Northern Illinois University
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the university's largest college with 18 departments and seven centers that span the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.

National Rankings

U.S. News and World Report

Best Grad Schools: NIU's Master of Public Administration program ranks 3rd in the nation for Local Government Management and 14th in the specialty field of Public Finance and Budgeting and 49th Best Public Affairs Program overall.

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Top Universities Awarding ACS-certified Bachelor's Degrees: NIU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry ranks among the top universities for the number of ACS-certified bachelor's degrees awarded annually

Communication Institute for Online Scholarship

Top 10 Research Department: NIU's Department of Communication is a distinguished program in eight research categories with noted departmental strength in thirty additional research categories

National Ground Water Association

Top Hydrogeology Programs: NIU's geosciences program ranks in the top 100

Philosophical Gourmet Report

Top Terminal M.A. Programs: NIU's Philosophy program ranks in the top 5 in terms of faculty quality

Academic Prestige

Professional Organizations

Consortium of Practicing and Applied Anthropology (COPAA): NIU's anthropology program is one of only 27 in the country that belongs to the COPAA, whose mission is to collectively advance the education and training of students, faculty, and practitioners in applied anthropology

Partnerships

Argonne National Laboratory: NIU's graduate programs in physics, computer science and chemistry participate in fellowship opportunities at Argonne National Laboratory

Fermilab: NIU's graduate programs in physics and computer science have a partnership with Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, working together on experiments and research.