CEHD lands 82nd spot in HERD survey
Annual National Science Foundation report ranks top research expenditures among colleges and universities nationwide
It’s not the Billboard Hot 100, but UND’s College of Education & Human Development cracked another Top 100 chart that’s certainly worth singing about nationwide.
CEHD Associate Dean of Research & Faculty Development Rob Stupnisky says the college landed the 82nd spot in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research & Development survey.
“That’s what people in my line of work — I’ll call them university research administrators — consider one of the top metrics in terms of a college’s research productivity,” Stupnisky said. “This is something we really should celebrate. We have so many people who are active in grants now, and they’re working hard and doing amazing things.
“Showing we’re a Top 100 college in terms of these kinds of external funding opportunities and then turning that into good research and educational outcomes is something to really be proud of.”
What is the HERD survey ranking?
Each year, the HERD survey collects data from about 500 universities nationwide and then breaks down by discipline just how much a particular college or university spent in external grant money that academic year.
For the College of Education & Human Development, grant expenditures for fiscal year 2023 — the latest year for which survey data is available — amounted to roughly $5.2 million, Stupnisky said.
That’s a jump from $3.3 million and the 101st spot recorded just one year earlier. It was about three years ago when Stupnisky said he first noticed the significant upward trend and, at that time, CEHD ranked 122nd in the survey.
“That was pretty good,” he said. “But when I saw our grants were on the rise, I thought, ‘Wow! Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could become a Top 100 research college of education.’”
UND as an institution also improved its overall ranking, moving from the 150th spot in 2022 to 144th in 2023.
Why does the HERD survey matter?
Not only do external grants advance research and provide professional development for faculty, undergrads and graduate students, Stupnisky said they also go a long way toward supporting communities outside UND.
For instance, research grants provide money that helps communities meet public health goals, as well as train teachers and counselors already working in the field.
“Grants are mutually beneficial for students and faculty, and they provide great collaborative opportunities to connect with communities,” he said. “They provide far-reaching and broader economic development beyond our immediate campus.”
HERD survey ranking can lead to more success
And, of course, grants tend to beget more grants, he added.
“When you have a good record of successfully administering grants, it just shows the granting agencies — whether that be the National Science Foundation or the Centers for Disease Control (& Prevention) — that the University of North Dakota is capable of not only receiving a $6 million grant but also carrying through with the scope of work to reach the outcomes it said it would.
“When you can show you’re capable of carrying out these large grant projects, the likelihood of getting funded in the future increases.”
CEHD grant expenditures grew by 50% over last year and 327% over the past five years, and Stupnisky predicts future growth to remain strong.
“We’re expected to have grant expenditures north of $7.5 million the next year, so in all likelihood, our HERD ranking will go up again,” he said.
So what exactly is CEHD doing right?
Stupnisky attributes much of CHED’s ballooning research budget to a culture shift started under the leadership of former Dean Cindy Juntunen and former Associate Dean for Research & Faculty Development Rachel Navarro.
“They began to change the whole culture by emphasizing the infinite value of these external grants,” he said. “Several initiatives were established to encourage people to actively engage in external grant writing and research.”
For instance, he explained, “It’s probably been only within the past six to eight years where getting a grant actually counted toward your annual evaluation. Now, you can get credit toward tenure, promotion and merit pay.”
CEHD also built grant-focused infrastructure that included hiring dedicated grant staff Robert Monette, Gabriel Salander and Rosemary Schultz, who can make the sometimes daunting process much easier. Faculty internal mini-grants supporting new projects, funds for summer grant writing and alumni-sponsored awards are consistently available as well as monthly professional development workshops. Plus, greater emphasis has been placed on hiring faculty with research experience.
Current Dean Shelbie Witte strongly supports all of the above, Stupnisky says, as well as a long list of other research-forward initiatives he cites in his December “CEHD Research in Press” blog.
That same blog post includes more evidence of impressive momentum. CEHD faculty submitted 49 external grant proposals in FY24, up from 13 in FY19 — and totaling 155 proposals from FY2019-24. The total amount budgeted in grant proposals also increased from $2.78 million in FY20 to $45.4 million in FY24 — a total of $97 million over five years.
“Our college really has become a national leader in research, and I think we’re on an amazing trajectory with many more great things to come,” Stupnisky said. “We have some really, really amazing faculty. We have great leadership in our new dean. And we have strong graduate programs with spectacular students. The sky’s the limit. It’s been a real honor to see our faculty’s enthusiastic vision for research and to support all that they’re doing.”
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