After plagiarism allegations, English prof. was named dean at Brown

The University named Assistant Professor of English Vanessa Ryan an associate dean of the Graduate School in January despite evidence of alleged plagiarism in her published work, according to multiple sources and documents reviewed by The Herald.

A University inquiry committee tasked with looking into the matter determined that “Ryan had indeed plagiarized” but cleared Ryan of misconduct on the basis that the mistakes were unintentional, according to the committee’s November confidential final report, a copy of which The Herald has obtained.

Thirteen tenured members of the Department of English signed and sent a letter to President Christina Paxson, Provost Mark Schlissel P’15, Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin P’12 and Vice President for Research David Savitz detailing their dissatisfaction with how the University handled the plagiarism allegations and Ryan’s appointment as associate dean, said Professor of English William Keach, who was one of the thirteen.

The alleged plagiarism in Ryan’s first and only book, “Thinking without Thinking in the Victorian Novel,” published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2012, came to light in August during the initial phases of her tenure review, according to the inquiry committee’s report.

“Without doubt, this represents a serious breach of academic integrity and academic honesty, values which lie at the heart of the academic enterprise at Brown University and any institution of higher learning,” the committee wrote in its findings.

Ryan declined multiple requests for an interview but sent The Herald a written statement.

“In August 2013, I learned that my book contains inadvertent errors of attribution, which resulted from mistakes I made in documenting my research as I worked on the project over many years,” Ryan wrote. “I take full responsibility for these mistakes. I notified my publisher immediately, spoke with my chair of department and have been taking steps since then to rectify the situation. Among other things, I have reached out to the scholars whose words lack attribution to speak to them directly and apologize.”

Matthew McAdam, acquisitions editor for the JHU Press for classics, humanities and literary studies, confirmed in an email to The Herald that the book is now “out of print and unavailable for purchase” from the press. McAdam did not respond to subsequent emails seeking an explanation of that decision.

An external reviewer for Ryan’s tenure case received from an anonymous source a list of passages from her book with language nearly identical to that in other published works and relayed it to the University in August, Keach said....