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The Syllabus: Could N.C. A&T become an R1 university?
November 20, 2020
This scatterplot graph shows the nation's doctoral universities based on overall and per-student research metrics. Universities with very high research activity (orange dots) are at the top right. N.C. A&T and other universities with high research activity (green dots) are in the middle and bottom left. Doctoral/professional universities (blue dots) are in the bottom left.
N.C. A&T puts a lot of emphasis on research. It's winning close to $70 million in annual awards to do research in agriculture, engineering and other science and tech fields. A&T ranks third among UNC System schools — well behind UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, but well ahead of all the rest.
Right now, A&T is classified as an R2 university — one with high research activity. At this month's Board of Trustees meeting, Chancellor Harold Martin said the magic word: "R1."
If you know anything about college athletics, you know that colleges and universities are divided in many different ways, generally based on size and how much money they spend on sports. There's the NCAA and the NAIA. Division I, II and III. FBC and FCS. Power Five and Group of Five.
College and universities are sliced and diced according to their academic programs as well. The group that has been holding onto the higher ed sorting hat since 1970 is The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, now based at Indiana University. Each of the nation's 4,300 two-year and four-year colleges and universities fits into one of eight broad Carnegie classifications based on size, mission and number and type of degrees awarded.
At the top of the Carnegie pile is the Doctoral Universities categories, which represents about 10 percent of all U.S. institutions and slightly more than a third of all college and university enrollment.
This category is split three ways: There's R1, R2 and D/PU, which should be called R3 simply for sake of consistency.
R3 (aka Doctoral/Professional Universities) was first rolled out in 2018. It includes schools that award professional doctorates (such as law, pharmacy, medicine and others) but don't do much scientific research or award many Ph.Ds. Elon, Campbell, Gardner-Webb and Wingate are North Carolina's four R3 schools.
R1 (aka Doctoral Universities/Very High Research Activity) is home to many of the nation's biggest and best-known institutions. We're talking Ivy League, state flagships and land-grant institutions, MIT and Cal Tech and other large schools that do a ton of research and award a lot of Ph.Ds. N.C. has three R1 schools: Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State. Only 3 percent of universities are R1s, but they enroll nearly 20 percent of all U.S. college students.
Then there's R2, (aka Doctoral Universities/High Research Activity). East Carolina, UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Wilmington are R2 institutions. The Triad has three R2s: Wake Forest, UNCG and N.C. A&T.
At November's Board of Trustees meeting, Martin and Eric Muth, A&T's vice chancellor for research and economic development, walked trustees through what Martin called "our aggressive strategies" for expanding the university's research capacity and perhaps moving up into some elite company.
N.C. A&T has held R2 status only since 2005 — it was grouped with master's universities previously — and research and innovation have been a major focus of Martin's since he became A&T's chancellor in 2009. A&T's research volume was about $50 million or so when Martin arrived. It's on target to reach $75 million by 2023. That's the foundation on which A&T plans to build.
There are obvious reasons for focusing on research. Research raises a university's profile, which can help increase enrollment and reputation, attract more accomplished students and faculty and more potential donors. Research funding brings jobs, and research discoveries can generate even more jobs, not just at A&T but throughout the region. And if A&T continues to grow its research output — in agriculture, in engineering, in other science and tech fields — A&T could conceivably one day become the first historically Black college and university to get a coveted R1 designation.
It's time, Martin said, for A&T "to set our sights on the possibilities of moving toward an R1 university," something that will take what Martin called "strategic" and "intentional" investments in faculty and facilities, in researchers and research labs, in new doctoral programs.
"As we talk about the future of our university," Martin told trustees Nov. 13, "one core area of growth and expected continued success .. is in the area of research."
But Muth told trustees that it's tricky business to figure out exactly how to crack into the R1 category. Everyone knows the variables — overall and per-student amounts of research expenditures, research faculty and staff and doctorates awarded — but Carnegie doesn't publish its formula. That said, Muth was able to identify a school on the threshold of the R1 and R2 categories — in this case, the University of North Texas — to set a rough target for A&T.
So where does A&T stand relative to this hypothetical threshold?
• A&T's STEM and non-STEM research expenditures are close. A&T spends about $36 million on science and tech research and nearly $3.5 million annually on research in other areas. UNT spends about $39 million and about $4.7 million, respectively.
• A&T is well short of both research faculty (388) and research staff (23). UNT has twice as many research faculty and more than three times the number of research staff.
• A&T also has a ways to go on STEM doctorates (35 awarded), social science doctorates (6) and humanities doctorates (zero). UNT awarded more than 140 in all three categories combined.
Besides the growing research productivity I mentioned earlier, A&T already has assembled other parts of its foundation. A&T is co-operator (with UNCG) of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro. It has a research center (along with Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNCG and others) at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. And A&T opened three on-campus research centers — in cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and entrepreneurship — last year.
A&T has a few more things in the pipeline that will help its efforts. Its Engineering Research and Innovation Complex will open next year. A&T soon will seek approval for a new doctoral program in agricultural and environmental sciences. It's hiring now for four endowed professorships and has 11 other endowed chairs it can fill later.
Achieving R1 status won't be a short-term project if A&T chooses to go for it. It would be a long-term objective, Martin said, one that will take money and time and planning.
"This is exciting work, but this is hard work ..." Martin told trustees. "We have got to be very strategic, very intentional about the investments we're making."
