GW is one of 14 institutions to premiere in a section for schools with “very high research activity” in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2010 Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education.
The section replaces one which the foundation used to call Research I, and which a recent article in Inside Higher Education identified as reserved for “a group that includes the most prominent research universities in the country.”
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center with a mission of supporting needed transformations in American education.
According to Leo Chalupa, vice president for research, the classification recognizes the fact that the university has increased its research volume and repertoire.
“Our status has changed,” he says. “It’s clear that the word has gone out that our aspirations are to be a premier research institution, and we have attracted some substantial grants that have made the news. Those call attention to our status.”
Dr. Chalupa says GW was not classified in the past because its level of research “wasn’t high enough.” The classification, which the foundation specifies is not a ranking, could help the university recruit graduate students and post-doctoral and research faculty, he says.
“This is a good thing,” Dr. Chalupa says, “but with respect to our research accomplishments, I always like to say, ‘The best is yet to come.’”