CMU dean steps down after ‘error’

Mark Wessel, Carnegie Mellon’s dean of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and… Mark Wessel, Carnegie Mellon’s dean of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, resigned Aug. 15 after it was discovered that the school unfairly awarded a master’s degree to an unnamed student. The release of the student’s information is restricted in accordance with federal privacy laws, said Carnegie Mellon media spokesperson Ken Walters. Walters and CMU officials cite ‘an error in judgment’ as the reason for Wessel’s resignation. Wessel voluntarily sent his letter of resignation Thursday, Aug. 14, and it was approved by the school the following day. Wessel served as the interim dean of the Heinz School from February 2003 to April 2004, whereupon he became the permanent dean. Wessel’s wife, Linda Babcock, is also a professor of economics at the Heinz school. The problem of the degree was brought up to a faculty member early this year, months before Wessel resigned and the issue was made public. The Friday after Wessel’s resignation, a mass e-mail was sent to students of the Heinz School, then a mass e-mail was sent to all Carnegie Mellon students and alumni informing them of the issue and the measures being taken to remedy the problem and prevent it from happening again. ‘We believe it to be an isolated incident within the school, but we are going to check all the students just to confirm [that the degrees awarded in the Heinz School in the past five years were awarded by university standards],’ said Walters. An internal committee is also going to be assembled to assess the particular student in dispute for a 2004 master’s degree and status at the university. The student’s degree is in question because of ‘the approval of excessive transfer credits and excessive units for independent study in lieu of coursework,’ said the e-mail sent to CMU students. ‘I think the Heinz School is strong and very resilient and will keep moving on despite this incident,’ said Walters. Ramayya Krishnan, a professor of management science and information systems at Carnegie Mellon, was appointed the acting dean for the Heinz School Monday, Aug. 18, until further action can be taken. As this is the second incidence of an unfairly awarded degree in the region within the past year ‘mdash; the first occurring at West Virginia University ‘mdash; some students have begun to question the standards in awarding degrees in other schools as well. Rebecca DePoe, a sophomore at Pitt, said she thinks the measures Carnegie Mellon has taken are a good idea to prevent the problem from recurring in the future. DePoe went on to say that going through such measures to correct the problem is important because it helps reassert how important the academic integrity of a degree is at Carnegie Mellon and other schools in the area. ‘I think that it’s important and that it should be looked into and shouldn’t be written off,’ said DePoe.