April 1, 2008

Michael Davis, 404-413-1361
University Relations

Georgia State ranks 27th among public affairs programs on U.S. News list

ATLANTA – Georgia State University ranked 27th among 269 graduate programs in public affairs surveyed recently by U.S. News & World Report.

The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies tied with counterparts at Florida State University, the University of Nebraska – Omaha, the University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, according to U.S. News’ “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2009” edition, which hit newsstands Monday (March 31).

Georgia State also ranked high in five specialty categories, up from four categories in 2005 and two in the 2002 rankings.

In the 2009 edition, Georgia State comes in fifth in Public Finance and Budgeting; 12th in City Management & Urban Policy; 13th in Nonprofit Management; 18th in Public Policy Analysis; and 33rd in Public Management Administration.

In a message to faculty members, Andrew Young School Dean James Alm said the recent rankings are “entirely due to your great scholarship, teaching and outreach activities.”

“I am very proud to be associated with such distinguished and hardworking colleagues,” Alm said. “All of this is especially noteworthy for a school that has been in existence for little more than a decade.”

The U.S. News rankings are the result of a peer assessment survey conducted in the fall of 2007 of deans, department chairs and directors from 269 master’s programs in public affairs and administration.

Georgia State University’s School of Policy Studies was created in 1996 and named for long-time civil rights advocate and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young in 1999. Fifty-eight faculty members and 35 research associates make up its two academic departments and six research centers.

For more information, visit www.andrewyoungschool.org.