MIT admissions dean resigns

Source: The Associated Press

— To stressed-out parents and students, MIT admissions dean Marilee Jones was a rare voice of reason in the high-pressure world of college admissions. With colleges demanding kids who play sports, run student government and take the heaviest course load they can, Jones shouted back the opposite: daydream, stay healthy, and don't worry so much about building a resume just to impress an elite college.

Yet it turns out that Jones was susceptible to pressure herself. She falsely bolstered her credentials to get a job with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and over the course of her career claimed to have earned degrees from three schools. MIT officials say now they have no evidence she ever graduated from college at all.

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The school announced Thursday that Jones had resigned after acknowledging she had misrepresented her education when she started working at the university 28 years ago, and declined to correct multiple incorrect claims since then.

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Clay said MIT was alerted to questions about Jones' credentials in a phone call, from someone he declined to identify, to another dean. An inquiry determined Jones had at various points claimed degrees from Union College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Albany Medical College, all in New York, but in fact had no degrees from any of those institutions. Clay said MIT was not aware of Jones having any undergraduate or graduate degree.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4753068.html

I can't wait to use it in class.

She was a real leader and a breath of fresh air.

And she rose to the top by being effective.

then work on the degree once she had it. I think this is sad for everyone at MIT, because she was a very positive force there.

If you can do the job you should have the job...screw diplomas. It is true that some people perform best under the stresses of college (hell, even regular school) but not everyone does and I've seen more than enough MAs and PhDs that can't function to know the farce.

Disclaimer...self taught community organizer, elected official and computer specialist

Those diplomas do actually mean something. They are not just a piece of paper. They represent hard work and achievement in a particular field. While I'm sure there are some PhDs and MAs who are clueless, I'd wager that the majority are very bright individuals who have developed strong critical thinking skills. I've seen too many students work hard to get an EdS, MA, EdD and PhD to dismiss the worth of these degrees. The subject of this article lied about academic degrees to get a job in academia. This is unacceptable and she deserved to be fired immediately. There are jobs in academia that don't require an advanced degree, and there are even some that don't require a degree at all. If she wanted to work in academia she should have either pursued the degrees she needed to do that or be honest about her background.

degrees from Yale and Harvard prove, other than that he benifitted from an affirmative action program for rich well connected sons of other rich well connected folks.

I recall that Bush received a gentleman's C at Yale.

The majority of people who get degrees don't go to ivy league schools or have family connections. George would have been just fine job-wise without the degree and he didn't appreciate the amazing education that he was given.

I suppose she should have been fired. But I refuse to condemn her.

By the time she began rising upwards on staff, she was ashamed to say anything.

and would you allow lying like this with your employees?

so if Iraq turns around, are you willing to forgive junior his lying?

Sorry - imho she deserves to be fired. as does junior. as does cheater cheney. The ends do not justify the lying.

And people put themselves in heavy debt going to college for a liberal art degree doesn't seem to be wise to me. 90% of the jobs out there a trade school training is suffice.

The purpose of higher education industry is to rob 90% of the young people to death.

college is a great opportunity to be exposed to people and thoughts that you would not otherwise see.

I went to school on gi bill and earned a degree that changed my life.

Fields like engineering, computer science, and the sciences require more than trade school.

This is no knock to trade school, just that some roads require formal training.

it is very important on many levels. I encourage all young people who are finishing high school to do what they can to get a college degree because it opens up many doors and the experience broadens minds. Higher education is about much more than getting a job.

Had a double major in undergrad, now working on two masters. Don't make sweeping generalizations. I wouldn't change my educational path for anything.

I'd say 99% of the jobs.

This lady is just an example. She probably has been doing a very good job in the position.

One can learn all professional knowledge and skills on the job.

I bet before long she will be rehired by a major university. No kidding.

Experience is gained from the real world, not from school.

On account of her losing her job for not having the degrees?

I think she scores an A+

I bet they wouldn't have hired her if she told the truth. And the firing after 28 years, sounds kinda petty.

If they'd done it in the first two, I'd feel different. But now she's proved she's competent.

I bet she does get a job at another university now that she has the experience.

And Kudos for her being a woman and getting so far. I too lied to get into my industry. I no longer have to because I have the experience, but I'm sure glad I did when I was young and poor and needed a good job to support myself. I lied about prior experience not the degree - which I hold.

As far as the person who turned her in, what karma... Reminds me of part of a Woodsworth poem - "a truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent".

why bother to teach our youth anything beyond basic reading and mathematics?

Third grade or so then off to trade school.

You sound quite disgruntled. Bad experience in college?

She's an idiot for lying on her resume, but it's a shame she'll lose her retirement.

I didn't know that about her retirement. That seems unfair, since this hasn't affected her job performance.

She DID do the actual work and put in the time.

In this case ,I think she earned that retirement, whatever her falsification of her academic achievements.

This really points out the fact that , some degrees are worth about the cost of the paper they are printed on :)

I think the saddest part about the story is that she did not go out and get the degrees. She had 28 years to get the degrees she said she had. Even if she had just attend other schools then the ones she listed and received at least one degree that would have been good. How about just taking classes at MIT or a neighboring school?

There are some standards that should never be breached, IMO.

