Posted 01/08/2007

Arnold School's Exercise Science Department ranked tops in U.S., according to new index

The Arnold School of Public Health Department of Exercise Science has the top ranked program in kinesiology and exercise science in the United States, according to a new annual index of college graduate programs. 

The USC program was ranked first by the Faculty Scholar Productivity Index, partly financed by the State University of New York at Stony Brook and produced by Academic Analytics, a for-profit company. 

Based on data from 2005, the most recent index is quoted in the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

The index ranks 7,294 individual doctoral programs in 104 disciplines at 354 institutions. It also ranks institutions in broader categories, like the humanities and biological sciences, as well as institutions as a whole. 

Using a complex formula developed to ensure objectivity, the index rates programs based on the number of book and journal articles published by each program's faculty, as well as journal citations, awards, honors, and grants received.  

Dr. Larry Durstine, chair of the USC department, said his faculty and staff achieve excellence because the teaching tradition does not take second place to research and publishing efforts.

 “We all work together for a common goal and that common goal is to be the best,” he said.

 Arnold School Dean Dr. Donna Richter said she was delighted with the recognition.

 "It is wonderful to see the excellent work done by our EXSC faculty receiving very public acclaim in an authoritative national publication like the Chronicle of Higher Education. We always knew they were great, but now everyone else knows, too," Richter said. 

USC Vice President for Research and Health Dr. Harris Pastides also sent congratulations to Durstine and the faculty of the department, as well as to Dean Richter and the Arnold School. 

The Exercise Science department has an undergraduate program with an enrollment of about 500 students and a graduate program with about 100 students, Durstine said. There are ten tenure-track faculty members and seven non-tenure track faculty members. 

Along with Durstine, the department has several high profile faculty members. Durstine, who has been at USC since 1982, was the first recipient of Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor Award. 

He currently is president of the American College of Sports Medicine, a post previously held by two other faculty members, Dr. Steven Blair and Dr. Russell Pate. Others with teaching or research awards include Dr. J. Mark Davis, Dr. Sara Wilcox, Dr. James Carson, Dr. Bruce A. McClenaghan and Dr. Harriet G. Williams. 

The other universities on the top ten list of the faculty productivity list include, in descending order, Washington University in St. Louis, Louisiana State University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Iowa, the University of Maryland at College Park and the University of Delaware.