School of Information and Library Science Still No. 1; Medicine and Law Also Noted in U.S. News Rankings

Posted on April 23, 2009

The School of Information and Library Science remains tied as No. 1 in the U.S., the School of Medicine remained ranked second in primary care, and the law school shot up from 38^th a year ago to 30^th in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2010 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.”

Following is a summary of the new rankings, as well as specialty areas listed in the top 10. Selected previous rankings, and the year most recently ranked, are included.

School of Information and Library Science

• Overall: Tied for first; also tied for first in previous ranking, in 2006

Specialty areas:

• Digital librarianship, first
• Health librarianship, second
• Archives and preservation, tied for fifth
• Service for children and youth, tied for sixth
• Information systems, seventh

School of Medicine

• Primary care, second; second in 2008 and 2007
• Research, tied for 20th; 19^th in 2008

Specialty areas:

• Family medicine, second; fifth in 2008 and 2007
• Rural medicine, sixth; eighth in 2008
• AIDS, ninth; 10^th in 2008

Gillings School of Global Public Health

• Environmental/environmental health, tied for ninth; 10^th in 2008

(Although UNC has no engineering school, the department of environmental sciences and engineering is based in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and perennially appears on this list of top engineering programs.)

Kenan-Flagler Business School

• MBA administration degree programs, tied for 20th; 19^th in2008

School of Education

• 23rd; 22^nd in 2007 and 2008

School of Law

• Tied for 30th; 38th in 2008

College of Arts and Sciences doctoral programs:

• English, 16th
• History, tied for 12th
• Specialty areas:
• Women’s history, tied for fourth
• African-American history, tied for seventh
• Modern U.S. history, tied for eighth
• U.S. Colonial history, tied for eighth
• Latin-American history, tied for ninth
• European history, tied for 10th
• Political science, tied for 13th
• Psychology, tied for 13th

Specialty area:

• Developmental psychology, tied for 10th
• Sociology, tied for fifth

Specialty area:

• Sociology of population, seventh
• Social stratification, 10th

Following are recent rankings of programs not ranked this year:

• Eshelman School of Pharmacy: Doctoral program, second, 2008
• School of Social Work: Master’s degree program, tied for eighth, 2008
• School of Nursing: Fifth, 2007
• Gillings School of Global Public Health: Tied for second, 2007

New rankings will appear in the May issue of the magazine, scheduled to be on newsstands April 28, and in the “America’s Best Graduate Schools” guidebook. Details will be available online.

U.S. News first ranked graduate programs in 1987 and has done so annually since 1990. Business, education, engineering, law and medicine are ranked annually. Those rankings are based on expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students, according to magazine officials. Other disciplines and specialties in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and other areas, including selected health specialties, are ranked periodically. Those rankings are based only on the ratings of academic experts.

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Related coverage is available online:

• Medicine Still Second in Primary Care; Other Graduate Programs Ranked
  News report from April 2008
• Carolina Grad Schools Included in Latest U.S. News Rankings
  News report from April 2007
• Numerous UNC Schools, Graduate Programs Ranked by U.S. News
  News report from April 2006

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