The Associated Press' Vicki Smith talked to another graduate of WVU's EMBA program who "says that just like the daughter of Gov. Joe Manchin, she was given flexibility to complete course work outside the classroom ." (See update below)
Sherry Korczynski, a recent hire at Mylan where Heather Bresch is COO, said that then-director Paul Speaker was "flexible and accommodating in helping her complete her required credits with 'independent study,' eager to make what was then a fledgling program appear successful," the article said.
Speaker had earlier told AP that "he could not recall ever allowing outside work to replace classroom work 'in the history of the EMBA program.'" Korczynski told AP that his comment "was in complete contrast with the arrangements he made for me... He allowed me great flexibility and leniency in completing the requirements."
Korczynski also said that she spoke Wednesday to the investigative panel assigned to review the awarding of Bresch's EMBA. "Korczynski, 39, said she met Bresch, 38, for the first time last week," the AP article said. "She went to the panel only to highlight an apparent contradiction, not to help a co-worker, she said."
Update: Korczynski told AP Thursday that she "earned the last 10 credit hours through independent study," and NOT on-the-job experience. "I did not have to be in my class," she told AP. "My arrangement with Dr. Speaker was to complete each class remotely on my own in Philadelphia."Update II: Citing the AP interview, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that "The situation involving Ms. Korczynski, who told the AP she was hired by Mylan in January as director of business development, appears to be different than the one that Ms. Bresch...says she arranged. The E.M.B.A. program was designed in part to allow students to do course work outside the classroom, but Ms. Bresch told the AP last week that Mr. Speaker allowed her to substitute work experience for 10 credits."
The newspapers also repeats its earlier findings that "officials added six courses and grades, worth 16 credits, to her transcript without any record of her registering, paying or doing the work for the classes, and without consulting the professors who taught the courses. In addition, two courses that had been marked "incomplete" were changed to letter grades. The rewriting of her record was done after the newspaper sought to confirm Ms. Bresch's academic credentials following her promotion to Mylan's chief operating officer in October."
8 comments:
And the common denominator here is what?
Mylan and $20 million man Mike Puskar?
It would be interesting to know whether Korczynski was employed by Mylan when whe got her degree. I reas the story ti say that she was not an employee then (since she is labeled as a recent hire).
Personally, I think this whole thing is way overblown. What did Heather gain anyway by claiming the WVU MBA? Who does it hurt? Don't people like Bill Clinton go around getting degrees from colleges just for giving paid addresses? I'm not a Manchin supporter, but I just don't see a real story here anywhere.
Thanks for the update. It is not quite the same thing to equate "independent study" and "work experience". I hope this distinction is not lost on the committee. Of course the nature of the "independent study" was not made clear in any reports I have seen. It may be just as questionable as the other.
Don't see the story? Surely this smells of "appearance of impropriety" at the very least. What Heather and Mylan gained was "appearance of legitimacy" on Wall Street. It's not easy to rise to a position of COO based only on a degree in foreign relations that one did not even bother to collect!
Sure, b1llyb0b. What degree was it that Bill Gates had leading to his CEO experience at Microsoft? Business degrees are important to some companies, but they have no bearing on a company's acceptance on Wall Street. What matters on Wall Street is performance. Many corporations could learn something from that.
The two recent AP stories read like an attempt to whitewash Bresch and her father for their role in this scandal. Interesting that the AP's attack dog mode against politicians fades when the name Manchin is involved.
It's a repeated pattern.
The story is the integrity of the degree, the integrity of the institution, whether or not a WVU degree is worth more than toilet paper. The quote clearly says she was allowed to complete her class remotely ... it was after all a tele course with people in different location.
Complete Garbage and a smoke screen
First of all, not-so-clear eyes, the degrees given to dignitaries are honorary. Second is that Bill Gates has never claimed to have a degree. Third, and most important, is that giving Bresch a degree she did not earn devalues all WVU degrees.
As I said at Fifth Column, Bresch should forget about diplomas and just hang a framed copy of her birth certificate on her office wall.
Looks like the PPG got its wish: they are too arrogant to release the full report.
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