09-13-95 15 Ph.D. Programs Ranked in Top 25 15 OHIO STATE GRADUATE PROGRAMS RANKED IN TOP 25 NATIONALLY COLUMBUS -- A national study of graduate education has placed 15 of The Ohio State University's programs among the top 25 in the nation. The rankings were released Tuesday (9/12) by the National Research Council and are the first such comprehensive review of the nation's Ph.D. programs in 13 years. Ohio State's doctoral programs in geography and linguistics were ranked among the top 10 in their fields and those in physics and psychology showed the greatest increase in ranking of any programs in the country. Ohio State officials were pleased and excited by the report, "Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States," released Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. President E. Gordon Gee said, "We are very excited by the results of the report released today by the NRC. It is an indication of the great progress Ohio State has made in the 13 years since the last study was released. This report offers evidence of the enormous value Ohio's flagship university represents to our state and our nation." The NRC report looked at 3,634 Ph.D. programs in 41 fields at 274 universities, gauging each program's reputation, effectiveness in training scholars, and amount of change over a five-year period. The surveys for the study were obtained in 1993 and reflect changes occurring since 1988. The NRC's first study of this kind was released in 1982. "We take great pride in the programs recognized in this report," Gee said. "Strong graduate programs foster the creativity and innovation which are vital to the future strength of our nation. These faculty are on the front lines of scholarship, which energizes and informs their teaching." Based on the scores cited in the three-inch-thick report, these are the rankings for Ohio State doctorate programs compared to similar programs at other universities: -- geography was fifth; -- linguistics was eighth; -- industrial and systems engineering was 12th; -- political science and German were 17th; -- materials engineering and psychology were 21st; -- chemistry, electrical engineering and classics all ranked 22nd; -- astronomy ranked 23rd; -- physics, philosophy and aeronautical engineering ranked 24th; -- mechanical engineering and sociology ranked 25th. The study showed that Ohio State clearly has strong programs in engineering, social sciences and the physical sciences. Based on the NRC report, Ohio State fares well in comparisons to other Big 10 universities. The linguistics program ranked best in the Big 10; philosophy ranked third; political science ranked fourth among these institutions. Thirty-two of the 38 Ohio State programs evaluated in the study showed a positive change in quality. Susan Huntington, dean of the Graduate School at Ohio State, said the study is even more important than it might seem at first. "We're most proud of the fact that while our reputational scores are very high, our scores for effectiveness based on how well our graduates do are even higher. "This will help the university in recruiting the best students and getting those students helps draw the best faculty to the campus," Huntington said. "Attracting the best faculty and students then enhances our excellent programs." Huntington said the credit for this excellent report on Ohio State graduate education is due both to the hard work and energy of the faculty, as well as a series of initiatives undertaken by the university to strengthen its academic departments. Gee added, "Ohio State's strength is further reflected in the breadth of disciplines recognized. Across core disciplines reviewed -- arts, sciences, humanities, engineering -- we find notable Ohio State programs. This comprehensive quality is the hallmark of our university. The students here have unique opportunities to experience excellence in many areas." # Contact: Susan Huntington (614) 292-6031 (office) or (614) 888-1083 (home). Written by Earle Holland. Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States NRC Report - September 1995 The 1995 NRC Report gives data on 41 program areas, compared to 32 in the 1982 Report. Of these 41 areas, Ohio State is evaluated in 38, 29 of which were also included in the 1982 Report. Some measure of the changes in the ratings of these 29 over the intervening ten years can be made. It should be remembered that the survey includes both private and public universities, with widely differing admission and funding policies. The programs are ranked according to sixteen evaluative criteria; this summary relates to the most frequently quoted of these, the "scholarly quality of the program faculty" as perceived by a survey of faculty at other institutions. To measure program improvement, the survey also addressed the perceived change in program quality over the last five years. In the case of OSU, it should be expected that the three recent early retirement incentive programs will have a negative impact on this figure for those strong programs which have lost distinguished senior faculty. Overall, the highlights of the Report indicate: -- 30 of the 38 (79%) programs at Ohio State Evaluated are rated above the national average. -- Of the 38 programs, OSU ranked #1 in the Ohio public universities in 36 (95%). -- 26 of the 29 (90%) programs included in both the 1982 and 1995 studies had higher ratings. Of the other three, chemistry is in the top 25, and has the highest rating above the national average of any OSU program. -- Over the past five years, Ohio State's rating improved in 32 of the 38 categories. Of the other six, two programs were already highly ranked, and remain so. -- 16 of the 38 (42%) programs ranked in the top 25 in the country. -- The physics program jumped 15 places, from 39th to 24th, and had the highest rated improvement in program quality in the last five years of any physics program in the country. -- The psychology program improved from 32nd to 21st, and had the second highest improvement in programs quality of all those psychology programs surveyed. -- The linguistics program improved from 11th to 8th, and is the top program of its kind in the Big Ten. -- OSU ranked in the top half of the Big Ten public universities in 26 of the 38 programs (68%). -- In terms of actual score for program quality, psychology ranked the highest (63) of the programs evaluated at OSU, followed by chemistry and geography (both 62), political science (61), and physics and electrical engineering (both 60). [Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) Thu, 14 Sep 1995 12:24:47 -0400] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.