PITTSBURGH -- Carnegie Mellon University has formed a panel to review a questionable master's degree that led to the resignation of its public policy dean.

A university spokesman said students were notified when Mark Wessel resigned from CMU's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management earlier this month.

Wessel "approved transfer credits and excessive units in lieu of casework," according to CMU spokesman Ken Walters, who told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that there is a limit of 12 credits that can be waived for graduate students based on life and work experiences.

Walters said Wessel gave more than 12 to at least one student in 2004, and with those credits, the student received a master's degree.

The school is not identifying the student, citing federal privacy laws.

The university said the four-person panel will review the student's degree, as well as degrees for the past five years, and determine if changes are needed to the degree-granting process.

"This is Carnegie Mellon, and everyone works really hard to get here, and I think fair treatment should be given to everybody," CMU student Alex Rice said.

"If there are rules, I guess you should follow them. But if it was just a misconception, I guess that's OK too," CMU student Jacki Cortese said.

Wessel was the dean of the public policy school since February 2003. His wife is a professor there, according to the school's Web site.

A woman who answered the door at Wessel's Oakland home told Channel 4 Action News reporter Marcie Cipriani that Wessel was not available to talk.

Ramayya Krishnan, a professor of management and information systems, has been named acting dean.

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