For the third consecutive year, DePaul University's part-time MBA program has been ranked among the top ten in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of graduate school programs.

Joining DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business (No. 8) on the ten best part-time MBA list is the University of Chicago (No. 2) and Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Business (No. 3), making Chicago the only metropolitan area with three business schools listed in the top ten. The rankings were based on a survey of business school deans and MBA program directors.

"We're gratified to receive this kind of recognition from our peers, especially since the MBA market is so competitive," said Ronald J. Patten, dean of DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. "The fact that DePaul has consistently been in the top ten since U.S. News began ranking part-time MBA programs three years ago attests to Kellstadt's reputation as a top-notch school."

Enrollment in Kellstadt's part-time and full-time graduate business programs has grown to 2,501 this school year from 2,444 last year.

The part-time MBA program is one of seven master's degree programs offered by Kellstadt, including three degree programs in accountancy and a master of science in finance.

An increasing emphasis on global business education is one of the strengths of Kellstadt's MBA programs, Patten said. One example is DePaul's new MBA program in Hong Kong, which was launched this week by faculty members who began teaching classes to 20 students from the International Bank of Asia.

Patten said another example is DePaul's unique Master of Business Administration in International Marketing and Finance (MBA/IMF), an intensive 18-month curriculum which integrates marketing and finance with an international focus. Designed with advice from international business leaders, the program continues to draw top students from around the world to Chicago. Graduates of the MBA/IMF program emerge with an international perspective and an awareness of how important it is to integrate the key functions of marketing and finance.

The rankings are published in U.S. News' 1997 "America's Best Graduate Schools" guide, which is released at the same time as the March issue of U.S. News & World Report magazine featuring some of the guide's rankings. The part-time MBA rankings appear only in the guide this year.

The U.S. News ranking comes six months after DePaul's graduate entrepreneurship program was recognized for the third straight year as one of the top 25 business school programs for entrepreneurs in the country by SUCCESS! magazine.

TOP PART-TIME BUSINESS PROGRAM RANKINGS
FROM U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT'S
1997 "AMERICA'S BEST GRADUATE SCHOOLS"

1. New York University (Stern)

2. University of Chicago

3. Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)

4. (Tie)
University of California--Berkeley (Haas)
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor

6. (Tie)
Georgia State University
University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson)

8. DePaul University (Kellstadt) (IL)

9. Babson College (MA)

10. University of Minnesota--Twin Cities