Scoring Points Among Peers

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — While the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas is in a tie for 25th place among the top public undergraduate business schools in the recent U.S. News & World Report 2007 America’s Best Colleges rankings, it is also tied with two other schools for greatest increase in reputation score among the more than 100 top business schools listed in the report.

The Walton College has tied for the strongest improvement in reputation score from 2000 to 2007, according to two Walton College faculty members - Scot Burton, professor and the Wal-Mart Chair in Marketing, and Tom Jensen, chair of the marketing and logistics department and the Wal-Mart Lecturer in Retailing. For the past eight years, Burton and Jensen have examined rankings in the U.S. News & World Report top-ranked business schools and respective reputation scores.

Their analysis between 2000, when the Walton College first entered the rankings, and 2007 revealed that the Walton College went from a ranking of 67 to 42 - among both public and private schools - for an increase of 25 places, and the reputation score increased from 3.0 to 3.3 (out of 5) for an increase of 0.3. The 0.3 change in the absolute reputation score ties the University of Arkansas Walton College with the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University and the Zicklin School of Business/Baruch College/City University of New York (CUNY) for the highest level of positive change among the 100-plus schools listed. The Walton College tied for the greatest improvement with the Zicklin School last year.

 In the latest rankings, the Stern School ranked in a tie for 5th place and the Zicklin School ranked in a tie for 51st place among all public and private schools.

“This largest increase in ranking puts us in a fairly strong group of business schools with changes in reputations scores of plus 0.2 or more such as Wharton, Stern, Zicklin and the University of Oklahoma (Price),” said Dan Worrell, dean of the Walton College. “Being tied for the greatest level of improvement in reputation is consistent with the many positive changes that have occurred in the Walton College.

“Our being tied for No. 1 in improvement in the U.S. News & World Report reputation scores certainly supports our position as a top 25 public business school. Among our peers, we can also claim the greatest level of improvement in the Southeastern Conference and also among the top 25 public business schools.”

Worrell added, “The 2000-2007 timeframe closely follows the receipt in 1998 of the $50 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. Interestingly, in the same time period as the Walton gift, CUNY-Baruch also received a substantial gift from Lawrence and Carol Zicklin in 1998.”

The rankings and reputations were determined through a U.S. News & World Report survey, which each year asks business school deans and senior faculty to rate the 527 public and private undergraduate business programs accredited by the AACSB International — the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

The Walton College is tied for 25th place this year with these public undergraduate business schools: Florida State University, Georgia State University (Robinson), University of Pittsburgh, and University of South Carolina (Moore). The Walton College is also tied for 42nd place among both public and private U.S. undergraduate business schools, including these private institutions:  Bentley College, George Washington University, and Syracuse University (Whitman).