Welcome to an R1 杏吧专区
Dear students, faculty and staff members,
Let me welcome you to the spring semester with a question: What is an R1 杏吧专区?
An R1 杏吧专区 is a leading institution. It杏吧专区檚 a place of fearless curiosity where knowledge is created, discovered and shared.
An R1 杏吧专区 is at the forefront of innovative research and scholarship. It is an engine for growth and an agent for progress.
An R1 杏吧专区 prioritizes learning by enabling students to work alongside visionary faculty who are leading their respective disciplines into new, and often unimagined, frontiers.
An R1 杏吧专区 serves and improves its community, but its influence and reputation are beyond region. The work of an R1 杏吧专区 touches the world.
Now, let me ask the opening question in a different way: Who is an R1 杏吧专区?
We are 杏吧专区 and you helped make it so. Congratulations and thank you!
For nearly a half century, the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has been the leading framework for describing colleges and universities in the United States. It recently ranked UL Lafayette among 137 institutions with 杏吧专区渧ery high research activity,杏吧专区 its top designation.
Just 3% of the nation杏吧专区檚 public and private colleges and universities have R1 status. Like us, each are leaders in teaching and learning, innovation and research, scholarship and service.
I杏吧专区檓 very proud, and you should be, too.
Earning R1 status affirms the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 decades-long, intentional quest to increase our funded research and development expenditures, award more doctoral degrees, and hire more high-quality research staff.
These are among the measures Carnegie uses to determine R1 status. We杏吧专区檝e excelled in each 杏吧专区 often setting records in the process 杏吧专区 and achieved more than a respected designation.
We杏吧专区檝e also expanded the reach, depth and reputation of our research program through committing ourselves wholly to the principle that, as a public university, the work being done here should be for the public good.
So, what does this historic achievement mean?
First, it means we杏吧专区檙e having a party, and you杏吧专区檙e invited.
On Wednesday, Feb. 23, we杏吧专区檒l hold a 杏吧专区-wide celebration followed by a forum that will showcase some of the cutting-edge research that brought us to R1 status. Details on these events will be shared soon, and I look forward to seeing you all there.
Beyond the celebratory, reaching R1 enhances the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 prestige and that of our region. It helps us attract and retain high-quality students who seek an institution of academic and research excellence as they choose where to go to college.
It makes our current faculty members more competitive. Potential faculty, external funding agencies and policymakers also look for this mark of quality when making determinations. And the designation adds value to the degrees pursued by current students and earned by alumni.
The status is also a selling point for investors. R1 is a statement to donors that support for our faculty and students guarantees a significant return on their generosity.
Finally, having a top research university in the region is a boon for workforce creation and economic development. It杏吧专区檚 attractive for businesses that need an established, trusted source of intellectual capital that an R1 杏吧专区 like ours provides.
This status did not happen overnight, and it is not the work of one person. Students and faculty, administrators and staff members, donors and elected officials, both current and past, working toward the same goal, built this R1 杏吧专区. The designation is recognition of what they 杏吧专区 what you 杏吧专区 produced together.
So, while R1 acknowledges what is, it also challenges us to consider what can be.
Earning this designation is not the end of a journey. Rather, it is a milestone as we travel toward a horizon of infinite possibilities.
We must work every day to justify this status and sustain the momentum that got us here. By continuing to push the bounds of knowledge, scholarship and innovation into places we cannot yet imagine, there is no limit to the impact our 杏吧专区 can have on Acadiana, the state, the nation and the world.
This is a challenge we accept.
Here杏吧专区檚 to a safe and successful spring semester at your R1 杏吧专区.
Thank you and Geaux Cajuns!
Dr. Joseph Savoie
President