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ANNAPOLIS — State higher education officials are taking steps to recover $60,000 from the former dean of the University of Maryland School of Law, after two recent investigations revealed questionable spending practices and lax financial controls at the Baltimore school.

Last week, the Office of Legislative Audits released a 42-page report that disclosed $410,000 was paid to Karen H. Rothenberg, then-dean of the law school, for sabbatical leave. Those payments violated University System of Maryland policy.

On Feb. 12, the system's board of regents authorized Chancellor William E. Kirwan to conduct his own investigation into the Baltimore school's spending practices.

On Thursday, Kirwan told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Economic Development he submitted a letter to Rothenberg, asking her to return $60,000 to the university system.

After the meeting, Kirwan would not speculate on what would happen if Rothenberg did not return the money. "She's been directed to return the money, so we assume she'll do so," Kirwan said.

Rothenberg, according to Kirwan's investigation, said the money was for summer research, but did not follow protocol in applying for research grants.

Instead, Rothenberg had an associate dean submit paperwork to the university's finance office to adjust her salary and told the office that then-President David J. Ramsey approved the adjustment.

"The bottom line is that Dean Rothenberg failed to obtain written approval from President Ramsay for these payments and she required a subordinate to process the paper work without the proper documentation," Kirwan wrote in his testimony to the House subcommittee.

Ramsey, the university's president since 1994, resigned Wednesday in the midst of Kirwan's investigation. He said last summer he would step down when the university found a new president.

"Given that the search is now complete and given the need for further review of issues raised in the legislative audit that involve the president's office, I have concluded that it is in the university's best interest that I step down at this time," Ramsey wrote in a statement posted to UMB's Web site.

E. Albert Reece, UMB's vice president for medical affairs, will take over March 1 and serve as acting president for four months, at which time Jay A. Perman officially takes over as university president.

The legislative audit released last week also disclosed payments of $350,000 made to Rothenberg between fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2009.

According to Kirwan's investigation, the payments were described as compensation to Rothenberg for a sabbatical she earned, but did not take. A provision in Rothenberg's appointment letter gave her the opportunity to take a sabbatical at full salary after five years of service as dean.

Due to work constraints, Rothenberg was not able to take a sabbatical, so Ramsey paid $350,000 to Rothenberg for the unused sabbatical leave, according to Kirwan's investigation.

There is no provision in university system policy that allows administrators to be paid for unused sabbatical, Kirwan told the subcommittee. The payment to Rothenberg pushed her salary past Ramsey's salary, according to the investigation. Rothenberg, who was the first woman to serve as dean in the law school's history, left her position June 30.

"In my 42 years with the University of Maryland and the University System of Maryland, I have never heard of anyone else receiving such a payment for an unused sabbatical," Kirwan wrote in his testimony to the subcommittee.