The Carnegie Foundation has added a new designation to help better describe colleges and universities across the country - and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is among the new class.
SIUE was previously considered a "Master's - Large" school, meaning it primarily focused on undergraduate and master's education and awarded at least 200 master's degrees in the most recent academic year.
Jerry Weinberg is the Associate Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School. He says the new classification helps SIUE highlight its new and emerging professional programs.
"Bringing on the School of Pharmacy, the Doctor of Nursing Practice, and other areas of our graduate programs has really allowed us to have that designation that will reflect the things that we do - the growth that we've had in terms of enrollment, but also the growth that we've had in scholarship and research."
Weinberg says it's good to be able to highlight those programs, but SIUE's work goes beyond that.
"We have sort of built into our policies and procedures, as well as our DNA that we are a teaching-scholar institution - which means that our faculty are active scholars, and they bring that into their teaching, they bring that into their classrooms."
One hundred sixty-one schools nationwide were added to the Doctoral/Professional classification. SIUE was one of ten in Illinois, and the only public institution in the state.
Other schools on the list include: Indiana State University, Valparaiso University, Western Kentucky University, Lindenwood University, and Missouri State University.
