American Academy of Arts and Sciences president to resign in resume scandal

At least she didn’t claim to be a Nobel prize winner.  Via Slashdot:

“The 233-year old American Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced that its longtime President and Chief Executive, Leslie Cohen Berlowitz, has agreed to resign effective at the end of this month following an investigation of charges of resume embellishment and other misconduct.

Berlowitz falsely claimed to have received a doctorate from New York University, and has also been criticized for her behavior towards scholars and subordinates, and for her compensation package ($598,000 for 2012) relative to the size of the non-profit organization she led.

The Academy, based in Cambridge MA, was founded during the American Revolutionary War and is one of the most prestigious honorary societies for the American intellectual elite, extending across math and science, arts and letters, business, law and public affairs. The active membership rolls contain people you’ve heard of; the incoming class list provides a more manageable glimpse of the society’s breadth.”

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is big on pushing this pet project: “the Alternative Energy Future

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July 27, 2013 1:47 pm

“….her compensation package ($598,000 for 2012) relative to the size of the non-profit organization she led.”
Non-profit? Ha!

Doug Jones
July 27, 2013 1:48 pm

Non-profit = insider-plunder.

Doug Jones
July 27, 2013 1:54 pm

I think that at least part of the reason that such people are so aggressive about their opinions is that they know, deep inside, that they are overpaid frauds. A guilty conscience makes for powerful defensiveness.

July 27, 2013 2:05 pm

I volunteer my time to charitable organisations but never contribute a penny to them, because bread head types like Berlowitz are all too common.
Pointman

July 27, 2013 2:09 pm

The fault lies with the board; they obviously failed to vet candidates properly. For a half-million (USD) compensation package, a fair amount of due diligence is expected. Verifying a PhD degree only takes one phone call. One wonders what else they didn’t check.

July 27, 2013 2:11 pm

[Removed as requested – see Stephen Rasey’s comment below]

July 27, 2013 2:12 pm

Two decades in various public and private businesses have taught me that every organization is the expression of the personality of the one at the top. So this episode actually explains why so many thought it appropriate to label themselves Nobel Laureates even if they obviously aren’t.

ThinAir
July 27, 2013 2:12 pm

The first stated goal of that initiative is:
“To establish a standing Academy forum on energy and social science to increase the impact that social science research can have on energy policy development”.
We can hope it gets help to “resign” with its former president, as it would seem to welcome social science methods to the study of climate, and of course central planning for the entire economy.

July 27, 2013 2:14 pm

Please delete my 2:11. that is the board for the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Mike McMillan
July 27, 2013 2:16 pm

The shame, the shame.
Nothing left for her but to go into politics.

Admin
July 27, 2013 2:31 pm

Perhaps she can ask Nuccitelli for a big oil job… 🙂

hoboduke
July 27, 2013 2:32 pm

She will have a cabinet position for our chief Executive Obama somewhere. It depends if she resigned due to her conscience or she is fleeing to avoid some scandals. People with conscience are not welcome in our current White House.

Latitude
July 27, 2013 2:34 pm

well………I guess it’s non-profit when you spend all the profit

My-oh-My
July 27, 2013 2:42 pm

I am the only one to beleive that these NGO’s, (recorded as Charities for the most part), are no more than interconnected pressure groups being paid for by the tax-paying-public, who then go on to lobby that tax-payers’ Government on behalf of themselves?
Maybe some credible Journalist would like to take this up and create a node-connection diagram?
To me, a lot of these people seem to be placed in positions beyond their ability.

July 27, 2013 2:42 pm

another crooked liberal

TobiasN
July 27, 2013 2:57 pm

Also the head of the IPCC’s official biography is either misleading or an outright lie, depending on how you read it
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2013/07/18/the-ipcc-chairmans-fake-second-phd/

July 27, 2013 3:07 pm

Mike McMillan says:
July 27, 2013 at 2:16 pm
“The shame, the shame.
Nothing left for her but to go into politics.”
You stole my thought! Is it too late for her to throw her over-sized hat into the ring for NYC mayor? The scandal ridden seem to rise to the top like scum on boiled offal.

