Harvard has announced a three-year, $1.05 million grant to the Association of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Institutions (AHRI), a new coalition of 15 HBCUs working to enhance their collective research, innovation, and impact.
The grant, made through Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Initiative, will support research infrastructure and technical assistance at these schools as they build research capacity and seek to achieve R1 status — the highest research designation offered to United States universities — under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Harvard’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) will provide technical support.
“Through this three-year grant to AHRI, the H&LS Initiative is deepening our commitment to developing enduring partnerships with HBCUs,” said Sara Naomi Bleich, vice provost for special projects at Harvard. “We are honored to leverage our expertise in research infrastructure and capacity-building to help further HBCU research excellence.”
The new funding strengthens Harvard’s commitment to building partnerships at HBCUs, while enhancing their ability to attract top research talent and funding that come with R1 research classification. Howard University is the first HBCU to have earned an R1 designation and is currently the only partner institution in AHRI with that designation.
