UCO is Taking the Steps to Become a Research Two Institution

The University of Central Oklahoma’s President, Todd Lamb, has been working towards gaining a Research Two institution status for the university.

A Research Two Institution is a university that gives 20 or more doctoral degrees and spends about $5 million in research. Currently, UCO sits right under R2 status with a Research College and Universities (RCU) title that was given to the institution in 2025 by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Currently, there is no public R2 institution in Oklahoma. Lamb hopes that UCO can gain R2 status by 2032, or as he says, “R2 by 32”.

Lamb said, ” With R2, we want our faculty to still teach and also have the research component where faculty can work hand in hand with our students in research.” Which he discussed is something that isn’t typically done at R1 institutions due to larger class sizes and more access to Teaching Assistants.

UCO has only one doctoral program where students can get their Doctorate in Forensic Science. This program does not produce 20 graduates a year, which is one of the requirements for R2. To get on track with becoming an R2 institution, Lamb has helped create a new Doctorate program for students to get their Doctorate in Education in transformative leadership and learning.

Jackie Mania, an assistant professor in the educational leadership department and the program coordinator for the new doctoral program, said, “The education leadership department had been looking to expand our offerings, and we knew that a doctoral program fit in with the longer vision at UCO.”

The new program will have two tracks:

• The first is leadership for K-12 administration, which is for students working in education.
• The second track is leadership for community development, which is meant for students working in organizational fields like non-profits or community organizations.

The Education in transformative leadership and learning doctoral program will start its first cohort in the Fall of 2026.

Lamb addressed that UCO is almost at the threshold for spending $5 million on research and development at UCO. Which is the other requirement for gaining R2 status.

To start the process of UCO becoming an R2 institution, Lamb also created a task force. “I wanted to have as much input from faculty, staff, and students as possible.”

Lamb appointed Dr. John Barthel, a professor of biology at UCO, to be in charge of the task force. Barthel then went and conducted listening tours, going to all the colleges on campus, the staff and senate, and the faculty senate to discuss what R2 would look like at UCO and find out people’s questions and concerns.

After several meetings, the consensus, according to Lamb, was “If we don’t go R2, what will happen to us?”

This question set in motion the process UCO currently has in place to become “R2 by 32.”