Deborah Dietzler, a former executive director of alumni relations at the University of Georgia, has resigned a similar job at the University of Louisville in Kentucky following allegations that she used state money while in Georgia for personal trips.
The University of Louisville had placed Dietzler on administrative leave recently following a Channel 2 Action News investigation into her tenure at UGA. She had worked in Louisville since July 2014.
The University of Louisville said Dietzler, associate vice president for alumni relations and annual giving, stated that remaining in this position would be a distraction and that she needed to focus on the issues at UGA.
Georgia’s state attorney general’s office has directed the state Board of Regents to investigate allegations of travel abuse and claims that Dietzler skipped work without taking leave time and failed to record sick leave while in her $123,000-a-year job at UGA. A state audit team was on campus this week.
Andrew Coffman, an attorney for Dietzler, told Channel 2 that Dietzler was unaware of the TV station’s investigative findings, or the reason that UGA decided not to renew her contract last year, and that if she’d known she “would have vigorously defended herself.”
Channel 2 reported that the UGA Fraud Committee recommended the university not renew Dietzler’s contract after an audit found she violated several UGA policies and possibly state law. UGA, however, didn’t forward the audit that formed the basis of the Fraud Committee’s recommendation to the Board of Regents or the state attorney general’s office, as required by state policy.
Whistleblower Sallyanne Barrow, who worked for Dietzler while at UGA, began documenting her boss’ activities in 2013, although Dietzler had been with the university since 1997. Barrow and another staffer claimed Dietzler would book hotels and airline tickets to run in marathons around the country and then order staff to find UGA alumni with whom she could meet so she could be reimbursed for her trip expenses.
Despite the recommendation that Dietzler’s contract not be renewed, then-Vice President Tom Landrum gave her a new title at the same $123,000 salary, which she held for six months while she looked for a new job, Channel 2 reported.
A spokesman for the University of Louisville told Channel 2 the institution was not aware of the investigation into Dietzler when it hired her in July 2014. Her salary was $185,000 a year.
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