President Resigns at American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Leslie Berlowitz will resign as president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences next week, the organization announced Thursday. She will receive a one-time payment of $475,000, which an academy statement said reflected previously pledged retirement benefits. Berlowitz has been under fire -- and on paid leave -- since shortly after The Boston Globe revealed in June that she did not have a doctorate she claimed to have on various documents submitted by the academy in seeking grants. Subsequent Globe articles raised questions about her management of the organization, and allegations that she did not treat staff members well. In a letter published in the Globe Thursday, Berlowitz wrote that she was "tempted" to provide a response to all of the issues that have been raised in recent months, but opted not to do so. "I believe there is only one fact of consequence that bears mentioning: I always acted in good faith and with the best interests of the academy at heart," she wrote.