Vol. 18, No. 39	Aug. 26, 1999

UD among nation's best

U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Delaware 22nd among the nation's top public universities in its annual "America's Best Colleges" issue, published Aug. 23.

UD, ranked 26th among the nation's public universities last year, shares the 22nd rank this year with Miami University in Oxford, Ohio; Rutgers University at New Brunswick; the State University of New York at Binghamton; the University of Georgia; and the University of Maryland at College Park. The University of California at Berkeley was ranked first among the nation's public universities.

In its ranking of engineering schools offering the Ph.D., UD was ranked 52nd, tying with Rutgers University at New Brunswick, the universities of California at Irvine, Iowa, Missouri at Rolla and North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The California Institute of Technology was ranked the top national university, and UD appeared in the second tier of 50 schools in this grouping, which includes private schools. In fact, of the top 25 schools in this grouping, only four are public.

In an accompanying article in the issue, on alcohol use on college campuses, the magazine also cited UD for its work and successes in trying to curb binge drinking, specifically though increased enforcement and parental notification.

"The University of Delaware deserves inclusion among the top public universities," University President David P. Roselle said. "At the same time, I think many of the University's strengths do not necessarily fit into the magazine's ranking categories and that a more thorough evaluation would rank UD even higher.

"The work of our faculty and staff to make the undergraduate experience a top-quality one for our students and our resulting successes in attracting talented students are just two indicators of UD's stature in higher education today. The high percentage of students who accept our offer of admission is the best indicator of UD's status as a hot school."

For its rankings, U.S. News categorizes colleges by mission and region, gathers data on 16 indicators-such as academic reputation, retention, faculty resources and student selectivity-and then ranks colleges against their peers in each category, based on a composite, weighted score.