"I'd really like to address the reputational category in Maclean's," said [David Barnard] -- not so much to influence the magazine's rankings, but to affect how U of M thinks about itself and how others see it, said Barnard.

"I've so far been trying to avoid giving a personal answer," because he hasn't been on campus long enough to identify such areas of excellence, Barnard said. But, he said, others have cited U of M's work in Africa and India on HIV/AIDS, and its work on global warming in the Arctic.