College Gazette, an online higher education magazine, has recognized Montana State University on its list of the top 10 public universities on the rise across the nation.

To compile the list, College Gazette chose schools that have made measurable strides over the past 20 years in a variety of areas, including their programs, student and alumni accomplishments, faculty accolades and research programs and expenditures.

In its write-up about MSU, College Gazette lauded MSU for a number of strengths, including impressive student scholarship, enrollment growth, notable research on the Yellowstone ecosystem, high research expenditures and new buildings on campus.

First, College Gazette wrote that MSU is a top producer of Goldwater Scholars, as well as a significant number of Rhodes and Truman Scholars. In April, four MSU undergraduates won the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, the nations premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering.

Their scholarships pushed MSUs total number of Goldwater Scholars to 74; MSU is now tied for ninth in the nation for Goldwater recipients, ahead of Cornell University and Yale University, and ranks third among universities in the western U.S. behind Stanford and Caltech.

The online publication also discussed MSUs enrollment growth. The universitys enrollment and graduation and retention rates all are among the highest the university has seen in a generation. This falls enrollment of 16,766 students was the second highest in university history, and MSU is graduating more students in less time than at any point in modern history, allowing those graduates to begin their careers sooner and with less college debt.

Strong research expenditures also made the list. For the fiscal year that ended in June, MSUs research and contract expenditures from state, private and federal funding sources totaled $138.8 million. That marks a 9.5% increase over the previous years expenditures and the sixth year in a row that MSU research expenditures have topped $100 million.

The record year of expenditures came as MSU was again classified as R1 in the Carnegie Classification for very high research activity, making it one of only 131 universities nationwide in that category and the only one in the five-state region of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North and South Dakota and one of only two nationally also classified as Very High Undergraduate enrollment.

Additionally, on March 26-28, more than 4,000 university students from across the U.S. will visit MSU for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. MSU has named the 2019-20 academic year the Year of Undergraduate Research to celebrate scientific discovery and creative activity on campus, in the Bozeman community and across Montana.

Finally, College Gazette wrote that MSU has added a number of facilities to its campus recently, including the impressive 40,000-square-foot Animal Biosciences Building. In recent years MSU has also added new residence halls and academic facilities, including Jabs Hall, home of the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship, and Norm Asbjornson Hall, home to classrooms, laboratories, the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering and Honors College. MSUs new 25,000-square-foot, privately funded American Indian Hall is under construction and is slated to open in 2021.

Other universities included on College Gazettes list are Utah State University, Boise State University and Kansas State University.

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Online higher education magazine names MSU one of top 10 public universities on the rise - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle