But our vision is not one of larger size, it is a vision of top quality. Many of our programs already rank in the Top 50 among public universities, as rated by the National Research Council, U.S. News & World Report, the Gourman Report, and others. Because some of these rankings are several years old, they may be lagging indicators of quality. In some areas of our academic endeavors, we may not have useful measures. And, of course, we recognize the subjectivity of some of these rating schemes. But we need to be honest in our assessment and these indicators, flawed as they are, show us how we are regarded by others.

And, they prove an important point. Many of our programs have earned national distinction. The upcoming charts list all of our top 50 programs. Those which rank in the top 20 among public universities are indicated in red.

I particularly congratulate those of you whose talents and hard work have helped lead programs into the Top 10 in the country and I will call your attention to those programs as we review these rankings.
As we look page by page, we see graduate and undergraduate Film and our graduate Music programs rated in the Top 10.

So are the graduate and undergraduate Theatre programs and graduate Art Education and Dance. When we talk about a capital campaign to fund our “Corner on the Arts,” we are talking about our plan to provide high quality facilities to arts programs which have already achieved excellence.


In the Arts and Sciences, Oceanography and Nuclear Physics are among top ten programs. Notice that some programs are not ranked. French, for instance, is not on this list but we expect it to be one of the great programs in this country within the next several years. Computer Science should also be a nationally ranked program and the Provost has developed a plan to assure that this happens.
And look at Chemistry. With the resources we have in Chemistry, we should be able to advance this discipline to the very top ranks nationally.


Child Psychology and undergraduate programs in Communication and Radio/TV Studies rank among the nation’s elite. In Business, we expect Hospitality Management to climb to the top of the list.


In Criminology, the graduate program in Criminal Justice Policy is a Top 10 program. Several College of Education programs are close to that status.


Undergraduate Home Economics and the graduate Information Studies program are recognized as programs of national distinction. We expect the new undergraduate Information Studies program to be one which gains national recognition.


And finally, we see undergraduate Social Work in the Top 10 category, with the graduate program on the verge of that status.