Leader of Scholarly Society To Step Aside During Inquiry Into Her Credentials

Leslie C. Berlowitz, the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has requested time away from her day-to-day responsibilities at the prestigious scholarly society while a law firm hired by its board conducts an independent inquiry into charges that she had falsely claimed to hold a doctoral degree.

According to a statement issued by the board on Thursday, the academy convened a committee on Wednesday to supervise the inquiry, which will be conducted by the law firm Choate Hall and Stewart. Ray Howell, a spokesman for the academy, declined to answer further questions about the board’s statement or the committee.

Mr. Howell also would not confirm whether the academy, based in Cambridge, Mass., had been contacted by the state’s attorney general, Martha Coakley, whose office has said it would reach out to the board regarding issues raised by a Boston Globe inquiry into Ms. Berlowitz’s credentials and compensation. In the fiscal year ending in March 2012 Ms. Berlowitz was paid more than $598,000, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

In the statement, the academy’s board reiterated support for its leader, who arrived in 1997, following a 27-year career at New York University, where her most recent title had been vice president for institutional advancement.

“Ms. Berlowitz has led the organization during a period of extraordinary growth and achievement,” it read. “She will remain as president of the academy. She has requested time away from her day-to-day activities to help resolve any questions related to this issue, and is cooperating fully with the review. Together, we believe these steps are appropriate to address and resolve the questions that have been raised.”

Ms. Berlowitz, who holds a master’s degree in English from Columbia University, was enrolled in N.Y.U.’s Ph.D. program from 1967 to 1978, but the university had no record of her having received a doctorate.

Yet the National Endowment for the Humanities confirmed earlier this week that it would investigate false statements regarding the doctorate, which appeared on grant applications from the academy to the N.E.H. between 2003 and 2013. In an earlier statement, Mr. Howell attributed references to the doctorate, which also appeared on other documents created by the academy, to an unspecified staff member.