One of the nation's leading land-grant research
universities, Washington State University is known its
for world-class faculty, personalized education, and an
exceptional student experience. Examples of national
recognition follow.
Academic Excellence:
Washington State University is among the top tier of research universities in America, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications. These are the nation’s 96 public and private research universities with “very high research activity.” WSU combines that research mission with an exceptional commitment to undergraduate students.
WSU is also one of just 78 public and private research universities in America with comprehensive doctoral programs coupled with human or veterinary medicine, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications.
Washington State University has been recognized as one of the best national universities, according to U.S. News and World Report 2008 rankings released in the fall of 2007. The magazine puts WSU among the top sixty public research universities in the nation. One hundred sixty public universities offering doctoral degrees are included in the rankings.
Nine WSU professors have been elected to the National Academies -- the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering or the Institute of Medicine -- among the highest honors in these fields.
Many professors are nationally and internationally known for their research, scholarship and teaching. WSU's world-class faculty are found throughout the university's 10 colleges.
Since its founding in 1890, WSU has prepared students for productive lives and careers, and conducted research that undergirds the state's economy. Innovations in health care, technologies from biosciences to computer chips to plasticized wood, agriculture from wheat to viticulture, business and more make a profound difference for Washington State citizens.
The 2007 freshman class is the largest, best-qualified and most diverse in WSU history. WSU now has freshmen on the Pullman, Tri-Cities and Vancouver campuses.
WSU is the only major public research university in the country to require an approved writing portfolio for graduation.
WSU is one of only 262 of the nation's finest colleges and universities with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the liberal arts honorary.
One of the nation's top veterinary schools for student academic achievement, WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine students had a 99.6 percent pass rate in the national board examinations in December 1999 and April 2000.
The Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award recipients reflect the excellence of a Washington State University education, both undergraduate and graduate.
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Technology &
Facilities:
WSU ranks in the top 100 universities for its research library system and for computer access and Internet connections, among some 2,000 colleges and universities nationwide.
One of the best-equipped veterinary teaching hospitals in the world is at WSU, with top high-tech diagnostic and teaching facilities.
The Samuel H. Smith Center for Undergraduate Education
offers the latest in teaching and learning
technologies, a computer laboratory and a
"cyber cafe."
WSU is among the top 20 "cyber-universities" in America for use of the latest technology for distance education, Forbes magazine said. WSU reaches students in all 50 states and 16 countries around the globe via distance learning technology.
WSU was the first traditional institution in the nation that has extended student government to distance students via distance technology.
The award-winning Student Recreation Center and the newly renovated Compton Union Building or CUB that opens in August 2008 offer WSU students the best in recreation and social facilities.
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Undergraduate
Programs:
WSU's Interior Design Program is among the top 10, according to the International Interior Design Association and to Design Intelligence magazine, published by the Design Futures Council, a global network of professionals.
WSU has the 4th ranked Broadcasting education program in its Murrow School of Communication, say 369 news executives.
WSU is a great place to study jazz, say both Down Beat and Jazz Times magazines. Both publications have included WSU's School of Music and Theatre Arts in their new 2002 guides of the best places for a jazz education.
WSU has the 16th ranked Recreation and Leisure Studies Program, says a national professional journal in the field.
Top Hospitality Management Program, says a national professional organization in the field.
U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" has ranked WSU's International Business Program in the top 20 in the nation.
The Entrepreneurship major ranks among the Top 25 programs in the nation, according to Entrepreneur Magazine rankings.
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Graduate Programs:
WSU classified by Carnegie among nation's top doctoral/ research universities.
The 1999 Gourman Report on Graduate Education -- the
most recent avaiable -- ranked WSU:
Agricultural Economics -
21st in the nation;
College of Pharmacy -
22nd in the nation;
Sociology -
25th ranked program out of 120
sociology programs in the U.S. For the last several
decades, WSU's sociology program has been ranked in the
first tier (25th or better).
Ranked 38th nationally in the National Research Council's rankings of doctoral programs is the area of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior in the Sciences.
WSU is among the top 100 schools granting doctoral degrees to Chicano/Latino students, says the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education in May 2000.
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Other Programs:
WSU received the Outstanding School Recycling Program Award for 1998 from the National Recycling Coalition and a top-three finisher in the 2008 Recyclemania competition.
Honored nationally for Cougar TRACS (Transfer Credit System), the Web site for transfer students, by EDUCAUSE.
The Cougars were co-champion of Pac-10 Conference in 2002 and champion in 1997, going to the Rose Bowl — the "granddaddy of all bowl games" — in 2003 and in 1998.
The Cougars reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 2008, an achievement not experienced since 1941.
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