America's Best Colleges for Women 2026
Awarded by:Newsweek and Gender Fair
Award recognition
Newsweek and Gender Fair included Wayne State College in Nebraska in America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026, an inaugural ranking evaluating colleges as places for women to study and work.
Wayne State placed in the 201–300 band overall and received a Safety Score of 97, its highest score across the ranking’s four categories.
What the ranking measures
The ranking draws on federal education and campus crime data, supplemented by additional research. Institutions are evaluated in four areas:
- Leadership, 35%. Women’s representation among professors, associate professors, and assistant professors, along with whether a woman leads the institution.
- Pay and policies, 25%. Average pay for women in academic roles, the ratio of women’s to men’s pay, and the availability of college daycare.
- Safety, 20%. Reported crimes against women and reported hate crimes, measured relative to student enrollment.
- Opportunity, 20%. Pell Grant participation and racial representation across faculty ranks.
View Newsweek’s America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026 ranking
Women at Wayne State College
Women lead across Wayne State’s academic departments, administrative offices, and student services. President Dr. Marysz Rames has led the college since 2015. Federal IPEDS data show that women represented approximately 44% of Wayne State’s full-time instructional faculty in fall 2024.
Students can pursue more than 130 undergraduate programs, build professional experience, and find community through sororities, student organizations, athletics, and service. Campus resources include student health and reproductive health services, confidential counseling, safety escorts, and academic and career support.
Read our Women at Wayne State feature for a closer look at campus resources, community, leadership, and career opportunities.
Campus safety statistics
Separately from Newsweek’s ranking, Wayne State analyzed 2025 statistics from six Nebraska public colleges and universities. Wayne State had the lowest combined rate of reported on-campus offenses among the six institutions compared, at 1.08 per 1,000 enrolled students.
The college’s campus safety statistics page provides three years of Wayne State figures, comparison methodology, and source reports. Reported offense rates do not establish overall campus safety or individual risk.