The Center for a Public Anthropology has published a new tool that ranks public research universities on how well they engage with the media. 

The “Faculty Media Impact Project” used the Google News search engine to gauge how often social sciences faculty from 94 universities were cited in the news media. The endeavor happens to be the brainchild of a local professor: Hawaii Pacific University anthropologist Robert Borofsky. 

The University of Hawaii was the only local institution included in the rankings. It placed in the middle — no. 50 — in the overall rankings but ranked notably well in the economics and psychology categories, making sixth and third place, respectively.

Rice University, Southern Methodist University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology placed at the top in the overall rankings.

Borofsky and his colleagues used 50,000 search queries focusing on more than 12,000 social sciences faculty members. The research spanned over the course of six years.

The project aims to encourage institutions that rely on public funding to participate in public conversations in return, Borofsky said in a press release.  

Photo: A screen shot of the project’s homepage. (Courtesy of Center for a Public Anthropology)

— Alia Wong