Howard was named a Research One (R1) institution by the American Council on Education (ACE) Thursday morning, making it the first and only HBCU to achieve this status.
The R1 designation signifies that a university is a top-tier research institution, recognized for its high level of research activity. As of now, 187 institutions hold R1 status, according to Carnegie, which is the organization that contributes to classifying institutions of higher education. The designation comes after Howard lost its R1 status in 2005 due to changes in the criteria.
Howard’s attainment of R1 status represents a significant development for both the institution and the broader landscape of HBCUs. The designation means the university not only meets but exceeds the research standards set by ACE, including substantial research spending and a high number of doctoral degrees awarded.
In 2023, Howard exceeded ACE’s annual threshold for research and development spending, which requires institutions to spend at least $50 million, according to Carnegie’s 2025 classification.
That year, Howard invested nearly $85 million in research and surpassed the other key criterion of awarding at least 70 research doctorates, with 96 doctorates conferred, according to Bruce A. Jones, Howard’s senior vice president and professor for research. This is the most amount of doctorates awarded to Black students of any collegiate institution.
Howard was previously designated an R2 institution, which is an institution that awards at least 20 doctoral research degrees and has at least $5 million in research expenditures. The Research Colleges and Universities designation, the lowest tier, has a $2.5 million research expenditure threshold, Carnegie says.
Howard’s President Ben Vinson III said this milestone reaffirms the university’s commitment to research.
“Through pioneering solutions and the strategic use of emerging technologies, we are shaping a future where knowledge drives inclusive prosperity and lasting impact,” he said in a statement.
He said the university’s research initiatives are focused on serving communities that have historically been “overlooked and underrepresented.”
Howard’s research centers include the Howard Center for Sickle Cell Disease, the first U.S. center dedicated primarily to the disease, and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC), which houses the largest archive of materials documenting the global Black experience.
Jones said the regaining of this status opens up resources for the university’s faculty and student researchers through the possibility of more funding, research opportunities, internships and access to national laboratories only R1 institutions have access to. He highlighted this as an opportunity for groups historically excluded from research spaces–such as people of color and other underserved populations– to become actively involved.
He also said that with Howard spearheading various research initiatives, it will open the door for other HBCUs to take part. He mentioned the $90 million dollar contract Howard has with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Department of Defense Center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, which has eight other HBCUs also tied to the contract.
This won’t change much about the inner workings of the MSRC, according to professor of history and director of MSRC Benjamin Talton. Instead, it will shed light on the work that students and faculty of the center are doing.
Talton, a ‘96 Howard alumnus, highlighted the unique aspect of MSRC as an archive, speaking on various historical figures with ties to Howard including the first African-American president of the university, Mordecai Johnson, poet and activist Amiri Baraka, educator and founder of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc., Lucy Diggs Slowe and others.
He said that people must visit the center to learn and do research not only about these figures but also about the overall global Black experience– including papers for the anti-apartheid movement and of Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana–both in the center’s possession. He said currently one of the center’s main goals is to digitize these archives along with The Black Press Archives, which houses over 2,000 U.S., Africa and African Diaspora titles, according to their website, to reach a broader audience.
“We want to make sure that there’s equitable access. I think people in Ghana should not have to come to Washington, D.C. to do the research on their first president,” he said. “What we have now is truly outstanding, but the potential that we have is amazing.”
With this new R1 status, Talton hopes the more recognition brought to the center will also bring the necessary funding for the center to accomplish its goals.
Jones said this R1 status will have a lasting impact on generations to come across the HBCU community.
“One of the things that I see as a hallmark value of Howard University is this notion of legacy. We’re always talking about those who came before us, this is a tremendous legacy to leave, we’re standing on the shoulders of those who came before us,” he said.
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau
