The University of Utah's graduate school stands tallest in the state and can hold its own against national competitors, according to latest rankings by U.S. News & World Report's 2005 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools.
The U. is ranked in 23 separate categories, including 15th in the nation for its bioengineering/biomedical school. Programs receiving the most attention included the Graduate School of Engineering, which moved from 63rd last year to 56th.
Also rising in its prestige is the School of Business, whose MBA program jumped from 78th last year to 64th in the latest rankings.
"There are more than 2,000 business schools in the U.S., and about 1,000 of these have MBA programs. Simply to be in the top 100 shows we are being recognized as a first-rate school," dean Jack Brittain said.
Brigham Young University's business and law schools each ranked in the top 40.
The J. Reuben Clark Law School is ranked 34th; it was 37th two years ago and 31st last year. The Marriott School of Management is ranked 39th, down from 29th, where it was the past two years.
The business school's accounting specialty ranked 16th in the nation, and the public management administration specialty is 34th.
Two other BYU colleges were ranked.
The College of Nursing is listed 58th for the second straight year. Two years ago, it ranked 103rd.
The Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering debuted on the U.S. News lists at 81st. Two of the college's departments also were ranked — mechanical engineering is 53rd and electrical engineering is 68th.
Full ranking reports are available in the newsstand book (2005 edition) "America's Best Graduate Schools" and online at www.USNews.com.
The U. also was recognized for its graduate schools of law, public affairs, education, medicine and health sciences. The School of Medicine, which is routinely ranked as one of the most elite programs in the nation, received high rankings once again in several categories.
It was ranked 22nd in family medicine, 35th in physical therapy and 31st in primary care.
The College of Education was ranked as one of the top 20 administration/special education graduate programs in the country by the magazine.
The U. also was voted to be the 81st best university in the world by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University of Higher Education in China.
U.S. News ranks graduate programs in the area of business, education, engineering, law and medicine. The rankings are based on expert opinion and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. Surveys of more than 1,000 programs and 9,000 academics and other professionals were conducted in fall 2003.