New Mexico State University is once again a “Research 1” university, placing it in a prestigious class of American institutions.
The designation recognizes NMSU’s investment in the highest levels of research in the U.S. It signifies that NMSU invests in cutting-edge research, academic opportunities and high-quality resources for students.
“From NMSU’s founding as New Mexico’s first land-grant institution, it’s been our responsibility to pursue research that would advance knowledge for the well-being and benefit of New Mexico and its citizens,” said NMSU President Valerio Ferme in a news release.
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education announced it had bestowed the designation on Feb. 13. According to Carnegie, there are 187 R1 institutions in the U.S. These include Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Texas at El Paso. All three are schools that NMSU competes with for student enrollment, academic hires, and administrators.
“This R1 achievement is the direct result of years of intentional, strategic work that prioritized our research and creative enterprise and allowed us to fulfill the institutional vision of becoming a leader in transforming and empowering our state,” Ferme said.
Carnegie gives R1 designations to institutions that spend at least $50 million on research and development and award at least 70 research doctorates annually.
NMSU achieves that. According to a news release, NMSU spent more than $126 million on research last fiscal year and awarded an average of 102 research doctorates yearly since 2020.
In an article published in January, NMSU Vice President of Research, Creativity and Economic Development Luis Cifuentes said the R1 designation will allow NMSU to support public, private, and nonprofit growth. He said this will be primarily through knowledge transfer, talent development, and commercialization of research.
“Amidst the challenges of an uncertain national research landscape, our Carnegie R1 designation is a testament to the excellence, energy, resilience and resourcefulness of our faculty, staff and students,” Cifuentes said in the news release. “This recognition comes at a critical time, reinforcing the vital role of research universities. Bravo, NMSU."
Achieving R1 status has been a stated goal of NMSU since at least 2019. Then-Chancellor Dan Arvizu and former President John Floros made it the centerpiece of a 2019 speech.
NMSU said it would host a celebration of the designation later this semester.
