USC has joined the ranks of the nation's top research institutions in the latest classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

USC has been designated a research institution of "very high research activity," the only university in South Carolina to have this designation, granted to 62 public and 32 private research institutions. The classification places USC in the same research category with Harvard, Duke, Emory, Johns Hopkins, and Vanderbilt universities, as well as the universities of North Carolina and California at Berkeley.

"This recent re-formulation ranks Carolina in the upper echelon of research universities, and we are honored to be in this league," said Harris Pastides, USC's vice president for research and health sciences. "It's a validation of the extraordinary work of our faculty."

The recently revised Carnegie classification system is based on factors such as the number of faculty involved in research, research expenditures in science and engineering, and the number of doctoral degrees awarded by an institution.

In 2004-05, the University received a record $166.2 million in research, outreach, and training programs.

"The quality of research on our campus is being recognized among the top academic and research institutions in the United States," Sorensen said. "Clearly, our research reputation is growing."

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