8/26/03
David Granger, 334/844-9999,
AU COLLEGE OF BUSINESS RANKED 53RD BY U.S. NEWS
AUBURN -- Auburn University's College of Business is ranked 33rd nationally among public institutions and 53rd overall in the new U.S. News & World Report rankings.
The newsstand book, America's Best Colleges, which contains the college rankings, went on sale Monday. Overall, Auburn University ranked No. 44 in the nation, the 11th consecutive year the university has attained a top 50 rating.
The ranking of the College of Business is evidence of the commitment among faculty, staff and administration in the College of Business to continually evaluate and improve its programs, said John Jahera, interim dean.
"We're always pleased to be recognized for the successes that we've had here in the College of Business," he said. "Much credit should go to the faculty and staff here in the college who are continually evaluating our programs and exploring ways they can be improved. Also our many alumni and friends who provide significant support to us have been instrumental in our success. We make every effort to truly deliver a quality education to our students."
AU's business undergraduate program was ranked No. 5 among Southeastern Conference-member institutions behind the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business, the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business and the University of Arkansas' Walton College of Business.
Auburn finished in a tie with the University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration overall and among public institutions.
The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School was ranked as the nation's top undergraduate business program and the University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of Business was ranked best among public institutions.
With approximately 4,000 students, the College of Business is AU's second largest academic college.
Meanwhile, programs in AU's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering were rated 59th among the nation's public and private universities.
Among SEC-member public universities, only the University of Florida ranked ahead of Auburn in engineering. No other engineering schools from Alabama were included in the rankings.
Most of the rankings and some of the articles from the book will be in the Sept. 1 issue of U.S. News & World Report, the weekly newsmagazine, which also went on sale Monday.
aug03:AU-usnews-biz
CONTACT: Jahera, 334/844-4030, or Richard Folkers, director of media relations for the 2003-4 edition of America's Best Colleges, 202/955-2219.