HSU Ranked “Best Western College”

Humboldt State University is named a “Best Western College” and a “College With A Conscience” in the Princeton Review’s recently released 2009 Best Colleges: Region by Region.

Humboldt State is among 117 universities to receive a “Best in the West” designation. The review quotes students describing HSU as a “great place to go to school,” and “a place to be yourself and to learn all about what you want to do in life.” Students also described a focus on “responsibility to nature and the environment.”

In including Humboldt State as one of 81 “Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement,” the review noted “Social responsibility is a current that runs through the coursework at HSU.” A student is quoted as saying that “one overarching lesson HSU graduates bring to the world at large is a strong commitment to social justice no matter the discipline they choose to study.”

The review says “Students rave about the ‘personal connections’ with ‘dedicated professors’ who are ‘easy to get a hold of.’ ” Other students commented that HSU fosters “the skills for lifelong learning, community and political awareness,” and said that the student body “prides itself on community respect and social diversity.” HSU, students said, is “all about equality in diversity” and is a “tight community.”

In developing its rankings, the Princeton Review compiles student opinion on issues from accessibility of their professors to the quality of campus food, and incorporates institutional data compiled by the organization.

The full 2009 Best Colleges report can be viewed at The Princeton Review’s Web site.