Thursday, February 5, 2015

Another college president plagiarizing?

Trouble to the north:

Critics of a southern Minnesota college president have published what they say is evidence that she plagiarized parts of her dissertation for her doctoral degree.

Annette Parker has led South Central College in Faribault and North Mankato since July 2013. She received a doctorate in educational leadership from Western Kentucky University in December 2012.
The evidence, assembled by a former South Central instructor, an instructor’s spouse, and anonymous contributors, appears in a blog post, and it looks pretty damning.

Plagiarism in high places in a minor theme in Orange Crate Art. The presidents of Jacksonville State University, Malone University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Tennessee Temple University have appeared in earlier posts.

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March 2, 2015: A second Minnesota college president has been accused of plagiarism.

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April 8, 2015: The Star Tribune reports that Western Kentucky University has concluded that Annette Parker “‘did not intentionally commit plagiarism, and that a full investigation is not warranted.’” I’m reminded of what I wrote in a 2009 post: “plagiarism seems to be governed by a sliding scale, with consequences lessening as the wrongdoer's status rises.”


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May 11, 2015: The second president, Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical’s Dorothy Duran, has been cleared, kinda sort of. A University of Texas at Austin investigation has concluded that Duran’s “behavior does not rise to scientific misconduct”: Second Minnesota college president cleared of plagiarism allegations (Minnesota Star Tribune). That quotation comes from Duran. What else the investigation had to say about her work has not been made public.

Related reading
All OCA plagiarism posts (Pinboard)

comments: 2

Slywy said...

Without looking at the plagiarizing, I was struck by the short time between when she got her Ph.D. and was anointed a college president. Isn't any experience required? Shame on the committee/university that didn't catch the plagiarism.

Slywy said...

Maybe we're misunderstanding the concept of "educational leadership."