IU scores big in U.S. News and World Report rankings

The latest U.S. News and World Report graduate school rankings placed several IU graduate schools among the best in the country. Programs in library and information science, business and education all received impressive marks from the report.\nThe School of Library and Information Science tied for seventh in the country, receiving special attention for its specialty programs. IU was fourth in law librarianship and eighth in digital librarianship, information systems and school library media. \nSLIS Dean Blaise Cronin said such accolades were nothing new for the school.\n"The School (of Library and Information Science) has been around for a long time, (and) has a well-deserved national and international reputation and has always been ranked among the premier programs," Cronin said. "(We have) a highly energetic, research-active faculty drawn from a variety of disciplines ... plus an administrative and support staff that is second to none."\nCronin said he believed his school could have even been ranked higher, but is pleased with the rankings. \nHe said the school's record of landing large grants and other sources of money isn't considered by the U.S. News and World Report. "We should have been ranked a little higher," he said. "We punch above our weight." \nGerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education, was equally pleased with his school's ranking and performance. The School of Education moved up three spots from 27th to 24th in the nation, with four top-10 specialty programs. \nGonzalez said he was especially happy with his school's performance considering the budget cuts the School of Education has been dealt recently. He praised his faculty for their resiliency and hard work, which were the source of the rankings, he said.\n"It is good to see that when compared to high-quality peer institutions on objective performance criteria and reputation, the School of Education ranks among the very best education programs in the country," Gonzalez said. "I believe this is testimony to the excellence of our faculty and students."\nThe Kelley School of Business rose to 23rd, tied with Michigan and Minnesota. One of its specialties, production and operations, remained ninth in the country. \nSignificant improvements were also seen in fields like chemistry and biology. Graduate chemistry programs rose from 27th to 24th, and several doctoral programs in biology were ranked in and around the top 30 in their field. \nBoth Gonzalez and Cronin said that their graduate programs fed off of being part of the larger University system. Both men said they believe their schools fit well into the IU system and the Bloomington campus, accrediting some of their success to that as well. \n"Being part of a major university has allowed the school to develop," Cronin said. "In short, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."\nGonzalez said he believed graduate studies to be incredibly important, both to IU and the rest of the population. He said that graduate students in education would be future leaders in their field, and that their preparation was vital to society.\n"Graduate students become the scholars and highly trained stewards of the education profession," Gonzalez said. "(This training) ultimately makes possible the preparation of professionals for all fields of human endeavor"