Courtesy of Delaware State University

Delaware State University’s rise among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) continued with the formal announcement Feb. 14 of the 2025 Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education, and the University has again been classified as an R2 “High Research Activity and Doctoral Production” institution.

Of the 101 HBCU sister institutions, 14 hold the R2 status. These rankings are important in higher education and are given to institutions that produce a rolling average of 20 research and scholarship doctorates per year and have more than $5 million per year of research expenditures.

After a concerted 24-month effort on the part of the University’s Provost Office and Strategic Enrollment, the R2 classification acknowledges last year’s more than 40 doctoral graduates, and research expenditures of $45 million (consider that in 2017 we had about $17 million in that category).

“This achievement is a credit to the talented leadership of our academic Deans; Dr. Melissa Harrington, Associate Vice President of Research; their teams, and all research-active faculty across our campuses, many of whom are focusing on inter and cross-disciplinary research, a noted driver of our efforts,” said University President Tony Allen.

“Separately, I am also pleased to report that an HBCU has achieved the Carnegie R1 status for the first time as Howard University now holds the distinction of being an institution of ‘Very High Research Activity and Doctoral Production,’” said Dr. Allen.

“Today’s announcement is particularly noteworthy because of the work borne by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs, which prioritized the mission of elevating HBCUs’ collective R1 and R2 success by advocating for more research dollars,” said Dr. Allen.