News & Events

Fiske Guide Gives High Marks to UNC Asheville and its Environmental Studies Program

July 28, 2011

UNC Asheville is once again ranked among the nation’s top colleges in the 2012 edition of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges” published in July. The Fiske Guide calls UNC Asheville “one of the best educational bargains in the country.”

“This public liberal arts university offers all the perks that are generally associated with pricier private institutions: rigorous academics, small classes, and a beautiful setting,” says the Fiske Guide, noting that UNC Asheville provides all this for a fraction of the cost of a private college. “I have been astounded by the quality of the teaching,” said a senior quoted in the guide. “There are no teaching assistants, only professors, and a large majority of them have the highest degree in their field.”

In addition, for the eighth consecutive year, UNC Asheville's Environmental Studies Program was named to the Fiske Guide's list of pre-professional programs with unusual strength in preparing students for careers. Students in UNC Asheville's program learn to address environmental issues through a multidisciplinary approach that includes biology, ecology, geology, chemistry, physics, economics, public policy, and other natural and social sciences. Undergraduate research is an important feature of the curriculum, and the Environmental Studies Department stresses on-the-job internships in organizations involved with environmental issues.

Earlier this year, UNC Asheville was named one of America’s “10 Best Colleges for the Money” by bankrate.com. The university was ranked among the nation’s 50 “2011 Best Value Colleges” by the Princeton Review, and listed among the top 100 public colleges by Kiplinger Personal Finance. The most recent edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” praised UNC Asheville’s faculty for its “unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching,” and ranked UNC Asheville 5th in the nation on the “Up-and-Comers” list of liberal arts colleges.