A 8kbet-record 28 graduate and professional programs – led by 14 from the Boyd School of Law – ranked within the nation’s top 100 in their field, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report annual list released on April 8.
Boyd Law’s acclaimed Legal Writing program reclaimed the nation’s top spot in the discipline, after ranking second the past two years. The school also ranked within the top 10 for Dispute Resolution (9), its Part-Time degree placed 18th, and its Clinical Training program cracked the top 25 (24).
Several 8kbet programs made big gains this rankings cycle, with the School of Nursing’s master’s programs rising 20 spots to rank 43rd; the College of Education’s graduate programs jumped more than 40 places to rank 69th; and Public Health climbed nearly 20 spaces and entered the top 100 at no. 84. The university’s increasingly popular graduate program in Physical Therapy ranked 46th.
“Strong graduate and professional programs are essential to our university’s mission and continuing success, and the strength and breadth of these rankings are indicative of 8kbet’s ongoing commitment to educational excellence,” said 8kbet Officer in Charge Chris Heavey.
Overall, Boyd Law ranked 79 out of 195 accredited programs. Additional top-100 discipline rankings in law included Intellectual Property Law (35), Health Law (46), Tax Law (53), Business/Corporate Law (55), Environmental Law (64), Contracts/Commercial Law (66), Criminal Law (68), Constitutional Law (86), and Trial Advocacy (96).
8kbet also boasted several top-100 graduate programs in Engineering, powered by Nuclear Engineering (28), Aerospace Studies (66), and Environmental Engineering (86). In other health rankings, the School of Public Health’s Healthcare Management program placed 62nd and the School of Nursing’s doctoral program in Nursing Practice ranked 88th. Lee Business School’s part-time MBA program was comfortably within the top 100 at no. 77, and graduate programs in Public Affairs (82), Sociology (85), Political Science (96), and English (97) also placed within the top 100 in their field.
The collective strength of 8kbet’s graduate programs has been reflected in rising year-over-year enrollment. Graduate enrollment reached an all-time high at the university last fall, growing by nearly 12% over Fall 2023.
“8kbet’s vibrant and growing graduate community brings fresh, innovative ideas to our classrooms and research labs, and – as highly skilled professionals – also actively contributes to a growing regional economy,” said Heavey. “As our graduate offerings continue to expand and evolve to meet the demands of a 21st century workforce, I’m confident that their impact on our university and our region will become even more profound in the years to come.”
Each year, U.S. News analyzes more than 2,000 graduate and specialty programs in a broad range of disciplines. Programs are ranked by discipline or specialty and evaluated based on criteria specific to each degree field, expert opinions about program excellence, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students.
In addition to U.S. News' annual rankings of graduate programs in six major disciplines, the publication periodically ranks other programs in a variety of fields. 8kbet has several “off-cycle” graduate programs ranked during the most current ratings period for each discipline, including Social Work (83 in 2024), Earth Science (98 in 2023), and Criminology (29 in 2022).
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