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Troy University was recently designated as a Carnegie Research University, a new designation created to recognize research efforts at smaller institutions.
To qualify as an RCU, an institution must spend at least $2.5 million on research and development on average in a single year. TROY is among 218 institutions to receive the designation.
“Achieving Carnegie Research University status is a remarkable recognition of TROY’s commitment to advancing research and development,” said Dr. Kerry Palmer, senior vice chancellor of Academic Affairs. “This designation highlights the strides we’ve made in securing substantial funding for groundbreaking initiatives, positioning us alongside the nation’s top research institutions.”
In February, Carnegie announced a revamp of the classification system. In response to many universities attempting to reconfigure their academic offerings in the hopes of achieving R-1 status, the Carnegie Foundation collaborated with the American Council on Education to redesign the Carnegie classification framework.
As part of the redesign, requirements for R-1 status were lowered, and the Carnegie Research University classification was created.
“(The redesign) allows for recognizing research in all of the places that it happens, and doesn’t incentivize institutions to mold their degree production to a Carnegie classification set of metrics,” said Mushtaq Gunja, executive director of the Carnegie Classification Systems and senior vice president of ACE. “We’re allowing every institution to double down on what they’re good at and hopefully be the best version of themselves.”
The criteria for an R-2 institution, which signifies high spending and doctorate production, remains unchanged: an institution must spend at least $5 million on research and development and award a minimum of 20 research doctorates each year.
Palmer said TROY leadership still has their sights set on achieving R-2 status.
“While we are proud of this milestone, our journey doesn’t end here,” he said. “We are committed to continuing our growth and aim to achieve R-2 status, further enhancing our research capabilities and expanding our doctoral offerings. TROY is dedicated to pushing boundaries and contributing even more to the advancement of knowledge and innovation.”
During the 2023-2024 academic year, faculty and staff secured over $42 million in grants. On Sept. 8, 2023, TROY was reclassified as a doctoral institution by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Since then, the Ph.D. in Criminology was launched and the Global Healthcare Leadership specialization was added to the Ph.D. in Global Leadership.
Additionally, the Center for Materials and Manufacturing Sciences was established and serves as the first building in the history of Troy University to be solely dedicated to research. Founded in 2018, with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, CMMS is a fully-integrated, multi-disciplinary research facility focusing on research into polymers and polymer recycling. Since 2018, the NIST has awarded CMMS three grants totaling $9.4 million to help fund lab equipment, research projects, research stipends and faculty.
About the Carnegie Classification: The Carnegie Classification® is the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. In 1970, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education began developing a classification of colleges and universities to support its program of research and policy analysis. The framework was first published in 1973, and is now updated every 3 years to reflect changes among colleges and universities.
