BRADFORD, Pa. – For the first time in the institution’s history, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has been recognized in U.S.News and World Report’s annual rankings of the best colleges in America based on its overall quality and its small class sizes, student-to-faculty ratio, number of full-time faculty and other factors.

The university was named one of the 30 best baccalaureate colleges in the north. The exclusive rankings will be published in the magazine’s Aug. 27 issue, “America’s Best Colleges 2008” on newsstands Monday, Aug. 20, and available online at www.usnews.com/colleges beginning today.

Pitt-Bradford, which was one of only 10 Pennsylvania universities to make the list, is ranked in a category with baccalaureate colleges in other states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Delaware and Maryland.

“This is a tremendous honor and an affirmation of our vision to be recognized as one of the best undergraduate colleges in our geographic regions,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, university president. “This is an important national recognition for Pitt-Bradford and is a direct result of the excellent work of our faculty, staff, advisory board, alumni, and supporters.”

U.S. News measures universities on a weighted scale of 11 indicators in six categories, including peer assessment, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

Sixty-one percent of classes at Pitt-Bradford have 20 or fewer students and only two percent of classes have 50 students or more. The university also boasts a student-to-faculty ratio of 14 to one and 80 percent of faculty members are full-time.

The U.S. News rankings give the greatest weight to peer assessment, consisting of a survey of university presidents, provosts and academic deans. Retention rates are measured, the report states, because universities are more apt to offer the courses and services students need based on the higher proportion of freshmen returning after their first year and eventually graduating. The amount of individual contact students are able to have with their professors is also measured, along with incoming students’ SAT and ACT scores, the university’s graduation rates and annual giving to the university by its alumni base.

“We are very proud to earn this recognition for the first time in Pitt-Bradford’s history,” Alexander added. “The positive peer assessment we have received indicates that our name and institution is becoming more widely recognized with education officials throughout the nation, and our reputation for excellence is growing.”

The annual rankings, in which U.S. News groups schools based on categories created by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, provide an unmatched resource for parents and students contemplating one of life’s most challenging financial decisions, according to publication officials.

 “For nearly a quarter century, consulting the U.S.News & World Report rankings has been a vital first step for prospective college students and their parents in the complex process of determining which institution best fits their goals,” said U.S.News & World Report’s editor, Brian Kelly.

He added, “Designed as a one-stop resource, the rankings supply hard data and analysis to help college applicants make apples-to-apples comparisons of schools across the country. Through these rankings, and the ‘America’s Best Colleges’ guidebook, our goal is to help equip students and their families to make a knowledgeable decision based on clear, comparative research.”

Using exclusive data, the annual U.S.News & World Report rankings represent the most comprehensive look at how schools stack up based on a set of 15 widely accepted indicators of excellence, and help consumers evaluate and compare data compiled from more than 1,400 accredited four-year schools.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Pitt-Bradford has been recognized by a national publication. Previously, Pitt-Bradford was recognized by The Princeton Review.

In 2006, the Princeton Review named Pitt-Bradford one of the 222 best colleges in the Northeast in its publication The Best Northeastern Colleges. In 2005, Pitt-Bradford was named one of the 224 best colleges in the Northeast, and in 2004 the university was recognized as one of the 115 best colleges in the Mid-Atlantic.