For the 11th consecutive year, U.S.News & World Report has ranked DePaul University’s part-time Master of Business Administration (MBA) program among the 10 best in the nation in its annual ranking of graduate programs released April 1. DePaul’s program placed eighth—up one spot from last year—in the rankings, which are closely watched by students and university administrators across the country.

Chicago business schools were well represented in the top 10 again this year, with University of Chicago ranking second and Northwestern University (Kellogg) ranking third in the part-time MBA category. Nationally, the majority of MBA students study in part-time programs, which allow students to work full-time while attending classes in the evenings, on weekends or in other formats.

Arthur Kraft, dean of DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, said the program’s consistent top-10 ranking acknowledges the school’s steadfast focus on offering a well-respected, flexible, practical program of business study tailored for working professionals. “We aren’t resting on our laurels, however,” Kraft said. “We are continually updating the program in response to the changing educational needs of working professionals.”

Kellstadt recently completed a curriculum review and soon will implement enhancements to the part-time program to make it even more customized and career-focused for busy, on-the-go professionals who want to earn an MBA. The program has been streamlined to encompass 14 to 15 classes for students with previous business course work and 18 courses for students with no undergraduate business education.

Concentration requirements have been revised to allow students to customize the curriculum to meet their individual career goals. For example, many students will take two concentrations to gain the specific skills they need to fit their unique career goals.

The business school also increased the number of courses available online this year to meet the needs of executives and managers who may work long hours, travel frequently, transfer positions mid-program, or are located far from DePaul’s campuses.

Enrolling about 1,900 students, DePaul’s part-time MBA program offers a diverse slate of 18 concentrations, including innovative study areas associated with the business school’s centers in behavioral finance, entrepreneurship, real estate, and strategy execution and valuation. Kellstadt also offers a joint law/MBA degree and MBA programs with full-time day and weekend formats. The school’s programs are available abroad, too, with DePaul MBA degrees offered in Bahrain and the Czech Republic.

The college’s entrepreneurship program recently was recognized in another notable ranking. Entrepreneur magazine chose it as one of the top 13 entrepreneur programs in the nation in the magazine’s April edition. In other U.S. News rankings, the DePaul College of Law’s health law program was ranked 10th and its intellectual property program was ranked 11th in their respective categories.

U.S. News & World Report’s specialty graduate program rankings are based on ratings provided by educators at peer institutions. Selected rankings are published in the 2006 edition of the guidebook, “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” the April 11 edition of U.S. News & World Report magazine and on the U.S. News premium Web site: USNews.com. The U.S. News 2006 top-10 ranked part-time MBA programs were:

1. New York University (Stern)

2. University of Chicago

3. Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)

4. University of California-Los Angeles (Anderson)

5. University of Southern California (Marshall)

6. Georgia State University (Robinson) and University of California-Berkeley (Haas) were tied.

8. DEPAUL UNIVERSITY (Kellstadt) (IL)

9. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ross)

10. University of Maryland-College Park (Smith)