Carnegie Mellon University has appointed what it described as a "blue ribbon" committee to investigate several matters related to the improper granting of a master's degree in 2004 by the dean of the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management.

Mark Wessel, who made the decision to award the degree, abruptly resigned last month as dean of the Heinz School because of what the university called "an error in judgment." He remains on the faculty at the Heinz School.

Acting Dean Ramayya Krishnan announced the formation Wednesday of a four-member committee appointed by President Jared Cohon and Provost Mark Kamlet.

A statement from the university yesterday said that committee will have three tasks: review the degree in question to determine its status; determine whether any process enhancements are needed; and review the past five years of Heinz School degrees to confirm that the 2004 degree was an isolated incident.

The university has previously said that the degree was awarded "outside of the Heinz School standard academic practices" because Mr. Wessel approved too many transfer and independent study credits for a mid-career student who was traveling frequently for work.

University spokesman Ken Walters said yesterday that he does not know how long the committee might take to reach a conclusion.

When it does conclude its business, the committee will present its full findings to Dr. Krishnan, Mr. Cohon, Dr. Kamlet and the university's board of trustees. A summary report will be provided to "the Heinz School community."

The committee is chaired by Joel Tarr, the Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor of History and Policy and former acting dean of the Heinz School.

The other three members are Alfred Blumstein, former Heinz School dean and J. Erik Jonsson University Professor of Urban Systems and Operations Research; Richard Tucker, interim dean of student affairs and Paul Mellon University Professor of Applied Linguistics; and Richard Stafford, a distinguished service professor and alumni of the Heinz School.

Mr. Stafford formerly served as the chief executive officer of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Earlier this year, West Virginia University initially appointed an internal committee to probe whether a degree was properly awarded to the daughter of Gov. Joe Manchin, but eventually turned to an outside panel to conduct the investigation.

Carnegie Mellon decided that an internal committee would be more in line with its policies and practices, said Mr. Walters.

"Given that at Carnegie Mellon University [as at every other institution of higher education of which we are aware], the faculty has the primary responsibility for carrying out the educational and scholarly programs, we decided that this esteemed group of faculty would be best to conduct this review," Mr. Walters wrote in an e-mail.

While an outside group might give the perception of being more objective, an internal panel allows for members with more familiarity with the processes of a university, said Claire Van Ummersen, vice president of the Center for Effective Leadership at the American Council on Education.

"In this instance it was one event and they're looking at it very diligently," said Dr. Van Ummersen, who served as president of Cleveland State University and the University System of New Hampshire. "They're doing the absolute right kind of thing."