In November, the University announced that it is facing a $46 million structural budget deficit due to its continuing efforts to reposition itself as a leading research institution rather than a liberal arts college. But when did this transition start?
The Herald explored University archives to understand this shift.
The University’s origins
Founded in 1764 as Rhode Island College, the University originally referred to itself as a “liberal and catholic institution” and later emphasized its promotion of the “liberal arts and universal literature” in its 1945 charter.
Liberal arts colleges typically tout their emphasis on undergraduate education and prioritize small class sizes. In 1800, the University served 107 undergraduate students and offered no graduate programs.
The ‘research university’
Research universities are institutions that emphasize intensive research by professors and graduate students and promote social advancement via research contributions to academic fields.
“In a sense, Brown and other American colleges and universities started becoming ‘research universities’ in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when they adopted and adapted the German model of higher education,” wrote Luther Spoehr, senior lecturer emeritus in education, in an email to The Herald.
The German model of higher education, also known as the Humboldtian model of higher education, was influenced by the ideals of Wilhelm von Humboldt, a German philosopher and educational reformer. The model emphasizes scientific inquiry, academic freedom, graduate education and the integration of teaching and research.
While The Herald was unable to find any official records of Brown adopting the Humboldtian model, the University carries many elements of the model, including a focus on research and a commitment to intellectual freedom, according to the University website.
Before World War II, the majority of the federal funds allocated for research were granted to government laboratories composed of government employees.
But after the war broke out, universities began to receive more federal government support for education and research, supplementing funding typically provided to universities by private foundations and state governments. The establishment of federal departments and agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, increased the potential sources of funding for research at institutions of higher education, giving rise to research universities as they exist in the present day.
Establishing master’s and PhD programs
Graduate study at Brown began in 1850, when students were able to receive a master’s degree with one additional year of study following their undergraduate education. But this option was discontinued in 1857.
In 1887, graduate study was reinstated at the University with the addition of master’s and PhD programs. The University awarded its first PhD degree in 1889.
An official graduate department was announced in 1903. 24 years later, the graduate department transitioned to become the Graduate School.
Brown as a ‘university-college’
In 1948, then-University President Henry Wriston coined the term “university-college” in his presidential report to the Corporation, The Herald previously reported. While graduate and doctorate programs did exist at the University at the time, Wriston described Brown as an “institution which puts primary emphasis upon the liberal arts, bringing to their cultivation the library, laboratories and personnel resources of a university.”
The term “university-college” remains prevalent in the University’s mission to this day, which refers to Brown as “a partnership of students and teachers in a unified community known as a university-college.”
The Warren Alpert Medical School
In 1811, Brown became the third university in the United States to offer an academic medical education, according to its website. But the medical degree program did not transition into a full-fledged school until 1972, when Brown’s Medical School was launched following the allocation of $200,000 in the state budget for its establishment, according to a Herald article at the time. Before the establishment of the medical school, “the Graduate School was the only part of the institution that qualified Brown as a ‘research university,’” Spoehr wrote.
Brown’s research capacities at the time were significantly smaller than they are today, as the University itself had a significantly smaller student population. In 2024, there are over twice as many graduate students and four times as many medical students as there were in 1973.
The start of a new era: President Ruth Simmons
In the past two decades, the University has seen immense growth in its science and research profile. “The arrival of Ruth Simmons in 2001 presaged an important pivot for Brown,” Spoehr wrote, referencing the former University president.
“I always saw my time at Brown as trying to build a foundation for the next president to be able to take the University to the next level,” Simmons said in a 2011 interview with The Herald.
In the early years of her presidency, Simmons released the Plan for Academic Enrichment, which helped Brown hire close to 80 new faculty members and expanded support for undergraduate advising and Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards.
“To achieve its goals and remain in the ranks of the most outstanding universities, Brown must continue to provide support to promising academic and research programs across the University,” the PAE states.
During Simmons’s tenure, the University’s total research output skyrocketed. In 2001, the University received $57.8 million in federal research grants. A decade later, that number had increased to $91.1 million, according to previous coverage from The Herald.
Through the PAE, the University also emphasized its support for research through endeavors such as the Cogut Humanities Center and the Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World. During Simmons’s tenure, the University also saw the transition of the Division of Engineering to the School of Engineering.
President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and the University today
President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 took office in 2012. In an interview with The Herald at the time, Paxson said that “one of the goals of Brown is to continue to grow as a first-class research institute” while maintaining a focus on undergraduates.
In 2013, the Brown Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — approved the creation of a School of Public Health from the preexisting Program in Public Health. A key focus of the transition to the school was creating ways to “maintain positive collaborations in both research and educational programs,” said Terrie Wetle, the then-incoming dean of the School of Public Health, in an interview with The Herald at the time.
In 2014, Paxson launched her strategic plan — Building on Distinction: A New Plan for Brown — a document guiding her plans for the next decade. The report highlights the University’s commitment to being a leader in areas such as undergraduate, graduate and medical education, academic excellence and campus development.
The original draft of the strategic plan received criticism as it did not contain the term “university-college,” The Herald previously reported. At the time, Paxson said she had no intention behind rejecting the phrase “university-college.”
“I came to Brown because I loved the fact that it has this amazing undergraduate education that’s integrated into this research university,” she added in an interview at the time. The strategic plan now contains the term “university-college.”
In the first five years since the launch of the strategic plan, the University established the Brown Institute for Translational Science, the Data Science Initiative, the Brown Arts Initiative and expanded the School of Engineering.
At the end of 2022, the University released its Operational Plan for Investing in Research, which details the University’s aims to increase research output. The University aims to double “internal funding available for research across the University” in the five to seven years after the release of the plan.
In December 2024, the BrownTogether fundraising campaign, which aimed to fund the Building on Distinction initiative, concluded after a decade-long run. The campaign raised over $4.4 billion from over 76,800 donors, making it the largest fundraising campaign in University history.
Out of the $4.4 billion raised through BrownTogether, $1.58 billion is dedicated toward supporting research. Other categories include facilities, financial aid, endowed professorships and athletics.
Classifying a ‘research university’
In 1973, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed the Carnegie Classifications, which is “a system for organizing the diverse set of degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States,” their website reads.
As of 2025, Brown’s research classification has been designated as “Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production.” Research 1 institutions are the highest level of distinction doctoral universities can earn, with the classification requiring at least $50 million in research and development and the awarding of over 70 doctoral research degrees per year.
“Another marker for ambitious research universities includes membership in organizations such as the Association of American Universities,” Spoehr wrote. Brown became a member of the AAU in 1933, The Herald previously reported.
The AAU, founded in 1900, comprises 71 U.S. member institutions that are considered to be “America’s leading research universities,” according to the association’s website. The AAU aims to shape higher education policy to help support research institutions.
Over the past few months, Brown and the AAU, along with other organizations and universities, sued the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health in hopes of stopping funding cuts.
Brown’s “central business remains the increase of knowledge, the inculcation of wisdom, the refinement of emotional responses and the development of spiritual awareness,” said Wriston in a 1948 Herald article.
“Brown is a member of the Ivy League and is clearly a ‘research university,’” Spoehr added.
Correction: A previous version of this article misattributed a quote regarding Brown's central business to Luther Spoehr. The quote was stated by former University President Henry Wriston in a 1948 Herald article. The Herald regrets the error.
Roma Shah is a senior staff writer covering University Hall and higher education. She's a freshman from Morgan Hill, CA and studies Neuroscience. In her free time, she can be found doing puzzles, hiking or curled up with a book.
