The University of Utah is ranked 22nd in the nation among public research universities in five measures of performance included in a report issued by the Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance.
The University of Florida-based program uses nine criteria to compare performance at 106 public and 48 private universities that spend more than $20 million annually in federal research funds.
When all nine of the criteria used by the program to measure research institutions are included, the U. ranked 55, tied with the University of Iowa.
The U. tied with Purdue University in Indiana for 22nd among the top 25 based on the five most important criteria and is the only Utah institution noted in the current report. The schools included in the survey account for 91 percent of federal research spending.
"I am very excited we are ranked among the major public research universities in the nation," said David Pershing, U. senior vice president for academic affairs. "We have known we were there for several years and now we are finally getting the public recognition."
Among the 106 public institutions the U. ranked 13th in private annual contributions; 14th in significant awards to faculty members; 17th in the number of postdoctoral researchers; 22nd in the number of members of the National Academy of Sciences; 24th in total federal research funding; 39th in total research funding; 43rd in endowment assets; and 49th in the number of doctoral degrees awarded.
The Utah school was only 69th in the median SAT scores of incoming students. Pershing said that is expected because the U. is an open institution that does not bar entry to students with lower SAT scores. In February, U. President Bernie Machen announced the Utah Top-Ten scholarship program, which will guarantee admission to the top 10 percent of each high school graduating class, with a $1,000 scholarship to each of the students in that category.
Machen said the Lombardi rankings are useful "to compare ourselves with our peer institutions." One of his goals in coming to the U., he said, was to put the U. among the top research institutions in the country. As a relatively young Intermountain West institution, the school is doing well in teaching and research, he said.
Ray Gesteland, U. vice president for research said that "to be on a par with these other excellent institutions is a real testimony to the high quality of our faculty and the high quality of the research they produce. We are relatively small. We can't be great in everything, but in a number of areas, we do exceedingly well and can be compared favorably with any institution in the country."