UNLV rated eighth-best “regional” public school in West

Friday, Sept. 1, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

UNLV officials said today that they are cautiously pleased by a new ranking of universities nationally that calls the school the eighth-best public school in the West.

The ranking is an annual effort by the magazine U.S. News and World Report. The magazine placed UNLV eight among public universities in the West. That ranking was among 59 "regional" universities. It did not include Western universities that were included in the group of 147 universities designated as "national" schools by the magazine. The No. 8 position on the list puts UNLV in the company of Cal-Poly-San Luis Obispo, which took the top spot for Western public schools. Western Washington University was in the No. 2 position.

UNLV was edged out by Sonoma State University in the sub-category, but beat out San Jose State University, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and California State at Fresno.

The magazine considered UNLV to be a "regional" university, so the school wasn't ranked against what the magazine considered "national" schools. UNLV was in the second-tier group of Western schools overall, ranking it in a second-place group of 28 schools, or one of a group that ranges from No. 29 through No. 56.

UNLV placed in the same group last year.

The University of Nevada, Reno, considered a national university by the magazine, was in the third tier of that group. That means the school was in a group of 55 schools, 116 notches down the list.

UNR was also in the same national group in 1999.

UNR and UNLV weren't directly compared on the overall ranking. But boosters of the Southern Nevada school might embrace the academic reputation rankings, on which UNLV scored a 3.1.

UNR scored 2.5 on the academic ranking.

Western schools that scored near UNLV in the academic reputation mark included San Francisco State and Cal State, with a 3.3 ranking.

Tom Flagg, UNLV spokesman, said university officials are still trying to decipher the meaning of the latest rankings.

"It looks like we've moved up," Flagg said. He said the university did not score in the top 10 of Western public universities last year.

The improvement is a reflection of other rankings and classifications which show that UNLV is gaining a reputation as a top academic and research institution, he said.

UNR officials said they, too, are happy with the ranking.

"We're ecstatic," said Greg Bortolin, UNR spokesman. "This is the 11th straight year that we have been ranked as a national university.

"Out of 1,023 colleges and universities nationwide, the University of Nevada, Reno is rated among 288 national universities," he said -- and one of 146 public schools.

The U.S. News and World Report annual listing is meant as a rough guide for students. The editors of the magazine noted that there are many other factors in determining where to attend a university or college.

Factors used in compiling the list included academic reputation, the student retention rate, the academic test scores of the students, faculty resources and graduation rate performance, among others.