Northern Arizona University remained strong in the annual rankings of the nation’s top institutions for Latinos, as reported by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine.
In its May 3, 2010, edition, Hispanic Outlook ranks NAU 59th for undergraduate degrees earned by Latinos, up four places over last year. In a continuous climb since 2003, NAU has advanced ten places in the ranking and graduated more Latinos with bachelor’s degrees each year.
Doctoral degrees earned by Latinos showed the greatest gain, with NAU leaping from 70th to 42nd despite a nationwide downward trend in program enrollment.
Master’s degrees granted to Latinos from NAU dropped from 14th to 28th.
The magazine also reports the top 10 institutions awarding bachelor’s degrees to Latinos by academic program. After holding steady at 9th place for four years, NAU inched up to 8th for Latinos graduating with bachelor’s degrees in education.
“We are honored to be recognized for excellence in higher education,” said David Camacho, associate vice president for Diversity and Equity. “The Hispanic Outlook rankings demonstrate that we are providing opportunities for students to reach their academic goals.”
The rankings were derived from data collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Degrees listed were conferred between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009.
The complete list of top 100 institutions is available online.
Of the 23,600 students enrolled at NAU in 2009, 3,271 identified themselves as Hispanic—nearly 14 percent.