U.S. News and World Report released its 2003 college rankings placing The University of Memphis in the fourth and final tier of national universities offering doctoral program.
The findings repeatedly place The U of M in the last tier while many other Southern public universities offering doctorates rank in the second and third tiers.
Auburn University, the University of Alabama, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the University of South Carolina-Columbia all rank in the second tier.
Mississippi State University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the University of Arkansas, the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi all rank among the schools in the third tier.
The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBA), the sixth largest higher education system in the country, regulates The U of M and three other universitiesoffering doctoral prorams: East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Tennessee State University.
All four of these TBR institutions rank in the fourth tier of U.S. News’ report.
The U of M received over $246 million in funding from TBR, approximately 30 percent of the board’s university funding budget but was still unable to surpass the fourth tier barrier.
In 2001, The U of M enrolled only 259 more students than MTSU but received over $71 million more in funding. Despite the extra millions, the schools continue to rank in equal tiers.
“Those rankings are not of any concern to anybody here,” Mary E. Morgan, the TBR Director of Communications, said.
Morgan said that their goals do not include an effort to rank among the major research universities in the country.
“Our mission is driven in terms of providing quality education for as many Tennesseeans as possible,” Morgan said.
Morgan also said that The University of Tennessee has assumed the role as the state’s major research university and that TBR does not try to compete on that level.
Julie Meals, a 22-year-old leisure management major, is a recent transfer student from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and enjoys being at The U of M.
“I don’t feel like I was getting a better education from UT than I am from Memphis,” Meals said. “College is what you make of it, despite the rankings that these people have produced.”
James Redmond, chair of the journalism department, emphasized the fact that these rankings are not accurate comparisons and do not take into context the diverse reality of The U of M’s student body.
“I think we need to spend less of our time worrying about what other people that are not in our environment say about us,” Redmond said.
“Our students on this campus work as hard or harder than any students I’ve ever been around,” Redmond said. “I’ve also never been around people who cared as much about their students as the faculty we have here.”
“I’m proud to say I work at this university; I’m in the life-changing business.”
Redmond also said that these rankings are a great venue to boost magazine sales.
“I’ll bet these rankings helps U.S. News and World Report sell as many magazines as the swimsuit issue did for Sports Illustrated,” Redmond said.
Ralph Faudree, provost for the U of M, expressed concerns about the methodology used in these rankings.
“A one-size fits all yardstick is not entirely appropriate for an urban university like us,” Faudree said.
Faudree added that all of The U of M’s programs are nationally accredited.
“Students and parents alike can be confident that their expenditures of time and money at The U of M are worth while,” Faudree said.
“(The rankings) are looking at us through a limited microscope, and there is a lot more to a quality education than statistics,” said Kurt Guenther, director of communications and services.
