. But the chairman of the board, 91-year-old retired industrialist Louis W. Cabot, and the board as a whole released a statement backing Berlowitz late Monday....
At other academic institutions, people who fabricate degrees have often faced severe consequences....
The academy refused multiple requests to provide a copy of Berlowitz’s resume or biography. Instead, a spokesman referred the Globe to a Wikipedia entry created by her public relations staff member....
Workers were even afraid to speak much of the time, making the office seem eerily quiet....
In addition to their unhappiness about Berlowitz’s outsized paycheck, former workers grumbled that she flies first class, stays at the nicest hotels, orders catered meals at the academy, and requires workers to chauffeur her between the office and her luxury apartment along the Charles River in Cambridge.
It's a disease, and it's called elitism.
A former member of the academy board said he was shocked to learn about Berlowitz’s rising pay and benefits....
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"Academy head’s false credential draws scrutiny; Grant filings listed leader’s nonexistent doctorate" by Todd Wallack | Globe Staff, June 05, 2013
Federal investigators plan to examine whether the chief executive of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences violated any laws by inflating her academic credentials as part of efforts to win more than $1 million in government grants over the past decade.
The Globe reported Tuesday that Leslie Berlowitz, the longtime chief of the Cambridge honorary society, falsely claimed to have a doctorate from New York University on at least two grant applications with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Berlowitz also misstated her work history at the school, according to university records and copies of the grant applications.
Oh, she told OTHER LIES, too?!!
On Tuesday, the endowment released a third grant application, from 2012, that also contains the nonexistent doctorate and other misinformation. The endowment, a federal agency that is one of the country's largest funders of cultural programs, gave the academy $1.2 million to fund fellowships for scholars and other programs based on the requests.
“The possibility that false information was included in grant applications from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a matter of serious concern for the agency,” said Carole M. Watson, the endowment’s deputy chairwoman.
Watson said she asked the agency’s inspector general, who is charged with investigating fraud, to investigate the Globe’s report that the academy misstated information on grant applications. Making false statements on such applications could violate two federal laws.
Why does it take the newspaper to alert government to this? WTF?
Attorney General Martha Coakley, who is charged with overseeing charities in Massachusetts, declined to say Tuesday whether she planned to examine Berlowitz’s pay, which the Globe found to be higher than the salary of most college presidents.
A spokesman for Berlowitz, who has often clashed with employees in her 17-year tenure, blamed her staff for incorrect information in a statement Tuesday, even though Berlowitz signed some of the submissions and is known for being a micromanager who insists on seeing every document that leaves the academy....
Not only is she a liar, she passed the buck to her staff.
Academy spokesman Ray Howell said in the statement Tuesday that Berlowitz’s official resume does not contain the inaccurate information, but would not respond when asked whether it had been recently corrected. A former employee said he saw the claim that Berlowitz received a doctorate in English listed on her resume in the academy’s computer system a few months ago. And the academy refused to provide a copy of her resume to the Globe last month, instead pointing a reporter to her Wikipedia entry created by her public relations staff member that was vague about what degrees she received.
I've reached the point where I'm sick of elitist scum across all institutions in AmeriKa. Nothing but a bunch of lying looters.
In addition, a draft of an advance obituary prepared for her staff a few years ago also said she held a doctorate. And an employment ad for the academy repeatedly refers to her as “Dr. Berlowitz.”
Well, didn't Hitler say repeat a lie enough and it becomes the truth?
Howell also declined to say when the academy first started using documents saying that Berlowitz had a doctorate and how many grants it applied for with the misinformation. Federal records show the academy also received grants from the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, in addition to funding from many charitable foundations.
The false statements prompted at least one academy member to call for Berlowitz to step down, even though he credits her with being an effective fund-raiser who helped expand the academy’s programs over the years.
“Although over the years Leslie Berlowitz has done wonderful things for the academy, I think, given the situation, the time has come for her to resign,” said Peter Stansky, an emeritus history professor at Stanford University and past member of the academy board.
It's PAST TIME!
The controversy is particularly striking since the academy, located on 5 acres of wooded grounds near Harvard University, was founded during the American Revolution largely to celebrate scholarly achievements.
To who? Not me.
Over the years, it has inducted thousands of accomplished researchers, artists, and leaders. Its atrium is filled with letters from members, including George Washington, Julia Child, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Some credit Berlowitz with shaking up the once-sleepy institution when she became chief executive in 1996, increasing the fund-raising and launching new initiatives, such as additional fellowships. But she was nearly fired a year after she took over because of complaints about her micromanagement and mistreatment of staff, often yelling at them in front of co-workers. Some workers have quit or were fired after days on the job.
In addition, the Globe reported Tuesday that her pay has mushroomed over the years....
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I hate to say it, but just another lying, looting Jew. Seems to be a characteristic of the chosen people.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Academy chief’s salary, resume get scrutiny
