New assistant dean assures academic integrity

David Terraso
Institute Communications and Public Affairs

Would-be cheaters, look out. Georgia Tech has a new detective on the beat.

Andrea Goldblum joined the Dean of Students’ Office in July as Tech’s first assistant dean of Academic Integrity. Charged with investigating allegations of academic misconduct, Goldblum is taking over the position held by Interim Dean Erin Chernow last year.

	Andrea Goldblum

Neither a prosecutor nor an advocate, Goldblum is the Institute’s primary fact-finder in cases where students are suspected of academic misconduct. She comes to Tech after spending a year at Roger Williams University, where she was responsible for the school’s non-academic judicial process and served as an administrator in the housing department. Prior to that, she was the chief judicial officer at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she administered the non-academic code of conduct.

“I’m very confident of her knowledge of the ethics of the judicial process and student development,” said Senior Associate Dean of Students Karen Boyd.

The position was developed before the cases of unauthorized collaboration in the College of Computing came to light in the spring of 2002, said Boyd. The addition of Goldblum, along with hiring of Ethics Education Specialist Ericka Smith last fall, represents the Institute’s strategy of combating academic misconduct with both ethics education and the judicial process.

“Cheating is a concern at every institution,” said Goldblum. Especially in an era where technologies such as the Internet, programmable calculators and cell phones with text messaging make getting away with it seem easier, she added.

“Before, if you wanted to plagiarize a paper, you actually had to go to a book and copy it down. Now you just go to the Internet and cut and paste. It requires less effort,” she said.

In addition to technological temptations, other factors such as the likelihood of getting caught and the seriousness of the response from the administration also influence a student’s decision to cheat, said Boyd. There’s also the environmental factor. “If they don’t feel like they’re in a fair learning environment, they will do something to even the system.”

And when they do, it’s Goldblum’s turn to investigate. Here’s how the process works. A student or a faculty member contacts Goldblum with an allegation of academic misconduct. She investigates and decides based on a preponderance of the evidence if the student cheated and what punishment is recommended. She then meets with the student to offer an administrative resolution. If the student doesn’t agree with Goldblum’s findings of fact or the punishment, he or she can have the case referred to the Student Honor Committee. Possible actions include a warning, educational sanctions such as writing a paper, grade sanctions, suspension or expulsion.

Some of the more common types of academic misconduct are plagiarism, unauthorized access to materials, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying data and changing a grade.

There are things faculty can do to discourage cheating in their classrooms, explained Goldblum. Just being aware that cheating can happen is a big step. Performing spot checks and acting on suspicions of misconduct reduces the temptation to cheat. And being clear about your expectations, especially when it comes to defining what kind of collaboration is allowed for each assignment, is crucial, she said.