Update 2 \[2:15pm MST\] : Chip Cassano just confirmed that Vivek Kundra also taught an undergraduate course at UMUC as well. Here's an excerpt from Chip's email:
FYI, we’ve confirmed that Mr. Kundra taught the 3-credit, undergraduate course IFSM 498F (course description follows) for UMUC as an adjunct faculty in fall 2001.
Update 1 \[12:35pm MST\] : I just exchanged emails with Chip Cassano, the Director of Public Relations for the University of Maryland University College, and he confirmed that -- according to university records -- Vivek Kundra did graduate from UMUC in 2001 with an MS degree in information systems management.
Here's what Chip said in his email:
Hi Jeff--
Yes, he’s a 2001 graduate of the University with an MS in information systems management. Anything else I can do to help, let me know.
You can read my original post about Dvorak's claim in its entirety below. You can also read Dvorak's original story that started the controvery here.
- - -According to a blog post by PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak, Vivek Kundra -- the federal goverment's first CIO -- may not have obtained a master's degree that he claims he did.
In the aforementioned blog post over at Dvorak Uncensored, Dvorak claims that he contacted the University of Maryland to confirm that Kundra received an MS degree in Information Technology, as indicated in Kundra's public bio. Dvorak said that he didn't find any evidence that Kundra earned a degree. Here's what Dvorak said about what he found:
The registrar has no record of it. In fact the current University of Maryland grad department doesn’t even show this degree as being commonly available to anyone. A search of his college records shows no attendance after he received his BS degree in Psychology on 12/20/98. In fact his last day of school 12/19/98 wrapped up the six years it took Kundra to obtain his undergraduate degree.
Kundra was named the first Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the United States in a ceremony at the White House on March 5th, 2009. In a press release posted in the online briefing room of the press secretary, Kundra is listed as having the following qualifications:
He \[Kundra\] is a graduate of the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and holds a MS in Information Technology from the University of Maryland.
I've emailed a request for comment on Dvorak's story to the White House Press Office, and we'll update this story as new information becomes available.
