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An audiologist checks hearing of a patient

Two SHS programs rank among best grad programs in nation

Two programs in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois ranked among the best graduate programs in the nation, according to rankings released today in U.S. News and World Report’s 2021 edition of the “America’s Best Graduate Schools” guide.

SHS’s Speech and Language Pathology program ranked 20th of 261 schools, while Audiology ranked 24 of 74 schools, a 10-place rise from the last rankings in 2017.

“The vision of SHS is to serve as a global leader for interdisciplinary research, education, clinical practice, and public engagement in human communication and its disabilities across the lifespan,” said  Karen Iler Kirk, Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Professor and Head Program Director for the Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology and Doctor of Audiology Programs. “We are proud to be ranked among the best programs in the nation. I want to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of our faculty, students and staff in achieving this recognition.”

U.S. News ranks professional school programs in six major disciplines: business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing.

The Best Graduate Schools 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 all 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.

U.S. News first published a reputation-only graduate school ranking in 1987. The annual America's Best Graduate Schools report began in 1990. See more of the rankings here.

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