UCO was honored in 2008, 2010 and 2011. The report states in its outstanding features: Not every staff member can travel to national career-development programs. so the university holds its own annual Road to Greatness conference, at which employees learn techniques from one another to become better leaders.

Staff numbers for UCO included 475 administrators/exempt professionals, 469 full-time faculty and 622 adjunct/part-time faculty. Average salary for administrators was $60,320, and $62,400 for full-time faculty. The faculty turnover rate was reported at 1.9 percent.

OCU made the list for the fifth time. It was previously recognized in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The outstanding features included: Professors may apply to join an off-campus retreat that trains them to develop a good tenure-and-promotion portfolio. About 15 are selected each year, faculty also can take advantage of the workshops throughout the year to improve their teaching methods.

OCU had 222 administrators/exempt professionals, 216 full-time faculty, and 138 adjunct/part-time faculty. The average administrator salary was $123,168, and the average, full-time faculty salary was $63,327. Faculty turnover rate was reported at 6 percent.

The institutions were graded in 12 categories, and the list was based on responses from nearly 47,000 people at 294 higher education institutions nationwide. It was open to accredited institutions with an enrollment of at least 500.