Friday, Dec. 21, 2018 | 1:34 p.m.
UNLV’s distinction of being the only Nevada school to have been named a top-tier research university turns out to have been short-lived.
Officials announced today that UNR was added to the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education’s R1 list for doctoral schools with “very high” research activity, a designation reserved for the nation’s 130 most prestigious schools.
UNLV achieved the designation Tuesday, when a list of 120 R1 schools was released. UNR did not make that list but was added along with nine others when the list was updated on Thursday. Carnegie has yet to explain why UNR was left off the earlier version of the list.
“This is a momentous accomplishment for UNR,” Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Thom Reilly said in a statement today. “We now have two doctoral-granting universities in our state that have reached the prestigious goal of becoming ‘R1’ research institutions.”
“I believe this will attract significant academic talent to Nevada, which in turn will create opportunities for businesses and help Nevada’s economy grow,” Reilly said.
To be eligible for “very high” categorization, universities were required to have reached at least $5 million in total research expenditures and awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees.
Other R1 schools include Harvard, Yale and Stanford. UNLV and UNR were added along with such schools as Dartmouth and Auburn.
