Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development rose to No. 3 in U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate and professional schools released on Friday. Vanderbilt’s schools of business, law and engineering all improved their positions.
The Owen Graduate School of Management leapt 15 places to No. 34 in the business school category. Vanderbilt Law School ranked No. 16, the School of Medicine No. 18 for research and No. 30 for primary care, the School of Nursing No. 19, the doctoral program in biological sciences No. 34 and the School of Engineering No. 42.
Peabody, which was ranked No. 5 in 2006, is now tied with Harvard University’s School of Education at No. 3. Teachers College at Columbia University was ranked tops in the nation, followed by Stanford University.
Peabody’s special education program was ranked the best in the nation. Other highly regarded Peabody programs include administration/supervision (No. 2), curriculum/instruction (No. 10), educational psychology (No. 9), education policy (No. 5), higher education administration (No. 9) and elementary education (No. 9).
“We are very pleased by our ranking in this latest survey,” said Camilla Benbow, the Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Peabody.
“It reflects the high quality of our students and the research productivity of an excellent faculty. The rankings also indicate that our longstanding efforts in key areas like special education, education policy, and pre-K-12 and higher education administration continue to produce valuable contributions to education practice.”
The Owen Graduate School of Management rose to tie Pennsylvania State University at No. 34, up from Owen’s No. 49 last year. Jim Bradford, dean of the Owen School and Ralph Owen Professor for the Practice of Management, attributed the improvement to an investment in retaining and attracting faculty and innovative market-driven initiatives such as Owen’s health care MBA program.
“It is rewarding that our hard work over the past several years is being recognized,” Bradford said.
“We will continue the push to recruit outstanding students, build great programs and hire and encourage world class faculty because that is what Vanderbilt – and our stakeholders – demand and deserve.”
Vanderbilt Law School pushed one spot ahead to No. 16, tying with the law school at the University of Southern California.
Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine was ranked No. 18 for research. Last year it was at 17th. For primary care, the School of Medicine ranked 30th.
The School of Nursing broke into the top 20 with a ranking of 19th, tied with six other schools. It was ranked 29th in 2004, the last time U.S. News considered nursing schools.
The biological science program at Vanderbilt tied with seven other programs for No. 34, falling from No. 28 last year. The Vanderbilt School of Engineering tied with Lehigh University and Washington University in St. Louis for No. 42, an improvement from No. 47 in 2006.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu