VUSM moves up in national ranking
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine has advanced to become the sole occupant of the No. 14 spot among Research Schools of Medicine in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report magazine “Best Graduate Schools” rankings released this week.
This year’s ranking is the highest achieved so far by VUSM, moving the school up from the No. 15 position it occupied last year. To achieve this ranking, VUSM moved past the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California-San Diego.
Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, said faculty and leadership within the school of Medicine have worked hard, and this recognition is well deserved.
“I am proud of the outstanding efforts by our faculty and the leadership. Our ranking this year is reflective of greater acknowledgment by our peers. This growing awareness of the high quality of our faculty and students is bearing fruit,” he said.
To determine rankings, U.S. News & World Report uses a methodology for Schools of Medicine-Research that arrives at a weighted average across 10 indicators.
Also included in each year’s U.S. News Best Graduate Schools rankings are programs in Health Disciplines. Programs in these categories, such as Nursing, Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, are ranked differently and are not ranked on an annual basis.
Peer assessment surveys are sent to deans, other administrators and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline, who create reputational scores.
Vanderbilt's Audiology program retained its No. 1 ranking, while the Speech-Language Pathology program moved up two notches to rank No. 3 this year.
Last year, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing rose four spots and is ranked No. 15, up from No. 19 on the previous ranking in 2007.
“We are known as innovators in the world of nursing education,” said Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., CNM, dean of the School of Nursing. “Our job is to shape the future of health care by enabling our masters and doctoral students to become the most effective clinicians, researchers and leaders in the country.”
Several other Vanderbilt programs were ranked in this latest edition of America's Best Graduate Schools, including:
• Peabody School of Education — 1st;
• Vanderbilt School of Law — 16th;
• Owen Graduate School of Management (Schools of Business) —25th; and
• Vanderbilt School of Engineering — 35th.
This year’s rankings will be in the 2013 edition of U.S. News’ Best Graduate Schools print publication, available on newsstands April 3.