Auburn University - Academics

Academics

Auburn has traditionally been rated highly by academic ranking services, and has been listed as one of the top 50 public universities for 20 consecutive years. The 2011 edition of U.S. News and World Reports ranks Auburn as the 82nd university in the nation among public and private schools and 37th among public universities. Auburn was the only college or university in Alabama included in the inaugural edition (1981) of the widely respected Peterson's Guides to America's 296 Most Competitive Colleges.

Auburn is a charter member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which is currently composed of 13 of the largest Southern public universities in the US and one private university, Vanderbilt. Among the other 12 peer public universities, only the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, and the University of Alabama are ranked ahead of Auburn in the 2011 edition of U.S. News & World Report. This high ranking and reputation for academic quality is in spite of the fact that Auburn's $378.6 million endowment is currently the second smallest of the 12 SEC universities. An attempt to increase the endowment by $500 million began in 2005 with the "It Begins at Auburn" campaign. As of August 2006, the campaign had raised $523 million, making it the largest campaign in university history.

The university currently consists of thirteen schools and colleges. Programs in architecture, pharmacy, veterinary science, engineering, forestry, and business have been ranked among the best in the country.

The journal DesignIntelligence in its 2009 edition of "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools" ranked Auburn's undergraduate Architecture program No. 12 and Industrial Design program No. 7 nationally, and the deans of Architecture schools ranked the Architecture program the second most admired. In addition, Auburn's graduate Landscape Architecture program was ranked No. 14 nationally and Industrial Design program 5th.

The undergraduate Interior Design program in the College of Human Sciences is ranked No. 1 nationally by DesignIntelligence magazine. For its annual survey, “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools,” the publication asked 277 leading architecture and design firms which schools best prepare students for success in the profession. Based on Interior Design programs accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA), Auburn was ranked No. 1 in the nation, along with Savannah College of Art and Design.

The Department of Foundations, Leadership and Technology of the College of Education was ranked 7th in the nation by Academic Analytics in 2008.

Auburn University's College of Architecture pioneered the joining of architecture and interior design curriculum with the nation's first interior architecture degree program. The Dual Degree Architecture & Interior Architecture degree was the first in the nation as well. Auburn University's College of Architecture, Design, and Construction also pioneered the nations first Design Build Master's Degree program, hence capitalizing on The College of Architecture, Design and Construction's "Building Science" program with Auburn's "Rural Studio" program where Architectural students build highly creative and ingenious homes for some of the poorest regions of Alabama. These homes and efforts have been publicized by People Magazine, Time, featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, numerous Architectural and Construction periodicals as well. Of critical mention here is the School's Rural Studio program, founded by the late Samuel Mockbee.

The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has a 134-year tradition of engineering education, consistently ranking in the nation's top 20 engineering programs in terms of numbers of engineers graduating annually. The college has a combined enrollment of close to 4,000. Auburn's College of Engineering offers majors in civil, mechanical, electrical, industrial and systems engineering, polymer and fiber engineering, aerospace, agricultural, bio-systems, materials, chemical engineering, computer science, and software engineering, and—more recently—began a program in wireless engineering after receiving a donation from alumnus Samuel L. Ginn. In 2001, Ginn, a noted US pioneer in wireless communication, made a $25 million gift to the college and announced plans to spearhead an additional $150 million in support. This gave Auburn the first Bachelor of Wireless Engineering degree program in the United States. Auburn University was the first university in the Southeast to offer the bachelor of software engineering degree and the master of software engineering degree.

Auburn has historically placed much of its emphasis on the education of engineers at the undergraduate level, and in recent years has been ranked as high as the 10th largest undergraduate engineering program in the US in terms of the number of undergraduate degrees awarded on annual basis. The Ginn College of Engineering is now focused on growing the graduate programs, and recent rankings demonstrate the increasing profile of graduate engineering education at Auburn. The Ginn College of Engineering was recently ranked 60th nationally overall and 35th among public universities that offer doctoral programs in engineering by U.S. News and World Report. Last year, the College ranked 67th among all engineering programs and 40th among such programs at public universities. "America's Best Graduate Schools 2006" ranks the Ginn College of Engineering's graduate program in the Top 100 graduate engineering programs in the US. Auburn's Industrial and Systems Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering were all ranked in the top 100.

Auburn also boasts strong programs in veterinary medicine, mathematics, science, agriculture, and journalism.

Auburn's Economics Department (formerly in the College of Business, now in the College of Liberal Arts) was ranked 123rd in the world in 1999 by the Journal of Applied Econometrics. Auburn was rated ahead of such international powerhouses as INSEAD in France (141st) and the London Business School (146th). Auburn's MBA Program in the College of Business has annually been ranked by U.S. News and World Report magazine in the top ten percent of the nation's more than 750 MBA Programs. The Ludwig von Mises Institute offices were once located in the business department of Auburn University, and the LvMI continues to work with the university on many levels.

Nationally recognized ROTC programs are available in three branches of service: Air Force, Army, and Navy/Marine Corps, the latter being the only one of its kind in Alabama. Each of these three ROTC units is ranked among the top ten in the nation. Over 100 officers that attended Auburn have reached flag rank (general or admiral), including one, Carl Epting Mundy Jr., who served as Commandant of the US Marine Corps. Auburn is one of only seven universities in the Nuclear Enlisted Commissioning Program, and has historically been one of the top ROTC producers of Navy nuclear submarine officers.

In addition to the many outstanding ROTC graduates commissioned through Auburn, two masters degree alumni from Auburn, four-star generals Hugh Shelton and Richard Myers, served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the last decade. Both officers received their commissions elsewhere, and attended Auburn for an M.S. (Shelton) and M.B.A. (Myers).

Auburn has graduated six astronauts (including T.K. Mattingly of Apollo 13 fame) and one current and one former director of the Kennedy Space Center. 1972 Auburn Mechanical Engineering graduate Jim Kennedy, currently director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, was previously deputy director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Several hundred Auburn graduates, primarily engineers and scientists, currently work directly for NASA or NASA contractors. Hundreds of Auburn engineers worked for NASA at MSFC during the peak years of the "space race" in the 1960s, when the Saturn and Apollo moon programs were in full development.

Auburn University owns and operates the 423-acre (1.71 km2) Auburn University Regional Airport, providing flight education and fuel, maintenance, and airplane storage. The Auburn University Aviation Department is fully certified by the FAA as an Air Agency with examining authority for private, commercial, instrument, and multiengine courses. The College of Business's Department of Aviation Management and Supply Chain Management is the only program in the country to hold dual accreditation by both the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI). Created over 65 years ago, Auburn's flight program is also the second oldest university flight program in the United States.

Auburn University has been recognized as having some of the best agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and poultry science programs in the US. The Old Rotation on campus is the oldest continuous agricultural experiment in the Southeast, and third oldest in the United States, dating from 1896. In addition, the work of Dr. David Bransby on the use of switchgrass as a biofuel was the source of its mention in the 2006 State of the Union Address.

The university recently began a Master of Real Estate Development program. This is one of the few in the Southeast, with primary competition with the University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of South Florida, and Clemson University. The program has filled a void of professional real estate education in Alabama.

Modern Healthcare ranked Auburn University’s Physicians Executive M.B.A. (PEMBA) program in the College of Business ninth in the nation among all degree programs for physician executives, according to the Journal’s May 2006 issue. Among M.B.A. programs tailored specifically for physicians, AU’s program is ranked second.