Last modified: Tuesday, March 15, 2011
'U.S. News' gives high marks to IU programs in nursing, law, business, education, medicine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University graduate programs in business, education, law, medicine and nursing were again ranked among the top programs in the nation in the 2012 edition of U.S. News and World Report magazine's Best Graduate Schools rankings, released today (March 15).
The rankings are available today at https://www.usnews.com. Detailed information will be available in the 2012 Best Graduate Schools publications, which will be available this week at Amazon.com and the U.S. News store.
The IU Maurer School of Law in Bloomington ranked seventh among public institutions in the rankings and 23rd overall, up from 27th last year. The result matched the highest ranking ever for the school.
"The Maurer School of Law focuses on producing the most prepared, educated, and ethical lawyers in the profession," said Lauren Robel, dean of the Maurer School and Val Nolan Professor of Law. "Our faculty, staff, and alumni play a crucial role in the quality of our school, and we are honored by their commitment."
Lauren Robel
The IU School of Law at Indianapolis also moved up in the rankings, to 79th overall from 86th. Its legal writing program ranked eighth, the third consecutive year it has been in the top 10 in a national survey of faculty who teach legal writing.
Nearly 200 accredited U.S. law schools were included in the rankings.
"It is good news that our law school's ranking increased seven places this year to 79th, a remarkable accomplishment given that the school's expenditures per student are 141st out of all U.S. law schools," said Gary Roberts, dean and Gerald L. Bepko Professor of Law. "It demonstrates that our students are receiving an excellent legal education for a very modest investment of tuition and taxpayer dollars."
The IU Kelley School of Business Master of Business Administration programs maintained their position among elite schools of business. The full-time program at IU Bloomington ranked 23rd overall and eighth among public universities. The part-time program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis ranked 11th overall and fifth among public universities.
Three of the Kelley School's specialties were highlighted by peers, with entrepreneurship at ninth overall and third among public institutions, production/operations at 10th overall and third among public schools, and accounting at 11th overall and sixth among publics.
"The Kelley School of Business provides our students with an exceptional learning experience and outstanding career preparation," said Phil Powell, clinical associate professor and chair of the full-time MBA program. "As a result, our current cohort second-year students had a 100 percent internship placement rate. Our current first-year students are tracking at more than 10 percent above last year in terms of internship success rate at the same point in cycle as are our second-year students now seeking full-time employment."
Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School, said, "There are over 3,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone that offer business degrees. Clearly, our MBA programs rank among the nation's finest.
"The consistent performance of the program as judged by a combination of peers, student quality, and placement statistics is congruent with our strong internal metrics in these dimensions," Smith said. "Our innovative curriculum, excellent classroom experience, and outstanding research contributions from faculty all contribute toward the Kelley School being recognized as a provider of world class MBA programs across multiple formats."
Nearly 400 accredited programs responded to U.S. News' survey of graduate business programs, and 142 provided the data needed for the magazine to calculate its rankings.
The IU School of Education ranked 21st overall and 11th among public university graduate schools. The school had top-10 rankings for five of its degree programs: fifth for higher education administration, eighth for elementary education, ninth for counseling/personnel services and 10th for both curriculum/instruction and secondary education.
More than 250 education schools provided data to be included in the rankings.
"It's good to once again see the School of Education ranked among the top education schools in the country," said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the school. "The enduring quality of our programs is remarkable. Our faculty's research productivity continues to increase and our programs enjoy an exceptional national and international reputation.
"I was especially pleased to see that five of our degree programs were ranked in the top 10 nationally, with Administration and Supervision closely behind at 12th," Gonzalez said. "Only nine other universities nationally have that many programs ranked as the best education programs in the U.S. News rankings."
The IU School of Nursing at IUPUI ranked 15th overall and 10th among public nursing schools. The school's clinical nurse specialist program for the adult/medical-surgical specialty ranked third nationally. Nursing graduate programs were last previously ranked by U.S. News in 2007. There are more than 700 accredited nursing programs in the U.S..
"We are very pleased with this ranking, which reflects national recognition of the excellence of our graduate programs," said Marion Broome, dean of the School of Nursing. "That excellence is built on strong research programs as well as innovative educational approaches that faculty employ to prepare the next generation of advanced practice nurses, nurse scientists and faculty.
"This is a very challenging time for the profession and discipline of nursing. Highly qualified students, strong clinical partnerships and exceptionally committed faculty all contribute to this ranking," said Broome, adding that the school was recently listed No. 9 among 80 nursing schools for National Institutes funding. "We are very proud of our programs and the opportunity the school has to contribute to preparing nurse leaders to lead initiatives to improve the health of Hoosiers, develop the science for practice and to prepare the next generation of nurse educators."
The IU School of Medicine ranked 51st for research and 24th for primary care.
"The IU School of Medicine continues to be proactive in giving medical students every opportunity to have a hands-on family medicine experience," said D. Craig Brater, dean of the School of Medicine and IU vice president for university clinical affairs. "That, coupled with other academic opportunities for students in family medicine, fosters increased interest in one of the most important areas of medicine.
"Grant funding at the IU medical school continues to climb during a period of uncertainty in National Institutes of Health funding," Brater added. "We are ranked among the top 20 public medical schools in the nation for funding and continue to excel as an economic stimulant for the state of Indiana."
U.S. News and World Report ranks graduate programs on formulas that consider a variety of factors, including peer and employer assessments, job placement of graduates, research funding, admissions selectivity and faculty-student ratios. Nursing rankings rely on surveys of program directors and faculty.
While business, education, engineering, law and medicine are ranked every year, graduate programs in other disciplines typically go several years between rankings.
In 2008, the magazine ranked IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs as tied for second among the best graduate programs in public affairs. In 2009, the School of Library and Information Science ranked seventh in the library and information science category. IU graduate specialty programs in chemistry, physics, psychology, sociology, English, history and art have received top-10 rankings in recent years.
