OSU investigating plagiarism allegations against professor

Tuesday, December 14th 2004, 6:14 am

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) _ Oklahoma State University officials have launched an investigation into whether an award-winning geography professor plagiarized several publications.

An article released Monday in The Chronicle of Higher Education, cites seven instances when George Carney allegedly lifted material without crediting the authors.

Carney copied the topic, structure and research methods of one paper in 1979, lifted several sentences from a book for an essay in 1996 and copied sentences from two essays and a textbook for several essays in a collection last year, the article alleges.

``A close examination of several of his papers and book chapters reveals that the professor has plagiarized both frequently and brazenly,'' the article said.

Carney, who has been with OSU since 1969, told The Oklahoman on Monday that he had a stroke two years ago and doesn't remember the circumstances of some of the articles in question, particularly those several years ago.

``Everything that happened during that time period is all kind of foggy and cloudy,'' he said. ``It might be that I did this, but it was back in the days before word processing.''

OSU spokesman Nestor Gonzales said the case was turned over to Stephen McKeever, vice president of research, who has assembled a three-member committee to examine the allegations.

McKeever wouldn't comment on the investigation or say when it may be finished. Carney, a regents professor, is continuing to serve as a professor and is scheduled to teach three classes next semester.

``These are only allegations contained in a newspaper article,'' said Gonzales.