Recognition & Awards
In its first year in the liberal arts category in recent history, Doane College was ranked in the Top 150 national best liberal arts colleges by U.S.News and World Report's 2008 College Guide. Doane received several high marks in individual ranking criteria which reflect the quality academic experience that Doane students receive.
Doane College also placed among the top 25 liberal arts colleges nationwide in the ‘least debt' rankings released in the Sept.17, 2007 issue of U.S.News & World Report.
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The category listed national universities and liberal arts colleges from which the class of 2006 graduated with the heaviest and lightest debt loads.
Doane was ranked 19th nationwide for a 2006 class in which 87 percent of graduates graduated with debt and the average debt totaled $13,647.
It's well below Nebraska's 2006 average student debt of $19,198, according to a recent study by the Project on Student Debt.
Doane graduates' total average debt translates roughly to a $160 monthly repayment for student loans. That compares to an approximate $236 monthly repayment for Nebraska's average student debt.
The annual college guide categorizes schools by mission and region. Of particular note, Doane earned high marks on several specific measurements, including a very high faculty-to-student ratio, with a high percentage (80%) of its classes with fewer than 20 students, and nearly a 40 percent alumni giving rate.
Doane is also included as one of 159 of the Midwest's "Best Colleges" in the PrincetonReview.com 2009 rankings.
National Survey of Student Engagement
In its first year in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Doane's students indicated Doane excels in some of the most powerful contributors to learning and personal development.
The NSSE survey is a comprehensive assessment of effective practices in higher education. In 2006, 523 colleges and universities participated. Nearly 275 Doane seniors and first-year students completed the survey.
Prairie Research Site
For its efforts at the Aldrich Prairie Research Site, Doane College received the Conservation Education Award from the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. Each year, the federation honors select Nebraskans for conservation of the state's fish, wildlife and natural resources. The award recognizes the college's efforts to protect and preserve the prairie/wetland complex and associated wildlife communities and its use of the land as an outdoor laboratory.
Physics Video Library
Doane's Physics Video Library is a collection of short digital video clips that can be used to learn physics concepts taught in high school and college courses. Each video clip is available on the project site in QuickTime and Flash formats. Users can obtain data from the video clips using a web-based software application developed by a Doane physics major graduate as his senior research project. The library was a collaborative effort between faculty as well as past and current students within the physics department.
The library was recognized for its use of technology for teaching and learning materials by the MERLOT project. Read the review at: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewCompositeReview.htm?id=247224
The MERLOT project (http://www.merlot.org/) is an online community of faculty and institutions collaborating to increase the quantity of high quality web-based, interactive teaching and learning materials. Faculty members perform peer review of instructional technology modeled after the peer review processes for research and scholarship. The MERLOT Web site is a free "gateway" for these web-based materials. You can obtain more details about the MERLOT project, the Peer Review Process, and evaluation standards at http://taste.merlot.org/.