University Ranks Among Nation's Finest

The University of Akron, the public research university for Northern Ohio, is a world leader in creating the new materials for the new economy; a national leader in the development, protection, management and commercialization of intellectual property; and a regional leader in information technology initiatives.

The University of Akron is classified by U. S. News & World Report as one of the 228 national universities in the United States. According to that magazine's rankings, The University of Akron is among only six other Ohio universities that had any programs ranked in the top 25 nationally. What is more, The University of Akron is the only public university in Ohio to have a science and engineering program ranked in the top five in the nation. Akron's Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering program is ranked second in the United States, ahead of such highly regarded universities as M.I.T. and Caltech.

In October 2007, The University of Akron is named as one of 10 exemplary institutions nationally for “successfully advanced innovation partnerships through technology transfer despite their modest research expenditures, rural locations and other challenges” in a study conducted by Innovation Associates Inc. of Reston, Va., and supported by the National Science Foundation.

Akron's program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology is now ranked 6th nationally, up from the 8th position in the previous ranking.

The University of Akron was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in 2008 by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. In addition to its local projects, UA was honored for its alternative spring break program, in which 60 students traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist with hurricane relief efforts.

The University of Akron School of Law trial team defeated 15 other teams to win the National Civil Trial Competition in November 2007. This invitational tournament is open to all American Bar Association-accredited law schools that have demonstrated excellence in mock trial competitions and/or demonstrated excellence in the training of law students in litigation skills.

According to Intel Corp.’s latest survey on wireless Web access at U.S. colleges and universities, The University of Akron is ranked third in the nation among the top 50 campuses with the greatest wireless capabilities.

The University of Akron’s College of Business Administration graduate program was recognized in the three most recent editions of The Princeton Review's Best Business Schools. The annual guide includes current students’ opinions on such factors as academics, admissions, career and placement assistance, and student life and environment.

The University of Akron is one of 161 institutions designated “Best in the Midwest” in The Princeton Review's 2008 Best Colleges: Region-by-Region edition. The University also was included in the 2005 edition of the Review’s Best Midwestern Colleges: 150 Great Schools to Consider.

In its 40th anniversary year, The University of Akron Law Review was rated among the 100 Best Law Reviews, according to the February 2008 issue of The National Jurist magazine. The annual study of 1,111 English-language law reviews, conducted at Washington and Lee University, is based on the number of citations in journal articles and cases.

A biology course taught by University of Akron professor Dr. Richard Londraville was named the second best among 149 courses reviewed in the latest national College Board study of best teaching practices. The same Principles of Biology I course was also designated an “exemplary practice” course by a panel of national experts in the field.

Our Collaborative Program in Counseling Psychology ranks 5th nationally in the productivity of its faculty, according to the latest Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index. The index measures scholarly output of faculty at nearly 7,300 doctoral programs in the U.S. by examining factors such as the number of book and journal articles published and awards, honors and grants received. Graduates of our Collaborative Program in Counseling Psychology also rank in the top 5 nationally, placing 5th among those passing the licensure test (Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology), based on test result data between 1997 and 2003.

In May 2006, The University of Akron was identified as one of six leading media colleges in the country by Avid Technology, Inc., a world leader in digital nonlinear media products used in film, video, audio, animation, games and broadcasting. UA’s School of Communication is ranked with programs at Emerson College, the University of Southern California, Columbia College, Howard University and New York University.

In their inaugural participation in the American Society of Civil Engineers' Student Lunar Construction Robotics Competition in 2006, Akron engineering students won the event and became the first team in the event's history to complete all tasks of the challenge.

In 2005, a group of University of Akron engineering students placed 2nd among 17 college teams from the U.S. and Canada selected to design and build a better Sports Utility Vehicle in the first year of the prestigious “Challenge X” competition. The U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Corporation are sponsors of the three-year competition. The goal is to re-engineer a Chevrolet Equinox sport-utility vehicle to sharply reduce energy consumption and emissions of pollutants while maintaining performance.

The University of Akron is one of 14 “Schools That Rule,” according to Careers & Colleges magazine. The publication cited UA in 2004 for its “cutting edge curriculum” as well as its reasonable tuition and location — offering students access to a wide variety of cultural, sports and recreational venues.

