WMU again gets 'top 100' listing in U.S. News
Sept. 1, 2000
KALAMAZOO -- For the second consecutive year, Western Michigan University has been named one of the nation's top 100 public universities in U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of U.S. colleges and universities.
The 2001 ranking, which appeared in the magazine's online edition Sept. 1, lists WMU as one of the top 98 public institutions among its list of 228 "national universities." This is the 11th consecutive year WMU has been included in the magazine's national university grouping and the second year it has placed among the top 100 public universities on the list.
"These latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, along with our recent top-tier classification by the Carnegie Foundation, are further proof of the excellence of Western Michigan University," says WMU President Elson S. Floyd. "This is indeed a compliment to the scholarship and creative activity of our faculty, students and staff."
In August, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, included the University in its highest classification level--Doctoral/Research Universities-Extensive. In that prestigious classification of nearly 3,900 U.S. colleges and universities, WMU is one of only 90 public universities listed at the top level and one of only four Michigan universities placed in that group.
This year's U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. universities will appear on newsstands in the issue dated Sept. 4. The elite list of national universities includes 146 public universities and 82 private institutions. The top 50 universities are numerically ranked and the remaining universities are grouped alphabetically in second, third and fourth tiers.
The rankings are based on more than a dozen criteria including academic reputation, graduation rates, selectivity, student/faculty ratios, class size, faculty resources and percentage of students who come from the top 10 percent of their high school class.
U.S. News & World Report categorizes national universities as those that offer "a full range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral degrees." In addition, many national research universities "strongly emphasize research."
For more information, visit U.S. News online <www.usnews.com> or click here to go directly to the complete 2001 rankings.
Media contact: Matt Kurz, 616 387-8400, matt.kurz@wmich.edu