SUNY Oswego advances in latest national rankings

OSWEGO — U.S. News Media Group again ranks SUNY Oswego among the top 20 public regional universities in the North in rankings for 2013 released Sept. 12.

And the current issue of Washington Monthly recognizes the college in the top 50 public master’s-level colleges and universities nationally for contributing to the public good.

Oswego is No. 16 on the U.S. News accounting of the best public institutions in the Northern region this year, ­­up a notch from No. 17 last year. The college advanced from No. 68 to No. 61 on the overall list of regional universities in the North, the majority of which are private institutions.

The media group’s “America’s Best Colleges” guide ranks nearly 1,400 colleges nationwide, compared on a set of up to 16 performance indicators.

For the regional university category that encompasses Oswego, the weighted criteria for ranking are: peer assessment, 25 percent; graduation and retention rates, 25 percent; faculty resources, 20 percent; student selectivity, 15 percent; financial resources, 10 percent; and alumni giving, 5 percent.

U.S. News also selected Oswego for its “A-Plus Schools for B Students” list, as it has in recent years. The A-plus list in New York encompasses such schools as Rochester Institute of Technology, Fordham and Syracuse universities, SUNY’s centers at Albany, Buffalo and Stony Brook, and Hobart and William Smith colleges.

Advancing public good

Washington Monthly magazine ranks SUNY Oswego in the top 50 public master’s-level institutions nationwide for its “contribution to the public good.” Oswego ranks No. 104 among all 682 master’s-level colleges and universities, public and private, that the magazine ranked.

“We rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country),” the editors explained.

Oswego benefits in the rankings by high scores for service and resources the college devotes to service overall. It has appeared on every U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and was listed there “with distinction” the past two years. The institution-wide commitment to service also resulted in SUNY Oswego receiving a sought-after Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The Washington Monthly and U.S. News rankings are just the latest recognitions of SUNY Oswego and the overall academic experience it provides for students. The college also ranked highly on recent national lists for “Best Value Colleges” in USA Today, “Best Northeastern Colleges” from the Princeton Review and top part-time MBA programs at U.S. News online.

The academic year began Aug. 27 at the 151-year-old college on the shore of Lake Ontario with 63 new full-time faculty and staff, an 8.6 percent increase in full-time teaching faculty, and more than 8,000 students enrolled in the institution’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Education and School of Communication, Media and the Arts.

SUNY institutions overall did well in the U.S. News rankings. “We are delighted to see so many SUNY schools ranked among the nation’s ‘Best Colleges’ by U.S. News & World Report again this year,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “In New York, Governor Cuomo and our public colleges have worked very hard to provide an education of the highest quality that is both affordable and accessible. Today’s rankings are a testament to our success and to the outstanding quality of our campuses throughout New York State.”

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