March 30, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Several Indiana University graduate programs, particularly those involved in the state's health and life sciences efforts, education and business, are ranked among the best in the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Graduate Schools."

Primary care programs at the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis saw a significant improvement in U.S. News' ranking, moving from 33rd a year ago to 16th, and its research ranking improved to 44th.The School of Nursing was ranked 15th and had two top 10 clinical nursing specialties -- adult medical-surgery, which was third, and psychiatric health, sixth.

The rankings also reflected the continued focus and momentum for the Bloomington campus' life science effort. Rankings for IU's doctoral programs in the biological sciences have improved from 41st in 2002 and 32nd last year to 29th overall. The ranking for IU's chemistry program dropped to 34th, but the ranking for its analytical chemistry specialty improved from sixth to fourth.

"It is always gratifying to be recognized by your peers for a quality performance and that's what the U.S. News report does," said D. Craig Brater, M.D., dean of the IU School of Medicine and IU vice president with responsibility for life sciences. "As the only medical school in the state, it is important that our primary care training programs for family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics be strong.

"Training our next generation of research physicians and scientists is critically important to the health of the state and the nation. That is why I am also gratified to see the life sciences programs on the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses also are among those receiving national recognition in U.S. News," Dr. Brater added.

U.S. News did not issue new rankings for physics, mathematics, computer science, public affairs and several health disciplines. The magazine continues to rank IU's nuclear physics program as seventh.

The IU School of Education remains firmly a part of the top 20 and again is ranked 17th. It also had five specialty programs in the top 10 -- up from four last year. Based on data from 243 programs that responded to the magazine, the school was ranked seventh in elementary education and higher education administration, eighth in curriculum and instruction, ninth in counseling and personnel services and 10th in secondary education.

"I think it's a real credit to our faculty that despite the significant budgetary cuts of the last few years we've been able to maintain our ranking as one of the top schools of education in the country," said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the IU School of Education.

"The reputation of our programs is as strong as ever and our faculty continues to successfully compete for the best graduate students in the world as well as major research grants," Gonzalez added. "Last year, our faculty were responsible for more than $18 million in external fund expenditures and for every one of those millions, 40 jobs are added to the state's economy. All of us benefit from having such a high-quality, nationally ranked school of education in Indiana."

The Kelley School of Business, which moved back into the top 25 last year, is ranked 24th overall and ninth among publicly supported universities.

Two of its disciplines are ranked in the top 10: entrepreneurship, which is sixth, and productions/operations, ninth. Five other specialties -- accounting, management, information systems, international business and marketing are ranked in the top 20.

"There are over 550 business schools included in the U.S. News survey, and we are certainly proud to be ranked in the 95th percentile," said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School. "We continue to be one of the most innovative business schools in the nation. Our focus is on maintaining an exciting research environment and on providing our students with a world-class educational experience and a wide range of career opportunities."

The ranking of the IU School of Law at Bloomington improved one position to 36th overall and is 13th among publicly-supported schools. The IU School of Law at Indianapolis was 85th. The health care law program at Indianapolis is again tied for eighth.

The full rankings by U.S. News & World Report will be released to the public on Monday (April 2) 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 http://www.usnews.com.