UT 46th in U.S. News & World Report college rankings

9/13/2011

The University of Tennessee has moved up one spot to No. 46 in this year's U.S. News & World Report college rankings, the benchmark the school is using to measure its progress in reaching its goal of becoming a top-25 public university.

UT administrators were challenged by then-governor Phil Bredesen in Jan. 2010 to become a top-25 public university and has been making steady progress since. School officials have been working to increase graduation and retention rates, what Chancellor Jimmy Cheek has called low-hanging fruit in a matrix of factors that go into rankings.

UT shares its spot in the rankings with seven other universities: North Carolina State University at Raleigh, University of New Hampshire, Florida State University, University of Kansas, University of Nebraska, University of New Hampshire, University of Oklahoma and University of Oregon.

Meanwhile, Carson-Newman College, a Baptist college in Jefferson City, was named the 13th best college in the Southeast. That list is defined by schools focusing on undergraduate education and awards most of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel