UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 4, Page 2
September 21, 1995
UD programs rated positively by NRC and 'U.S. News'

     The University of Delaware earned recognition in two recent
college rankings, one by the National Research Council (NRC) and the
other by U.S. News & World Report.
     One UD doctoral program earned "distinguished" marks, and two
others were characterized as "strong" in a report on the nation's
research-doctorate programs, released Sept. 13 by the National
Research Council. The study included 13 UD doctoral programs, all of
them rated as effective.
     According to an article in the Sept. 22 issue ofThe Chronicle of
Higher Education, possible ratings for quality in the NRC study
included "distinguished," "strong," "good," "adequate," "marginal" and
"not sufficient for doctoral education." In the area of effectiveness,
possible ratings were "extremely effective," "reasonably effective,"
"minimally effective" and "not effective."
     The UD chemical engineering program ranked eighth in its field of
93 programs, was judged "distinguished" in quality and was rated
"extremely effective." Rated as "strong" and "reasonably effective"
were art history (ranked at 15 out of 38) and psychology (ranked at
57.5 out of 185).
     "I am proud to see our programs receive these rankings, because I
know how much hard work and dedicated effort go into building them,"
University Provost Mel Schiavelli said. "The goal ahead for us is to
have other programs achieve such national recognition."
     "The Department of Chemical Engineering continues to maintain its
position as one of the premier departments in the country," Stuart L.
Cooper, dean of the College of Engineering, said. "We recognize that
the reputation of this department is a major attraction for adding top
quality faculty needed to develop strong research programs in all of
our departments. That reputation also helps us attract both a strong
undergraduate and graduate student body in the college.
     "We are ideally situated, geographically and industrially, to be
a major player in engineering education and research, and we are
encouraged by the significant strides that the civil engineering and
mechanical engineering departments and the Materials Science Program
have made in achieving national recognition," Cooper said. "For the
first time, the NRC ranked them in the top 50 research-doctorate
programs in the country. We expect this momentum to continue as we
advance to increased levels of excellence in all of our programs in
the next decade."
     Commenting on the NRC rankings, Mary P. Richards, dean of the
College of Arts and Science, said, "I am pleased that a number of our
outstanding departments in the college were recognized in the NRC
ratings. We know that these programs are excellent and have worked
hard to achieve their current level of quality. They help us to make
our mark as a research university."
     Other UD programs rated "good" in quality and "reasonably
effective" were biochemistry and molecular biology, chemistry, civil
engineering, linguistics, materials science, mechanical engineering
and physics. Mathematics was rated "good" in quality and "minimally
effective."
     Rated "adequate" in quality and "minimally effective" were
electrical engineering and sociology.
     The NRC study, which updates and expands the council's 1982
assessment of graduate programs, examined quality and effectiveness of
more than 3,600 doctoral programs in 41 fields at 274 U.S.
universities.
     In an article on "America's Best Colleges" in the Sept. 18 issue
of U.S. News, the UD College of Engineering tied for 46th place among
the top 50 undergraduate engineering schools. Other schools tying for
46th were Cooper Union, Drexel, Vanderbilt and Washington
universities, Rutgers at New Brunswick and the universities of
California at Santa Barbara, Iowa and Missouri at Rolla.
     In U.S. News' overall ranking of national universities, Delaware
appeared with 64 other schools in the second tier, after the top 50.
In all, 229 schools were evaluated in this category.