By Gavin Guffey, Staff Writer

Xavier climbed in multiple U.S. News and World Report academic rankings, recognizing both the University’s success and its individual colleges.

Published annually, the highly anticipated U.S News and World Report ranks qualifying national universities in several categories including overall, by school, by major and by other categories.

Along with the overall National Universities list, Xavier was especially highlighted in the categories of Most Innovative Schools, Best Value Schools and in Business Program Rankings, in lists published Sept. 23.

In National Universities, Xavier ranked No. 208, a one spot increase from its ranking in the 2025 rankings.

In Best Value schools, the University saw a 24-spot decline from 2025’s ranking of No. 136, landing at No. 160. 

As for Most Innovative Schools, Xavier received a ranking of No. 56, tying with 11 other schools, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas at Austin. Xavier also joined Notre Dame, Purdue University and The Ohio State University as the only schools across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio to make the list.

Xavier tied for No. 152 in Best Colleges for Veterans and No. 135 in Nursing and most of its business majors received recognition.

The William’s College of Business had five of its individual programs ranked by the US World and News Report.

Business Analytics and Finance both jumped two spots, ranking No. 18 and No. 26, respectively.

Chair of the Business Analytics and Information Systems department Dr Mark Sena, praised his colleagues for their contributions to the program, saying that improving the school in recent years has been a collaborative effort.

“The previous chair, Greg Smith, was chair for over a decade, and he really built the department up. So, he would deserve a lot of the credit,” Sena said.

Sena also credited both current and former professors Joel Asay and Lauren Laker.

“They were two faculty members that go above and beyond in making really great experiential learning for their students in the classroom,” Sena said.

Along with professors who go above and beyond, Sena also credited the steady improvement in business rankings to the network that Xavier builds.

“A lot of those surveys are based on the perceptions of other universities, so that the reputation that they build externally, along with the Dean communicating with fellow deans and the Jesuit network, they work to get the word out about which programs are successful, and I think they make an impression,” Sena said.

Accounting, new to the U.S. World and News Report rankings, saw a ranking of No. 50 nationally.

Two programs that received a lower ranking from 2025 were Entrepreneurship and Marketing, which fell six and two spots, respectively, both to No. 20.

Locally, University of Cincinnati, Miami University and Northern Kentucky University all appeared on multiple lists.

Northern Kentucky ranked No. 384 in National Universities and No. 294 in Nursing, compared to Xavier’s No. 208 and No. 135.

Cincinnati saw rankings of No. 158 in National Universities, No. 40 in Nursing and No. 112 in Best Colleges for Veterans, respectively.

Miami received the highest ranking in National Universities out of all four schools, coming in at No. 143. It also was No. 99 in Best Colleges for Veterans.

With new initiatives underway, such as the construction of the new College of Osteopathic Medicine and the newly announced For One. For All. Forever fundraising campaign, Xavier will look to build off its success and continue to rank well among universities.