CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Emily Perdue said she did nothing wrong and got no special treatment when she earned two A grades this summer to replace two "incomplete" grades for courses she took during the spring 2009 semester at Marshall University.

During an interview on Sunday, Perdue said she received the incomplete grades after she withdrew from two courses taught by Laura Wyant, a professor of adult and technical education at Marshall.

"I did nothing wrong. I was not given grades for classes I didn't take," Perdue said. "I did not ask for special treatment and I did not get special treatment."

A controversy erupted last week after two previously confidential internal memos were released by an unknown source.

"My privacy as a student was violated by that action," Perdue said.

At the end of her freshman year, Perdue decided to major in business education. She recently changed her major to business management.

"Last year, I had 15 hours of independent study during one semester. I wasn't happy and wanted to get out of the program. That is one reason I changed majors," Perdue said on Sunday.

Perdue explained that she arranged with Wyant to withdraw from the two classes under an agreement where Rosalyn Templeton, executive dean of Marshall's College of Education and Human Services, would give her grades to replace the incompletes.

After the summer semester, Templeton gave Perdue A's in both courses after Perdue completed the course requirements. Wyant insists she should have played a role in awarding those grades.

"It was agreed upon between the dean and the professor," Perdue said. "I met with Templeton from mid-May to August 14 to go over my assignments.

"I take my education very seriously and I have earned a 3.4 grade point average at Marshall."

On Sunday, Perdue thumbed through copies of 15 different assignments she completed for each of the two courses.

Those courses -- "Administrative Office Management" and "Marketing and Sales Promotion" -- required Perdue to create 15 lesson plans for potential students in each of those two subject areas.

In each of the 30 detailed lesson plans, Perdue listed objectives, immediate goals, long-range goals, procedures and materials needed to reach those goals.

The current controversy erupted after September 11, when Wyant sent an internal memo to Marshall Registrar Roberta Ferguson.

"I issued a grade of 'I' in each course ... at the conclusion of the spring semester. I had not seen any work completed by Ms. Perdue for either course. Therefore I cannot change the grade," Wyant's memo stated.

Wyant stated she understood "Templeton would be listed as a co-instructor in those courses."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Emily Perdue said she did nothing wrong and got no special treatment when she earned two A grades this summer to replace two "incomplete" grades for courses she took during the spring 2009 semester at Marshall University.

During an interview on Sunday, Perdue said she received the incomplete grades after she withdrew from two courses taught by Laura Wyant, a professor of adult and technical education at Marshall.

"I did nothing wrong. I was not given grades for classes I didn't take," Perdue said. "I did not ask for special treatment and I did not get special treatment."

A controversy erupted last week after two previously confidential internal memos were released by an unknown source.

"My privacy as a student was violated by that action," Perdue said.

At the end of her freshman year, Perdue decided to major in business education. She recently changed her major to business management.

"Last year, I had 15 hours of independent study during one semester. I wasn't happy and wanted to get out of the program. That is one reason I changed majors," Perdue said on Sunday.

Perdue explained that she arranged with Wyant to withdraw from the two classes under an agreement where Rosalyn Templeton, executive dean of Marshall's College of Education and Human Services, would give her grades to replace the incompletes.

After the summer semester, Templeton gave Perdue A's in both courses after Perdue completed the course requirements. Wyant insists she should have played a role in awarding those grades.

"It was agreed upon between the dean and the professor," Perdue said. "I met with Templeton from mid-May to August 14 to go over my assignments.

"I take my education very seriously and I have earned a 3.4 grade point average at Marshall."

On Sunday, Perdue thumbed through copies of 15 different assignments she completed for each of the two courses.

Those courses -- "Administrative Office Management" and "Marketing and Sales Promotion" -- required Perdue to create 15 lesson plans for potential students in each of those two subject areas.

In each of the 30 detailed lesson plans, Perdue listed objectives, immediate goals, long-range goals, procedures and materials needed to reach those goals.

The current controversy erupted after September 11, when Wyant sent an internal memo to Marshall Registrar Roberta Ferguson.

"I issued a grade of 'I' in each course ... at the conclusion of the spring semester. I had not seen any work completed by Ms. Perdue for either course. Therefore I cannot change the grade," Wyant's memo stated.

Wyant stated she understood "Templeton would be listed as a co-instructor in those courses."

On September 18, Wyant wrote a second internal memo to Marshal President Stephen Kopp, stating, "I did not approve these grade changes, nor do I have any information that would allow me to consent to the grades being changed by anyone else."

But Perdue said, "Wyant and Templeton agreed that Templeton would take over the courses."

After completing his own review of the controversy on Thursday, Provost Gayle Ormiston publicly said Perdue "earned the grades" of A after she completed work for both courses.

Ormiston could not be reach for immediate comment on Sunday.

Perdue needed to pass both those courses to gain admission to Marshall's business school.

State Treasurer John Perdue, Emily's father, said the agreement under which Templeton agreed to grade his daughter's work in those two courses was reached during a meeting toward the end of the spring semester.

"Dr. Wyant said she [Emily] could not complete those classes by the end of the semester and that Dr. Templeton would help her complete the incompletes during the summer," John Perdue said.

After also completing 12 other course credits during the summer session at Marshall, Emily decided to take the fall semester off.

"I will graduate at the end of the next academic year, in a year and a half," she said.

"I changed majors because I wanted to be in more of a college atmosphere, not just doing independent studies. I only had one class on campus and felt isolated.

"I did not have that everyday interaction and I wanted to get back to a college atmosphere.

"Only a few of us were in the program. So they gave us the courses as an independent study. There were no class meetings," Emile Perdue said.

Since Templeton became dean four years ago in the summer of 2005, Marshall's College of Education and Human Services has lost 13 percent of its student enrollment.

Templeton gets along very well with many faculty members, it has been previously reported, but not very well with many others.

Last week, Wyant asked Marshall's faculty senate to look into the controversy.

Earlier this year, Wyant resigned as head of Marshall's Division of Human Development and Allied Technology.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.