Notre Dame has been invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), a collective of North America’s leading research universities, University President Fr. John Jenkins said in a press release Thursday.
Founded in 1900, the AAU strives to “help shape policy for higher education, science and innovation; promote best practices in undergraduate and graduate education; and strengthen the contribution of leading research universities to American society.”
In 2020, AAU institutions awarded 48% of all research doctoral degrees in the U.S. and received 63 percent — $28.8 billion — of federally funded academic research and development.
“While Notre Dame has long been known for its undergraduate education, we have striven to be a preeminent research institution with superb graduate education, all informed by our Catholic mission,” Jenkins said. “We are honored to be invited to join the AAU and heartened by the AAU Board’s recognition of our progress as a research university, and we look forward to participating in this august organization.”
Since 2007, research funding received by the University has increased 194%. In recent years, Notre Dame has been awarded tens of millions of dollars to study mosquito-borne diseases, improve global education outcomes and form the Labs for Industry Futures and Transformation (LIFT) Network in the South Bend-Elkhart region.
Five other universities — Arizona State University; George Washington University; the University of California, Riverside; the University of Miami and the University of South Florida — were also selected to join the 65 institutions previously invited into the association.
Membership is by invitation only and based on qualitative and quantitative measures that assess the quality and breadth of a university’s research and graduate and undergraduate programs.
