U.S.News ranks Purdue's graduate programs among nation's best

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University's programs remain among the best in the nation in U.S.News & World Report's rankings of the top graduate schools released Tuesday (March 13).

"These rankings reaffirm that a Purdue degree represents a world-class educational experience," said university President France A. Córdova.

Mark J.T. Smith, dean of the Graduate School, added, "The rankings illustrate the successes of our faculty and graduate students while highlighting the recognition their work earns from our peers. Purdue provides an excellent educational foundation, which includes opportunities to work with top faculty and interdisciplinary programs that allow students to address issues of global importance."

The colleges and schools in which programs were ranked include engineering, education, business, health and human sciences, and pharmacy.

Programs ranked this year include:

Engineering: Purdue's College of Engineering tied with Cornell University at No. 10. Last year, the college's graduate program was ranked 11th.

Five of the schools in engineering are in the top 10 in the country in specialty rankings, including a No. 1 ranking for agricultural and biological engineering. Aeronautics and astronautics ranked sixth; civil engineering ranked sixth, tied with Massachusetts Institute of Technology; mechanical engineering ranked ninth, tied with Cornell University; and electrical engineering ranked 10th, tied with Princeton University.

Other engineering rankings include computer engineering, 11th; nuclear engineering, 11th, tied with Oregon State University; chemical engineering, 14th, tied with Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern universities; materials engineering, 14th, tied with Carnegie Mellon; industrial engineering, 15th; environmental and ecological engineering, 19th, tied with Penn State University and the University of Minnesota; and biomedical engineering, 23rd, tied with the universities of Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin-Madison.

Education: Purdue's College of Education ranked 37th, up from 43rd last year. The program has climbed steadily from a ranking of 68th in 2008.

Business: Krannert School of Management ranked 42nd, up from 49th last year. Krannert's weekend MBA program was ranked 19th. Among specialty rankings, Krannert's production/operations program was ranked seventh; supply chain/logistics was ranked 10th; and information systems was 13th, tied with Arizona State University and the University of Michigan.

Not all disciplines are ranked each year. The following health disciplines, last updated in 2008, were ranked this year and include:

Health and Human Sciences (Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences):

* Audiology: The accredited doctoral of audiology program was ranked 12th, tied with Ohio State University, University of Arizona, University of Memphis and University of South Florida. This specialty area was previously ranked ninth in 2008.

* Speech: The accredited master's degree in speech-language pathology was ranked fifth, and tied with Northwestern University and University of Arizona. It ranked second in 2008.

Pharmacy: The College of Pharmacy's doctor of pharmacy program ranks seventh, which is up from ninth in 2008. It tied with Ohio State University and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

To see where Purdue programs not surveyed this year rank, visit http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rankings/2011/110315CordovaGradRankings.html or http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rankings/2011/110315CordovaGradRankings.html

In the latest undergraduate rankings by U.S.News & World Report, released in August 2011, Purdue was ranked 23rd among the nation's public universities. Purdue also was again acknowledged for its achievements in four of eight student success categories. The categories, in which schools are listed but not ranked, are First-Year Experience, Internships, Learning Communities and Writing in the Disciplines.

U.S.News & World Report's complete rankings in America's Best Graduate Schools will be available on newsstands April 3. U.S.News has published graduate school rankings annually since 1987.

Extended program rankings and additional information will be available Tuesday (March 13) at http://www.usnews.com

Writers:    Judith Bara Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

                   Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

                   Greg McClure, 765-496-9711, gmcclure@purdue.edu  

Sources:   France A. Córdova, president@purdue.edu

                    Mark Smith, 765-494-2604, mjts@purdue.edu