Eight graduate programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder were cited for excellence in 1999 in selected disciplines ranked by U.S. News and World Report.
CU-Boulder聮s Ph.D. program in atomic and molecular physics was ranked fourth in the nation. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was ranked first, followed by Harvard and Stanford.
Overall, CU-Boulder's doctoral program in physics tied for 25th best in the nation along with the Ohio State University and Rice University.
The School of Law's specialty program in environmental law was tied for seventh in the nation along with Georgetown University. Overall, the law school ranked 45th in the nation.
The Ph.D. program in physical chemistry was ranked ninth in the nation. Overall, the CU-Boulder doctoral program in chemistry was tied for 20th with six other schools, including the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania and Ohio State University.
The CU-Boulder School of Education graduate program tied for 29th in the nation with Cornell University. The College of Engineering and Applied Science's graduate program was tied for 33rd in the nation with Duke University.
The rankings were based on reputation, student selectivity, faculty resources and research activity.
U.S. News has rated academic programs in previous years that did not receive a new rating this year. In 1998, CU-Boulder聮s psychology program was tied for 18th with seven other universities and the speech pathology graduate program was tied for 21st in the nation with eight other universities.
In 1997, CU-Boulder was tied for 20th in music. In 1996, CU-Boulder was rated 13th in advertising.
"This national recognition is an indicator of the high quality of CU-Boulder's graduate academic programs," said Chancellor Richard Byyny. "It is particularly noteworthy because of our relatively small graduate student population.
"We are pleased that so many of our programs have been ranked, and several of them in the top 25," Byyny said.
Graduate student enrollment is less than 20 percent of the total student population of about 25,000 at CU-Boulder.