Â鶹¹û¶³ ranked high among national universities in the annual college rankings released Aug. 17 by U.S. News & World Report.
In the 2008 rankings, Â鶹¹û¶³ was number 118 of the 262 institutions in the doctoral research university category. Â鶹¹û¶³ previously was ranked among master's levels universities in the South but was reclassified as a national university in 2006 because of the diversity of undergraduate and graduate degrees offered. Â鶹¹û¶³ was one of 18 institutions reclassified as national doctoral research universities.
Â鶹¹û¶³ is the only private institution in Alabama in the national universities category, and one of only three institutions in the state to rank as high as the second tier. The University of Alabama was ranked at number 91 and Auburn University was ranked at 96.
Last year, Â鶹¹û¶³ awarded more than 450 doctoral and professional degrees in divinity, education, law and pharmacy. Â鶹¹û¶³ also is recognized for its active and growing undergraduate research program.
Â鶹¹û¶³ President Andrew Westmoreland was visiting Â鶹¹û¶³ programs abroad when the rankings were released, but Provost and Executive Vice President J. Bradley Creed expressed pleasure at the rankings.
"This significant national recognition confirms what the Â鶹¹û¶³ community has known – that Â鶹¹û¶³ provides a top level education," Creed said. "Our recent reclassification as a national doctoral research university affirmed our strong faculty and student population. We especially are pleased to be considered among the nation's top universities."
U.S. News bases its rankings on the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications.
Since 1970 the Carnegie Classifications have been the standard used by higher education to classify accredited institutions. The system is used in the study of higher education, both as a way to demonstrate institutional differences and as a research guide to ensure adequate representation of institutions by size and scope, according to Sarah C. Latham, Â鶹¹û¶³'s assistant to the president who oversees the office of institutional effectiveness. Â鶹¹û¶³'s reclassification will influence how the university is perceived nationally and also will affect rankings, such as those published by U.S. News.
Latham explained that U.S. News uses several factors to determine the rankings, including academic achievement of entering students, graduation rates, freshman class retention, class size, faculty/student ratio and alumni giving.
The national ranking will have an immediate and positive impact for the university's alumni, according to Mark Davidson of Mobile, Ala., a 1992 graduate and president of the Â鶹¹û¶³ Alumni Association.
"This unexpected and very high ranking makes everyone aware of what Â鶹¹û¶³ alumni already knew and that is the value of a Â鶹¹û¶³ degree," Davidson said. "And, this further affirms the quality of education that Â鶹¹û¶³ alumni have received and that Â鶹¹û¶³ students continue to receive."
One Â鶹¹û¶³ leader not surprised by the high ranking is Faculty Senate Chair Don T. Sandley. Sandley noted that the U.S. News ranking is just one of the many indices measuring Â鶹¹û¶³'s success.
"This latest ranking confirms what we all have known for quite some time – that Â鶹¹û¶³'s reach is national and even global," said Sandley, a professor of theatre. "We have always exceeded expectations, and now those expectations will be even higher because the bar has been raised."
Among other peer groups, Â鶹¹û¶³ was the highest ranked university representing both the Ohio Valley Conference and the Southern Conference. Â鶹¹û¶³ currently is an OVC-member institution but becomes a member of the Southern Conference in 2008.