By Matthew Becerra, March 11, 2025
Cal Poly Pomona has achieved R2 university status, which recognizes the university for its focus on research and ability to offer doctoral degrees.
With this designation, there is potential for research expansion and faculty support, but at the same time, the President Donald Trump’s administration announced changes in federal funding might affect the CPP’s research efforts. .
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education uses the R2 label for universities with significant research activity. To be labeled as an R2 university, a university must spend at least $5 million on research each year and award at least 20 doctoral degrees. CPP has surpassed these requirements, spending over $23 million on research and funding 92 projects this academic year as well as 24 doctoral degrees in the 2023-2024 acadmeic year. CPP also has a doctoral program in educational leadership.
According to S. Terri Gomez, the provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, federal funding plays a crucial role in supporting research at universities like CPP.
“Cuts to federal grants would be devastating for our campus, but I don’t foresee it immediately impacting our R2 status,” Gomez said. “We’re not sure what kind of changes are going to happen to grant availability, but at this point, we have a lot of grants in the pipeline.”
Despite the uncertainty, the university is still well-prepared with existing grants that support its research efforts.
Supporting faculty is crucial for the success of any research-driven university, Gomez explained.
“We want to continue to support faculty in doing research,” Gomez said. “Research is time-intensive, so it’s very important that we continue to support faculty.”
Faculty workload is a key factor in how effectively they can engage in research with each full-time faculty member being assigned 15 units(12 units dedicated to teaching and 3 units for service, including research activities).
Gomez acknowledged that faculty teaching loads would remain the same while the university increases its efforts to support research.
“We do not anticipate having a decrease in teaching load.” Gomez said
CPP is considering expanding its doctoral programs, according to Betty Alford, the program director of the Educational Leadership Department currently the only department that offers doctoral programs at CPP. Alford also expressed excitement about how R2 status has increased the visibility of its programs’ strength.
This recognition publicizes the university’s programs, reassuring its commitment to research and preparing high-quality graduates, which opens up more opportunities for students and faculty.
Gomez emphasized the value of research experience for students.
“For a lot of our students, having an opportunity to have a hands-on research experience with our faculty can make the difference in terms of getting into a really competitive program,” Gomez said.
Gomez also pointed out that CPP’s research funding creates more opportunities for undergraduate students.
Gomez said that the million dollar figure being spent on research means more opportunities provided for both undergraduate and graduate students.Sydney Duong, a computer information systems student at CPP, said her involvement in research helped shape her academic direction and job prospects.
“I was given this research project pretty early on in college,” Duong said. “I was definitely still trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and through that, I was able to learn more about the field that I chose to go into during college.It definitely helped me.It definitely steered me in the right direction.”
Duong reflected on the importance of connecting with professors, particularly in her field, early in her academic career.
“It was also just good to get connected with professors and faculty in my field, because starting out as a freshman, you don’t really know that many professors,” said Duong. “So being able to meet the department chair and meet other professors was also helpful.”
Feature image courtesy of CPP Strategic Communications Team