November 20, 2020
This scatterplot graph shows the nation's doctoral universities based on overall and per-student research metrics. Universities with very high research activity (orange dots) are at the top right. N.C. A&T and other universities with high research activity (green dots) are in the middle and bottom left. Doctoral/professional universities (blue dots) are in the bottom left.
N.C. A&T puts a lot of emphasis on research. It's winning close to $70 million in annual awards to do research in agriculture, engineering and other science and tech fields. A&T ranks third among UNC System schools — well behind UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, but well ahead of all the rest.
Right now, A&T is classified as an R2 university — one with high research activity. At this month's Board of Trustees meeting, Chancellor Harold Martin said the magic word: "R1."
If you know anything about college athletics, you know that colleges and universities are divided in many different ways, generally based on size and how much money they spend on sports. There's the NCAA and the NAIA. Division I, II and III. FBC and FCS. Power Five and Group of Five.
College and universities are sliced and diced according to their academic programs as well. The group that has been holding onto the higher ed sorting hat since 1970 is The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, now based at Indiana University. Each of the nation's 4,300 two-year and four-year colleges and universities fits into one of eight broad Carnegie classifications based on size, mission and number and type of degrees awarded.
At the top of the Carnegie pile is the Doctoral Universities categories, which represents about 10 percent of all U.S. institutions and slightly more than a third of all college and university enrollment.
This category is split three ways: There's R1, R2 and D/PU, which should be called R3 simply for sake of consistency.
R3 (aka Doctoral/Professional Universities) was first rolled out in 2018. It includes schools that award professional doctorates (such as law, pharmacy, medicine and others) but don't do much scientific research or award many Ph.Ds. Elon, Campbell, Gardner-Webb and Wingate are North Carolina's four R3 schools.
R1 (aka Doctoral Universities/Very High Research Activity) is home to many of the nation's biggest and best-known institutions. We're talking Ivy League, state flagships and land-grant institutions, MIT and Cal Tech and other large schools that do a ton of research and award a lot of Ph.Ds. N.C. has three R1 schools: Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State. Only 3 percent of universities are R1s, but they enroll nearly 20 percent of all U.S. college students.
Then there's R2, (aka Doctoral Universities/High Research Activity). East Carolina, UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Wilmington are R2 institutions. The Triad has three R2s: Wake Forest, UNCG and N.C. A&T.
At November's Board of Trustees meeting, Martin and Eric Muth, A&T's vice chancellor for research and economic development, walked trustees through what Martin called "our aggressive strategies" for expanding the university's research capacity and perhaps moving up into some elite company.
N.C. A&T has held R2 status only since 2005 — it was grouped with master's universities previously — and research and innovation have been a major focus of Martin's since he became A&T's chancellor in 2009. A&T's research volume was about $50 million or so when Martin arrived. It's on target to reach $75 million by 2023. That's the foundation on which A&T plans to build.
There are obvious reasons for focusing on research. Research raises a university's profile, which can help increase enrollment and reputation, attract more accomplished students and faculty and more potential donors. Research funding brings jobs, and research discoveries can generate even more jobs, not just at A&T but throughout the region. And if A&T continues to grow its research output — in agriculture, in engineering, in other science and tech fields — A&T could conceivably one day become the first historically Black college and university to get a coveted R1 designation.
It's time, Martin said, for A&T "to set our sights on the possibilities of moving toward an R1 university," something that will take what Martin called "strategic" and "intentional" investments in faculty and facilities, in researchers and research labs, in new doctoral programs.
"As we talk about the future of our university," Martin told trustees Nov. 13, "one core area of growth and expected continued success .. is in the area of research."
But Muth told trustees that it's tricky business to figure out exactly how to crack into the R1 category. Everyone knows the variables — overall and per-student amounts of research expenditures, research faculty and staff and doctorates awarded — but Carnegie doesn't publish its formula. That said, Muth was able to identify a school on the threshold of the R1 and R2 categories — in this case, the University of North Texas — to set a rough target for A&T.
So where does A&T stand relative to this hypothetical threshold?
• A&T's STEM and non-STEM research expenditures are close. A&T spends about $36 million on science and tech research and nearly $3.5 million annually on research in other areas. UNT spends about $39 million and about $4.7 million, respectively.
• A&T is well short of both research faculty (388) and research staff (23). UNT has twice as many research faculty and more than three times the number of research staff.
• A&T also has a ways to go on STEM doctorates (35 awarded), social science doctorates (6) and humanities doctorates (zero). UNT awarded more than 140 in all three categories combined.
Besides the growing research productivity I mentioned earlier, A&T already has assembled other parts of its foundation. A&T is co-operator (with UNCG) of the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro. It has a research center (along with Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNCG and others) at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. And A&T opened three on-campus research centers — in cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and entrepreneurship — last year.
A&T has a few more things in the pipeline that will help its efforts. Its Engineering Research and Innovation Complex will open next year. A&T soon will seek approval for a new doctoral program in agricultural and environmental sciences. It's hiring now for four endowed professorships and has 11 other endowed chairs it can fill later.
Achieving R1 status won't be a short-term project if A&T chooses to go for it. It would be a long-term objective, Martin said, one that will take money and time and planning.
"This is exciting work, but this is hard work ..." Martin told trustees. "We have got to be very strategic, very intentional about the investments we're making."
