NewsFriday, August 17, 2007 10:54 AM CDT

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B-N universities hold steady on list

By Michele Steinbacher
msteinbacher@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON — Of area campuses ranked on the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings, both Twin City universities maintained stable showings in their categories.

And two private colleges had a presence among the best Midwestern undergraduate colleges. Eureka College now is considered among the top 30 in that category, and Lincoln College at Normal made its debut on that list.

Illinois State University

ISU is included in the third tier of about 250 ranked national universities for the sixth consecutive year. Schools in that tier are not assigned numerical rankings.

Princeton University in New Jersey again was ranked No. 1 in that category.

Since last year, ISU made gains in subcategories of acceptance rate, freshmen retention rate, graduation rate and percentage of full-time faculty.

With 84 percent of its freshmen continuing to their sophomore year, ISU is finding itself ahead of such Big Ten schools as University of Iowa and University of Minnesota, ISU President Al Bowman said.

Its 64 percent graduation rate is higher than the national average, and with a 68 percent acceptance level, people can see ISU is more selective about which students it enrolls than it ever had been, he said.

And Bowman noted 91 percent of its faculty is full-time — a longtime point of pride for ISU.

Illinois Wesleyan University

IWU continues its longtime presence in the second tier of more than 266 schools in the liberal arts colleges category. It moved up three spots to 59th this year. Williams College in Massachusetts was No. 1.

Eureka College

Eureka leaped 14 spots to reach 28th on the list of best Midwest baccalaureate colleges.

The list divides 320 colleges into four geographic regions. Taylor University in Indiana was No. 1 in the Midwest.

“We have all kinds of good news coming out of Eureka College,” Eureka President David Arnold said, noting its second straight year for record enrollment.

The school always has had small classes and focused on personal attention, he said. But he attributed a higher U.S. News ranking partly to positive peer assessment.

People are taking notice of its creative mentorship and scholarship programs, he said. These kinds of programs have had a domino effect and helped with freshmen retention rate and other areas, he said.

While today’s U.S. News figures show a 69 percent freshmen retention rate, Arnold said the current figure actually exceeds 80 percent. The school’s graduation rate is at 54 percent, but he said the school boasts an 88 percent graduation rate.

Lincoln College at Normal

Lincoln, which began offering bachelor degrees in Normal in 2001 but greatly expanded those options last fall, makes its inaugural appearance on the list as a member of the fourth tier of the best Midwest baccalaureate colleges. Schools in third and fourth tiers aren't assigned numerical rankings.

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