St. Norbert College now ranked nationally among top liberal arts colleges in the country

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From St. Norbert College, August 17, 2007
by Mike Counter, mike.counter@snc.edu, (920) 403-3089

For nearly two decades, St. Norbert College has been ranked among the top colleges in the Midwest. Today, it is ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the nation. St. Norbert College has moved into the very competitive national arena of "Best Liberal Arts" schools in the country category, according to the 2008 "America's Best Colleges" rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.

For 18 years, U.S. News & World Report ranked St. Norbert College among the top comprehensive colleges in the Midwest only. This is the first year it has been listed among the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges. The change comes following St. Norbert College's reclassification in 2006 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching--an independent policy and research center which partners with U.S. News & World Report for its rankings.

The key criteria in judging schools are peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources and student selectivity.

"We are pleased and honored that St. Norbert College's reputation is now recognized among the top liberal arts colleges nationally," said St. Norbert College President William Hynes. "This is something I am personally quite proud of. This speaks to our outstanding graduation rate of 72 percent and freshman retention rate of 84 percent. It's a privilege to be recognized for our collective achievements."

U.S. News & World Report ranks colleges and universities by categorizing the schools primarily by mission and, in some cases, by region. U.S. News & World Report collects up to 15 indicators of academic excellence data from each school and assigns a weight to each that reflects the magazine's judgment about how much each measure matters, and then ranks each college against its peers, based on its composite weighted score. This year, almost 93 percent of the colleges and universities returned surveys.

"America's Best Colleges" guide can be found online at http://www.usnews.com/. Both the magazine and the guidebook will be on newsstands Monday, Aug. 20.

St. Norbert College is a Catholic liberal arts college, founded in by the Norbertine Order in 1898, and is located in De Pere, Wisconsin.