APRIL 3, 2025 | NEWS | By Sydney McGarr (News Editor)
In early March, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education designated Colorado College as a Research College and University.
The RCU designation, unlike more long-established R1 and R2 classifications, is designed to acknowledge colleges that boast significant research funding but generally offer little to no doctoral degrees. Colorado College does not offer doctoral programs, including PhDs.
There are 216 institutions that meet the qualifications for this designation and spend more than $2.5 million annually on research. Of those, 36 are undergraduate liberal arts colleges, including CC.
According to a press release from CC announcing the designation, faculty at the college hold $3.3 million in federal awards for research projects.
Because the RCU designation is such a newly implemented category, how CC benefits from the designation remains to be seen.
Schools that receive the more historically well-known R1 and R2 designations often have strong opportunities for access to cutting-edge research, renowned faculty and research networking opportunities.
Tess Powers, director of Sponsored Research and Research Compliance Officer at CC, hopes this designation will provide a new sense of appreciation among students for the college’s various research opportunities.
“CC students have already been benefiting from […] experiencing in the classroom our college’s commitment to their scholarly and creative work,” Powers said. “It’s an important step because this puts us on the national map in a way we haven’t been before.”
In terms of research funding, the college will not see immediate changes. However, Powers says, it’s possible that the designation will help us compete for research funding in an increasingly competitive environment due to federal budget cuts.
“With this designation, funders may grant applications from CC faculty in a new light, recognizing that the institution invests in high-caliber research and that our faculty and our student researchers will produce compelling results,” she said. “So it may help us make our case to research funders.”
The implementation of the RCU designation is part of a broader push from the Carnegie Foundation to diversify recognition of the changing nature and multidimensionality of colleges and universities in the United States.
This month, the Carnegie Foundation plans to release an updated classification framework, including the 2025 Institutional Classification which will “shift to a more multidimensional approach, organizing institutions by multiple characteristics to create similar groups of institution types,” according to the Carnegie Foundation website.
The foundation is widely known for implementing one of the leading frameworks for “recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education.”
“This recognition underscores our dedication to integrating research, teaching, and mentorship, ensuring transformative academic experiences that prepare students for impactful careers and citizenship,” Vice President and Dean of Faculty Emily Chan said in a statement.