Archive
DSU Moves Up to 9th in U.S. News & World Report HBCU Rankings
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Delaware State University has moved up to 9th place among 81 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the country in the annual ranking released today by U.S. News & World Report.
DSU is tied with two other HBCUs – Clark Atlanta University and Florida A&M University – for 9th place. Among Mid-Atlantic region schools, DSU joins Howard University (3rd) among the top 10 HBCUs in the latest ranking.
DSU President Harry Lee Williams said the University’s rise in the HBCU rankings confirms everything he has believed about Delaware State University since he first arrived as provost in 2008.
“There has never been any doubt in my mind that the continuation of DSU’s rise in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best HBCU rankings has been within our capacity because of some very strategic work by the entire DSU family,” Dr. Williams said. “To move from number 13 to number 9 is a validation of the ongoing successes of our faculty, staff, students, administration and alumni."
Dr. Williams noted that DSU is continuing to garner attention both in Delaware, in the nation and especially in the world, where its footprint is expanding.
“The ranking is just one measure that says, yes, DSU is on the right path," he said. "We must all be highly motivated to serve and to do our optimum best to graduate exceptionally prepared students."
“If we continue to do that, the rankings will take care of themselves,” Dr. Williams added.
When U.S. News & World Report first published its HBCU ranking in 2008, DSU ranked #22; it rose to #17 in 2009 and 2010. Since Dr. Williams assumed the DSU presidency in 2010, the University has moved up to #15 in 2011, to #13 in 2012, to this year’s highest-ever 9th place ranking.
The HBCU rankings are based on the following categories to assess academic quality: assessment by administrators at peer institutions, retention and graduation rates of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving. Those areas are broken down into 11 statistical scores that are evaluated toward reaching a final overall score.
DSU’s improvements in peer assessments, SAT scores of incoming freshmen, three-year average for freshmen retention and graduation rates are among the statistics that are reflected in the University’s continued rise in the ranking. Those improvements reflect that the University is attracting a stronger freshman class than ever before and increasing student success.
The University also improved its peer assessment score in this year’s rankings, a measure of how its peer institutions viewed the quality of DSU.
Once again Spelman College of Atlanta, Ga., is ranked as the No. 1 HBCU in the country by the magazine, a top distinction it has held since 2008. That school is followed by Morehouse College (#2), Howard University (#3), Fisk University (#4), Tuskegee University and Xavier University of Louisiana (tied for #5), Claflin University (#7), and North Carolina A&T University (#8).