U.S. News and World Report released its rankings of "America's Best Graduate Schools" last week, and several of UB's graduate programs were recognized as some of the best in the country.
UB is ranked for its graduate programs in business, English, engineering, fine arts, law, medicine, audiology, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work, and speech pathology.
UB Law School - No. 82
After being ranked number 84 in last year's report, UB's law school moved up to number 82 among accredited schools in the U.S. Makau Mutua, dean of UB's Law School, believes that the alumni are among the most skilled in the business because of the high quality of education provided by the faculty.
"SUNY Buffalo Law School educates a socially conscious lawyer," Mutua said in an email. "Its mission is to produce lawyers who understand the social context of our laws and apply them with empathy so that justice can be done. We pride ourselves in teaching the law to unveil its hidden meanings and biases so that citizens are empowered to participate in a more open democracy."
School of Nursing - No. 79
The UB School of Nursing claimed spot No. 79 among 467 accredited graduate nursing schools, and it is ranked No. 17 out of 113 accredited programs for its nursing anesthesia program. The UB nursing school is ranked number four in New York State, making it the highest-ranked SUNY nursing school.
Marsha Lewis, dean of the School of Nursing, said that UB's nursing program is tailored to established professionals that are often busy working in a clinical practice. Lewis also said that UB's Ph.D. program is the only one in New York State that has a distance learning option.
"We offer multiple clinical specialties for nurse practitioners - adult clinical nurse specialist and nurse anesthesia at the doctoral nursing level," Lewis said. "Psychiatric and mental health practitioner and family nurse practitioner students are prepared to sit for dual certification in their specialty and in addictions."
School of Social Work - No. 26
The UB School of Social Work moved up ten places in the annual report, but Nancy Smyth, dean of the UB School of Social Work, said that the evaluations of the school are done every four years. The School of Social Work has moved up twenty spots in the national rankings since 2004.
"I think what it's really been is people know what we're doing through our podcasts, which are released every two week," Smyth said. "We have a wonderful magazine called Mosaics, which really has been highlighted as a leader in terms of social work communications. Our strategy is to bring in great faculty, great students, and also to be innovative. I think we're innovators."
School of Management - No. 89
The full-time School of Management program was considered among 441 accredited business schools and took the No. 89 spot. UB's part-time MBA program was ranked as No. 98. The School of Management was ranked as one of the country's best business schools, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, The Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Dave Frasier, assistant dean of the School of Management, wrote in a blog that a new curriculum will be put in place in the fall 2012 semester.
"This is coming together with maturing program elements that we have been refining over the last several years that I believe are going to blend into a package that will make the UB MBA one of the most holistic, integrated and compelling MBA programs in the country," Frasier wrote in the blog post."The new [program] comes out of two years of intensive committee work that looked at content and delivery in top MBA programs across the spectrum graduate management schools."
Other rankings
The UB English department has the No. 9 spot on the list for its program in literary criticism and theory.
The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences - ranked No. 57 - was picked from a list of approximately 150 medical schools.
The occupational therapy program in the School of Public Health and Health Professions was ranked number 36, and the physical therapy program was ranked at number 51.
The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences was picked among 198 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees and sits at the No. 54 spot.
The Master of Fine Arts program was chosen as No. 72 among 500 others across the country.
The Master's program in audiology and the PharmD program were both ranked No. 17 in their respective lists.
UB interim provost Bruce D. McCombe said in a press release that the U.S. News & World Report was a visible, yet imperfect ranking of the schools. But Nancy Smyth, dean of the School of Social Work thinks that the rankings can be helpful for the school.
"Everybody's got their criticisms on how these rankings are done," Smyth said, "But people look at them. I think it highlights the quality that we have here that people don't know about."
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
