SPPD Rated Among Nation's Top Graduate Schools
Updated: Oct. 14, 2008
from SPPD Staff Reports
The USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development secured its position as one of the nation's elite, earning the seventh-place ranking among "America's Best Graduate Schools" for public affairs, according to U.S. News & World Report.
This year's rankings, which were released in March, compared 269 master's programs in the United States. Overall, SPPD finished in the top 3 percent of public affairs schools across the country.
"We are pleased that our rankings reflect SPPD's reputation as a vanguard for research and scholarship," said Jack H. Knott, the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and professor at SPPD.
SPPD also earned high marks in several academic specialty areas. Nationwide, the school ranked fourth in city management, fifth in public management/administration, fifth in nonprofit management, ninth in health policy and management, and 10th in social policy.
In addition to U.S. News & World Report, SPPD has recently received high acclaim from other influential publications, including Planetizen -- the leading online news source for the urban planning and development community.
SPPD ranked ninth in Planetizen's "2009 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs," which was published in May. The 2009 guide serves as a comprehensive resource about master's degree programs in urban planning, covering 100 schools throughout the United States and Canada.
Knott added that SPPD distinguishes itself from other public affairs schools through its multidisciplinary approach to addressing major policy issues, including health care, housing, immigration, infrastructure, transportation, risk assessment, and sustainable urban development.
"We also focus on building better institutions, improving management, and developing leadership in the public and non-profit sectors, in working with business, to provide more innovative solutions to these major issues. That's something that very few schools can do," he explained.
U.S. News & World Report released its first public affairs ratings in 1998, and has issued three sets of rankings since then (in 2001, 2004 and 2008). Each time, SPPD placed in the top 10 of the prestigious list.