Top Programs | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: The author of this post, Crystal Baity, is a contributor to ECU News Services.


    East Carolina University graduate programs in allied health sciences, education, fine arts, medicine, nursing and public administration have been recognized among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report.

    The 2021 Best Graduate Programs were announced March 17.

    "ECU is on an upward trajectory and it is gratifying to see our programs receive this recognition on a national stage," said Dr. Grant Hayes, acting provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "Our faculty and staff bring passion and excellence to their work and that is reflected in the success of our students as well as our programs."

    ECU's Brody School of Medicine was ranked 15th in the nation in family medicine. The College of Nursing's nurse-midwifery program was ranked 13th in the nation. Both programs aim to increase the number of providers in rural areas of the state.

    Several allied health programs, whose rankings are based solely on peer assessment, were listed: occupational therapy, 36th; audiology, 46th; physical therapy, 71st; speech-language pathology, 72nd; and clinical psychology, 129th.

    Occupational therapy was listed in the top 20% of 198 programs across the country. The physical therapy program is in the top 30% out of 239 programs in the nation.

    Graduate education was ranked 123rd out of 255 schools, placing it in the top 50%. This was up from 2020, when ECU's graduate education program was listed 163rd out of 257 schools.

    The Master of Fine Arts program ranked 110th out of 226, placing it in the top 50% of schools ranked.

    ECU's Master of Public Administration, listed under public affairs in the annual guide, ranked 152nd.

    Each year, U.S. News ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing, including specialties in each area.

    The rankings in these areas are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. The data for the rankings in the six disciplines comes from statistical surveys of more than 2,081 programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 24,603 academics and professionals conducted in fall 2019 and early 2020.

    Beyond the six major disciplines ranked annually, U.S. News periodically ranks programs in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, health and other areas based solely on academic experts' ratings. Graduate programs in public affairs, audiology, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, pharmacy, clinical psychology, occupational therapy and nursing midwifery and master's programs in fine arts received new rankings this year, according to U.S. News.

    For more information, visit the U.S. News & World Report website.