Several of Northeastern's graduate programs moved up in the recent U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings—but the magazine inadvertently omitted the university's computer-science graduate program.

Although the omission is "a lost opportunity for visibility and outreach," says Larry Finkelstein, dean of the College of Computer and Information Science, it isn't expected to hurt the college's recruiting.

University planning and research director Mark Putnam says U.S. News, which ranks only programs that award at least five doctorates in a five-year period, was under the mistaken impression that Northeastern had awarded only four computer science doctorates in that time span, though it had actually awarded thirteen. Northeastern's graduate program wasn't the only one left out. Programs at Rockefeller University, Tulane University, Polytechnic University, and the Scripps Research Institute also weren't listed.

Because U.S. News ranks computer science programs only every four years, the university's next chance to be listed is 2010. In 2002, the program was ranked 62nd in the country. Given the college's improvements—faculty hires, a new building, and a very competitive student body—Finkelstein says he had expected it to rank somewhere "in the low 50's" this year.

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