West Virginia University gave a panel of outside experts the task in January of investigating an explosive academic-transcript controversy, involving discrepancies in an executive M.B.A. claimed by Heather M. Bresch, the governor’s daughter. Ms. Bresch is a former classmate of the university’s president, Michael S. Garrison, and is a top executive with a drug company, Mylan Inc., whose chairman, Milan (Mike) Puskar, is a major donor to the university.

Ms. Bresch spoke publicly about her transcript for the first time this week, in a meeting with the investigative panel and in an interview with the Associated Press. She said she had earned the degree fairly, substituting work-experience credits for four classes. She also denied allegations that she had received favorable treatment because of her political connections.

“I secured my degree in ’98 when my father wasn’t governor, when Mike Puskar hadn’t given millions, and Mike Garrison wasn’t president,” Ms. Bresch said.

The former head of the university’s executive M.B.A. program, Paul Speaker, with whom Ms. Bresch said she reached an agreement on her work credits, also testified before the panel. Mr. Speaker declined to discuss Ms. Bresch’s case in an interview with the AP, citing privacy laws, but said he could not remember any instance where work experience had taken the place of course work.

“If you look through the annals of anything at the university,” Mr. Speaker said, “you will not find a single course for which experience would replace the course.” —Paul Fain