UNC Asheville Named One of Top Public Liberal Arts Colleges in Nation

UNC Asheville continues to distinguish itself as one of the finest public liberal arts universities in the United States. According to U.S. News & World Report’s newest survey released August 19, 2005, UNC Asheville is the fifth best public liberal arts university in America. UNC Asheville has been among the top five in the rankings for five consecutive years.

U.S. News & World Report ranked 215 liberal arts colleges, 21 public and 194 private, in this year’s survey. The annual college rankings look at a range of measures, including academic reputation, commitment to instruction, student abilities, financial resources, and graduation and retention rates.

UNC Asheville was also among a small number of colleges and universities nationally that were selected for U.S. News & World Report’s “Programs to Look For” listings that offer eight categories of “outstanding examples of academic programs that are believed to lead to student success.”

UNC Asheville’s Undergraduate Research Program is one of only 36 in the nation to be included in the Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects category, along with such leading universities as Harvard, Princeton and Stanford. The Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects category looked at programs that allow students, mentored by faculty, to do intensive and self-directed research or creative work that results in an original scholarly paper or other products. UNC Asheville has made the roster since U.S. News & World Report started the listing three years ago.

UNC Asheville founded the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) to promote faculty-student collaboration in all areas of study in 1986. The conference, which is held on a different U.S. campus each year, has seen remarkable growth. NCUR will return to UNC Asheville for its 20th anniversary April 6-8, 2006. More than 2,300 students and faculty from across the country will attend this three-day forum of student research presentations.

This year UNC Asheville also appears in a second “Programs to Look For” category – First-Year Experiences. This category is a list of “stellar examples” of schools that now build into the curriculum first-year seminars or other academic programs which bring small groups of students together with faculty or staff on a regular basis, allowing freshmen to feel connected. Only 43 colleges and universities in the country are listed in this category.

Two years ago, UNC Asheville launched its innovative Integrative Liberal Studies Program, which is a new approach to the general education courses students take outside of their major. The first course in the ILS program is the Liberal Studies Introductory Colloquium, which acquaints new college students with the unique aspects of education in a liberal arts environment and assists them in making the transition to college. These seminar-style classes explore the interdisciplinary nature of the liberal arts; provide service learning opportunities that allow students to see UNC Asheville as part of a larger civic community; and address topics such as time management, money management and academic support.

UNC Asheville was also included in the Writing in the Disciplines category of "Programs to Look For." This ranking includes 36 colleges that make the writing process a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum. Students are encouraged to produce and refine various forms of writing for different audiences in different disciplines.

“UNC Asheville's inclusion in U.S. News & World Report’s list of Top Five Public Liberal Arts Colleges reaffirms the fact that we offer a superior and nationally recognized undergraduate educational program. We continue to be a wonderful value for students in our state seeking a high quality liberal arts experience,” said Dr. Mark Padilla, UNC Asheville provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. “UNC Asheville's First-Year Experience and Undergraduate Research programs have also been singled out as ‘stellar examples’ in the rankings. Today’s rankings, coupled with our recent inclusion as a Best Buy in the Fiske Guide to Colleges, convey that UNC Asheville is fulfilling its promise as North Carolina's designated liberal arts campus.”

Earlier in August, UNC Asheville was named a “Best Buy” by “The Fiske Guide to Colleges.” This is the 12th consecutive year that UNC Asheville was listed among just 17 public colleges and universities in the United States and Canada that qualify as offering “really remarkable educational opportunities at a relatively modest cost.” In April 2005, UNC Asheville was also included in The Princeton Review’s college guidebook, “America’s Best Value Colleges,” which lists only 81 public and private institutions.

Media Contacts:

• Merianne Epstein, UNC Asheville Public Information Director, 828/251-6676 (office); 828/257-5501 (pager)
• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526