Since its introduction in 1973, the Carnegie Classification has become \u201cfoundational in a variety of research and policy uses nationwide,\u201d according to a recent report by the American Council on Education. <\/span><\/p>\n But even as its prominence has risen, the report continued, so have concerns that the classification was failing to account for the important work done at regional institutions \u2014 particularly those, like EWU, that do not award doctoral degrees.<\/span><\/p>\n A classification line-up change aims to fix this. Instead of just including colleges and universities with \u201chigh\u201d and \u201cvery high,\u201d levels of research and PhDs awarded, this year a third category has been introduced: Research Colleges and Universities, or RCUs. <\/span><\/p>\n Eastern qualified for RCU status after its annual research and development activities exceeded the $2.5 million spending threshold required by Carnegie. University research administrators say the recognition is a big step forward.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so huge,\u201d said David Bowman, dean of Eastern\u2019s College of STEM. \u201cIn one sense, it\u2019s an acknowledgement of what we already do \u2014 student-centered research that is based on the teacher-scholar model. But more importantly, it opens up opportunities for us to obtain new resources, new grant possibilities, and new collaborations and research opportunities for our students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Eastern was notified of its RCU designation earlier this year. The official announcement came in April.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just so pleased,\u201d Bowman added. \u201cEastern is an institution that has long prized quality teaching. And in our STEM fields especially, we teach through doing research with our students: hands-on, engaged research. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what the RCU classification means to us, an acknowledgement and endorsement of that work. It\u2019s fantastic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eastern\u2019s new RCU status will open doors for grants, research collaborations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":1015,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86152","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-research","stories_categories-science","stories_tags-spring-summer-2025"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":true,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86373,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86152\/revisions\/86373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFo<\/span>r decades<\/span>, innovations and discoveries from EWU faculty researchers have brought big benefits to our state and region. Now, for the first time, those contributions have earned Eastern\u2019s inclusion in the Carnegie Foundation\u2019s classification of research-intensive colleges and universities.<\/span><\/p>\n