Wheelock College Administrator Accused Of Using Words Of Others Steps Down

A top administrator at a small college in Boston who acknowledged using passages written by others in a welcome letter to faculty has resigned.

Shirley Malone-Fenner stepped down from her post as interim vice president for academic affairs at Wheelock College effective immediately, Wheelock's president said in an email to faculty and staff Monday.

The Boston Globe reported that Malone-Fenner's letter borrowed passages from a letter written by Harvard University President Drew Faust in 2007 and from two other college presidents' welcome letters, also without attribution.

Malone-Fenner apologized in an email to faculty.

Malone-Fenner is also listed as a professor of psychology and human development and it's not clear if she will stay on at the private college in Boston's Fenway neighborhood with about 1,300 graduate and undergraduate students.