The part-time Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at DePaul University's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business again has been ranked fifth best in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of graduate business school programs released March 31. This is the sixth consecutive year that DePaul's part-time MBA has been ranked among the top 10 and the second year it made the top five in this category.

     Chicago-based business schools continue to dominate the part-time MBA program rankings, which greatly influence enrollment decisions of potential students. The University of Chicago's part-time MBA was ranked second and Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Business program placed third this year, the same rankings they achieved last year.

     The category's other ranked schools were: New York University (Stern) in first place, University of California-Los Angeles (Anderson) in fourth place, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in fifth place (a tie with DePaul), University of Southern California (Marshall) in seventh place, University of California-Berkeley (Haas) in eighth place, Georgia State University (Robinson) in ninth place and Babson College (Olin) in 10th place.

     DePaul's continual success in the rankings can be attributed to innovative teaching by faculty with real world business experience and the curriculum's responsiveness to the educational needs of business professionals and their employers, said Arthur Kraft, dean of the business school. Kellstadt also has been in the forefront of programs that stress education in the global economy and electronic commerce, Kraft said.

     "As Kellstadt enters the 21st Century, technological change, globalization and diversity are shaping the new knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that tomorrow's successful business leaders need," he said. "The school is uniquely positioned to meet the educational needs of future business leaders. It has developed close partnerships with the business community, its alumni and organizations throughout the world. Since business is a dynamic field, it is critical to offer up-to-date curricula that meet the needs of the business community on a worldwide basis."

     The school's focus on international business education led to the founding of a part-time MBA program in Hong Kong for employees of the International Bank of Asia in 1997 and the launch of an innovative, full-time MBA in International Marketing and Finance in 1994. DePaul's Driehaus Center for International Business, opened in 1993, sponsors numerous other business education programs.

     To prepare students for changes in business brought by the electronic revolution, Kellstadt added an e-business MBA concentration in January. It also will offer an MBA concentration in Enterprise Research Planning and a technologically advanced master's degree in Marketing Analysis next fall.

     Kellstadt is the seventh largest graduate business school in the nation by enrollment. Approximately 2,100 of the school's 2,500 students are enrolled in the part-time MBA program, one of seven master's degrees offered. A typical student in the part-time MBA program works full-time while attending evening or weekend business classes offered at DePaul's Loop Campus in downtown Chicago, O'Hare campus in Des Plaines or Naperville Campus.

     The U.S. News rankings are based a variety of criteria gathered in an extensive annual survey of business school deans and MBA program directors. The full graduate school rankings are available on-line at the Web address www.usnews.com as of March 31 and will be available in the forthcoming U.S. News "America's Best Graduate Schools" guidebook. Selected rankings also will appear in the magazine's April 3 issue.

Editor's Note: U.S. News' media contact for the rankings is Richard Folkers: (202) 955-2219.