TTUHSC Research Receives Prestigious Status as Carnegie Classification® for Special Focus Four-Year Research Institution

• By Suzanna Cisneros
• May 11, 2022
• Research

The Carnegie Classification® of Institutions of Higher Education has designated Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) as a Special Focus Four-Year Research Institution (Very High Research Activity University). This distinguished classification places TTUHSC among 22 elite four-year special focus research universities nationwide that have curriculum with a focus in health care and medicine, research and other specialized fields. 

TTUHSC Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Lance McMahon, Ph.D., said as a health care pioneer for Texas, TTUHSC provides a unique breadth of expertise and scholarly research that transforms health care through innovation and collaboration across a range of schools and programs.

“The designation places TTUHSC in elite company among health-related institutions, including not only those in Texas such as Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center but also outside the state, including the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Rockefeller University among others,” McMahon said. “We are proud of our world-class faculty and the exceptional doctoral degree trainees who have worked together to secure TTUHSC’s designation as a global leader in academic health-related research.”

The Carnegie Classification® of Institutions of Higher Education was created in 1970 as a benchmark to categorize and compare research and policy analysis programs at colleges and universities. Universities qualify for this distinguished classification by achieving each year a combination of more than $5 million in research expenditures and conferring at least 20 doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees. TTUHSC has exceeded the funding benchmark and in academic year 2021 graduated 55 research Ph.D. degrees. 

“The Carnegie Classification® of Institutions of Higher Education is important because it helps measure the impact the university has on its local community in terms of teaching and research,” TTUHSC President Lori Rice-Spearman, Ph.D., said. “To be ranked in the Very High to High Research category demonstrates the extraordinary impact we have on health care through education, discovery and delivery of care.” 

McMahon said an important TTUHSC mission is to train the next generation of Ph.D. scientists. The Ph.D. is a research-intensive degree that prepares researchers to engage in science as a profession.

“The world class TTUHSC faculty are proud of the tradition of research training that they impart upon Ph.D. scientists,” McMahon said. “These are seeds that we plant within these future scientists that enable them to go out and create amazing discoveries that transform health care. We have some of the brightest minds in our faculty performing medical, pharmaceutical and biomedical research, and we are proud of the research excellence that they bring to our institution every day.”