The University of Akron is one of the Top 100 entrepreneurial colleges and universities in the U.S., according to the May 2004 issue of Entrepreneur magazine. UA is ranked in the first tier of the top 50 regionally recognized academic programs. The rankings are based on more than 70 criteria, including course offerings, teaching and research faculty, business-community outreach, research centers and institutes, and the degrees and certificates offered.

The University of Akron was part of a national research effort to improve first-year college students' academic success and increase the quality and effectiveness of first-year programs. The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the American Association for Higher Education chose UA to co-lead one of only 12 clusters in the Carnegie Academy Campus Program.

The University of Akron has more than 350 active patents and filed applications. Moreover, with twice the number of invention disclosures as the national average and 50 percent higher patent rates, UA is a model for technology transfer.

Three Guggenheim Fellowship recipients are on The University of Akron faculty. The Guggenheim, one of the most distinguished awards in America, has gone to photographer Andrew Borowiec, a professor at the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art (1998); Constance Bouchard, distinguished professor of history (1994); and Wayne Mattice, the Alex Schulman Professor of Polymer Science (1976).

In early 2006, Campus Activities Magazine singled out The University of Akron for having the “Best Campus Program” in the United States. It is the third time since 2000 that the magazine has selected UA for this exceptional honor.

The College of Business Administration is among the 10.5 percent of business schools in North America that have earned all four levels of accreditation offered by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business undergraduate business, graduate business, undergraduate accounting and graduate accounting.

Gamma Kappa, the UA Chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon — the national professional fraternity in marketing, sales management and selling — has been ranked among the top seven chapters in the country for the past 15 years and has won many national awards at annual PSE conventions.

The University of Akron's College of Business Administration is ranked in the first tier of the top 50 regional business schools in the country offering entrepreneurial education, according to Entrepreneur magazine.

The University of Akron’s College of Business Administration offers students one of the top five graduate sales programs in the United States, according to Sales & Marketing Management magazine.

The School of Law's mock trial team continues to be an imposing opponent in the annual National Invitational Tournament of Champions Trial Advocacy Competition. The teams 2005 second-place finish follows a first-place award in 2003 and a second place in 2004. Since 1982, UA’s mock trial teams have won two national championships and have been runners-up seven times. During that same period, the law school has dominated the sixth circuit regional competitions with 44 championships.

The University of Akron is the only university in Ohio that is accredited at the master's and doctoral level by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

The Surveying and Mapping Technology program is Ohio's only degree program focused exclusively on land surveying. It is one of only 18 accredited four-year degree programs in the nation, according to the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. Akron's surveying curriculum is one of only three university programs in Ohio approved as meeting the education requirements for students planning to take the professional licensure examination.

The University of Akron offers the only accredited Emergency Management Degree Program in the United States.

The Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics is one of the nation's premier centers of research and instruction on the "nuts and bolts" of applied politics. The University of Akron is one of only five institutions in the United States that offers such a program. Many former interns occupy leadership positions in politics and government around the country. For example, Bliss graduates managed the Ohio campaigns of George W. Bush and Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race.

The Archives of the History of American Psychology, has been part of the prestigious Smithsonian Institution Affiliations program since 2002. The archives — as the largest and most famous resource of its kind in the world — was the first in the nation to gain affiliate status. Its holdings include collections from more than 740 psychologists; their papers, instruments, ephemera, photographs and films. The archives also feature approximately 700 pieces of psychological apparatus, such as B.F. Skinner's first teaching machine, Stanley Milgrim's "shock" machine, and brass instruments from 19th century psychology laboratories.

University of Akron teams dominated the Mid-American Conference in fall 2005. On Oct. 29, the women’s cross-country team earned its second MAC title since 1999, while the men's soccer team garnered its second consecutive title on Nov. 11. And the football team clinched its first MAC Championship in school history with a 31-30 victory over Northern Illinois on Dec. 1 at Ford Field in Detroit.

The New Landscape for Learning campus enhancement program has earned national recognition. The Student Recreation and Wellness Center is featured in the “Outstanding Designs” section of the August 2005 issue of "American School & University," a magazine that reports on the planning, design and operations of educational facilities. In 2003, the publication honored the design of the Buchtel College of Arts & Sciences building.