UNM has been crowned the “king of graduate schools” for Hispanics in the United States, according to a recent ranking.
Hispanic Business magazine ranked UNM fourth in business, sixth in engineering and 10th in both law and medicine in its annual list released this week. UNM was the only school to be ranked in the top 10 in all four categories.
Rosa Cervantes, El Centro de la Raza director, said she was not surprised that UNM made top marks, but she was delighted the University is receiving positive attention.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” she said. “I think it’s amazing that we’re able to highlight the things UNM is doing on a national level.”
El Centro is a UNM organization committed to helping the Hispanic student community succeed by providing resources and assistance, Cervantes said. El Centro has only six employees, but provides support to the more than 11,000 Hispanic students, she said.
A key to providing those resources, such as mentoring, advisement, scholarship opportunities and more, comes from networking and building relationships with the community in and around UNM, she said.
“Through that we’re trying to scale up the program so we’re serving a larger number of students,” she said.
Provost Chaouki Abdallah said in a statement that UNM prides itself on providing a learning community to a diverse student population and the fact that UNM is the only school that ranked in the top 10 on all four lists is a testament to the University’s ability to foster learning among all groups.
“I am always happy to hear news like this,” he said. “It is a reminder that we can accomplish great things when we connect promising students and faculty with the resources of a flagship university.”
Cervantes said that although El Centro is focused on supporting the Hispanic community, the doors are open to any students who would like help or guidance.
In the report on the listing from HispanicBusiness.com, Michael Caplinger reports that the 40 schools that made it into the rankings this year “represent the cream of the crop” when it comes to Hispanic postgraduate enrollment and faculty numbers.
According to the article, UNM has an average of 31.6 percent Hispanic enrollment in the four disciplines by which the rankings are judged, and has one of the highest Hispanic faculty rates in the country.
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Although UNM has made the list several years running, the article did mention that there was some close competition this year, as the University of Miami and the University of Texas, Austin, both ranked in the top 10 in three of the four lists.
Cervantes said that El Centro will be working to expand student resources in the upcoming years by bringing on more staff and reaching out to more local organizations for partnership in order to keep UNM at the top of the rankings.
More importantly, they will be building on their work in order to help students, and Cervantes is extending an open invitation to those who would like to learn more, she said.
“More than anything I want to invite you to come and take a tour of the facility,” she said. “We have a home away from home for students.”
Top 10 business schools
1 – University of Texas at El Paso
2 – New York University
3 – University of Texas at Austin
4 – University of New Mexico
5 – Stanford University
6 – University of California, Berkeley
7 – University of Virginia
8 – University of Miami
9 – Yale University
10 – University of Texas at El Paso
Top 10 engineering schools
1 – Georgia Institute of Technology
2 – University of Texas at Austin
3 – Purdue University
4 – University of Texas at El Paso
5 – University of Texas at San Antonio
6 – University of New Mexico
7 – University of Central Florida
8 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9 – Cal Poly Pomona
10 – University of Florida
Top 10 medical schools
1 – University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
2 – University of Miami
3 – University of Texas
4 – University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
5 – Baylor College of Medicine
6 – University of Texas Medical Branch
7 – Stanford University
8 – Florida State University
9 – Florida International University
10 – University of New Mexico
Top 10 law schools
1 – Florida International University
2 – Florida State University
3 – University of Miami
4 – American University
5 – Nova Southwestern University
6 – University of Texas at Austin
7 – University of Southern California
8 – University of San Francisco
9 – University of California at Los Angeles
10 – University of New Mexico
Source:HispanicBusiness.com
Daniel Montaño is a news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
