DATE: February 12, 2008

CONTACT: Hoke Hill, (864) 656-3047
hhill@clemson.edu

WRITER: Julie Ledbetter, (864) 656-2061
jeledbe@clemson.edu

Clemson Ph.D. program ranked in top 10 by Chronicle of Higher Education

CLEMSON – Clemson University’s applied economics Ph.D. program, a joint effort of the departments of applied economics and statistics and economics, has been ranked ninth nationally for Ph.D. programs in applied economics in the 2007 Top Research Universities Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index by the Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE).

The ranking examines faculty productivity within Ph.D. programs at 375 universities. CHE, a leading publication in academe, does a top-10 ranking of various programs annually. 

Charles Curtis, a professor in the department of applied economics and statistics, said he considers this a very prestigious award.

“It is excellent to be recognized with the other great faculties in the country,” he said.

For this index, CHE examines faculty members who are listed on a Ph.D. program’s Web site, a total of 217,254 names.

The faculty is judged on as many as five factors, including books published, journal publications, citations of journal articles, federal-grant dollars awarded and honors and awards. These factors may vary depending on their importance to the discipline. Each factor also is assigned a weighted value.

Hoke Hill, chairman of the department of applied economics and statistics, believes the award will provide future benefit for the department.

“One of the main benefits of being recognized in a widely circulated national publication is the assistance it might provide in recruiting outstanding faculty and graduate students,” he said.

Curtis added that the award makes the members of department proud and speaks to the research mission of the university.

“It makes us feel like we are contributing to the collective university goal of the top 20 (in college rankings),” he said.