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Friday, August 22, 2008 9:14 PM CDT
EIU breaks slump in 'Best Colleges' report
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — In U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 edition of “America’s Best Colleges,” Eastern Illinois University appears to have reversed its four-year slump — or at least stopped the slide.
EIU is listed 55th — a step up from the 56th spot last year — among 67 Midwestern universities that offer a full slate of undergraduate degrees and some master’s programs. In 2004, EIU was ranked 31st.
This is the first publication of “America’s Best Colleges” since Bill Perry celebrated his one-year anniversary as EIU’s president. When he took over for Lou Henken last year, Perry said his goals included making EIU “the best regional university in the Midwest and among the best in the nation.”
In an EIU press release Friday about the U.S. News & World Report list, Perry said, “We continue to improve the Eastern experience by enhancing our academic programs and integrating the academic and personal development of our students.”
Among Midwest public universities that offer master’s, the University of Illinois in Springfield ranks fourth, while Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville is ninth. EIU again is ranked 14th, the same as last year.
In this category, the Charleston institution was listed 10th in the 2007 report, eighth in 2006 and seventh both in 2005 and 2004.
Overall, EIU is still ahead of Western Illinois University in Macomb, which came in 63rd in the 2009 report.
EIU also boasts the highest freshmen retention and graduation rates among all Illinois public universities in its class.
Institutions of higher learning are graded on 11 different factors, and in the 2009 report, EIU showed improvements from the 2008 report in most of these areas:
n The peer assessment score rose from 2.6 to 2.7.
n The freshmen retention rate went up from 79 to 80 percent.
n The percentage of classes with greater than 50 students dropped from 5 to 4 percent.
n The student-to-faculty ratio improved from 16:1 to 15:1.
n The percentage of full-time faculty grew from 92 to 95 percent.
n The number of freshmen who were in the top 25 percent of their high school graduating class rose from 28 to 29 percent.
“It’s going back up,” said Vicki Woodard, EIU spokeswoman.
However, despite the improved rankings and success in individual categories, EIU’s overall score fell from 43 to 42 in the 2009 report.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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