Virginia State University gained 19 spots in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report’s (USN&WR) annual ranking of America’s best colleges and universities. VSU’s ranking of 75 among master’s universities in the Southern Region made the University the highest ranked, public, historically black college and university (HBCU) and the third highest ranked HBCU in the region.

 

The region in which VSU was placed includes 119 peer institutions representing 12 states. The USN&WR evaluates schools in 11 broad categories that represent six, more specific areas: peer assessment, financial resources, graduation and retention, student selectivity, faculty resources and alumni giving.

 

In 2004, VSU adopted a long range strategic plan that included, as one of its primary goals, a rise through the USN&WR rankings. At that time, VSU ranked in the Fourth Tier of the rankings. In the ensuing three years, the University has risen to the middle of the Third Tier. 

 

The USN&WR only provides numeric rankings to institutions in the top two tiers. However, each school receives its ranking and the scores in each category for peer institutions.

 

“Based upon the scores of other HBCUs, it’s clear that VSU is the highest ranked, public HBCU in the Southern Region,” said VSU Provost Dr. W. Eric Thomas. “This validates our strategy of increasing enrollment without sacrificing the quality of incoming freshmen; of nurturing students to keep them in school; and of providing the financial and academic resources to attract top quality faculty.”

 

The categories in which VSU experienced the greatest gains were: Faculty Resources, 28 spots; Student Selectivity, 12 spots; Financial Resources, 10 spots; and Alumni Giving, 13 spots.

 

According to VSU Vice President for Development, Robert L. Turner, Jr., these last two categories point to broad acknowledgment of the University’s success. “Alumni, corporations and local governments are witnessing VSU's success with its aggressive strategic plan,” he said. “They’re seeing tangible results on their support and recognize VSU as an investment with positive returns.”

 

According to Dr. Thomas, VSU is currently revising its strategic plan. He said that, of the 379 Action Items originally in the 2020 Vision Plan, nearly one-third are complete, with another 40 percent in progress. 

 

“We’ve come to the point where we’ve accomplished a great deal of what we set out to do three years ago,” he said. “We’ll keep the original goals, but update the 2020 Vision Plan to more accurately reflect our successes and the realities of where VSU is headed in the next few years.”