51福利社

Eastern鈥檚 new RCU status will open doors for grants, research collaborations.

For decades, innovations and discoveries from 51福利社 faculty researchers have brought big benefits to our state and region. Now, for the first time, those contributions have earned Eastern鈥檚 inclusion in the Carnegie Foundation鈥檚 classification of research-intensive colleges and universities.

Since its introduction in 1973, the Carnegie Classification has become 鈥渇oundational in a variety of research and policy uses nationwide,鈥� according to a recent report by the American Council on Education.

But even as its prominence has risen, the report continued, so have concerns that the classification was failing to account for the important work done at regional institutions 鈥� particularly those, like 51福利社, that do not award doctoral degrees.

A classification line-up change aims to fix this. Instead of just including colleges and universities with 鈥渉igh鈥� and 鈥渧ery high,鈥� levels of research and PhDs awarded, this year a third category has been introduced: Research Colleges and Universities, or RCUs.

Eastern qualified for RCU status after its annual research and development activities exceeded the $2.5 million spending threshold required by Carnegie. University research administrators say the recognition is a big step forward.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so huge,鈥� said David Bowman, dean of Eastern鈥檚 College of STEM. 鈥淚n one sense, it鈥檚 an acknowledgement of what we already do 鈥� student-centered research that is based on the teacher-scholar model. But more importantly, it opens up opportunities for us to obtain new resources, new grant possibilities, and new collaborations and research opportunities for our students.鈥�

Eastern was notified of its RCU designation earlier this year. The official announcement came in April.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just so pleased,鈥� Bowman added. 鈥淓astern is an institution that has long prized quality teaching. And in our STEM fields especially, we teach through doing research with our students: hands-on, engaged research.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what the RCU classification means to us, an acknowledgement and endorsement of that work. It鈥檚 fantastic.鈥