The four-year study, billed as the nation's most comprehensive assessment of university doctoral programs, uses categories such as the scholarly quality of the faculty, effectiveness in educating research scholars, change in program quality over the past five years, reputation, publications, length of time to graduation, percentages of women and minorities awarded PhDs, and the percentage of PhDs with research and teaching assistantships.
The editors, in the preface to the study, state that the study is produced to assist students in their search for research-doctorate programs; to provide information to university administrators, funding agencies and policymakers; and to provide a data base for scholars whose research focuses on higher education.
This study marks the first time doctoral programs in religion have been ranked by the National Research Council. Emory was ranked fifth in the nation in the category that assessed the scholarship of the faculty. In effectiveness in educating research scholars, Emory was ranked sixth in the nation. In the category that measured change in program quality in the five years preceding 1993, the study used a scale of -1 to 1. The Graduate Division of Religion's score of .64 in this category ranked it as one of the most improved programs.
The Graduate Division of Religion is one of only two umbrella-style divisions in the University (the other is the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences), that draws its faculty from other parts of the University; the the Graduate Division of Religion's faculty are from the School of Theology and the Department of Religion, as well as a sprinkling of other departments. "It provides a framework for a superb doctoral program," said Director Jon Gunnemann. "We turn out some of the finest scholars the University has."
The only other Emory department ranked in the top 15 was the Department of French Langauge and Literature, which rose from 42nd in 1982 to 15th in this study.
-- Nancy M. Spitler