Texas Tribune
U.S. News & World Report on Wednesday issued its annual rankings of the country's colleges and universities. For those who followed las year's list, this year's results may seem like a bit of déjà vu.
Once again, the only Texas institutions in the top 50 on the list of the country's best national universities are Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin. The former is ranked 17th, as it was last year, and the latter is ranked 46th, which is a small slip from 45th last year.
Southern Methodist University and Texas A&M University saw a bit more movement as they virtually swapped places. Last year, A&M was 58th and SMU was 62nd. This year, SMU is 58th and A&M is 65th.
(Juliet Garcia's UT-B is not ranked among the best colleges or universities, but its nursing program is. It holds the unenviable position of 193rd in the nation.)Baylor University fell slightly from 75th to 77th, Texas Christian University rose from 97th to 92nd, the University of Texas at Dallas fell from 143rd to 151st, and Texas Tech University fell from 160th to 165th. The University of Houston rounds out the Texas schools in this year's top 200, coming in at 184th.
U.S. News analysts Robert Morse and Sam Flanigan write that the rankings "allow you to compare at a glance the relative quality of institutions based on such widely accepted indicators of excellence as freshman retention, graduation rates, and the strength of the faculty."
Of course, the U.S. News & World Report's rankings are as controversial as they are influential. Last year, Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes told legislators, "The only thing I pay attention to [in them] is peer assessment. I don't think the other metrics U.S. News & World Report uses are accurate or meaningful."
Over the years, other rankings have cropped up attempting to provide an alternative to U.S. News.
When Washington Monthly released its college rankings last month, Daniel Luzer, one of the magazine's writers, explained the difference this way: "While U.S. News & World Report relies on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige for its rankings, the Washington Monthly rates schools based on what they are doing for their students and the country."
Public universities post higher scores in the Washington Monthly rankings than U.S. News, and some institutions that don't even appear on the latter excel in the former. For example, the University of Texas at El Paso is unranked in U.S. News, but it is 12th in the country according to Washington Monthly's metric, which emphasizes social mobility, research and service. Similarly, A&M shoots up to second best in the country, which is a far cry from 65th.
With a growing variety of rankings, schools can pick and choose which to celebrate and which to ignore. A&M officials, who naturally lauded the Washington Monthly list when it came out, still found news worth celebrating in the U.S. News results, though. They are 19th overall and the second public university in the U.S. News list of "Best Value Schools."
A&M President R. Bowen Loftin issued a statement saying, "Overall, there are obviously many measures of what constitutes a great university, but we are delighted that the editors of the magazine acknowledge that Texas A&M continues to stand out as an institution that is among the very best nationally for offering a high-quality education at an affordable cost."
6 comments:
Heres a ranking for you:
Juliet Garcia is the #1 self serving, narcisstic, egotistic bitch in the Rio Grande Valley.
Ranked 193 in the country.
But, #1 in tuition cost in the country while situated in an area ranked as one of the poorest in the country. Que paso aqui??
How about letters / emails / texts
to juliet' s boss . . . .
get rid of juliet .. . .
time for a change from juliet . .
a
new campus new president . . .
out with the old campus out with the old president juliet . . .
anybody got an email for figaroya in austin . .
anybody got a text number to his cell . . .
I believe you mean narcissistic and egotistical, but Yeah, I agree.
Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who was instrumental in securing state funding for services at the new hospital, did not address the bond payments in a statement to the American-Statesman. Instead, he said he continues to support the hospital's mission.
"Montgomery County's privatized forensic psychiatric facility is beneficial to taxpayers all over Southeast Texas," he said. "The facility frees up county jail space for other inmates, avoids costly and time consuming transfers to remote state facilities and provides more appropriate incarceration and treatment for inmates with forensic psychiatric needs."
Plans for a psychiatric hospital in Montgomery County emerged three years ago, when Texas legislators approved the idea to accommodate the growing number of forensic patients waiting in jails to be transferred to a state hospital. A special budget provision specifically designed for Montgomery County allowed State Health Services to enter into a contract "to provide mental health services ... at a facility newly constructed by a county for the purpose of providing contracted mental health services."
Reimbursements were always part of the deal with State Health Services, Chance said. In fact, a financial report attached to a 2010 county bond document reads: "Montgomery County entered into a contract with the Texas Department of State Health Services to construct a mental health treatment facility. ... At this time, the county expects that funds to retire this debt will come from a special appropriation approved by the state."
Montgomery County built the 100-bed facility, which opened in early 2011. Geo Care, a private company that runs jails and psychiatric hospitals, operates it.
On its face, the state's contract with Montgomery County seems to prohibit any payments on the facility. "Department funds must not be used to purchase buildings or real property," the contract states. "Any costs related to the initial acquisition of buildings or real property are not allowable."
State Health Services, however, says interest payments are acceptable because they are considered an ongoing expense of the facility.
"It's much like any other ongoing cost of doing business, like paying for a lease, security and air conditioning," Carrie Williams said.
Earlier this year, Montgomery County commissioners discussed the idea of selling the building to Geo Care, whose work running hospitals has drawn criticism over quality of care. County commissioners say they put that idea on the table as a routine part of an annual assessment of all county properties.
But Montgomery County Judge Alan Sadler has said he has spoken to Geo representatives, who indicated they might be willing to pay $50 million or more for the facility.
why cant the democrat rep or state senator do the same with Dolly Hospital . . . .
no power in austin by Rene or Eddy
Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who was instrumental in securing state funding for services at the new hospital, did not address the bond payments in a statement to the American-Statesman. Instead, he said he continues to support the hospital's mission.
"Montgomery County's privatized forensic psychiatric facility is beneficial to taxpayers all over Southeast Texas," he said. "The facility frees up county jail space for other inmates, avoids costly and time consuming transfers to remote state facilities and provides more appropriate incarceration and treatment for inmates with forensic psychiatric needs."
Plans for a psychiatric hospital in Montgomery County emerged three years ago, when Texas legislators approved the idea to accommodate the growing number of forensic patients waiting in jails to be transferred to a state hospital. A special budget provision specifically designed for Montgomery County allowed State Health Services to enter into a contract "to provide mental health services ... at a facility newly constructed by a county for the purpose of providing contracted mental health services."
Reimbursements were always part of the deal with State Health Services, Chance said. In fact, a financial report attached to a 2010 county bond document reads: "Montgomery County entered into a contract with the Texas Department of State Health Services to construct a mental health treatment facility. ... At this time, the county expects that funds to retire this debt will come from a special appropriation approved by the state."
Montgomery County built the 100-bed facility, which opened in early 2011. Geo Care, a private company that runs jails and psychiatric hospitals, operates it.
On its face, the state's contract with Montgomery County seems to prohibit any payments on the facility. "Department funds must not be used to purchase buildings or real property," the contract states. "Any costs related to the initial acquisition of buildings or real property are not allowable."
State Health Services, however, says interest payments are acceptable because they are considered an ongoing expense of the facility.
"It's much like any other ongoing cost of doing business, like paying for a lease, security and air conditioning," Carrie Williams said.
Earlier this year, Montgomery County commissioners discussed the idea of selling the building to Geo Care, whose work running hospitals has drawn criticism over quality of care. County commissioners say they put that idea on the table as a routine part of an annual assessment of all county properties.
But Montgomery County Judge Alan Sadler has said he has spoken to Geo representatives, who indicated they might be willing to pay $50 million or more for the facility.
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