WWU Moves into Top 10 Nationally For Students Who Go On to Earn Doctorates

Western Washington University now ranks ninth among the nation’s 590 public and private master’s-granting institutions for the number of its graduates who go on to earn doctorates, according to new federal data.

The data is compiled into the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), which is produced by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Dept. of Education, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

This is Western’s highest-ever ranking in the SED.

“Our SED performance is proof we can sustain or improve the quality of our degrees while simultaneously working to help more of our students to graduate,” said Steven VanderStaay, Western’s vice provost for Undergraduate Education. “It also shows how Western is part of the foundation for the critical first step in providing for the research needs of our nation.”

Data from the SED showed that 58 Western graduates went on to earn research doctorates in 2014; 27 were earned in STEM fields, 13 in the social sciences, 10 in the humanities, three in education, and two in other areas.

For more information about the new SED rankings, contact Steven VanderStaay at (360) 650-3004 or steven.vanderstaay@wwu.edu.