Source: NYT

By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: April 27, 2007

Marilee Jones, the dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became well known for urging stressed-out students competing for elite colleges to calm down and stop trying to be perfect. Yesterday she admitted that she had fabricated her own educational credentials, and resigned after nearly three decades at M.I.T. Officials of the institute said she did not have even an undergraduate degree.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27mit.html?hp

::hmmm...::

how incredibly sad. She sounds like she was excellent at her job.

:shrug:

recruit people into a college if you have almost no experience being in college yourself?

Allow me to don my tinfoil hat.

:tinfoilhat:

She's part of the rightwing campaign to undermine public education, including universities. She was one of the first participants in the campaign, and her main job was to dilute the educational quality of one of the nation's top universities, because truly well-educated people would be able to see through later smokescreens.

The continuing erosion of public education in general under republican adminstrations is evidence of this.

:tinfoilhat:

The scary part is, that's not as unthinkable as it used to be...

She did a great job at MIT. Under her, the percent of women students has steadily increased without lowering standards. Some of the men complain because their average SAT's are a few points higher -- but the women who are accepted bring other strengths AND they have slightly higher MIT GPA's once they're enrolled. So they're obviously smart enough.

Thanks to Jones, MIT enrolls nearly as many women as men, as opposed to other top schools that might enroll 3 men for every woman.

This is a real loss.

Bill Gates didn't have a college degree either.

So what's the big deal?

This woman did. She's no role model.

no but he lied about everything else.

At lunch today someone was telling me about he book he's reading and how steve jobs lied to Wozniac and told him he only made $700 instead of the $5000 he made selling computer boards wozniac designed the chips on, thus only giving Wozinac $700. He did that all the time.

I'm told Bill Gates was far worse than that with Paul Allen.

To many highly talented people, college is waste of time.

Your statement is incorrect.

:shrug:

my stepmom works for MIT, i'll be calling her tomorrow.

that usually your lies will catch up with you...

Lying on a resume is quite common, but it's stupid - especially if you're going to claim three degrees you don't have! As someone once said, if you're going to lie or cheat, dammit, be smart about it and don't get caught.

Lying and cheating is in most cases, more difficult than telling the truth, unless you're a pathological liar, since you have to cover your tracks and try to lie more to make your lies consistent.

I work with a guy with about 30 years of work experience who works around many engineers, managers, etc with bachelors' degrees, but I'll tell ya...he's one incredibly knowledgeable guy...And even if she didn't need a degree for her job, which she sounded like she was good at - after all she lasted that many years (many colleges and universities are diploma mills anyways), she lied about her qualifications. In most places, that'll get ya kicked out - and it is expected at one of the world's most prestigious universities.

Men lie all the time to get ahead. Women should unapologetically too, if that's the only way to get the job. Unless she's applying to head a church, I think this should be looked as normal corporate break-in and get ahead practice. Kudos for her being a woman and doing it.

You may think that's awful, but that's often the only path to get in. To go to a company and lie and say you already did the job you're being hired for, or to fake a degree.

I would never have gotten into my job sector if I had not lied about experience at the beginning. Now I don't have to lie as I've got the experience. But I hold nobody in contempt who is just starting and trying to break in. More power to her. Glad she didn't let the lack of a degree hold her back. Extra points for being a woman and doing this. What BALLS!

technical university, is UNACCEPTABLE. I don't care what gender or sex you are.

And if you lied to get your job and you have it still, I'll just say that you're lucky you haven't been caught. More places run background checks to find that kind of thing.

Just because the ends justify the means, doesn't mean they are morally or ethically right - or worth the risk.

Frankly, if you lied your way to your job by faking your qualifications and got caught, frankly I'd hope you get fired.

You'd know that if you read the article instead of blowing hot air.

lot of companies are demanding certifications that mean nothing in regards to job performance. I'm thinking of one company in which the personnel department refuses to look at anyone with a GPA below 3.5. The personnel department was asked to find some new hires. After the personnel department spent a year looking for people to interview with no success, the department head asked the one young guy in the department for some recomendations. The kid had gone to school with several people who had a GPA below 3.5, but he knew they also had the skills and intuition needed to do the job. Result, two new hires turning out great work.

My kids' take on the entire grade business: all too often the highest grades in the class go to the best cheaters. There is usually a cadre of students in the top brackets but not at the very top who do much better than the "Top" students on well proctored exams such as the SAT and AP and who also are the ones participating in Language Clubs, Science clubs and technology clubs, etc.

This elite institution couldn't tell the difference between a person with multiple degrees and one without any.

on her admissions work.

If she had actually been trying to work in science, I'm sure it would be been uncovered quickly.

About 10% of your knowledge becomes obsolete each year. So after 28 years only 0.9 ^ 28 or about 5.2% of your undergraduate degree is still relevant.

it's a matter of learning how to be a scientist. And someone with 28 years of experience has presumably developed in his or her field.

But she would never have succeeded at her first job in science as an imposter. An admissions job, on the other hand, doesn't require any specialized knowledge, beyond that which is learned on the job.

n/t

how can MIT ever claim to care about integrity?

It's sad. She's probably qualified. But that's what happens when you lie on an employment form - everywhere, as far as I know.

as well as the fact that they promoted her at least once for good performance without re-checking her references, and that she has been an effective performer for the last 28 years, MIT should climb down off it's high horse and re-hire her.

What she has done in her 30's and 40's is more important than what she did in her twenties.

I don't think it will be hard to find someone who can do the job as well or better than her.

its MIT's game and the last time I checked, they make the rules. IMO