UC Davis moved into the top 10 of national public universities in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The university tied for 9th among national public universities—up from 11th last year—in the publication’s popular rankings released Aug. 17. The campus also improved to 39th from 42nd last year among best national universities overall.

At the same time, UC Davis took a leap forward as a “cool,” green institution, earning a No. 16 ranking (up from 24th) this month in America’s 100 Greenest Schools by Sierra magazine, the publication of the Sierra Club.

The two rankings are among several released lately, coming at a time when UC Davis has launched its “Vision for Excellence” initiative to transform and enhance its research enterprises, undergraduate experience and administrative processes.

“It is an honor for UC Davis to be recognized as among the nation’s top schools and one of those on the rise in a wide-ranging number of rankings,” said Chancellor Linda Katehi.

“As we continue our strides toward excellence in the years ahead,” she said, “we expect to make even more forward progress, especially in the areas of faculty research, private support, the education of our students, and our dedication to innovation and sustainability. With the contributions of so many on campus and beyond, we will look forward to embracing the extraordinary opportunities of the future on our merits and our inspiration.”

Other recent ranking highlights include:

U.S. News & World Report

In its latest rankings, U.S. News also ranked UC Davis as 32nd among the best undergraduate engineering programs (up from 34th last year among those institutions offering doctorates) while citing its writing across the disciplines as among the best in the country. In a new category, it tied for 35th among all universities when it comes to perceptions of high school counselors.

More about U.S. News’ rankings and methodology: www.usnews.com/rankings.

Sierra magazine

UC Davis was noted for its efforts in teaching students about ecologically viable farming methods, sustainable agriculture and food systems. Along with this, Sierra also placed a UC Davis class in “ecogeomorphology” on a select list of five “all-star teachers” and five “sure-hit courses” nationwide.

In this course, students learn about watershed issues from geology professor Jeffrey Mount, who holds the Roy Shlemon Chair in Applied Geosciences at UC Davis and is the director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, and Peter Moyle, who teaches wildlife, fish and conservation biology and is the center’s associate director.

“The fun-part—a two week trip into a watery ecosystem such as Alaska’s Copper River, British Columbia’s Skeena River, or Oregon’s Grand Ronde,” noted Sierra magazine.

To develop the rankings, the publication sent out 11-page questionnaires to 900 colleges and universities across the U.S., asking them to detail their sustainability efforts. This year, more weight was given to how a university makes use of its energy supply.

More about Sierra’s rankings and methodology: www.sierraclub.org/sierra.

Arizona State University

Clustered among the top 25 top public research universities nationwide, UC Davis scored high in:

• Total research dollars (9th); federal research dollars (16th); National Academy members (15th); faculty awards (22nd); doctorates granted (16th); and post-docs (7th).

More about Arizona State University's rankings and methodology: http://mup.asu.edu.

The Princeton Review

• The Princeton Review chose UC Davis as one of the 120 “Best in the West” universities. Students were queried about several issues, including access to their professors, food quality, their fellow students and campus life.

More about the Princeton Review’s rankings and methodology: www.princetonreview.com.

Shanghai Jiaotong University

• 32nd among the nation’s research universities (up from 36th last year).
• 46th among the world’s research universities (up from 49th last year).

More about Shanghai Jiaotong University’s rankings and methodology: www.arwu.org.

Putting the rankings in perspective

Many students and parents use college rankings to find the type of school that fits their expectations. For faculty and staff, the annual ratings offer candid—but not always thorough—assessments of how programs measure up in the academic universe.

Sometimes the rankings overshadow other important factors in choosing colleges, such as the environment of the campus and the strength of the particular academic program in which the student is interested.

The single most important thing students can do in selecting where they will be for at least the next four years is to visit the campus—get a sense of place and check out the residence halls, sit in on a class, and talk to students, alumni and professors.

For more rankings of specific UC Davis programs and units, visit http://facts.ucdavis.edu/rankings.lasso. Information on the “UC Davis: A Vision of Excellence” initiative is available at vision.ucdavis.edu.