An assessment of the nation's Ph.D. programs released today by the National Research Council placed four of the graduate programs at the University of California, Davis, in the top 20 in terms of faculty quality, along with more than half of the 229 doctoral programs evaluated in the nine-campus University of California system. Placing fifth in the nation were UC Davis graduate programs in the field of ecology, evolution and behavior. The Spanish program ranked 14th, the anthropology program ranked 15th and the civil engineering program ranked 16th. "This is very good news for the University of California and for UC Davis," said M.R.C. Greenwood, dean of graduate studies at UC Davis and former associate director of science for the White House. "The University of California is the best in the nation, and it offers our citizens and the state's economy hope for the future. At a time when the nation is worried about developing its workforce and creative leaders for the future, the state of California has a distinct advantage." UC Davis has 56 doctoral programs, 27 of which were evaluated in this report. The study, an update and expansion of a review conducted in 1982, examined the quality and effectiveness of more than 3,600 doctoral programs in 41 fields at 274 universities across the United States. According to Greenwood, the report showed that 17 of UC Davis' programs were distinctive or strong, six were rated "good" and only three were described as adequate. None were reported as marginal or not sufficient. The strongest UC Davis graduate programs identified were in the biological sciences, Spanish, anthropology, engineering, chemistry, geology, history and psychology. The study provides the "most systematic and comprehensive assessments" to date, according to the National Research Council, a private, nonprofit institution that provides science and technology advice under congressional charter. Prospective graduate students, as well as administrators and policymakers, will find the information valuable.