Rankings and Recognitions
University-wide
  • Listed among 70 colleges and universities making the most promising and innovative changes in 2008 by U.S. News & World Report as well as recognized for first-year "programs to look for" for the fifth year in a row. Read more about Ball State being "tops for innovation."


  • Named one of the best universities in the Midwest by  The Princeton Review for four years. Read more ... 
  • Named by The Princeton Review as one of the best 150 values among the nation's most academically outstanding colleges. Read more...
       
  • Listed in the National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) Campus Environment 2008 Report Card among schools that "have taken the lead in setting and reviewing goals for conservation and environmental or sustainability issues." Read more about the honors from NWF, citing our academic programs as well as our commitment to recycling and green landscaping and grounds management.
  • Named by Kiwi magazine as one of "75 institutions of higher learning that are protecting the planet" in its 2008 Green College Report. This is the second consecutive year Kiwi has honored Ball State. Read more about how Ball State is among the top "green" schools.


  • Featured in a full chapter of a 2008 book touting the nation's top sustainability initiatives at colleges and universities. Read more ... 
  • Recognized as a university committed to diversity by Minority Access for the second year in a row in 2007. Read more...
     
  • Ranked as the nation's top wireless campus in a 2005 survey conducted by Intel and published in U.S. News & World Report. Read more...
      
     
  • Ball State University Foundation named Small Nonprofit of the Year in 2007 by Alternative Investment News and its sister publication, Foundation & Endowment Money Management, for its outstanding investment policies. Read more...
     

  • One of four universities in Indiana chosen in 2007 by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation to participate in a program intended to help overhaul teacher education and encourage exceptional teacher candidates to seek long-term careers in high-need classrooms. Read more...

  • Football Cardinals won the 2008 Mid-American Conference (MAC) West title after a perfect 12-0 regular season and earned a berth at the GMAC Bowl.

  • In the 2008-09 season, the women's basketball Cardinals had their best record, 26-9. The team won its third straight Mid-American Conference (MAC) West title, its first MAC Tournament championship, and its first NCAA Division I Tournament berth. The Cardinals stunned the women's basketball world with their first-round win in the NCAA tournament against two-time defending national champion, the University of Tennessee.
     

  • All 19 Ball State athletic teams did well in the 2008 NCAA Academic Progress Rate report, and 14 exceeded the national average for all Division I institutions. In the 12 Mid-American Conference schools, Ball State's football score was the third highest, and the women's basketball score was secondLearn more ...
  • In 2008, Ball State was ranked ninth in the fifth annual issue of Gender Equity Scorecard. The publication graded 115 colleges and universities in the 11 major NCAA Division I conferences. Ball State was one of only 11 schools to receive an A grade.

  • Ranked third in the country in the 2008 Glass Ceiling Report Card, which grades how well colleges and universities provide coaching opportunities for women. Ball State was one of only four institutions to receive an A+.

  • Second straight Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular-season championship in women's soccer in 2007, the first team in MAC history to win two straight regular-season titles.
Academic Programs

Architecture

Architecture/Planning

  • Multiple programs within Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning were listed in Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. The urban planning program was rated 17th nationwide. The architecture department's graduate program in historic preservation was rated seventh. Read more …

Landscape Architecture

  • Ranked as the nation's eighth best undergraduate program and fifth best graduate program in the 2009 edition of Design Intelligence's America's Best Architecture and Design Schools. This marks the third straight year the undergraduate program has made the top 10 and the second year the graduate program is in the top five. Read more about our landscape architecture programs' distinction.

Entrepreneurship

  • Ranked 11th in 2008 by Entrepreneur/The Princeton Review and 10th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Read more about honors for our entrepreneurship program.
  • Ranked in the top 25 undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the nation by Fortune Small Business magazine. Read more... 

Music

  • Recognized by In Tune magazine in its "Best Music Schools" 2009 listing, placing our School of Music among other elite institutions such as Juilliard, Oberlin, and the Boston Conservatory. Read more about honors for our music program.

Telecommunications

  • A total of 21 Emmys since 2000 along with 80 regional Emmy nominations.
  • Gold Student Academy Award won by two students in 2006 for their short film, Perspective. Another student won the same award in 2005.   Read more ... 

Journalism

  • Ranked among the top 45 journalism programs in the country in 2007 by Editor & Publisher, the nation's oldest publication covering the newspaper industry. Read more...

Emerging Media

  • The only multiple award winner in the 2008 Campus Technology magazine's Innovator competition. Ball State was recognized for virtual world learning and digital media training and support. Read more about the Innovator awards.

Center for Information and Communication Sciences (CICS)

  • Named Graduate Program of the Year by the International Telecommunication, Education and Research Association for 2007-2008. Read more...

Information Systems/CICS

  • Recognized by Computerworld magazine in 2008. A team of information systems students from the Miller College of Business and six graduate students from the Center for Information and Communication Sciences developed a business continuity and network security plan benefiting Delaware County government agencies.

Finance

  • Ranked 11th nationally for quality teaching in an independent study published in the spring 2006 issue of Advances in Financial EducationRead more...

Educational Leadership  

  • Ranked 19th among the nation's top leadership development programs by Leadership Excellence magazine. The program has been ranked for four consecutive years.

Teachers College

  • The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities was listed in the top 2 percent of public high schools in the country in a 2009 Newsweek analysis. The academy is Indiana's only public residential high school for gifted and talented students.
  • Burris Laboratory School, which serves Ball State's teaching majors, listed among the nation's best high schools in a "2008 Best High Schools" analysis by U.S. News & World Report. Read more...
  • Nancy Zimpher Award for Best Partnership, the highest honor given by the national Holmes Partnership, in recognition of the college's Professional Development Schools Network partnership with Rhoades Elementary School in Indianapolis. Read more...
  • The Department of Elementary Education was recognized as a 2007 Distinguished Program in Teacher Education by the Association of Teacher Educators.

Nursing

Business

  • Recognized as one of the best undergraduate programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in the 2006 rankings.

Sales

  • The University Sales Education Foundation ranked Ball State's program, based in our H.H. Gregg Center for Professional Selling, among the top 26 university sales programs in the United States. The foundation's findings were published in the 2008 edition of Top University Sales Education Programs, a supplement to Selling Power magazine. The foundation's assessment included centers for professional selling and other programs.
Architecture Lab
Points of Distinction