JBU Ranks Top 20 In Upgraded U.S. News Regional University Category

The rapid growth of John Brown University’s graduate programs led JBU to be promoted to the regional university category in this year’s U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, released today. JBU is now ranked 18th out of 140 southern universities, which includes Samford University and The Citadel.

JBU is the top-ranked Arkansas school in its cohort. Other Arkansas schools with the regional university classification include Harding University, Arkansas State University, University of Central Arkansas, Henderson State University and Arkansas Tech University.

“We are pleased that U.S. News recognized the combined strength of our undergraduate and graduate programs by advancing us from the college classification to join other regional universities,” said Dr. Ed Ericson, vice president of academic affairs. “To debut in the top 20 in our inaugural year reflects the hard work of our faculty and staff to provide a rigorous educational experience. It also spotlights how competitive our students are when compared to their peers.”

U.S. News is widely recognized as a leader in higher education rankings. The magazine considers peer assessment, student retention, graduation rate, class size, student/teacher ratio, ACT scores, acceptance rage and alumni giving, among other data points, to determine its ranking. For more information on U.S. News’ ranking methodology, visit www.usnews.com/collegemeth.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top ranked regional university (U.S. News Best Colleges, 2017), JBU enrolls more than 2,600 students from 40 states and 37 countries in its traditional

undergraduate, graduate, degree completion and concurrent education programs. JBU offers more than 39 majors, with top programs including business administration, graphic design, engineering, construction management, counseling, teacher education and nursing.