Pamela Whitten

Pamela Whitten grew up in Tennessee. She lived in Brentwood and Memphis before her family moved when she was 14. Whitten received a bachelor's degree in management from Tulane University School of Business in 1985, a master's degree in organizational communication from the University of Kentucky in 1986, and a PhD in communication studies from the University of Kansas in 1996. In January 2025 Whitten was accused of plagiarizing her 1996 doctoral dissertation. Indiana University later denied the allegations and claimed that an independent law firm had reviewed the allegations in August 2024 and found them meritless though a report on the review has not been publicly released. Some plagiarism experts who spoke to The Herald-Times in August 2025 have stated that they believed the dissertation was still plagiarized. ==Career==

After receiving her PhD in 1996, Whitten joined the University of Kansas Medical Center as an assistant professor at the Department of Family Medicine. Michigan State University In 1998, she moved to Michigan State University as an assistant professor at the Department of Telecommunications. She was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and to full professor in 2005. Georgia and Kennesaw State Whitten served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Georgia from 2014 to 2018. In July 2018, Whitten became president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia. In 2019, she joined the NCAA Division I Committee on Academics. Indiana University On April 16, 2021, the Board of Trustees at Indiana University (IU) named Whitten the 19th president-elect of the university. This makes Whitten the first woman to ever hold the position of president at IU. Her term as IU president started on July 1, 2021. but the search process that led to Whitten's appointment was controversial amongst some faculty. On April 16, 2024, the Indiana University Bloomington faculty overwhelmingly passed votes of no confidence for IU president Pamela Whitten with 93.1% (827 to 29) of the vote against Whitten. In response, the Indiana University Board of Trustees reaffirmed their support for Whitten and her administration, although it was later revealed that the support was not unanimous. On April 25, 2024, Whitten formed an ad hoc committee to change the terms of use of the Indiana University Assembly Ground on the eve of pro-Palestinian protests. This policy change facilitated the arrest of students, faculty, and community members who were occupying Dunn Meadow. Legal scholars interviewed by The Herald-Times questioned whether the policy changes may have violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. On January 22, 2025, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Whitten's doctoral dissertation had more than three dozen instances of copied language without a source, or plagiarism. However, Indiana University cleared her for this alleged academic misconduct. ==References==