Peter Miller
July 27, 2013 3:11 pm

This highlights an important question:
If all the NGOs were abolished, would anyone operating in the real world notice?
The only thing I can think of is that this might lower our tax bills.
Does anyone know of a genuinely useful NGO?

Theo Goodwin
July 27, 2013 4:05 pm

johanna says:
July 27, 2013 at 3:55 pm
Oh, Johanna, there you go again using actual English. How judgmental. No doubt the woman has been traumatized by the actions of fuzzy-duddies at the AAAS. Think of the blow to her self-esteem. How will she ever recover? /sarc

Jimbo
July 27, 2013 4:15 pm

O/T
Anthony, keep an eye on this for mid September Arctic sea ice minimum, whatever it turns out to be. I have checked each year since 1958 and it looks like the coldest so far for the “Daily mean temperature and climate north of the 80th northern parallel, as a function of the day of year.”
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/coldest-summer-on-record-in-the-arctic-fading-fast/
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php

July 27, 2013 4:24 pm

President and Chief Executive, Leslie Cohen Berlowitz, has agreed to resign effective at the end of this month following an investigation of charges of resume embellishment and other misconduct.
She ’embellished’ her resume? Didn’t Michael Mann conspire with Phil Jones to ’embellish’ Jones’ CV? It’s right in the Climategate #1 emails. Did either Mann or Jones get disciplined? Not a chance.
==============================
Pointman says:
I volunteer my time to charitable organisations but never contribute a penny to them, because bread head types like Berlowitz are all too common.
Same here. I volunteered at our local Humane Society for three years after I retired. Then found out the CEO was making almost a half-mil out of a budget of 2 million. They never got another dime from me.
These charities have Boards that shirk their duties. They should be working toward the benefit of homeless animals. But a new CEO gets in, and instantly begins to schmooze the Board. Grossly overpaid compensation results. But the general public knows little about it. These Boards should meet only on the public record. But of course that is wishful thinking. They flogged everyone, especially the ≈900 volunteers, to give money all the time. After their fat salaries, not very much of it goes toward animal welfare.
Since I was in my teens there has been an organization of retired CEO’s and executives: SCORE [service corps of retired executives, IIRC]. Many of them would gladly work for a nominal $1 a year, just to be in charge and doing something again. You can only play so much golf.
But like so much that has gone wrong in society, people running charities have learned to game the system. The Red Cross is a typical moneygrubber’s feast. Do a search for ‘Red Cross, CEO compensation’. Sheesh. It’s outrageous. And with a charity there is very little oversight. Not much you can do. Except maybe compare their compensation with the CEO of the Salvation Army.

WhatTheLawSays:
July 27, 2013 4:52 pm

Mods: It looks like this went into your trash bin. If not then please hold:
If the IRS would follow the original 1954 501(c)(4) law which states that tax exemptions were to apply to “Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated EXCLUSIVELY for the promotion of social welfare” (caps mine), a ton of “charities” wouldn’t qualify. However the IRS changed this in 1959 to: ”To be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, an organization must operate PRIMARILY to further the common good and general welfare…” (caps mine). The change requires an IRS individuals interpretation of “primarily”.
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/15/the-real-irs-scandal-reinterpreting-the-law/
If this administration had any backbone/integrity/etc. it would force the IRS to follow the LAW as passed by congress in 1954. However there would be a lot of politico’s upset on both sides so that not going to happen.

RayG
July 27, 2013 5:08 pm

Gary Pearse says:
July 27, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Mike McMillan says:
July 27, 2013 at 2:16 pm
“The shame, the shame.
Nothing left for her but to go into politics.”
You stole my thought! Is it too late for her to throw her over-sized hat into the ring for NYC mayor? The scandal ridden seem to rise to the top like scum on boiled offal.
In order to rund for mayor of NYC, wouldn’t she have to adopt a nom de plume of Carlotta Danger and send out Weinerish pix of herself?

BarryW
July 27, 2013 5:37 pm


Which is why I stopped giving to United Way after I found out what the president was making (and the other scandals he was involved in). They said they “fixed” everything but it’s still the same old same old.

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