Exemplars of Excellence
Interim Executive Dean and Vice Provost Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier shared the message below with Arts and Sciences faculty and staff to introduce the college's 2017-2022 strategic plan.
I am pleased to share with you the 2017-2022 strategic plan for The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences. The plan provides a roadmap for the future success for the college as we seek to enhance and expand opportunities for all.
The College of Arts and Sciences is a community of excellence that equips the next generation of artists, writers, scholars and scientists for career and professional success. Our mandate does not end with the nearly 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students who find their academic home in the Arts and Sciences. We proudly serve as the hub for the whole of Ohio State, and together, we are charting the course for groundbreaking research, innovative teaching, and general education — as world-class faculty prepare our talented students from colleges and majors across campus to find success in their fields.
The college is a nationally recognized leader in many fields, with U.S. News and World Report providing an overall top-25 ranking for many of our graduate programs:
Art
- Ceramics: 4
- Sculpture: 11
Design
- Industrial Design: 7
- Interior Design: 2
History: 24
Physics: 23
Political Science: 15
- American Politics: 10
- International Politics: 8
- Political Methodology: 10
Psychology: 21
- Social Psychology: 1
Sociology: 17
- Social Stratification: 10
Speech and Hearing Science
- Audiology: 9
- Speech-Language Pathology: 17
In the Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, the following programs were ranked in the top 25, either globally or nationally:
- Communication: 1 (global), 1 (national)
- Geography: 18 (global), 4 (national)
- Mathematics: 48 (global), 24 (national)
- Physics: 43 (global), 20 (national)
- Political Science: 20 (global), 16 (national)
- Psychology: 13 (global), 11 (national)
- Sociology: 16 (global), 14 (national)
Other widely accepted metrics have ranked yet more of our impressive programs in the nation’s top 25:
- AnthropologyA: 8
- AstronomyB: 11
- EconomicsC: 49 (global), 25 (national)
- LinguisticsD: 22 (global), 10 (national)
ACenter for World University Rankings
BU.S .News Best Global Universities in Space Science
CTilburg University Top 100 Worldwide Economics Schools Research Ranking
DQS Subject Rankings
The Department of Dance is widely regarded as one of the preeminent programs in the country, with far more MFAs in tenure-track positions nationally than any other program. The Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy is similarly regarded internationally as including preeminent programs in both Art Education and Arts Policy and Administration, with PhDs leading the field in higher education in art education. Additionally, the college is home to a number of innovative, interdisciplinary programs offering synergies found in very few other institutions in the world, but not currently quantified in reported rankings. I look forward to sharing the breadth and depth of all of our departments in the months ahead.
The pillars of this document, taken together with the core goals of the university’s strategic plan, present an innovative roadmap for access and affordability to the excellence that is the trademark of a liberal arts education at Ohio State. We are working to build an intellectual community within and across departments that no one wants to leave. We will leverage our diversity, tout our inclusiveness and celebrate our excellence because our faculty, staff and students are generating knowledge that changes the world — with the steadfast support of alumni and friends around the globe.
