Southeastern graduate biology program ranked 6th in nation
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s graduate program in biological sciences
was ranked sixth in the nation in the fall Biology Grad Rankings posted by the website
graduateprograms.com.
Southeastern was the only institution from Louisiana included in the listing of
the top 25 biology graduate programs in the country.
Among the 15 categories reviewed were academic competitiveness, affordability
of living, campus safety, career support, education quality and faculty accessibility
and support. Southeastern’s ranking is above Yale and Harvard, putting it in good
company with Duke, Carnegie Mellon and Tufts University to round out the top tier
of rated schools.
“This is a testimony to the quality and commitment of our faculty, many of whom
are internationally celebrated biologists,” said Dean of the College of Science and
Technology Dan McCarthy. “The master’s program in biology draws graduate students
from throughout the country, and when they graduate from here, they are typically
placed in some of the strongest doctoral programs for further study.”
The rankings were based on ratings and reviews from current or recent graduate
students with a requirement that a minimum threshold of student surveys are completed.
More than 75,000 students in 1,600 programs participated in the review process.
A sample of student comments from the Southeastern review included:
-- “There are great people present in the program and staff members that sincerely
want to see you succeed.”
-- “I believe SLU offers a great mix of diverse faculty and some excellent mentors
who truly seek to help students succeed in what they do.”
“Our graduate students receive outstanding and individualized training,” said
Chris Beachy, head of the Department of Biological Sciences. “Our graduate faculty
have outstanding publishing success in professional journals, they obtain external
funding from nationally competitive sources like the National Science Foundation,
and they are recognized and honored for their career work by various specialist organizations.”