APLU Announces Winners of the 1890 Universities’ Teaching, Research and Innovation Awards

Washington, DC – The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) Council of 1890 Universities this week named the 2015 recipients of its 1890 Teaching, Research and Innovation Awards. Now in its third year, the annual honors recognize advances in teaching, research and innovation on 1890 university campuses and encourage further advancement and development in areas of critical importance. The awards were presented during a special reception at the 128th APLU Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“The 1890 Universities have long provided educational access and opportunity to traditionally underrepresented and underserved populations of citizens,” said RoSusan D. Bartee, APLU’s Interim Vice President of Access and Success. “The awards serve to highlight impressive accomplishments in teaching, research, and innovation and 1890 institutions and further demonstrate the national impact these important universities have on our nation.”

APLU’s Council of 1890 Universities, which is comprised of presidents and chancellors of the 19 historically black land-grant universities, works to strengthen teaching, research and extension programs as well as to ensure and increase funding at these important institutions.

In order to determine the winners, the 1890 institutions submitted a number of important outcome categories, including retention rates and research revenue and expenditures. Once collected, each university was evaluated among its respective peers. Data was analyzed to determine improvements from the 2013-14 to the 2014-15 school years.

“Data reviewed from this year’s awards process revealed noteworthy growth in key outcome categories,” said Jared Avery, APLU’s Associate Director of Access and Success. “In particular, first to second year retention and alumni giving were two areas demonstrating increased productivity. It is a testament to each institution’s hard work over the observed years.”

The 1890 Teaching, Research and Innovation Awards Recipients are:

1890 University of the Year Award
This award was presented to Delaware State University because they had the best overall performance in each category.

1890 Retention Award
This award was presented to West Virginia State University for the largest improvement in retention rates over the last academic year for first year students (freshman to sophomore).

1890 Agriculture Degree Completion Award
This award was presented to Delaware State University for the highest increase in agriculture bachelor’s degrees.

1890 Education Degree Completion Award
This award was presented to University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff because it had the highest increase in teacher education bachelor’s degrees.

1890 STEM Degree Completion Award
This award was presented to Delaware State University because it had the highest increase in science, technology, engineering and mathematics bachelor’s degrees.

1890 Innovation Award
This award was presented to North Carolina A&T State University because it had the largest increase in successfully transferring intellectual property into new products, processes, applications, materials or services that have been successfully taken to market.

1890 Research Award
This award was presented to Alabama A&M University because it had the largest increase in federal research funding and research dollar acquisition.

1890 Experiential Student Learning Award
This award was presented to University of Maryland Eastern Shore because it had the largest increase in undergraduate students participating in research and internships.

1890 International Student Engagement Award
This award was presented to Delaware State University because it had the largest increase in undergraduate international students and participation in study abroad programs.

1890 Alumni Engagement Award
This award was presented to West Virginia State University because it had the largest increase in donations from alumni.