ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 20, 1998 — In its first-ever rating of public affairs programs, U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College graduate programs in public administration, criminal justice, information technology and public finance and budget among the country’s elite.

U.S. News listings, announced Friday, ranked Rockefeller College’s master’s in public administration program tied for 11th in the nation (among 248 public affairs programs) with Duke University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In related specialty listings, Albany’s program in criminal justice policy was ranked No. 3 in the nation, its specialty in information technology and management was No. 4, public management was tied with American University at No. 7, and public finance and budget was ranked No. 9.

Also, in other U.S. News rankings released Friday, Albany’s Ph.D. program in sociology was tied for 21st with Ohio State University and Johns Hopkins University, its psychology Ph.D. program was ranked 53rd (with its clinical psychology specialty ranked 20th), and the School of Education was ranked No. 49.

Frank Thompson, interim provost of Rockefeller College and dean of its Graduate School of Public Affairs, said the rankings were evidence of the College’s excellence in a number of areas.

"They point out that we’re one of the premier places in the nation, and indeed the world, in which to study public policy and management," he said. There are two major reasons for Rockefeller College’s strong showing, he added.

First, Thompson said, the College has an "extraordinarily strong faculty that is committed to teaching, public service and research that can be applied to society’s problems." Second, it has developed and nurtured excellent working relationships with government and nonprofit organizations in Albany. Sustaining those close partnerships, he said, will be a key to Rockefeller College’s continuing excellence.

"Albany is one of the great laboratories for the study of government in this country, and Rockefeller College is at the center of that," Thompson said. "We have developed terrific relations with state and local government, the nonprofit sector and the business community, and that has allowed us to stay connected to the real world of public policy and management, achieving the right blend of theory and the practical."

Thompson said that one of the areas in which Rockefeller College has achieved distinction is student internships, not only in the state legislature, but also in the executive branch of government and the non-profit sector.

Rockefeller College has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 graduate students and 600 undergraduates and about 90 faculty members. The College is comprised of the School of Criminal Justice, Graduate School of Public Affairs, School of Information Science and Policy and the School of Social Welfare.

Cyril H. Knoblauch, interim dean of Albany’s College of Arts and Sciences, said the Sociology and Psychology Department rankings were evidence that both were "among the premier academic programs in the nation -- a powerful reminder about two of the University's flagship departments."

James T. Fleming, dean of Albany’s School of Education, noted that the School’s 49th ranking positioned it favorably among the nation’s 191 schools of education. "We are one of the few universities of moderate size with a School of Education placing that high in these national standings," he said, adding that the quality of teaching and research by the 50 faculty members remains "extraordinarily high."

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Feb. 19, 1998