Pitt Makes Strong Showing in Chronicle of Higher Education’s Almanac Issue 2009-10

Phipps Conservatory with Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in the background

The University of Pittsburgh has made a strong showing in a number of key institutional quality indicators reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s recently published Almanac Issue 2009-10, which ranks leading American colleges and universities in a range of categories.

In the category Top Institutions in Federal Research-and-Development Expenditures for Science and Engineering, Pitt maintained its ranking of 8th among public universities in this year’s Almanac. Pitt continues to outrank Arizona, Berkeley, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas, among many others, in this category, based upon information supplied by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In the category College and University Endowments Over $250 Million, based on information supplied by the National Association of College and University Business Officers [NACUBO], Pitt maintained its ranking of 8th among all U.S. public universities in this year’s Almanac, placing ahead of Berkeley, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Ohio State, Purdue, UCLA, Washington, and Wisconsin, among many others. A most telling aspect of this category is a column that shows how much market values of endowments changed during the 2008 fiscal year; in it, Pitt’s one-year change was +3.5 percent, a better performance than more than 80 percent of the 221 institutions in this category were able to achieve; indeed, nearly 60 percent of them had negative percentages in this column.

In the category Largest Endowments per Student, based on information supplied by NACUBO, Pitt is ranked 11th in this year’s Almanac among public institutions, up from 12th last year, outpacing such other institutions as Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Ohio State, Washington, and Wisconsin.

In the category Top Institutions in Total Research-and-Development Expenditures for Science and Engineering, Pitt is ranked 12th among all U.S. public universities in this year’s Almanac, up from 14th last year, and 19th among all U.S. universities, up from 21st last year, ahead of Berkeley, Colorado, Columbia, Emory, Harvard, Illinois, Maryland, Northwestern, Texas, USC, Vanderbilt, and Yale. This ranking was based upon information supplied by the NSF.

In the category Library Investment Index at University Research Libraries, based on information drawn from the Association of Research Libraries, Pitt is ranked No. 15 among public universities, up from No. 16 last year, and No. 26 among all U.S. universities, public and private, up from No. 28 last year, and ahead of Arizona, Iowa, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Washington University in St. Louis, among many others.