INDIANAPOLIS – A state Board of Education member resigned last week amid a Purdue University investigation into whether she plagiarized parts of her doctoral dissertation.

Gwendolyn Griffith Adell submitted a resignation letter last week effective immediately, saying she was stepping down for personal and family reasons.

“We wish her the best and are working with the governor’s office to find a replacement,” said Stephanie Sample, communications director for the Indiana Department of Education.

In May, The Journal Gazette reported that portions of the doctoral dissertation turned in by Adell to Purdue in 2004 are nearly identical to information in a 1999 dissertation submitted by a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

Adell has categorically denied copying anyone’s work, and did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

Purdue University has not yet finished its plagiarism review.

Adell was appointed to the state board of education in 2006, representing the 1st Congressional District. Her term expired in June 2010, but she continued to serve “at the pleasure” of Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Under state law, the governor had the right to dismiss a state board of education member for “just cause.”

When asked about the situation in May, Daniels said he would wait for Purdue’s findings.

Adell is the former principal of the Thea Bowman Leadership Academy in Gary. She was promoted earlier this school year to chief administrative officer at the academy, and also serves on the board of directors for the Indiana Public Charter Schools Association.

nkelly@jg.net