Marilee Jones - Resignation

Resignation

On April 23, 2007, Jones resigned her position after MIT learned she had fabricated her academic degrees from Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute when she first applied for an entry-level admissions officer position with MIT in 1979 and she had fabricated "a degree" from Albany Medical College "after she was hired." MIT administrators were alerted to the discrepancy on or around April 16, 2007. MIT has not released the name of the person or persons who alerted them about Jones's background. Jones issued a statement on the MIT web site, in which she admitted to wrongdoing:

I misrepresented my academic degrees when I first applied to MIT 28 years ago and did not have the courage to correct my resume when I applied for my current job or at any time since.

A spokesperson from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reported on April 26, 2007, that Jones attended the institute as a "part-time, non-matriculating student" from September 1974 to June 1975 and did not receive a degree. Spokespeople from Union College and from Albany Medical College both reported that there are no records of Jones ever attending either institution. On May 2, 2007, it was reported that she had actually earned a bachelor's degree in biology from The College of Saint Rose in 1973, though she did not list that degree when applying for her first job at MIT or when being considered for subsequent promotions.

When Jones was appointed to the position of Dean of Admissions in 1998, she was credited with having earned an "SB and an SM in biology from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute" in an article published in The Tech as well as an article published by MIT Tech Talk. Neither article made any mention of the degree from Union College which she had placed on her resume in 1979 nor of a Ph.D. credited to her several times in 2007. Shortly before her resignation, she was referred to by the title "Dr. Marilee Jones" in a number of forums. A biography of her on the website for the 2007 September Conference of the National Association of College Admission Counselors referred to her as "Dr. Marilee Jones, Ph.D." and credited her with degrees from RPI and Albany Medical in biology and chemistry but offered no further details. She was also referred to as "Dr. Marilee Jones" in the local Concord press in April 2007. A February 2007 NPR transcript from All Things Considered referred to her as "Dr. Marilee Jones" (though the audio program itself did not address her as "Dr"). And a brief bio of her for an April 17, 2007 speaking engagement at Kean University's Annual School Counselor Conference referred to her as "Dr. Marilee Jones." When asked in a December 6, 2009 interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education about having added "a degree" from Albany Medical to her resume "after she was hired" by MIT, Jones did not dispute the fact. She could not, however, remember the details.

After her departure from MIT, she was later hired as a consultant for Berklee College of Music, and has continued to work as an admissions consultant for both institutions and applicants. She states she was also offered the position of Dean of Admissions at several undisclosed universities for which she declined.

In 2008, she hired Rose Marie Terenzio, a public relations consultant who was the former personal assistant of John F. Kennedy Jr, to help her make a "reclamation," a "comeback."