BERLIN—Germany has sworn in a new education minister after her
predecessor stepped down over claims that she plagiarized parts
of her doctoral thesis decades ago.  In a low-key ceremony
Thursday, President Joachim Gauck formally accepted the
resignation of Annette Schavan, who denies the plagiarism
allegations and has vowed to contest her university's decision
to strip her of her doctorate.  He swore in Johanna Wanka, a
mathematician, former university professor and outgoing regional
education minister in the state of Lower Saxony. That state's
conservative-led government narrowly lost a regional election to
the center-left opposition last month.  Both Schavan and Wanka
are members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic
Union party.  Duesseldorf's Heinrich Heine University revoked
Schavan's doctorate this month after concluding that she
plagiarized parts of her 1980 thesis.