University Times

Pitt's graduate library science program is ranked fifth in the nation in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey of deans, administrators and senior faculty around the nation.

Several other Pitt graduate schools and programs also made the magazine's 1996 list of "America's Best Graduate Schools," including the School of Medicine.

This was the first year that U.S. News & World Report rated the nation's 50 graduate library science programs. Pitt was fifth behind the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was ranked No. 1, followed by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Syracuse.

"These are all fine programs and ones with which we have friendly competition," said Edie Rasmussen, chair of Pitt's library science program. "Of course, we're aiming at the No. 1 position. With only 0.3 points [on a scale of 5.0] between us and the survey leader, we hope to improve our position the next time the ranking is done." Rounding out the magazine's top 10 graduate library science programs were Indiana University at Bloomington, Rutgers University at New Brunswick, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Texas at Austin and Drexel.

Pitt's School of Medicine placed 17th in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of research-oriented medical schools, only 0.4 points [on a scale of 100] behind the University of Chicago and ahead of the University of California at San Diego. Harvard's medical school was listed No. 1.

Pitt's master of public health program came in at No. 8 in the nation. It was tied with Columbia University and the University of California at Los Angeles. U.S. News & World Report's top public health program was at Johns Hopkins University.

Ranked No. 12 in the nation was Pitt's master of physical therapy program. It was tied with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and was only 0.1 points behind the programs at Hahnemann University, Northwestern University, Texas Women's University and Virginia Commonwealth University. The nation's No. 1 physical therapy program, according to the magazine, was at Washington University. Rated at No. 14 in the nation was the University's master of social work program. Pitt was tied with Fordham University, the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Texas at Austin. Ranked No. 1 was the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor's program.

Pitt's graduate nursing program came in at No. 21, tied with Rush University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities, the University of Utah and Yale. Tied for the top spot in the rankings were the graduate nursing programs at the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Washington.

Pitt's School of Law was in the third of five tiers of law schools ranked by the magazine. The third tier included schools ranked 52-90. Pitt placed ahead of the law school at the University of Richmond and behind the University of Oregon. U.S. News & World Report's No. 1 law school was at Yale.

The complete U.S. News & World Report ranking is available on the Internet at http://www.USNEWS.com under the Colleges & Careers section of the site.

–Mike Sajna