PATH FORWARD TO HIGHER RESEARCH RANKING

PATH FORWARD TO HIGHER RANK

PATH TO DOCTORAL R2 RANKING

Under the leadership of President Ruth Simmons, PVAMU has been making great strides on many fronts, elevating the research profile is one of the key aspects. Vice President Rajan is committed to raising PVAMU's research and innovation enterprise to become an emerging research institution.

The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and its Carnegie Classification® is the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional standing concerning research activities and doctoral/Ph.D. graduates. Currently, PVAMU is ranked as an "M1: Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs”.

Prairie View A&M University’s path to becoming an emerging research institution aligns with the high standards of Carnegie. Institutional rankings are important in higher education to demonstrate the quality of the teaching, learning, and research activities and opportunities provided. This, in turn, attracts more students and faculty, and more support for the university.

PVAMU aspires to be elevated from the M1: Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs ranking to an R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity institution ranking. It requires a minimum research expenditure of $5M and awarding of at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year.

PVAMU's research expenditures have significantly surpassed one of the two criteria of $5M minimum requirement to become a Higher Research Activity (R2) institution. The R&I has surpassed the annual research expenditures of $20M. The Division of Research & Innovation works closely with the Office of Academic Affairs, Office of Graduate Studies, and the Office of Institutional Research in increasing the number of research/scholarship doctoral degrees.

The Carnegie Classification® that we are pursuing demonstrates PVAMU’s

 Research capacity

 New knowledge creation

 Cutting-edge research by faculty researchers

 Faculty-provided research opportunities to doctoral students.

During the last two years, the Division of Research & Innovation has made great investments and initiatives, which have yielded substantial results. Some improvements include enhanced services to principal investigators; the research administration processes and management; effective submission of grant proposals; initiating an Office of Research Advancement (ORA); enhancing doctoral student, engagement and support; and demonstration of leadership in restricted research awards, etc.

PVAMU proposals have doubled in the last two years. The Office of Research Advancement provided faculty training for grantsmanship. Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance improved internal processes to effectively support the research community. R&I provided significant support for graduate students through our Faculty-Research & Innovation for Scholarly Excellence (RISE) graduate program. All of these factors have significantly assisted in increasing our research stature towards the Carnegie ranking.

The proposals and the amounts requested have doubled since 2018 from 150 proposals at $100M to 300 proposals and at $200M, with a steady increase in funded awards from 58 to 83 awards per year. The restricted research awards have more than doubled since 2018 from $8.5M to $19.2M in 2021. The R&I has surpassed the annual research expenditures of $20M. These are the factors that accelerated us to accomplish the goal in record time. Our unified efforts are significantly thrusting us towards reaching ranking/category sooner than planned.

The research rankings represent the quality of the universities teaching, research and service missions. They also serve as a good reflection of how well PVAMU compares with peer institutions, among other HBCUs. We will continue to elevate and progress to be the best HBCU in the nation.