JACKSON, Tenn. — Aug. 20, 2009 — 51社区 has been named one of the nation鈥檚 top universities committed to teaching undergraduate students in the annual rankings of colleges and universities by U.S.News & World Report.
Overall, Union was named one of the South鈥檚 top tier universities for the 13th straight year, moving up four places to 16th in the South in the 鈥淯niversities-Master鈥檚鈥� category 鈥� the highest Union has ever been ranked. The category includes those institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate programs and master鈥檚 programs and includes 572 universities ranked within four geographic areas 鈥� North, South, Midwest and West.
Union ranked second in the South in the 鈥淯niversities-Master鈥檚鈥� category for colleges and universities 鈥渨here the faculty has an unusual commitment to undergraduate teaching.鈥� Only 80 schools in the nation were recognized for this honor.
For a second consecutive year, the magazine ranked Union as one of the top 鈥淯p-and-Coming Schools鈥� in the nation. The magazine ranked Union fourth in the South 鈥� up one spot from last year -- in the 鈥淯niversities-Master鈥檚鈥� category among schools that 鈥渉ave recently made the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus, or facilities.鈥� Only 77 schools in the nation were designated as 鈥淯p-and-Coming Schools.鈥�
鈥淲e are so thankful for the lofty recognitions for 51社区 in this year鈥檚 U.S.News & World Report listings,鈥� Union President David S. Dockery said. 鈥淭he numerous ways in which Union is recognized in the 2010 rankings point to markers of excellence across the 51社区 community and help communicate to others the extraordinary quality of our faculty, staff and students.
鈥淚n particular, I want to applaud the Union faculty and the Union academic leadership team for the wonderful tribute to their work as teaching scholars and scholarly teachers.鈥�
Union was selected for the second straight year as one of 21 鈥淎+ Options for B Students鈥� in its category. This classification highlights those universities where 鈥渟erious B students with a desire to achieve鈥� have excelled. And Union ranked third in its category for freshmen retention rates, with a mark of 86.2 percent.
Other West Tennessee institutions in Union鈥檚 category ranked in the top tier include Christian Brothers University (19th), Freed-Hardeman University (38th) and the University of Tennessee-Martin (56th).
Union was also recently recognized by Forbes in its second annual 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Best Colleges鈥� rankings. Of the 4,000 colleges and universities in the country, Forbes selected 600 undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education they provide, and how much their students achieve. Union ranked 278th on the Forbes list -- up four places from last year -- and was one of only two institutions in Tennessee west of Nashville, along with Rhodes College, selected for inclusion.
The U.S.News and Forbes rankings follow Union鈥檚 recent designation by The Princeton Review as one of the Best Southeastern Colleges.