FOR RELEASE: Thursday, April 19, 2007
Rehabilitation Graduate Program Ranked Among Best
The rehabilitation education and research program of the College of Education and Health Professions has been recognized in the 2008 edition of U.S. News and World Report's annual "America's Best Graduate Schools."
The program is ranked 15th among graduate rehabilitation counseling programs in the annual U.S. News survey. The only other graduate program at the University of Arkansas to be named in the magazine was the School of Law, which was listed among the most diverse law schools in the country and was ranked with 35 other schools in the third tier of the best American law schools.
The rehabilitation education and research program offers a master of science degree in rehabilitation counseling and a doctoral degree in rehabilitation education and research. It also received the No. 15 ranking in the U.S. News survey in 2003, the last year the publication announced rankings in this category.
"The College of Education and Health Professions is thrilled to receive this report," said Reed Greenwood, dean of the college. "The program and its faculty deserve this recognition for their extremely high quality of teaching, research and service."
Richard T. Roessler, University Professor of rehabilitation education and research, joined the UA faculty in 1971 and served as the program coordinator for two years.
"The faculty is proud of this national recognition, particularly because it tells the students they made a good choice," Roessler said. "It also reaffirms the contributions of the research and publications of the faculty and the program. However, we are not satisfied with this and will make every effort to be in the top 10 next time."
In 2005, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary gave the program a No. 1 ranking for institutional productivity in scholarly publications in the field of rehabilitation. They published an assessment of authorship in six core rehabilitation journals in the fall 2005 issue of the "Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin" that showed the UA rehabilitation education and research faculty leading the nation in publication productivity.
Roessler received two national awards in 2004, the Distinguished Career Award in Rehabilitation Education from the National Council on Rehabilitation Education and the James F. Garrett Award for a Distinguished Career in Rehabilitation from the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association.
Brent T. Williams, assistant professor of rehabilitation education, coordinated the program from 2002-2005 and led it through the intensive process that resulted in reaccreditation through the academic year 2013-14. A review by the Council on Rehabilitation Education identified the program as excellent with no suggestions for improvement.
"A student's choice of graduate school is based on different criteria than undergraduate school," Williams said. "Students often look for measures of excellence in their specific field when choosing a graduate program."
Lynn C. Koch, associate professor of rehabilitation education and research, came from Kent State University to join the faculty last fall as program coordinator. Roessler and Williams said her addition will significantly contribute to the quality and visibility of the program.
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Contact:
Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
(479) 575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu