EMBARGOED BY U.S. NEWS FOR RELEASE AFTER 12:01 A.M. FRIDAY, AUG. 20, 2004
Contact: Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

See editorial in The (Shreveport) Times Aug. 23, 2004

U.S. News & World Report Lists Centenary College in "America's Best Colleges" and “Best Values” in Aug. 23 Magazine and 2005 Guidebook

SHREVEPORT, LA— U.S. News & World Report has listed Centenary College of Louisiana among "America's Best Colleges" in its annual rankings announced today (Friday, Aug. 20, 2004). Centenary is ranked at No. 10 among 15 institutions designated as the South’s “Best Values.” In addition to that ranking, U.S. News lists Centenary at No. 11 among the 66 top Southern colleges and universities offering master’s degrees and listed in its top two tiers.

U.S. News & World Report, which annually selects its “Best Colleges” based on up to 15 indicators of academic excellence, makes this year’s announcements in the magazine's Monday, Aug. 23, issue and in its 2005 edition of the guidebook, America's Best Colleges, which will also be on newsstands beginning Monday.

To determine “Best College” rankings, the magazine’s editors and researchers examine colleges' academic reputation, faculty resources, retention rate, class size, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate, student-faculty ratio and percent of alumni giving. Their list of “Best Value” schools correlates schools’ quality ranking with the net cost to a student who receives the average level of financial aid.

Centenary President Kenneth L. Schwab said the listing continues to emphasize Centenary's reputation for excellence, an outstanding student body, faculty and staff, and a student-centered environment.

Founded in 1825 and the nation's oldest privately chartered college west of the Mississippi River, Centenary is located in Shreveport, La. It encourages personal interaction, leadership, citizenship and community service and offers 43 majors in its Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities divisions.

This year’s ranking marks the 15th consecutive year that Centenary has been included among “America’s Best Colleges.” Other Louisiana schools named to the top lists for the South were Loyola University, ranked 15th in the “Best Value” list and sixth among Southern universities-master’s, and Xavier University of Louisiana, ranked 25th among the top Southern universities-master’s. Both are located in New Orleans.

Louisiana colleges and universities named by U.S. News as fourth tier institutions, having rankings from 100 to 131 but listed alphabetically, were Grambling State University, Louisiana State University in Shreveport, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana University, Southern University A & M, Southern University-New Orleans and the University of Louisiana-Monroe.

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