U.S. News ranks OSU’s grad programs top in state

COLUMBUS -- Ohio State’s graduate programs are rated as the best in Ohio and remain among the top programs in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2002-2003 rankings of America’s Best Graduate Schools released today. Among the ratings, Ohio State’s Michael E. Moritz College of Law remains solidly in the top tier of the nation’s law schools with rankings which place the college as 15th among public law schools and 37th among the nation’s 175 accredited law schools, a strong improvement from last year’s rankings of 17th among publics and 40th nationwide.

The high marks come despite low state support for public universities in Ohio. State funding for higher education ranks 42nd in the nation.

The Dispute Resolution program at the Moritz College is among the top three programs in the country, up from last year’s fourth rating. Ohio State has ranked in the top four schools in dispute resolution since the specialty was first ranked five years ago.

“We don’t look at these rankings as the measure of overall quality of the law school,” said Law Dean Nancy H. Rogers. Rogers said the effects of the $30 million gift by the late Michael E. Moritz will be reflected in further increases in the rankings in future years. “These rankings are based in larger part on historical data,” she noted. “We expect the effects of the Moritz gift to phase in over the next several years.” Moritz’s gift, the largest single donation in the university’s history, provides for 30 full in-state tuition scholarships, four faculty chairs, and enhanced programming through a dean’s discretionary fund.

Supported by top five rankings in six specialty programs -- including vocational and technical education, which is rated the best in the country for the seventh year in a row -- Ohio State’s College of Education is ranked 17th in the nation among 188 public and private universities offering graduate programs in education. Other highly rated education specialty programs are the second-place elementary education program, and programs in administration and supervision, counseling and personnel services, secondary education, and curriculum and instruction.

“Our top five rankings in six graduate education specialty areas are a tribute to the quality of our faculty research and our teacher preparation program,” said Donna Browder Evans, dean of education. “For more than a decade, our peers in education have recognized the outstanding work that is done here for schools throughout the world.”

In other new rankings, the Max M. Fisher College of Business is ranked 24th in the nation, and is among the top 10 public university business programs in the country, and the College of Engineering is ranked 26th in the nation. The College of Medicine and Public Health’s also was rated one of the nation’s top 50 research schools at 44th.

“We are pleased to be consistently listed among the top 25 business schools in the nation,” said Joseph A. Alutto, dean of business. “At the same time, we are also continually evaluating and strengthening our programs to assure that we provide our students with the quality preparation needed to secure positions and advance their careers. Our relatively small size allows us to provide a level of personal interaction and development not found in many other programs. The ongoing commitment of our faculty and staff to providing our students a quality experience, coupled with the support of our alumni, corporate partners and the university, help us continually strengthen the value of a Fisher College degree.”

Doctoral programs in chemistry are 22nd, and physics is 24th. Geology’s specialty program in paleontology -- which utilizes the study of fossils to document the origin and evolution of life, and to reconstruct past earth history -- is ranked eighth in the nation.

“The top 25 ranking of these two core departments justifies the university's recognition through selective investment of their continued achievements in academic excellence,” said Bob Gold, dean of mathematical and physical sciences. “We are also very pleased to have such an internationally renowned group of productive and creative scientists working in the department of geological sciences, as demonstrated by their top 10 ranking.”

For most categories, the magazine bases its rankings on the degree of admission selectivity, faculty resources, institutional reputation, and research activity. Other criteria are added for each specific program.

Rankings of graduate schools and doctoral programs released for 2002-03 cover only a small portion of the Ohio State’s programs. Five programs are ranked each year; others are ranked every three or four years. This year, in addition to annual rankings in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine, the magazine offers new rankings for programs in the sciences. The magazine also reprints earlier years’ ratings in some fields that note previous high marks to Ohio State’s graduate programs in audiology, history, nursing, political science, psychology, sociology, speech-language pathology, and veterinary medicine.