University Times

Pitt's undergraduate program in philosophy has been ranked No. 2 in the nation in the 1998 10th edition of "The Gourman Report." The only school with an undergraduate philosophy program that topped Pitt in the report was Princeton.

Other Pitt undergraduate programs also ranked highly by the report were information sciences, No. 4; social work/social welfare, No. 5; nursing, No. 6, and urban and regional planning, No. 10.

"The Gourman Report" is the work of Jack Gourman, a former professor of political science who now serves as an educational consultant to several major corporations, institutions and government agencies.

The report uses a numerical score based on surveys of faculty, administrators and trustees/regents in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of all undergraduate schools in the nation in 140 disciplines.

Overall, "The Gourman Report" ranks Pitt as No. 55 in the nation for undergraduate education, behind the U.S. Naval Academy and ahead of the University of Kansas. The No. 1 school for undergraduate education, according to the report, is Princeton.

Within Pennsylvania, the report ranks Pitt as No. 4 for undergraduate education with a score of 4.36 out of 5. The University of Pennsylvania has the highest ranking, 4.81, followed by Carnegie Mellon with 4.72 and Penn State with 4.59. Trailing Pitt at No. 5 is Bryn Mawr College with 4.02.

Following are Pitt undergraduate programs (in alphabetical order) that the report ranks as among the top in the nation:

* Anthropology, No. 23, behind Penn State and ahead of Duke. No. 1 was the University of Michigan.

* Art, No. 17, between UCLA and the University of Indiana. No. 1 in art was New York University. Pitt's art history program also was No. 17, behind Cornell and the University of Indiana. NYU was No. 1 for art history.

* Bacteriology/microbiology, No. 21, between Notre Dame and the University of Massachusetts. The No. 1 program was at MIT.

* Biology, No. 32, behind the University of Illinois and ahead of Vanderbilt University. No. 1 for biology was the California Institute of Technology.

* Chemical engineering, No. 51, between Louisiana State and the University of Iowa. No. 1 was the University of Minnesota.

* Chemistry, No. 35, between the University of Southern California and the University of Florida. No. 1 for chemistry was the California Institute of Technology.

* Child psychology, No. 11, behind the University of Pennsylvania and ahead of Ohio State. No. 1 for child psychology was Wayne State.

* Civil engineering, No. 48, between SUNY-Buffalo and the University of Oklahoma. No. 1 was the University of California-Berkeley.

* Computer science, No. 29, between SUNY-Buffalo and the University of California-Irvine. No. 1 was MIT.

* Drama/theatre, No. 38, behind Temple and ahead of the University of Miami. No. 1 was Northwestern.

* Economics, No. 43, between the University of California- Santa Barbara and Virginia Tech. No. 1 was MIT.

* Electrical engineering, No. 42, between Notre Dame and Iowa State University. No. 1 for electrical engineering was MIT.

* German, No. 23, behind Penn State and ahead of the University of California-Irvine. The No. 1 program was at Yale.

* History, No. 37, between Emory University and Rice University. No. 1 in the field was Yale.

* Industrial engineering, No. 14, between Iowa State and the University of Illinois. The No. 1 program was at Stanford.

* Information sciences, No. 4, behind the University of Michigan and ahead of Ohio State. No. 1 was MIT.

* Latin American studies, No. 16, behind George Washington University. Pitt's program was the last selected among the leaders in the field. No. 1 was the University of Texas.

* Linguistics, No. 23, between the University of Texas and the University of Arizona. No. 1 in the field was UCLA.

* Materials engineering/materials science and engineering, No. 23, between Ohio State and the University of California-Davis. No. 1 was Cornell.

* Mathematics, No. 56, between Michigan State and Brandeis. No. 1 was Princeton.

* Metallurgical engineering, No. 9, between the University of Missouri and Michigan Technological University. No. 1 was the University of Illinois.

* Nursing, No. 6, behind Northwestern and ahead of Wayne State. No. 1 was NYU.

* Nutrition, No. 20, between Oklahoma State and the University of Texas Health and Science Center-Houston. No. 1 was Cornell.

* Occupational therapy, No. 20, between SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn and Washington University in St. Louis. No. 1 was NYU.

* Philosophy, No. 2, between Princeton and Harvard.

* Physics, No. 33, between the University of Rochester and Penn State. No. 1 in the field was the California Institute of Technology.

* Political science, No. 27, behind the University of Washington and ahead of the University of Rochester. No. 1 was Yale.

* Social work/social welfare, No. 5, between the University of Washington and the University of Illinois. No. 1 was Wayne State.

* Sociology, No. 29, between Brandeis and the University of California-Berkeley. No. 1 was the University of Wisconsin.

* Spanish, No. 31, behind the University of Maryland and ahead of Duke. The No. 1 Spanish program was at the University of Pennsylvania.

* Urban and regional planning, No. 10, between the University of Colorado and the University of Virginia. No. 1 was the University of Southern California.

–Mike Sajna