WS Chronicle

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is among the country’s top small public colleges for graduation rates, according to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education report.

In its analysis of U.S. Department of Education data, the publication ranked UNCSA ninth among small four-year colleges, with a graduation rate of 66.5 percent.

The list, published in late August, ranked the percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking students who entered in the Fall of 2009 and graduated within six years.

Moeser

“It is great to be recognized for what we do so well,” said Interim Chancellor James Moeser. “No only do our students graduate, they leave UNCSA prepared to excel in the arts. They are landing jobs, being accepted into top graduate programs and giving back to their communities in ways that only creative individuals can.”

Moeser pointed to examples of recent graduates’ success:
• Shane Rathburn, a saxophonist who graduated with a Bachelor of Music this past spring from the School of Music, won this year’s Rosen-Schaffel Young and Emerging Artist Competition at Appalachian Summer Festival and is now enrolled as a graduate student at the Jacobs School of Music at the University of Indiana.
• Vera Herbert, a 2011 graduate of the Film School, was a writer and script coordinator for MTV’s “Awkward” in 2012, and her television script “Blink” was optioned by the CW network.
• Ryan Wineinger is assistant art director for Walt Disney Imagineering. He graduated from the School of Design and Production in 2009.
• School of Dance 2008 graduate Jackson Sarver has performed with Ballet Metropolitan in Columbus, Ohio, for eight years, and founded his own photography business.
• 2007 School of Drama graduate Billy Magnussen received a Tony nomination for his supporting actor role in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and has signed on to appear in the movie version of “Into the Woods,” alongside Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp.

“These are only a handful of examples,” Moeser said. “There are hundreds more.”
UNCSA is the only school in North Carolina to be included on the list of small colleges. Topping the list was the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with 83.3 percent.