New graduate school rankings spotlight SDSU health professions, education

San Diego State University’s master’s degree program in speech-language pathology rose to its highest position ever, No. 11, in new rankings of graduate schools by U.S. News & World Report, as the College of Education and the School of Nursing master’s program achieved their best placements ever as well, both in the nation’s top 50.

Released late Monday night, the Best Graduate School rankings also placed SDSU’s Rehabilitation Counseling Program (RCP) at No. 7, the audiology doctoral program at No. 23 — its highest placement to date — and the public health program at No. 27.

The five-semester M.A. program in speech-language pathology at SDSU began more than 80 years ago and is designed to train its graduates to work in any setting, including public schools, hospitals and private practices. It is among only a few programs of its kind with a bilingual (English and Spanish) concentration and a certificate in the subject, first offered in 1984.

"We continue to be a leader in training speech-language pathologists, particularly in ensuring all of our students have a strong grounding in working with people from various cultures and language backgrounds,” said Ignatius Nip, director of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences and M.A. graduate advisor.

The No. 11 ranking is up from No. 12 last year and No. 25 in 2020.

"Almost all of our students opt to gain experience in conducting research about helping people with communication disorders, which serves them well in interpreting and applying new research findings to clinical practice,” Nip said. “Our continual move up in the rankings recognizes the valuable contributions all our faculty make in the field, including research, pedagogy and clinical training."

SDSU has four additional top 50 rankings in health fields:  

• No. 23 ranking for the audiology doctorate, offered in association with the University of California San Diego, up from No. 30 last year.
• No. 27 for the public health program, up from No. 29 last year.
• No. 50 for the highly competitive nursing master’s program, up from No. 55 last year.
• No. 50 for physical therapy, up from No. 53 last year.

Nip said the joint doctorate in audiology was the first of its kind in California. Students obtain more than 2,300 clinical hours of experience throughout the four-year program, in such settings as the SDSU Audiology Clinic, which serves patients from the San Diego community, hospitals, outpatient clinics and Veterans Affairs. 

“Our students gain from our 20+ years of experience as a program and from our excellent faculty,” he added, “who are superb researchers, teachers, and/or clinicians, known for their expertise in patient-centered care, community engagement, telehealth, cross-disciplinary collaborations, health equity and international research.”

Emily Schmied, associate director for academic affairs in the School of Public Health, said the No. 27 ranking spotlights a program devoted to community service and "directly reflects the quality of education and training we provide our students and the research productivity of our faculty. Our students gain practical field and research experience by working with our community partners and in our faculty members' labs, which makes them more competitive when they enter the job market."  

In the School of Nursing, Director Karen Macauley said master’s students can avail themselves of a curriculum designed to support communities and address workforce shortages.

“We work in collaboration with all of our clinical partners in San Diego and Imperial counties to develop pipelines to serve in critical care, primary care, nursing management, and nurse faculty roles,” Macaulay said. 

The No. 45 ranking for the College of Education is up from No. 48 last year, and 10 spots better than its ranking in 2021.

“This milestone moment for our college comes at a challenging time in higher education, with growing political debate and uncertainty about state and federal funding,” said Y. Barry Chung, dean of the College of Education. “In light of these challenges, I would like to thank all our students, faculty and staff who roll up their sleeves and make a difference for children, families and communities every day.”

The part-time MBA program in the Fowler College of Business is No. 52, its best ever in the U.S. News rankings, one step higher than last year.

U.S. News publishes rankings in some categories of college education annually; others are issued on an irregular basis. Virtually all of this year’s rankings for SDSU are tied with other institutions.

Jeff Ristine, Peggy Pico and Michael Klitzing contributed to this article.