Correction Appended
AU's School of Public Affairs ranked 14th on U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Graduate Schools 2009" listing of best public affairs graduate schools.
George Washington University's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, Georgetown University's Georgetown Public Policy Institute and eight other schools tied with AU for the placement.
The survey, which the magazine released late last month, looked at both whole graduate schools and each school's specific programs. Leaders of 269 public affairs schools, listed by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, judged the academic quality of master's programs.
The magazine compiled and compared the scores and then ranked the schools. The survey also ranked specific programs. AU ranked sixth for public management and 18th for public finance and budgeting. The public policy and non-profit management programs 21st and 23rd, respectively.
SPA also ranked 16th on the publication's list of top graduate criminology programs. The Washington College of Law ranked 53rd among top law schools, while the School of Education, Teaching and Health ranked 103rd among top education graduate programs. AU ranked 106th among top fine arts graduate programs, according to the magazine's Web site.
SPA Dean William LeoGrande said he is very proud of how the school ranked.
"SPA has always been distinguished by its commitment to a curriculum that combines the best scholarship with practical wisdom that comes from experience," he said.
SPA's faculty members were likely a large factor in the school's rankings, according to Howard McCurdy, chair of the school's Department of Publiac Administration and Policy. He said SPA professors David Rosenbloom, Robert Durant and James Thurber embodied the school because they have all produced books and other material that other professors teach.
Durant won the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration's 2007 Leslie A. Whittington Excellence in Teaching Award, according to McCurdy. Rosenbloom won the American Political Science Association's John Gaus Award for his lifetime of achievement in political science scholarship. Thurber has written more than 75 scholarly articles and multiple books on political science and is the director of SPA's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Laura Conolly, a freshman in SPA, said she hopes to get into the school's five-year master's program.
"It seems like a beneficial program and would allow me to remain on AU's campus, as well as in D.C., and afford me many opportunities in future endeavors," she said.
Student Government President-elect Seth Cutter, a sophomore in SPA, said he believed the rankings proved AU's worth to the academic world.
"These rankings make every undergraduate, grad and alumni of the school proud of the education they received or are receiving," he said.
Correction: In "Magazine ranks SPA 14th on top graduate schools list," the article mentions that the Washington College of Law is ranked 53rd. In fact, WCL is ranked 46th.
