August 22, 2005

For the fifth year in a row, U.S. News & World Report’s 2006 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” has ranked Lyon College among the nation’s best liberal arts colleges. 

This year’s U.S. News ranking again placed Lyon in the third tier of the “Best Liberal Arts Colleges – Bachelor’s (National).” Lyon moved up four places from last year's rankings.

For many years, Lyon College was included among the best regional liberal arts colleges in the South, often first or second. It was elevated to the list of the best national liberal arts colleges five years ago.

President Walter Roettger said: "Lyon transformed itself from a leading regional comprehensive institution into a premier national liberal arts college during the 1990s, fulfilling the promise it made to Arkansas and the region to create in Arkansas an education opportunity second to none. Lyon's faculty have won national recognition from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement of Teaching. It's students are among the state and region's finest."

This year's entering freshmen class includes several National Merit Finalists, a number of Governor's
Distinguished Scholars, numerous valedictorians and members of the National Honor Society, a winner of a THEA Foundation Scholarship for theatre, numerous members of "Who's Who in American High Schools," and participants in Boys and Girls State.

Lyon improved in three key indicators of academic quality in the 2006 edition, including its 2004 graduation rate, percentage of freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school class and in its average alumni giving rate, which increased a dramatic 10 percentage points over the previous year to 39 percent. (Lyon’s most recent annual give rate, for 2004-05, was at 49 percent, which is the highest in the state.)

Heading the list of the top liberal arts colleges – bachelor’s again this year are Williams College and Amherst College, both in Massachusetts, and Swarthmore College of Pennsylvania.

Joining Lyon in the third tier are such respected institutions as Eckerd College in Florida, Ogelthorpe University and Morehouse College, both in Georgia, Cornell College in Iowa and Guilford College in North Carolina.

The criteria U.S. News uses to compile its rankings include academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, student selectivity, faculty resources, class sizes, percentage of full-time faculty, financial resources, and alumni giving rates. Schools are categorized by mission and, in some cases, by region.

Each year, U.S. News ranked more than 200 liberal arts colleges - bachelors, which focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education and award at least 50 percent of their degrees in the liberal arts. In Arkansas, only Lyon, Hendrix College and Arkansas Baptist College are included in this category

It also ranks national universities - doctoral, which offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and Ph.D. degrees, and emphasize faculty research; universities - master’s, which offer undergraduate degrees and some master’s programs but few, if any, doctoral programs; and comprehensive colleges - bachelors, which focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than 50 percent of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. These last two categories are further classified by geographic region.