ECU Gets Funds to Up Classifcation

They hope the $1.5 million in funding allocated by the N.C. General Assembly on Friday will mean higher salaries for faculty, increased research opportunities and more national respect.

The money was allocated as part of the state budget to continue upgrading ECU to the doctoral classification of research intensive. ECU previously was labeled a comprehensive university.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching reserves doctoral status for universities that award at least 10 doctoral degrees annually in three or more disciplines.

ECU awards about 11 doctorates each year, exclusive of professional degrees such as medical doctorates.

The UNC-system Board of Governors unanimously approved ECU's classification upgrade in April 1998, allowing it to share the rank with UNC-Greensboro.

UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University are the only two schools in the system that are classified as research extensive institutions.

Judith Pulley, UNC-system vice president for academic affairs, said ECU's expansion would meet a growing demand for post-graduate programs in the state.

"The raise in classification came according to a request from the Board of Governors and a budget plan submitted from ECU," Pulley said. "It's a natural progression of responding to regional needs."

ECU's graduate education programs have grown steadily throughout the 1990s.

At the university, the number of doctoral degrees awarded annually has doubled and the number of masters degrees has increased by more than one-third.

Chuck Hawkins, ECU vice chancellor for financial services, pointed out the latest budget installment primarily will be used to supplement faculty salaries.

"This brings faculty salaries up to other institutions in the doctoral status, which are research intensive," Hawkins said.

He also noted ECU will not really alter the way it interacts with other institutions within the state, but the additional funding and new classification will allow it to compete in a higher peer group nationally.

"It's a raise in level for us," Hawkins said. "Now we're in the same category as UNC-Greensboro and others."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.