The New Black RESEARCH UNIVERSITY
BY DR. MARYBETH GASMAN
For much of their history, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been recognized primarily for the students that they educate. They are regularly praised for preparing generations of Black doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, scholars, and judges. Far less attention has been paid to the knowledge that HBCUs create. However, this is beginning to change. In February 2025, Howard University became the only HBCU classified as a Research 1 (“R1”) institution under the current Carnegie Classification system. The new system defines R1 institutions as universities that spend at least $50 million annually on research and development and confer at least 70 research doctorates each year. Howard was the only HBCU among the 187 institutions classified as R1 in 2025. Notably, Howard’s achievement was not entirely unprecedented. The university had been placed in Carnegie’s highest research category in 1987, but lost that designation when Carnegie redesigned its methodology in 2005. Its return to the top category in 2025 followed roughly four decades of growth in federally and privately supported research. Howard may not remain the only R1 HBCU for long. North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT) has made becoming the nation’s first public R1
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