IU grad schools rank among best

This month IU is receiving considerable attention at the newstand. The U.S. News and World Report's 2004 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools," ranked IU's graduate programs at the schools of law, business, fine arts, medicine, nursing and education among the nation's best. The April issue of Entrepreneur magazine also named the Kelley School of Business' entrepreneur program one of the twelve best in the country. \nThe U.S. News and World Report's rankings, which are featured in both the magazine's graduate school guide and in the Entrepreneur, both of which hit newstands Monday, show improvement for IU, with two graduate programs making a strong debut on the national rankings.\nThe School of Public and Environmental Affairs was ranked third in 2001, and reranking in the area of public affairs was not released.\nIn new rankings this year, the IU School of Nursing was tied for 15th, an accomplishment which Dean of the School of Nursing Angela Barron McBride said she is pleased with.\n"With several hundred nursing master's degree programs in the United States, the IU School of Nursing is pleased to be ranked 15th nationally," she said in a statement. "Our last ranking for National Institutes of Health funding was 15th too, so there is a close relationship between the quality of our research and our graduate programs."\nThree of the School of Nursing's specialty areas were ranked in the top 10 as well, receiving fourth for clinical nurse specialist: adult/medical-surgical, fifth for psychiatric/mental health and seventh for nursing service administration. \nAnother newcomer to the rankings, the IU School of Fine Arts' master of fine arts program, tied for 13th and was fourth among public institutions. \nDirector of the School of Fine Arts Georgia Strange said a long, rich tradition at the SoFA has allowed the school to excel on a national scale.\n"It all began when (former IU President) Herman Wells hired (chairman of Fine Arts) Henry Radford Hope," she said. "When he was in charge for 26 years, there was a rapid development of fine arts on the campus. He attracted some national figures to IU and allowed the school to grow."\nOther IU graduate programs received improved standings nationally.\nThe School of Education improved from 19th rank last year to a 17th rank. \nJack Cummings, executive associate director for the School of Education's graduate school, said the School of Education advanced its position for many reasons over a period of time.\n"It's partly because of our extensive funding, our partnerships with other programs," he said. \nThe Kelley School of Business remained fairly consistent, ranking 23rd, compared with 21st last year.\nSchool of Law at IU Bloomington moved up one spot from 39th last year to 38th. \nEntrepreneur magazine identified 100 colleges for entrepreneurs and rated IU's Kelley School program as one of the 12 top-tier programs. Other schools in the top tier include Harvard University, the Wharton School, Stanford University and Babson College.\n"This validates the hard work and dedication of our entrepreneurship faculty," said Elizabeth Gatewood, director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Kelley School. \nMore than 700 entrepreneurship programs were researched for the study, using criteria such as course offerings, teaching and research faculty, business-community outreach, research centers and institutes, degrees and certificates offered and faculty and alumni evaluations, to rank the schools.\nEducation in entrepreneurship has been offered at IU since 1958. Today, there are 322 undergraduates and 80 Master of Business Administration students studying entrepreneurship.