Colorado State University Ranks in Top Tier of U.S. News and World Report’s 2008 Â??america’s Best Colleges’

U.S. News and World Report ranked Colorado State University among the best colleges in the nation in the 2008 "America’s Best Colleges" edition released today.

U.S. News and World Report listed Colorado State in the top tier of public and private doctoral universities and 62nd among public universities, closely ranked with institutions such as Florida State University, University of Oregon, University at Buffalo-SUNY and Kansas State University. For a complete list of rankings and methodologies, visit the Web at www.usnews.com.

"While we measure our success through many factors, this ranking further solidifies Colorado State among the finest research institutions in the country," said Larry Edward Penley, Colorado State president. "Our faculty and students look beyond the borders of Fort Collins to address the great global challenges, from eradicating infectious diseases from the planet to researching innovative treatments for cancers and creating clean energy sources."

Other Colorado universities ranked in the top tier include the Colorado School of Mines, University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Denver.

Also ranked individually in the top 100 of the 2008 edition were Colorado State’s undergraduate programs in the Colleges of Engineering and Business.

The College of Engineering ranked 35th among all public universities and 57th overall, up from 73rd in 2007. The college boasts three University Distinguished Professors and four members of the National Academy of Engineering. The college’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs, ranked in the top 10 most productive computer engineering programs in the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, produced by Academic Analytics with support from State University of New York-Stony Brook.

The College of Business ranked 59th among all public research universities. In March, Business Week ranked Colorado State’s College of Business as one of the top undergraduate business programs in the country. Last fall, Princeton Review ranked it No. 1 nationally in "Best Administered" MBA graduate programs.

Other Colorado State departments named among the top 10 in 104 disciplines in the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index: College of Agricultural Sciences’ Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, first in the agricultural economics category; College of Natural Sciences’ Department of Biology, second in the zoology category; Warner College of Natural Resources’ Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, fifth in the fisheries science and management category; College of Applied Human Sciences’ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, eighth in the food science category; College of Agricultural Sciences’ Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, ninth in the soil science category and 10th in the agronomy/crop science category.

The magazine rankings follow a record-breaking year for research support and recognition at Colorado State. Among the highlights:

– Colorado State University annual research expenditures totaled a record $267.4 million in fiscal year 2006, nearly 10 percent more than the previous year and a 35 percent ($69.2 million) increase in research expenditures over the past four years.

– Colorado State receives one of the highest levels of federal research funding of any university without a medical school in the country.

– Research and discovery at Colorado State University contributed significantly to Fort Collins’ ranking as one of Fast Company magazine’s 30 "Fast Cities 2007" worldwide. The magazine named Fort Collins one of three cities worldwide as a research-and-development "hot spot" because the community generates 11.45 patents per year for every 10,000 people, nearly four times the U.S. city average.

– In Feb. 2007, Colorado State University launched MicroRx, a first-of-its-kind enterprise to speed the transition of life-saving research on infectious diseases from the academic world into the global marketplace. MicroRx was the first of the university’s "Superclusters" – alliances of academic researchers, economists and business experts designed to encourage collaboration and bridge the vastly different worlds of business and academia.

– In March 2007, U.S. News and World Report ranked the veterinary medicine program at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences second in the nation among America’s best graduate schools.

– Colorado State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences leads all other schools of its kind in external research funding.

– U.S. News and World Report ranked the Career and Technical Education program in the School of Education – in the College of Applied Human Sciences – eighth in the nation in March 2007. The Colorado State School of Education graduate programs in education and human resource studies serve nearly 600 students who work with about 40 full-time faculty members.

– In the most recent U.S. News and World Report "Best Graduate Schools" rankings for occupational therapy, Colorado State’s graduate program ranked seventh in the nation. The ranking rose three places from the previous survey. The department is recognized by the university as one of 12 Programs of Research and Scholarly Excellence and has been designated a Program of Excellence by the state of Colorado.

– Five graduate programs in the College of Engineering were ranked in the U.S. News and World Report 2008 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools: chemical, civil, mechanical, electrical and environmental.

– Five graduate programs in the College of Natural Sciences were ranked by U.S. News in the 2008 edition: chemistry, computer science, biological sciences, mathematics and physics.

– Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine has ranked Colorado State in the top 100 in the nation for quality education and affordability in its annual 100 Best Values in Public Colleges rankings.

– Consumers Digest "2007 College Road Map: Making the Right Choices" named Colorado State as a top 50 best value for public universities.

– Colorado State ranks 12th in the nation among large colleges and universities in the number of alumni serving as Peace Corps volunteers, according to 2006 rankings by the Peace Corps. Fifty-seven Colorado State alumni volunteer for the Peace Corps. Since the Peace Corps’ inception in 1961, 1,409 Colorado State alumni have volunteered.

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