By: Jaclyn Johnson

By: Daniel Griffin

The UA maintained a top position in the 2010 edition of America’s Best Colleges, a survey produced by U.S. News and World Report.

“This is the third consecutive year that the UA has been ranked among the best universities in the country, which is a sign of our consistent improvement,” said Chancellor G. David Gearhart in a press release on Thursday, Aug. 20.

The America’s Best Colleges rankings are based on seven weighted categories.  The “peer assessment” category counts for 25 percent of an institution’s score, and is the result of surveys turned in by more than 2,000 college and university administrators.

Retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rates and alumni giving, as reported by the academic institutions themselves, also contribute to the final rankings.

“We value our top-tier position in the rankings, as the chancellor noted, but we’re also careful to advise students and parents that they shouldn’t use these rankings as a primary determining factor in selecting a college,” said Tysen Kendig, associate vice chancellor for University Relations.

“The rankings place strong emphasis on wealthy, private institutions with multi-billion dollar endowments – which stacks the deck somewhat against major, public flagship universities like the University of Arkansas,” Kendig said. “These public schools typically have a far greater impact on the economic progress of their respective states and provide the breadth of degree programs that are essential to society and not often found at exclusive private schools, and such influences are not factored into the poll.”

U.S. News also ranked business schools – and the Sam M. Walton College of Business rose from 43rd last year to 42nd this year to tie with private Boston University and Tulane University.

In the Southeastern Conference, the Walton College only placed behind the University of Florida and the University of Georgia.

For its business rankings, U.S. News asked the business school deans and senior faculty of more than 1,300 colleges and universities to rate the 457 U.S. public and private undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

The top five public business schools included University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, University of Texas and University of Virginia.

Among public business schools, Walton College is tied for 24th place for the third year in a row. The University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina and Virginia Tech University are the other public undergraduate schools ranked at 24th.

“I am enormously proud of the Walton College,” Gearhart said. “It is a nationally ranked program, and that brings great prestige to the entire university.

“Endowed chairs for faculty have enabled us to attract and retain superb faculty,” he said. “Scholarships and fellowships for first-rate students have allowed us to attract incredible students to the program.”

In 1998, the Walton College received $50 million from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

“Because of generous private gift support, we have been able to make great strides in a short period of time,” Gearhart said.

With the Walton Foundation money, the college has been able to create new graduate and undergraduate programs, construct multiple centers, improve its technology and build a new state-of-the-art graduate school building.

Among the public undergraduate schools offering a management/logistics specialty, Walton ranked ninth, up from 11th last year. The school ranked 15th among both public and private undergraduate business schools offering this specialty.

In the Southeastern Conference, only the University of Tennessee is ranked higher in supply chain management/logistics.

The impact of the Walton College’s supply chain management/logistics specialty on the UA can be attributed to the success of accomplished students.

“Good students attract the attention of top companies.  J.B. Hunt, FedEx Freight and shippers like Wal-Mart look to logistics students for employees,” said Mathew A Waller, a logistics professor at the UA. “Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, came through logistics.”

Among other successes, the Walton College of Information Systems Department was again selected as one of 10 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Information Systems Division’s “core schools.”

The Walton College Information Systems Department had the second-most publications in the top two journals in Information Systems, MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research, in 2008, and is recognized for its academic programs in enterprise systems and enterprise resource planning.

“The Walton College of Information Systems Department has been a ‘core school’ for a long time, and is expected to continue,” said David Douglas, an Information Systems professor at the UA.  “Working with Wal-Mart, the department is able to establish a partnership that will provide students with scholarships.”

Gearhart said the UA “can be proud of its institutions for placing it above the competition level.

“You build a great school, one faculty member and one student at a time,” he said.