Biola Ranked No. 1 Amongst NAIA Schools in National News & World Report ?Up-and-Coming Schools?
By Chad Waller, Director of Communications and Sports Information
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In addition to the “Up-and-Coming Schools” rankings, U.S. News & World Report releases an annual ranking of the best colleges, divided into four distinct lists—National University Rankings, National Liberal Arts College Rankings, Regional Universities Rankings and Regional Colleges Rankings—based on a school’s range of undergraduate majors as well as the master’s and Ph.D programs offered at the institution. A high number of NAIA institutions were listed on one of those four distinct lists. Look for more news about these institutions in Associaiton News in the coming weeks. |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Biola University (Calif.) was the leader among all NAIA institutions on the National “Up-and-Coming Schools” list, announced in the 2015 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings in early September. Biola was tied for No. 10 overall in the National Universities category of the “Up-and-Coming Schools” list.
For the seventh year in-a-row in 2014, U.S. News asked top academics participating in the U.S. News peer assessment survey to name the schools that they think are "Up-and-Coming Schools." College presidents, provosts and admissions deans were asked to nominate up to 10 colleges in their U.S. News Best Colleges ranking category "that are making improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity and facilities. These schools are worth watching because they are making promising and innovative changes."
The Up-and-Coming rankings were based solely on the responses by those college administrators.
Biola is a private, Christian-centered institution that was founded in 1908. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 4,353 and located in southern California. Biola is a member of the Golden State Athletic Conference and competes in 19 sports – with nine men’s programs and 10 women’s programs.
Within the “Up-and-Coming Schools” list, Biola is the only non-NCAA Division I institution. All 19 of its sports programs were named to the 2013-14 NAIA Scholar-Team list, an honor given to NAIA teams with a minimum 3.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) as defined by the institution. The average GPA for all of those teams was 3.40. The women’s cross country team tied for No. 4 on the GPA list (3.81) among all NAIA institutions.
It is the fourth time in five years Biola has been named to the “Up-and-Coming Schools”ranking, which appeared for the first time in 2008. The University is also tied for No. 161 on the Best National Universities category by the U.S. News & World Report.
“It is an honor to be recognized by our peers four out of five years on the ‘Up and Coming’ list of national universities," said Biola University President Barry H. Corey. "I trust it speaks not only to Biola’s improvements and innovative initiatives in recent years, including Open Biola, online programs such as IRIS, and new academic centers such as the Biola University Center for Christian Thought and the Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts, but to how we are strategically poised to achieve our boldest aspirations as a Christian university in the decades to come.”
Two other schools were mentioned on their respective regional lists for “Up-and-Coming Schools:” Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.) and John Brown University (Ark.). Embry-Riddle is the largest and oldest aviation school in the world and located in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Eagles compete in 17 varsity sports in The Sun Conference. John Brown, a private Christian university in Siloam Springs, Ark., competes in 10 varsity sports in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
NAIA Schools ranked on Regional Universities list in “Up-and-Coming Schools” Category
• South:
o No. 6 (tie) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.)
NAIA Schools ranked on Regional Colleges list in “Up-and-Coming Schools” Category
• South:
o No. 3 (tie) John Brown University (Ark.)
Overall schools ranked on National Universities list in “Up-and-Coming Schools” Category
1. University of Maryland—Baltimore County
NCAA Division I
No. 2 Arizona State University—Tempe
NCAA Division I
3. University of Central Florida
NCAA Division I
Orlando, FL
4. Northeastern University (Mass.)
NCAA Division I
5. University of Southern California
NCAA Division I
6. Georgia State University
NCAA Division I
7. Indiana University-Purdue University—Indianapolis
NCAA Division I
8. (tie) Clemson University (S.C.)
NCAA Division I
8. (tie) Portland State University
NCAA Division I
10. (tie) Biola University (Calif.)
NAIA
10. (tie) Drexel University (Pa.)
NCAA Division I
10. (tie) George Mason University (Va.)
NCAA Division I
10. (tie) Tulane University (La.)
NCAA Division I
14. University of Alabama—Birmingham
NCAA Division I
