UMass Doctoral Programs on the Rise, Earn Distinction as Among the Nation's Best in NRC Rankings
Oct. 27, 2010
| Contact: | Ed Blaguszewski 413/545-0444 |
AMHERST, Mass. - The recently released National Research Council (NRC) rankings of 5,000 doctoral programs may be difficult to decipher but one conclusion is clear - some of the nation’s best programs are at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Of the 39 fields of study in which the campus was eligible to be assessed, four programs- food science, kinesiology, linguistics, and polymer science and engineering - are ranked among the country’s top programs, public or private. These four programs are included in a table of top-performing institutions, ones that could be as high as first, second or third, that was prepared by Inside Higher Ed. Eight other programs had strong showings: animal biotechnology, chemical engineering, chemistry, computer science, history, mathematics, philosophy and psychology. UMass Amherst is also the only campus to have its Afro-American studies program included in this prestigious study
John Mullin, Graduate School dean, welcomed the news. "We are very pleased with the fine performance of so many of our departments," he said. "Above all, we believe the NRC study will provide a great benchmark for us to examine where we’re going to go in the future."
Eric Decker, chair of food science, believes the data shows that UMass Amherst sets the highest standard in its field. "We have a number one ranking in four of the five categories in the survey, and in two of those categories we received the sole number one ranking," said Decker, whose department was founded in 1918 as the first food science program in the nation. Especially high marks were given to faculty publications and citations, which were higher than all peer institutions. Decker said a particular strength is the department’s molecular approach to food science, which leads to rational approaches to solve complex problems. The high rate of faculty publications reflects that focus, he adds.
Decker also credits the department’s interdisciplinary mix of experts in chemistry, microbiology and health and wellness as a critical component to its success. "People often think interdisciplinary means working with faculty in other departments. Our department was built to be interdisciplinary, allowing us to work in extremely effective teams" he said.
Like the food science department, kinesiology made it to Inside Higher Ed’s list of top performers. "Our department has an engaged group of faculty who have an across-the-board commitment to research," said Patty Freedson, kinesiology chair. "Our faculty publication rate is high, and we are very successful in securing external funding from federal agencies and private sources, including industry." The department earned high marks for graduate student support as well.
Kinesiology’s high ranking is not surprising given the program’s history. Launched in 1965 as exercise science, it was the first program in the nation to undertake the study of human movement. The original framework of the undergraduate and graduate programs has been used by many other institutions of higher education in the United States and abroad to develop programs of study. The department is also a founding member of the American Kinesiology Association, and Freedson sits on its board of directors.
Marjorie Aelion, dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, commented, "Kinesiology at UMass Amherst is at the top nationally. It maintains this high level of research productivity and excellence in its doctoral program, despite a high teaching load due to its extremely popular undergraduate program, which has over 600 majors. These intangible characteristics are not captured in the NRC study."
The rankings come at a good time for the Afro-American studies program, which is celebrating 40 years as a pre-eminent source of knowledge and scholars focused on the history and culture of black people in Africa and the New World. No other Afro-American Studies program in the nation was included in the NRC study, which focused exclusively on programs with consistent and significant production of doctoral degrees. Julie Candler Hayes, dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, was pleased with the department’s showing overall, noting that its Ph.D. program is only about 15 years old.
High rankings are not new to the campus’s linguistics and polymer science and engineering departments. Both programs have claimed a top five spot in previous NRC rankings. Linguistics is internationally renowned as a center of research and learning in language theory. Competition for acceptance into the doctoral program is considerable: more than 130 applications are received each year for about eight slots. The department’s combination of breadth and formal focus has proved a fertile ground excellence. "Our department pioneered the use of experimental methods to study theoretical questions in linguistics," said department chair John McCarthy. "Interdisciplinary research has been one of the keys to our success, most recently in a collaborative cluster hire with the departments of computer science and psychology."
Polymer science and engineering has been committed to interdisciplinary education since 1966, and grants approximately 15 percent of all Ph.D. degrees awarded in polymer science in the United States. The department’s top ranked materials science program is spurred by the nationally renowned Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, which unites the efforts of 40 faculty members from seven campus departments and has more than 30 years of support from the National Science Foundation for interdisciplinary research at the frontiers of polymer science. Department chair David Hoagland is pleased to see the materials program maintain its leadership position. "It’s great to see we do so well considering we are not strictly a materials science program, we focus on polymer materials," said Hoagland. He credits the department’s success to the extraordinary young faculty who are recognized as future leaders in the field as well as the department’s ability to be flexible. "We’ve been very successful in building interdisciplinary research centers, such as those in nanotechnology and energy that are responsive to society’s needs. Compared to our direct competitors in the survey, we’ve done really well."
Michael Malone, vice chancellor for research and engagement, summed up campus sentiments on the NRC rankings. "The strong performance of our programs is not a surprise to anyone who understands the quality of the faculty and students in these programs and their dedication to research. It is gratifying to see them emerge with strong indicators from the NRC study."
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