FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas has moved from a tie for 25^th place to a tie for 24th place among the nation’s top public undergraduate business schools, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2006 America’s Best Colleges.

In addition, the Walton College is now tied for 40th place among both public and private U.S. undergraduate business schools.

In the 2001 U.S. News rankings, the Walton College made a dramatic rise from a tie for 48th place to a tie for 36th place in the top public undergraduate business schools. In the 2002 rankings, it moved back to 40th, but in the 2003 rankings, it made another dramatic leap to a tie for 28th place. The college remained at 28th place in the 2004 rankings, but moved into the top 50 public and private business schools. In the 2005 rankings, the college reached 25th place.

The U.S. News 2005 rankings moved the college from a tie for 46th place among both public and private undergraduate business schools to a tie for 41st place.

UA Chancellor John White said: "We’re very pleased to see the improved ranking for the Walton College. This is a very fitting tribute to Doyle Williams as his time as dean of the college closes."

Dean Doyle Z. Williams said: "We were thrilled with the U.S. News rankings last year, but this news is even better as it indicates that we are continuing to make more progress in the quality of our faculty, students and programs. Being 24th among the public schools is a spectacular ranking, but moving to the top 40 public and private schools validates that the fact that the Walton College is a nationally competitive business school."

This year, the Walton College moved up in its academic score from 3.2 in 2005 to 3.3 out of a possible 5.0. In the 2002 report, the Walton College scored 3.0; in 2003, it scored 3.1; and in 2004, it scored 3.2.

Williams said: "This recognition reflects the efforts of many - starting with the faculty of the Walton College whose teaching, research and national leadership roles are increasingly recognized. The staff whose yeomen’s efforts day in and day out contribute so much should be acknowledged as well. This recognition also reflects the growing quality of the student body and their achievements in national competitions. We prize teamwork in the Walton College. Reaching this goal is a tribute to the leadership team of the Walton College."

Williams also recognized the contributions of the alumni, advisory boards, donors and friends of the Walton College for playing a key role in the college’s success. He also acknowledged that the college’s strong support from the business community has played an important part in its research and teaching programs.

The rankings were determined through a U.S. News survey, which each year asks business school deans and senior faculty to rate the 480 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 24th place this year with the following public undergraduate business schools: University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina (Moore), and Virginia Tech (Pamplin). It is tied for 40th place with these private institutions: Boston University, Tulane University (Freeman), and Syracuse University (Whitman).

In the 2006 report, the top eight ranked undergraduate public and private business schools were the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan), University of California — Berkeley (Haas), University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, Carnegie Mellon, University New York University (Stern), University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler), and University of Texas (McCombs).

The Walton College is tied for third place among the rated Southeastern Conference schools behind the University of Florida (Warrington) and University of Georgia (Terry).

"Being ranked 24th among public business schools certainly validates the steps that we began - with the $50 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in 1998 - to position the Walton College among the nation’s most reputable and competitive business schools," Williams added

As one of those steps, in the fall of 2003, the Walton College launched a new undergraduate core business curriculum, which aligns courses with the processes used by real businesses. The new program has been five years in the making and has garnered considerable national attention as innovative and timely for today’s business environment.

In April 2003, the College announced that the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation will provide $8 million to construct Willard J. Walker Hall at the Sam M. Walton College of Business to house its Graduate School of Business and several research centers.