Gwendolyn Griffith Adell is a member of the Indiana State Board of Education and administrator of a Gary charter school singled out for distinction by Gov. Mitch Daniels. She also stands accused of plagiarizing her doctoral dissertation.

Purdue University officials have confirmed they are reviewing the allegations.

Adell submitted a dissertation entitled "African American Female Administrators: Leadership in Context," to Purdue in December 2004 as a doctoral candidate. Portions of the document are nearly identical (see box on Page 16A) to information in a 1999 dissertation submitted by a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

"I categorically deny that I copied anyone's work," Adell said when asked for comment last week. "I am going to have to proceed with counsel."

"This is an initial review," wrote Jeanne Norberg, director of public information at Purdue-West Lafayette, in response to a query about possible consequences. "We won't know next steps, let alone potential conclusions, until that initial review is completed."

Purdue's Policy on Research Misconduct defines plagiarism as "the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit."

Lynn Amedy, a retired educator who is author of the 1999 Virginia Tech dissertation, said in a phone interview that she had been made aware of the plagiarism charge, but had not compared the work to her own. She said she had not heard of Adell.

A source who asked to remain anonymous pointed The Journal Gazette to the material in question. Doug Martin, a writer and blogger who came across the anonymous source's web posting contacted Purdue officials and the governor's office on April 12.

"Mrs. Adell's membership on the Indiana State Board of Education must be seriously questioned. As public officials, members of the (board) drafting the standards for our teachers, administrators and school children must be held to even higher scrutiny and professional ethics," Martin wrote in an email. "I call on the governor and Purdue officials to arrange for an unbiased, outside research panel (along with, yet apart from Purdue's) to examine the documents, as I have."

Martin knows something about academic integrity. A Walt Whitman scholar, he holds a doctorate from Oklahoma State University.

Daniel E. Wueste, director of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University in South Carolina and president of the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum, said plagiarism in academic work is taken seriously.

"It's a matter of fraud," he said. "The piece of work – it purports to be something that it is not. That is very serious for the university that offers the degree, and not only the individual university, but the whole enterprise of research and scholarship."

Wueste said stripping a person of a degree would be an appropriate response if plagiarism is proved, as a safeguard to the quality of other degrees granted by the institution.

"That's no longer a legitimate credential," he said. "It's not fair to the people who had honest work."

Adell was appointed to the state board of education in 2006. She is principal of the Thea Bowman Leadership Academy in Gary, operated by American Quality Schools. Coincidentally, a community group working to convert Paul Harding High School into a charter school has identified AQS as the education management organization it would contract with if a charter is approved.

The governor cited Adell's school when speaking to the Valparaiso Economic Development Corp. last month. According to the Times of Northwest Indiana, the governor lamented the fact that the charter school had 1,000 children on its waiting list.

"That ain't right," Daniels said. "We need three or four of those kinds of schools if there is that kind of demand for it."

Thea Bowman Academy and others operated by American Quality Schools use the Character Counts curriculum. Its six-pillar approach to character education begins with "trustworthiness – be honest."

Adell also is a director of the Indiana Public Charter School Association. She is the 1st congressional district representative to the state board of education. The 11-member board is comprised of a representative from each congressional district, an at-large member and the state superintendent of public instruction, who is a voting member and chairman. The governor makes all appointments to the board.

Accusations of academic plagiarism are unusual, but generally result in swift consequences when confirmed. Earlier this year, the German defense minister resigned after the University of Bayreuth stripped him of his doctorate. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, once believed to be a possible successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, blamed his busy schedule for the errors in his 2006 thesis. Since his admission, he was dubbed the "minister for cut-and-paste," and "Baron zu Googleberg," according to The Guardian.

The allegations against Adell are serious, as well, given her position on the state board of education and her standing as an insider in the state's so-called education reform movement. In a news release announcing her appointment to the state board along with two other educators, Daniels cited their "decades of experience in Indiana schools, minds open to creating better ways of educating Hoosiers, and enthusiasm for a state structure that supports rather than regulates those efforts."

The governor and Tony Bennett, state superintendent of public instruction, championed a successful legislative agenda that sets impossibly high stakes for public school teachers, schools and districts. The measure for achievement will be tests that demand strict allegiance to the highest ethical standards. The administration has been quick to lash out when allegations of cheating surfaced around ISTEP+ testing.

"We'll have a look at the matter when Purdue is done with its review," Jane Jankowski, the governor's spokeswoman said in an email. "We won't pre-judge."

If the allegations against the governor's appointee are confirmed, educators, parents and taxpayers have every right to question whether a double standard exists when it comes to the governor's expectations for Indiana teachers and for members of his own administration.

From a 1999 dissertation submitted to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:

"Research findings from the past twenty years regarding general leadership traits that females exhibit has been divided. While some researchers reported that men and women hold mostly common leadership traits (Denmark, 1977; Estler, 1987; Haslett, Geis, & Carter, 1992) other researchers (Loden, 1985, Powell; Shakeshaft, 1989) found that men and women employ different leadership styles based on their personal leadership concept and stereotypical perceptions."

From a 2004 dissertation submitted to Purdue University by Gwendolyn Griffith Adell:

"Research findings on general leadership traits that females exhibit from the past twenty years have been divided. While some research reported that men and women hold mostly common leadership traits (Denmark, 1977; Estler, 1987; Haslett, Geis, & Carter, 1992) other researchers (Loden, 1985, Powell; Shakeshaft, 1989) found that men and women employ different leadership styles based upon their personal leadership concept and stereotypical perceptions."

A passage from the Virginia Tech dissertation

"According to Ginn (1989), men dominated the teaching profession from colonial times until the twentieth century. Women gained access to the profession by teaching the younger students in the summer session because these jobs were easy to obtain. However, the salary for all teachers was extremely low and when the terms lengthened and the standards for certification rose, men began to look elsewhere for work. As the demand grew for literate, moral teachers at low wages, women began to monopolize the teaching profession. Women were accepted as teachers because they were thought to work well with children. Even though both genders left the profession at equal rates, women were seen as transient or waiting for marriage. Therefore, women remained segregated in the lower rungs of the teaching professions while men, perceived to be more reliable managers, moved into the supervisory positions. For male administrators, marriage did not conflict with their career."

A selection from Adell's 2004 dissertation

“According to Ginn (1989), men dominated the teaching profession from colonial times until the twentieth century. Women gained access to the profession by teaching the younger students in the summer session because these jobs were easy to obtain. However, the salary for all teachers was extremely low and when the terms lengthened and the standards for certification rose, men began to monopolize the teaching profession. Women were accepted as teachers because they were thought to work well with children. Even though both genders left the profession at equal rates, women were seen as transient or waiting for marriage. Therefore, women remained segregated in the lower rungs of the teaching professions while men, perceived to be more reliable managers, moved into the supervisory positions. For male administrators, marriage did not conflict with their career.”