U.S. News and World Report has named the Vanderbilt University Peabody College of Education and Human Development the nation’s top graduate school of education for the fifth consecutive year.

The magazine’s Best Graduate Schools 2014 guidebook will be available April 9. Peabody bested programs at Johns Hopkins University (No. 2) and Harvard (No. 3) for the top spot, in addition to having its programs in administration/supervision and special education named No. 1 by education school deans.

“These are challenging times for educators, and our faculty works hard to contribute knowledge through research and to prepare leaders who can be a force for positive change,” Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Peabody, said in a release.

Relatedly, the VU Law School improved one position to tie with the University of Texas at No. 15 in the law school category, while the VU School of Medicine kept its No. 14 spot on the list of best research medical schools. Harvard was No. 1.

“During a period in our nation where there are serious and competing pressures facing medical education, the outstanding commitment demonstrated by our faculty and leadership to train the nation’s next generation of physician-leaders is evident in this year’s ranking,” said Jeff Balser, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

For the first time since 2009, U.S. News and World Report ranked the social sciences and humanities doctorate programs. The Vanderbilt Ph.D. program in history is tied for the No. 24 ranking, English is tied for No. 26, psychology is tied for No. 30, sociology is tied for No. 31 and political science and economics are both tied for No. 36 in their categories. In English specialties, Vanderbilt is tied for fourth place in the African American literature category.

“It’s gratifying to see the remarkable strides we’re making in the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt recognized by the U.S. News and World Report poll,” said Dean Carolyn Dever. “The social sciences and humanities remain a core priority at Vanderbilt.”

The VU School of Engineering was ranked No. 36, and the Owen Graduate School of Management was tied for No. 30 in the business school rankings.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and its affiliates will use an $18.8 million grant from the federal agency that operates the federal Medicare and Medicaid health programs to improve the management of high blood pressure, heart failure and diabetes in 18 counties in Tennessee and Kentucky, according to MyVU.com.

Given by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the three-year grant is one of the largest federal research grants awarded to VUMC investigators.

The Health Care Innovation Award will support the implementation and evaluation of MyHealthTeam (MHT), a model of team-based care that combines collaborative health care teams with health information technology in order to improve control of chronic conditions.

“The receipt of this award brings to fruition years of thoughtful innovation, preparation and successful pilot programs in population-based disease management by our clinicians and biomedical informatics experts,” Dr. Jeff Balser, vice chancellor for health affairs for Vanderbilt University and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said in the MyVU.com story.

“They have been the architects for this exciting effort that, together with our affiliates, will provide carefully coordinated management for these costly and devastating chronic diseases,” he added.

The project will include Vanderbilt affiliate hospitals Maury Regional Medical Center, NorthCrest Medical Center and Williamson Medical Center, according to Dr. C. Wright Pinson, deputy vice chancellor for health affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System.

The new look closely follows the University's comprehensive visual identity system and is being rolled out Medical Center-wide this summer, with the full transition expected to take place over the next 18 months. “This is a process, not an event,” said Jill Austin, MBA, assistant vice chancellor for Strategic Marketing at VUMC. “This is an incredibly large, complex and diverse institution, so there will be an adjustment period that we need to work our way through.”