Provost’s Letter

All our academic deans continue to provide extraordinary leadership in helping their faculties grow their research activities, expanding our Ph.D. programs, maintaining our high levels of instructional excellence, and finding innovative pathways to move these colleges along the trajectory that will achieve the President’s vision for LTU.

-Richard Heist

In my fall letter for our “Beyond Boundaries” magazine, I remarked on the seemingly extraordinary amount of ‘energy’ pervading the campus at the start of this academic year. That turns out to have been right on the mark. Much has happened, and much has been accomplished this academic year.

This year, the Carnegie Foundation reclassified LTU as a Research College and University (RCU) institution, which recognizes research universities with, at least, $2 million in research expenditures. This is the first time in LTU’s history to be classified as a research university!

While this represents a significant achievement, our goal remains to be classified as an R-2 research institution, one of the two highest classifications for research universities. The criteria for an R-2 classification are to exceed $5 million in research expenditures and graduate 20 or more research doctorates each year. Due to the great efforts of our faculty in getting research proposals funded, we have already exceeded the $5 million threshold. What remains is to graduate 20 or more research doctorates each year, which brings me to the next piece of good news.

Previously, our Board of Trustees approved two new Ph.D. programs, one in computer science and one in electrical and computer engineering. These two programs started this past fall and already have Ph.D. students enrolled and supporting their advisor’s research programs. Also, last fall our Board of Trustees approved a new Ph.D. program in simulation and design—an innovative initiative that will enable faculty, university-wide, to supervise Ph.D. students, build their Ph.D.–level research programs, and increase the number of Ph.D. graduates.

In addition to increasing the number of Ph.D. programs (currently at five), this spring the Board approved two professional doctoral programs, the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in our College of Business and Information Technology and the Doctor of Health Sciences (DHS) in our new College of Health Sciences. Both are currently ramping up and will be online during fall 2025. Graduates of these programs, after having completed course work and a dissertation, will count, along with our Ph.D. graduates, toward achieving R-2 classification.

Given the growth of our Ph.D. programs and the projected growth of our professional doctoral programs, we anticipate achieving R-2 classification by 2028 or 2029. This will truly be a major milestone in the history of our University and a significant step toward the growth of our academic reputation!

There is more happening within our great University! For example, the College of Engineering, under the leadership of Interim Dean Maj Mirmirani, will be submitting a proposal for a research-focused, online professional doctoral degree in advanced manufacturing, also beginning in the fall, to the Board of Trustees for approval. The program will emphasize digital and AI technology and Industry 5.0 and will strengthen the academic offerings and research focus of the College of Engineering and the University.

Not all the innovative programming is happening at the graduate level. As an example, the College of Health Sciences, under the dynamic leadership of founding Dean Mary Schutten, has achieved Board of Trustees approval for two new undergraduate programs: an associate and a bachelor degree in allied health sciences that blend health science programming with business to provide graduates with multiple pathways for career opportunities. A further example of our interdisciplinary, collaborative successes.

All our academic deans continue to provide extraordinary leadership in helping their faculties grow their research activities, expanding our Ph.D. programs, maintaining our high levels of instructional excellence, and finding innovative pathways to move these colleges along the trajectory that will achieve the President’s vision for LTU. It is a pleasure for me to work with these exceptional academic leaders.

I trust you sense I am pleased and very excited about the many achievements made during this academic year. We are now in a transitional period that will firmly establish LTU on the path toward achieving our academic vision. It has been a pleasure and a gratifying experience for me to work with our faculty, chairs, deans, and administrative leaders in making this one of our most successful academic years on record.