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News Release
Contact: Tom Parisi, NIU Public Affairs(815) 753-3635
August 23, 2004
U.S. News taps top programs at NIU
DeKalb, Ill.—New college rankings by U.S. News & World Report place Northern Illinois University’s public administration, accountancy and engineering programs among the nation’s elite.
The Master’s in Public Administration program earned the highest accolades. This past spring U.S. News ranked the NIU graduate program fourth nationally for city management and eighth for public finance (see related story).
In another round of U.S. News rankings that will hit newsstands today (Aug. 23), NIU’s undergraduate accounting program moved up to 25th in the nation, one notch above its previous rank.
The NIU Department of Accountancy is no stranger to such recognitions. Each year over the past decade, the Public Accounting Report’s survey of accounting professors nationwide has ranked NIU accountancy in the Top 20. The 2003 survey tapped NIU’s undergraduate accountancy program as seventh in the nation, while the graduate program was ranked 10th.
Greg Carnes, chair of Accountancy, said it may be tougher for departments at regional universities such as NIU to crack the U.S. News rankings because peer assessments are performed by administrators as opposed to discipline-specific faculty.
“Now we’re consistently making it into the U.S. News rankings, and I think that’s a reflection of the growing reputation of NIU as a great place to get a business degree,” Carnes said.
“Having a nationally ranked program requires outstanding faculty, excellent students and strong support from the administration, allowing innovations and creative approaches to accounting education,” he added. “It’s also essential to have tremendous support from your alums and the employers that recruit your students. We have all of those ingredients.”
Today’s U.S. News rankings also have the NIU engineering program climbing to 39th nationally in the category of “best undergraduate engineering programs.” The NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology previously was ranked 49th among engineering schools whose highest degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s.
“Our faculty members give us a distinct advantage when it comes to providing hands-on practical learning experiences for students,” said Promod Vohra, acting dean of the college. “The rankings indicate that we’re moving in the right direction, but this is not the end point for us.
“We are continually striving to improve,” he added. “We have improved our image and are creating a niche in applied engineering. But I’m most proud of the fact that we have a high quality, accessible and affordable program. We provide opportunities to the average student who wants to be an engineer.”
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