Irvine, Calif., August 31, 2000 — UC Irvine is the nation's 10th best public university, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings of America's leading public and private universities.

UCI also was ranked number 41 overall among the nation's top 50 public and private universities. The information is published in the 13th annual "America's Best Colleges" guidebook, which is available at newsstands and bookstores.

"To be chosen among the finest public universities in the nation is quite an honor," UCI Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone said. "These rankings reflect our major research developments, expansion of academic programs and the impressive achievements of our students and graduates while demonstrating our broad strengths ranging from the sciences and business to the arts and humanities. We've known for some time that UCI is one of the best research universities in the nation, and the U.S. News & World Report survey reaffirms it."

UC Berkeley was chosen the nation's top public university. Overall, Princeton University was ranked as the best national university among all public and private universities.

U.S. News & World Report ranks the nation's more than 1,400 four-year accredited colleges and universities based on 16 indicators of excellence, from academic reputation and student retention to graduation rate performance, faculty resources and alumni giving rates.

The new rankings from U.S. News & World Report are the latest among several top rankings UCI has received from the magazine this year. In the April "America's Best Graduate Schools" guidebook, the school's Information Technology for Management approach to MBA education was ranked 10th among all such programs nationwide. In addition, UCI's Graduate School of Management rated 40th overall among the nation's more than 700 MBA programs.

In that issue, the magazine reissued rankings of certain graduate programs it had ranked over the past few years with UCI programs rating among the top 25 in several categories. They are the creative writing program (6), organic chemistry (9), the drama and theater program (12) and the English program (16).

Since 1995, the following other UCI programs and specialties have been ranked among the top 50 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report: critical theory (2), health care management (9), third-world literature (12), photography (15), 19th- and 20th-century British literature (18), gender and literature (19), experimental psychology (19), cell biology/developmental biology (21), 19th- and 20th-century literature (22), chemistry (28), biology (29), psychology (30), political science (31), physics (31), computer science (34), history (36) and arts (45). The graduate rankings are based on surveys in which scholars rated schools' reputations for scholarship, curriculum and the quality of the faculty and graduate students.

In the new rankings, UCI tied with UC Davis and the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign as the 10th best public university. It also ties with those universities as the 41st best university among the top 50 public and private universities.