Bradley has moved up in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and is now grouped as a doctoral/professional university, previously being classified as a master’s large institution.
“This elevation in classification recognizes our advances in graduate program offerings and puts us in direct competition with other leading institutions that are nationally recognized,” University President Stephen Standifird said in a media release on Feb. 15. “The competition is significantly stronger in this arena, but the audience is wider as well.”
The Carnegie Classification system is revised every three years, and in 2018 the category of doctoral/professional universities was established to reflect professional practice graduate programs rather than just research-focused programs.
Carnegie receives the data from what universities submit to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to categorize each institution into groups. The Carnegie Classification system includes six classifications that describe undergraduate and graduate programs. The doctoral/professional category falls into the Basic Classification.
Institutions in this category must have awarded at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in at least two programs. In the 2020-21 academic year, Bradley awarded 67 doctoral degrees and has three programs: Doctor of Physical Therapy, Doctor of Nursing Practice and Doctor of Education.
This classification was based on the graduates from the physical therapy and nursing programs. The Ed.D. program began seeing graduates in December 2021.
Jennifer Burge, Director for Institutional Effectiveness, said the new classification recognizes the breadth of programs the university offers.
“This could help Bradley if we were starting a new strategic planning process or if an individual college wanted to see more institutions that were like Bradley,” Burge said.
Erik Dalmasso, Program Director for the Doctor of Education, Higher Education Administration program, said the new classification has an impact on the ability to recruit students.
“It is confirmation of what we feel to be true about the level and quality of our programs,” Dalmasso said. “Bradley has been expanding into doctoral programs over the past several years and we certainly believe in their power, but it’s nice to have an extra validation of that on a national level.”
Scott Estes, the program director for the not yet launched superintendent program, added that the new classification allows them to share the quality of the programs as they consider adding new doctoral programs.
With this new classification, Bradley will now compete nationally in the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings instead of regionally.
Burge said that this shift in classification reinforces the connection to the university’s founding and mission.
“[Mrs. Bradley] wanted to prepare students for useful learning and ethics,” Burge said. “As we think about doctoral/professional programs, the three doctoral degrees that we offer are very professionally focused which I think is very much who we are as an institution and links to Lydia Moss Bradley, the founding of the institution and the types of programs we offer.”
This article is the first of two related pieces. The next article will dive deeper into the doctoral programs offered at Bradley.
