U.S. News & World Report Ranks Alverno Highest in the State and Among the Best in the Midwest for Strong Commitment to Teaching and Innovation

September 9, 2019

For the 10th time, U.S. News & World Report ranked Alverno College as one of the Midwest's top universities for its strong commitment to teaching and also ranked Alverno as Wisconsin's most innovative school in the publication's 2020 America's Best Colleges guidebook. Additionally, Alverno was recognized for its value, ethnic diversity and first-year student experience.

Alverno was the only Wisconsin university honored in the top ten for its commitment to undergraduate teaching, ranking third. It's also the only college in the state included in this category for its entire 10-year history. The ranking highlights schools “where the faculty have an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.”

“This recognition is deeply meaningful to our faculty because we are so committed to our students," said Penny Alt-Gehrman, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing and president of the Alverno Faculty Senate. “It's an honor to receive this accolade 10 years in a row, but it's an even greater honor to serve our students.”

As Wisconsin's most innovative school, Alverno was ranked fourth among Midwest regional universities behind Butler, Truman State and Bradley universities. Schools in this category are “making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities.”

Alverno also made the list of “Best Value Schools” among regional universities. Further, the college was recognized for “Ethnic Diversity” among Midwest regional universities where students are most likely to encounter undergraduates from a different ethnic group than their own. Of the undergraduate population for the 2018-19 school year, 23 percent of Alverno students identified as Hispanic or Latina, 15 percent as African American, 4 percent as Asian and 4 percent as two or more races. This makes Alverno, Wisconsin's first Hispanic-Serving Institution, one of the state's most diverse colleges.

Lastly, Alverno was recognized for “First-Year Experience.” This ranking highlights schools that skillfully bring together small groups of students with faculty or staff on a regular basis as part of curricular and academic programming.

With these rankings, Alverno College is noted among such prestigious schools as Brown University, Duke University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame and Yale University.

The rankings evaluate colleges and universities on 15 measures of academic quality, including graduation rates, first-year retention and faculty resources. Colleges and universities are grouped into 10 ranking categories based on their academic missions. Within each category, the sum of weighted, normalized values determine each school's overall score. The full listing can be found at usnews.com.