Roanoke College Again Listed As A National Liberal Arts College

SALEM, VA—U.S. News & World Report released its 2005 America’s Best Colleges rankings of colleges and universities across the nation. Roanoke College is included as one of the National Liberal Arts Colleges. Roanoke College has been recognized by U.S. News more than a dozen times in the past two decades.  Roanoke’s first appearance in the guidebook was about 15 years ago as an “up and coming” school to watch.  Next, the magazine ranked Roanoke among the top 10 regional liberal arts college in the south.  Three years ago, U.S. News moved Roanoke up to the category of national liberal arts colleges—217 colleges that award at least 50 percent of academic degrees in the liberal arts. U.S. News lists colleges alphabetically within the tier--in the third tier, colleges would be ranked between 111 and 161.

The rankings take several factors into account:  graduation rate, freshman retention and a peer assessment score developed from a survey of presidents, academic deans and deans of admissions at peer colleges in the category.  This peer assessment score accounts for 25 percent of a college’s entire score. Roanoke’s peer assessment score showed an increase from the previous year’s rankings.

“This is yet another indication that our academic programs are being recognized for their outstanding quality,” Roanoke College President Sabine U. O’Hara said. “After having been invited this past spring to host a Phi Beta Kappa chapter here at Roanoke College we are delighted that our academic achievements are gaining further attention. This recognition is also a tribute to the hard work and commitment of our faculty and staff to provide our students with an outstanding educational experience here at Roanoke.”

Roanoke College, the country’s second oldest Lutheran-related college, is an independent, co-educational, four-year liberal arts college. Roanoke is one of just 270 colleges nationwide with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor societies. Roanoke received recognition in Kaplan’s The Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges, 2004 Edition.  The book names Roanoke College as one of the top “schools that offer the best value for your tuition dollar.” The Princeton Review names Roanoke as one of the “best in the mid-Atlantic.”

Roanoke’s 1,900 students represent 39 states across the U.S. and 25 foreign countries. Roanoke College offers three degrees: bachelor of business administration, bachelor of arts and bachelor of science. Roanoke offers 33 majors, 28 minors and 17 concentrations including pre-professional majors in law, medicine, dentistry, engineering and ministry.