The 2005 U.S. News and World Report graduate rankings brought good news for the School of Law, as it returned to the top 10 in the law school rankings after a two-year hiatus.
But moods were less chipper at the Fuqua School of Business, which saw its flagship program slip from seventh to 11th.
Yet the rest of the University's graduate programs fared well this year. The Pratt School of Engineering improved from 33rd to 30th, the School of Medicine stayed put with a research ranking of fourth and the Sanford Institute of Public Policy jumped from 19th in 2001--when U.S. News last ranked public affairs programs--to 10th this year. Other graduate programs were not evaluated this year by the magazine.
The law school had been a perennial top 10 fixture until it dropped to 12th in 2003 and remained in that lower position last year. This year's upswing represents a victory for Dean of the School of Law Katherine Bartlett, who has long professed a commitment to remaining high in the rankings and has acknowledged their importance in shaping perceptions.
Though Bartlett's enthusiasm about improving this year was tempered by criticism of the rankings as a legitimate evaluative device, she said she was pleased to be back in the top 10.
"As between doing well under a flawed ranking system and doing not so well, I prefer the former," Bartlett said.
Yale University topped the law rankings again this year, followed by Harvard University, Stanford University and Columbia University.
Among business schools, Fuqua departed the top 10 after spending the last decade bouncing between sixth and 10th. After ranking sixth in 2002--its highest ranking ever--and seventh in 2003, this marks the third straight year of decline for the daytime master's of business administration program, the main program evaluated by U.S. News and World Report. Fuqua's most highly celebrated specialties were marketing and its executive MBA program, both of which ranked in the top five.
Harvard was first in business, with Stanford second, the University of Pennsylvania third and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fourth.
While Pratt has the lowest rank of Duke's graduate programs this year, it improved to 30th this year, tied with Rice University. Among specialized engineering programs, biomedical engineering suffered a slip from second in 2003 to a tie for sixth this year. No other Pratt department made the top 20.
Kristina Johnson, dean of the Pratt School of Engineering, compared Pratt to the 2003-2004 Duke basketball squads--winners though not champions and "working day in and day out to be the best" instead of focusing on earning external rewards.
"Though I am happy that we see the momentum build from five years of working every day to make this the best engineering school we can be, we also know that we have a ways to go to be recognized as both winners and champions," she said. "If we teach great classes, mentor our students and give them a bold, personal and multidisciplinary educational experience that prepares them to be leaders and live rewarding and ethical lives, we will be the best--no matter where we are ranked."
Pratt's comparatively low rank can be partly attributed to its size; the school is smaller than many other graduate programs in engineering, though Johnson said faculty and program expansion and the currently under-construction Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Mathematics and Applied Sciences may boost its reputation in the future.
The School of Medicine is Duke's highest-ranked graduate and professional school. While institutions are ranked in two categories, research and primary care, research is the focus of the University and many other selective private medical schools. Duke scored fourth in this category and 39th in primary care.
"We are pleased once again that the School of Medicine is so highly ranked," said Dean of the Medical School Dr. Sandy Williams. "The scoring process used to come up with these rankings should not be interpreted as any absolute measure of quality, but it's gratifying nonetheless to see our faculty and students honored in this manner."
Other top research medical schools were Harvard, which ranked first, followed by Washington University in St. Louis and Johns Hopkins University. The University of Pennsylvania tied with Duke for fourth.
Improving most dramatically--albeit over a four-year period as U.S. News and World Report rates some programs only periodically--was the Sanford Institute. Sanford tied with six other schools: American University, George Washington University, the State University of New York at Albany, the University of Kansas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Texas at Austin. Syracuse University topped the list, followed by Harvard.
Sanford Director Bruce Jentleson said he was very pleased with Duke's rankings, which he said will help recruiting.
"I think [the rise in the rankings] reflects the assessment by our peers that we're doing excellent research, we have a dynamic curriculum, [we have] high-quality students, graduate students as well as undergraduates," Jentleson said, "and also that we have an external visibility in terms of our policy engagement that factors in as well."
Sanford's improved from seventh to fifth in its specialty, public policy analysis, but dropped slightly in social policy and health policy and management to 11th and ninth, respectively. Duke's environmental policy and management program, run mostly by the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, held tight with the number two rank behind Indiana University at Bloomington.
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