Head of American Academy of Arts and Sciences Quits After Résumé Controversy

Leslie Cohen Berlowitz has agreed to resign as president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on July 31, after she was accused of embellishing her résumé with a spurious doctoral degree, The Boston Globe reported.

In June, Ms. Berlowitz stepped aside while a law firm retained by the academy investigated allegations that she had falsely claimed to hold a doctorate from New York University on grant applications and other documents over the past decade. When those accusations surfaced, the 233-year-old scholarly society defended its president.

Ms. Berlowitz will receive a one-time payment of $475,000 for retirement and other benefits, according to an academy statement cited by the newspaper, but she will not receive a severance payment. Louis W. Cabot, chairman of the academy’s executive board, said in a letter to members that the board had “determined that this agreement is in the academy’s best interest,” the Globe reported.