UAB series announcement

Bourbon Slide first.  Then a statue of a Russian fur.  Then a monument to powdered soap.

So if we want to achieve all of our academic goals, we need to add more programs, but I haven't seen any new ones recently

This.

But it's not just money that's the problem, it's the time required to establish new doctoral degrees. And it's not a one-sided effort: The University requires the approval of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) for each individual degree, and that process itself is lengthy.

Jax State only established its first doctorate degree (Doctor of Science in emergency management) in 2010. It took seven years to add another one, the Doctor of Nursing Practice, in 2017. It was another five years before ACHE approved another one, the Doctor of Education in educational leadership.

Looking back at my first post about Carnegie and AAU, I need to clarify one thing I said:



Compared to all the other Carnegie designations (R1, R2, D/PU) as well as AAU status, then yes, D/PU is the "easiest" -- but it's not easy at all. As said above, it requires money and time.

But I've been using "short term" and "long term" very loosely, depending on the context. So when I say D/PU may be where we're headed "in the short term" I really just mean it'd be the first step toward increasing our Carnegie standing. It's not going to be "short" at all.

If I'm talking about stadium renovations, "short term" may mean 3-5 years.

If I'm talking about the pursuit of a higher Carnegie classification, "short term" may mean 15-20 years.

Without a commitment (and a lot of funding) by the state to increase the number of Carnegie R1/R2 universities in the state, even R2 status is barely even on our long-term radar. Texas has made such a commitment to increase its R1/R2 schools, and schools like Tarleton and Sammy have benefitted. When a home needs to be found for a new major research program, they don't just look to Austin or College Station. They spread the programs around to these small colleges.

Then, when Texas markets itself to major corporations, they get to boast about how many R1/R2 universities are located in the state compared to most others. North Carolina and Virginia made similar commitments many years ago.

Alabama hasn't made that synaptic connection yet. We give our major research programs to the big schools or big cities. Bama, Auburn, Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile. (Not surprisingly, whenever major job announcements are made, those jobs overwhelmingly flow to Huntsville, Birmingham, and Mobile.)

The University of Alabama gets the bulk of state funding because it's the state flagship. (And also, because Roll Tide.) It's not just Tuscaloosa that benefits from this; UAB and UAH are also part of the University of Alabama system, and receive funding from it. Even though Tuscaloosa gets first dibs, all three schools are Carnegie R1 universities.

The state's land grant colleges are also privy to additional funding. That's just three: Auburn, Alabama A&M, and Tuskegee University. Of these, only Auburn is an R1 university. (Achieving R1 status has not been a priority for A&M and Tuskegee due to their mission statements.)

That parenthetical statement historically has applied to the state's former teacher colleges as well, which is why JSU, troy state, UNA, and UWA have never aimed to become Carnegie "R" classified institutions. When you're churning out public school teachers, your biggest priority is your bachelor and masters programs. Research -- which is what the "R" stands for in R1 and R2 -- has not been a priority for any of these schools until recent years.

But changing that is not easy. Schools like JSU and troy state have to fight and claw for every penny of funding we get. We can't just say, "Let's become R2!" and it comes to fruition. We have to play a long, long game to get there.

We are not a research institution.  It's not our goal to be.  It can't be our goal unless the state of Alabama wants it to be.  Read our mission statement.  Then read the mission statement of Alabama and Auburn.  Vastly different.  We have our niche and our goal should be to be the best that we can be in fulfilling our mission.  You don't go and try to change the mission just to belong to some fancy club of universities.  

I don't think you do understand. 

You can believe whatever you want, I don't really care, but actually I do understand. I may not have understood in the beginning of this conversation, but I asked questions maybe some of which were repetitive and I'm sorry for that but I'm a little slow. As a student, all I want is for JSU to be the best it can be regardless of what path we take. I just want JSU to have the best athletics, academics, and campus it can possibly have. I just see on here and other places that our rivals and other schools in our conference are growing and adding new programs, all I wanted was clarity on why we are being a little slower with getting there. I might have asked the same question multiple times but as I said I'm a little slow. I do understand that money might be tight and the state isn't allowing us, so yeah I do understand