The UM business school ranked No. 83 in 2009, up more than 10 places from No. 99 in 2008, Dean Ken Cyree said. The recognition places Ole Miss squarely in the Top 5 percent of prestigious four-year institutions, including Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkley, Dartmouth, Columbia and Yale.
“This is the highest ranking the school has had in several years,” Cyree said. “This is most certainly cause for the entire university community to celebrate.”
“We’re certainly proud of this achievement,” said UM Chancellor Dan Jones. “It is a testament to the business school’s faculty, students and leadership team.”
Cyree said his vision is for the school to be in the top 75 when it celebrates its centennial in 2017.
“I believe this ranking provides an outside evaluation of our school and an important benchmark of our progress,” he said. “Moving into the top 75 will not be easy because the schools we have to pass on the list will also be working to improve. We need the faculty, staff, students and alumni to work together to achieve this goal.”
Other business school administrators and students praised the acknowledgment as well-deserved.
“We have many dedicated faculty and staff members who go beyond the call of duty,” said Anthony Ammeter, associate professor of management information systems and associate dean. “They are critical components in running the school and creating a good learning environment for students.”
“Our teachers continually provide rigor in the classroom,” said Laura Beth Williamson, a senior from Florence, Ala., and president of the Business School Student Body. “Their teaching inspires students to work hard to learn and master the course material, which helps prepare us for success after graduation.”
Alumni can continue to help through giving both their money and their time, said Jeff Conley, president of the Business School Advisory Board.
“I think one of the best ways our alumni support our business school is by making ourselves a resource available to our faculty to go into classrooms and help bring the reality of today’s business environment down to a personal level with our students,” Conley said. “This is a prime example of how at Ole Miss, we allow academics and the real world to meet.”
All programs accredited by the Association for Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business were surveyed in fall 2008 and early 2009. Criteria included quality assessment, placement success and student selectivity.
Business school deans, program directors and recruiters were asked to rate programs on a scale from “marginal” (1) to “outstanding” (5). Individuals who did not know enough about a school to evaluate it fairly were asked to mark “don’t know.”
The assessment also included information about average starting salaries and employment rates of 2008 graduates. Other data considered included average Graduate Management Admission Test scores, average grade-point averages and percentage of applicants who were accepted into the school.
For information on business school rankings, visit http://www/usnews.com/