For the fourth-consecutive year, national magazine Washington Monthly has ranked Southern Illinois University Edwardsville among the Top 60 out of the 684 master’s universities in the nation. SIUE is 23rd among public institutions on that list.
Unlike conventional college rankings, Washington Monthly evaluates an institution’s “contribution to the public good” in three broad categories: Social Mobility – recruiting and graduating low-income students; Research – producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs; and Service – encouraging students to give something back to their country.
“We are certainly proud of Washington Monthly’s consistent recognitionof our talented faculty and staff’s efforts to provide students with a high-quality, energized academic environment,” said SIUE Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe. “Our students’ strong commitment to community service demonstrates that we follow through on our mission to encourage students to be highly engaged, productive citizens.”
Washington Monthly ranked SIUE 57th overall, nationally, among its Top 60 Master’s Universities category, which includes public and private institutions. SIUE ranked No. 7 in expenditures for research, having invested nearly $34 million in research and public service projects in fiscal year 2012. This investment allows a significant number of SIUE students at the graduate and undergraduate levels the opportunity to participate in research projects in their fields of study.
Under the service sub-category, SIUE was ranked eighth in the percent of federal work study funds dedicated to students employed in community service programs.
In March, SIUE also was named by the Corporation for National and Community Service to the annual President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, a list of colleges and universities demonstrating a commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
SIUE students have many opportunities to work on service projects throughout the year through the University’s Kimmel Leadership Development Center. Students completed approximately 107,000 service hours during the 2012-13 academic year. Those service hours include service-learning hours through coursework, volunteer projects, the SIUE Experience service day, scholarship service requirements, the AmeriCorps America Reads program and student organizations that track their service hours.
SIUE also landed on Washington Monthly’s“Best Bang for the Buck” lists. SIUE is in the top 10 percent of both all schools surveyed and public master’s universities. The publication attempts to list the colleges in America that do the best job of helping non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.