Janet Bingham Guest columnist

To offset any misperceptions that may occur in readers who read only headlines ("Has ASU gotten better than the UA?" Oct. 28), I'd like to emphasize that the UA remains solidly established as one of the nation's top public student-centered research universities.

With more than $400 million in research funding received annually, the UA generates roughly 75 percent of the Arizona university system's research dollars, triple the total research funds generated by Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University combined.

In its most recent report, the National Science Foundation ranks the UA 16th among public universities for research funding and 26th among all universities. By contrast, ASU is ranked 69th and 96th, respectively. The UA is the state's only university to belong to a small cadre of some of the top research universities in the United States and Canada - the Association of American Universities. With Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health, the UA operates the state's only academic health sciences center.

With two Nobel laureates on faculty, and eight Pulitzer Prize winners (alumni and faculty), the UA also boasts more than 50 faculty who are elected members of prestigious academies of Science and Engineering, Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Britain's Royal Society, among others.

While it was disappointing to lose a longtime faculty member the year before his 25 years of research at the UA earned him a Nobel Prize, it is important to realize that on campus today are several faculty members on the cusp of similar recognition.

Students have the opportunity to work now with two professors recently named to Popular Science magazine's list of "Brilliant 10." Another was named to Scientific American's list of top 50 contributors to the advancement of technology.

The UA is home to four faculty members who have won MacArthur "Genius" awards. An astronomy professor is an NSF distinguished teaching scholar. UA faculty includes Fulbright scholars and Guggenheim fellows. Countless professors are recognized as tops in their fields, which are as diverse as astronomy, creative writing, law, dance and philosophy.

University faculty and researchers are consultants to governments in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America as well as Mexico and Canada. UA faculty members are advisers to the U.S. Departments of State, Energy, Commerce and Transportation.

It's not solely the UA's world-renowned faculty that make it a superior learning environment. UA students are Truman, Flinn, Rhodes, Goldwater, National Merit and Fulbright scholars. Last year a UA biology student was the state's only student representative to deliver research to Congress. Another is on the governor's arts commission. Still another is chairwoman of the Pasqua Yaqui tribe. Another student operates spacecraft for NASA!

Across the university, a variety of programs enhance our reputation as a leading student-centered research institution.

Thirteen UA science programs consistently rank in the U.S. News & World Report top 10 rankings; 10 liberal arts programs boast that same distinction. The Eller College of Management's entrepreneurship program is the only one nationwide with a top-tier position across five entrepreneurship program rankings.

The university's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's role in Cassini's orbit around Saturn is larger than that of any university in the world. Our faculty and students recently were awarded more than $325 million to lead the 2007 mission to Mars.

Our student athletes never cease to amaze us, as we witnessed watching the Summer Olympics in Greece. Two UA coaches led their teams to gold medals, and more than 25 students and alumni participated in the summer games. The university's Intercollegiate Athletic Program ranks among the top 10 each year in overall performance and has won more than 25 national championships.

It is true that gifts to ASU have increased in the last year. However, the UA's Campaign Arizona just hit $1,084,000,000 and exceeded the campaign's goal a year earlier than projected. UA funding efforts were recently recognized as No. 1 in the nation for corporate support among non-profits, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. In its most recent rankings, the Council for Aid to Education ranks the UA 12th among public universities in amount of support and 24th among all universities. ASU ranks 38th and 65th, respectively.

Fall 2004 has been a good semester for ASU, which gained national recognition as host to the third presidential debate and has a winning football team. However, the answer to columnist Ryan Johnson's question, "Will the UA always be the academically superior institution" is: You can count on it.

Janet Bingham is the vice president for University Advancement.