LAWRENCE -- The latest U.S. News annual "America's Best Colleges" rankings released today continues to place the University of Kansas among the top 50 in the nation.

KU was ranked 39th among public national universities. In all, US News ranked 249 universities in the country that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral degrees.

The university's School of Business also was named among the 50 best business programs out of 350 in the country.

"In these times of intense competition among the nation's universities for the best students and for research funding, it is gratifying to see KU's reputation remains strong and growing," said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. "The people of Kansas can be proud that their university is and continues to be among the best."

KU's stature has climbed in recent years as annual research funding at KU has grown to $193 million, a 15 percent increase in the past fiscal year. KU also has risen to 8th in the nation among public universities in the enrollment of National Merit Scholars.

School of Business Dean Bill Fuerst said he was pleased by his schoolÿs ranking, tied at 44th, and pledged future improvement.

"We will continue to emphasize and improve our strengths in teaching, research, and service. These are the qualities our alums, faculty, students, and corporate partners value in the School and expect from our programs," Fuerst said. "As the school's strengths become better known among the deans of business and faculty who provide these ratings, we would expect our relative status to improve."

KU's engineering program also was nationally ranked, tied at 77th for best programs among 183 ranked schools whose highest degree is a doctorate.

"We are pleased the School of Engineering is on the list of top engineering schools in the United States. There are many fine, highly respected schools that didn't even make the list," said Carl E. Locke Jr., dean of the School of Engineering.

U.S. News did not rank any other professional schools in this survey.

U.S. News ranks colleges and universities using data from each institution on up to 16 indicators of academic excellence. The ranking formula gives greatest weight to academic reputation based on a survey of university presidents, provosts and admission deans. Market Facts Inc., an opinion-research firm based near Chicago, collected the reputational data. Other factors include retention rates; faculty resources; student selectivity, such as acceptance rates and test scores; financial resources; and alumni giving rates.