UPDATED: Dec. 24 at 1:14 a.m.

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications was named the top journalism school in the country Friday, according to a survey conducted by NewsPro, a magazine for news professionals.

Newhouse ‘easily claimed the top spot’ out of 25 journalism schools across the country, according to the survey results. Four hundred thirty-eight NewsPro and TVWeek.com readers participated in the magazine’s survey. This is NewsPro’s first survey of journalism schools, according to an article published in the December 2011 issue.

Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the University of Missouri at Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism finished off the top five, according to the article.

Lorraine Branham, the dean of Newhouse, said that while it’s nice to be recognized, she wasn’t surprised at the school’s ranking.

‘I’ve felt for a long time that we were the number one communications school,’ Branham said. ‘I think it’s a well-deserved distinction.’

Branham said she thought Newhouse had great students, great faculty and especially great alumni. The accomplishments of such alumni are what the school is judged on and what makes it so great, she said.

Michael Emer, a sophomore advertising and English and textual studies major, said he couldn’t imagine the school earning a lower ranking.

‘I think one of the school’s best aspects is its faculty,’ he said in an email. ‘I have never been challenged more in my life academically, yet at the same time receive the reward of knowing that I will be confident enough to enter the professional world by the time I graduate.’

Emer said the No. 1 ranking will improve the nation’s view on Syracuse University as a whole because, according to U.S. News and World Report’s latest survey, the university dropped from No. 55 to No. 62 in the country this year.

Megan Ciasullo, a sophomore public relations major, said Newhouse was the reason she came to SU.

Although she is not a newspaper journalism or broadcast and digital journalism major, Ciasullo said she is proud of how Newhouse has continuously achieved national recognition as a prestigious communications school. She said she thinks Newhouse is ‘absolutely deserving of the honor.’

Ciasullo said in an email: ‘Year after year Newhouse graduates so many intelligent, determined and deserving people who are more than prepared to enter the working world.’

For 10 years, NewsPro was a supplement publication of TVWeek, a television programming newspaper. While with TVWeek, NewsPro ‘served journalists, news managers and news executives at all media organizations, including print, broadcast and online,’ according to TVWeek’s website. In August 2009, NewsPro launched its own print magazine after TVWeek began publishing it online.

Lorraine Branham, dean of Newhouse, said that while she thinks the ranking is valuable to the message the school sends to prospective students, Newhouse is still constantly striving to be better by finding new opportunities for students and faculty and raising money for scholarships, among others.

‘I would love for us to be considered number one in every area that’s represented at the Newhouse school,’ Branham said.

mjberner@syr.edu  

Published on December 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Maddy: mjberner@syr.edu