Staff Report
Seven UNM graduate programs within the college of fine arts and the schools of medicine and law have been ranked among the best in the nation this year by the U.S. News & World Report.
The weekly news magazine, which according to its Web site began its annual ranking of more than 1,400 accredited colleges and universities nationwide in 1983, provides the service to aid its readers in researching how their particular school's academic program compares with those of its peers, or schools with broadly similar missions.
To be considered, a university or college has to finish in the top half of its categories in the U.S. News America's Best Colleges 2003 rankings. Institutions are graded on a number of aspects in regards to the service they provide the student, including the percentage of all undergraduates receiving grants to meet their financial need during the academic year and the amount of a school year's total costs covered by the average need-based grant to undergraduates.
For the 13th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked the UNM School of Medicine in the top-15 primary care-oriented medical schools in the nation. Four programs in the medical school cracked the top 10. For the eighth consecutive year, the school's rural medicine program holds the second spot in the nation.
UNM's primary-care curriculum ranks seventh this year and UNM's family medicine program moved from sixth to fifth place. The nursing/midwifery ranks sixth, a leap from the last time it made the list, ranking 16th in 1998. The Midwifery Program trains College of Nursing students to become nurse-midwives.
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The UNM clinical law training program remained in the top 10; and for the second year, U.S. News identified the law schools in the country with the most racially diverse student bodies. The diversity index is based on the total proportion of minority students - not including international students - and the mix of racial groups on campus. UNM's law school made the table because its student population is 23 percent Hispanic.
The exact ranking of UNM's law school in terms of racial diversity will be available in the "America's Best Colleges 2003" issue, due out April 14.
To be included in the table, the law school must be accredited by the American Bar Association.
UNM's law school remains among the top 100 law schools in the nation, ranking 76th, according to U.S. News.
The UNM master in fine arts program ranks among the top 50 and the photography program shares a second place standing with the Rhode Island School of Design. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is ranked no. 1.
Every year the magazine ranks graduate programs in medicine, law and business. Other graduate programs are evaluated every three years. New rankings this year were produced in selected health fields and fine arts, surveying nearly 2,000 faculty members and administrators. The rankings in these fields, plus those from previous years in health-related fields, humanities, sciences, social sciences and public affairs, are based solely on the ratings of academic experts.
