In a landmark development for higher education, Howard University is on track to become the only Historically Black College and University to achieve Research-1 status. This prestigious classification will be officially granted this spring. 

The R-1 status designation that will provide Howard University with increased access to research funding and help attract top-tier faculty. 

Due to updated Carnegie Classification requirements, the journey to R-1 status has been made more attainable. Under the new guidelines, universities must award at least 70 doctoral degrees annually and invest a minimum of $50 million in research to qualify for R-1 classification. Howard University has already exceeded these benchmarks, positioning itself favorably for the recognition.

Howard has achieved R-1 status in the past but lost it in 2005 due to stricter criteria. The American Council on Education’s recent simplification of these requirements has allowed Howard to reclaim the designation.

This achievement signifies not only a major milestone for Howard but also progress for HBCUs nationwide. It is essential to recognize the systemic barriers that have historically impeded HBCUs from attaining such status. Barriers rooted in policies from the Jim Crow era favored predominantly white institutions, which led to unequal distribution of funding and resources. 

“It’s just one of the ways that HBCUs, even though they’re fighting and they’re doing all of the work that they can in order to build out these research programs, are still being discriminated against by states,” Adam Harris, author of The State Must Provide, told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In addition to its pursuit of R-1 status, Howard University is leading efforts to establish an HBCU consortium through its University Affiliated Research Center. This initiative includes a $90 million research contract to develop tactical autonomy research for the Air Force.