Dear UNT Faculty and Staff,

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education™ released their latest classification report, and it is no surprise that UNT is once again among the 141 universities nationwide included in the “Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity” classification.

This achievement places our great university among the nation's most elite, top-tier research institutions. In fact, this news is a little sweeter this year as we made substantial progress in our standing as a Tier One research institution in comparison to our peer institutions. Based on our university's analysis of the data Carnegie released, UNT jumped to the #86 spot in the classification's third quartile from #118 in the fourth quartile. Learn more about our classification.

Our continued success in this important ranking is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our outstanding faculty and staff. We've spent the last several years strengthening our research enterprise — from bolstering our research equipment and spaces, creating programs to help our faculty researchers be more competitive in the grant process, investing in key academic programs ranging from engineering to music to move us forward, and significantly growing our number of doctoral students and tenure/tenure-track faculty. At the same time, we've propelled an increasing number of our academic programs into national rankings, boosted enrollment at a time when others are lagging, and worked hard to ensure our students receive a Tier One education at an affordable price that allows them to pursue their dreams of a college education.

I'm proud of our drive and know we will leverage it to achieve our next research goals. We still have work to do to meet the State of Texas' Tier One National Research University Fund standards, and we must continue to collaborate in our aggressive pursuit of greater external funding. We also are continuing our work on expanding our research footprint with the planning for our future Science and Technology Research Building, which will give us much-needed research space so we can increase our impact.

This recognition by Carnegie is further evidence of our momentum in growing our research profile and our rise toward greater national prominence. I am proud of our work together, and I encourage each of you to take a moment to thank your colleagues for their part in helping us continue to soar.

UNT Proud, Neal Smatresk UNT President