Last modified: Thursday, March 30, 2006
Broad range of IU graduate programs ranked by U.S. News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Several Indiana University graduate programs, particularly those in library and information science, education and business, are ranked among the best in the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Graduate Schools." These rankings also reflect renewed focus and momentum for the Bloomington campus' life science effort.
The School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) was tied for seventh in the country, and four of its specialty programs also were highly regarded. The rankings, based on a 2005 survey of dean's program directors and senior faculty members at 50 schools with accredited master's degree programs, ranked IU fourth in law librarianship and eighth in digital librarianship, information systems and school library media.
"It's been seven years since U.S. News & World Report ranked our field, and there's been very little change in the top-ten list since then, which, frankly, is not surprising: the population of top-rated schools has remained fairly stable," said Blaise Cronin, dean of the School of Library and Information Science. "Objectively, we should be rated a notch or two higher than seven, but the reality is that U.S. News & World Report rankings are entirely subjective in character. This is not rocket science, after all, and probably not worth quibbling about."
The IU School of Education again was ranked in the top 20 at No. 17 and also had four specialty programs in the top 10. Based on data from 240 programs that responded to the magazine, the school was ranked seventh in elementary education and higher education administration, ninth in secondary education and 10th in counseling and personnel services.
"I am very pleased to see that the School of Education has once again been recognized as one of the top graduate education programs in the country," said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the IU School of Education. "Although state funding has been decreasing for several years, our faculty continues to be extremely successful in competing for the best graduate students and the external funds needed to maintain the quality of our programs."
Rankings for several of IU's doctoral programs in the sciences improved since the previous survey of those disciplines in 2002. The ranking for its biological science programs went from 41st in 2002 to 32nd this year. IU's ecological and evolutionary biology program ranked eighth in the nation.
"The well deserved ranking for evolution and ecology as eighth in the country and the increase in the overall ranking for biological sciences reflect the exciting growth and existing excellence of our faculty across the breadth of biology," said department chair Elizabeth Raff. "Our department is highly regarded in the national and international scientific communities. In terms of true overall quality, this ranking probably underestimates our department; these rankings compare institutions like Harvard, which has more than 1,000 life sciences faculty, to smaller departments like ours, which has about 60 faculty."
IU's chemistry program improved from 27th in 2002 to 24th this year. Its analytical chemistry specialty ranked sixth. Also ranked were doctoral programs in mathematics, which went from 26th in 2002 to 29th; and physics, which went from 32nd in 2002 to 35th. IU's nuclear physics program ranked seventh.
The Kelley School of Business moved back into the top 25 and is tied for 23rd with two other Big Ten schools -- Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota. Its production and operations program again was ranked ninth as a specialty.
The ranking of the IU School of Law at Bloomington was virtually unchanged. This year, it is tied for 37th with many of the same schools it was tied with a year ago. The School of Law at IUPUI was tied for 77th, and the IUPUI health care law program again tied for eighth.
The School of Medicine in Indianapolis was listed as 33rd in primary care, up from 37th last year; and remained 45th in research.
The full rankings by U.S. News & World Report will be released to the public on Monday (April 3) in the book America's Best Graduate Schools, and many of the rankings will appear in the magazine's issue that will go on sale that day. The full rankings will be posted on the magazine's Web site at https://www.usnews.com.
