18A:64N-2 Findings, declarations relative to Montclair State University.

2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. Montclair State University is a State university located in Montclair, Little Falls, Clifton, and Branchville, New Jersey, currently operating pursuant to the authority granted to State colleges by N.J.S.18A:64-1 et seq. and P.L.1994, c.48 (C.18A:3B-1 et seq.).

b. Building on a distinguished 108-year history, Montclair State University is a leading institution of higher education in New Jersey. The university's 10 colleges and schools serve 21,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 300 doctoral, master's, and baccalaureate level programs.

c. Montclair State University is currently comprised of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Science and Mathematics, the College of Education and Human Services, the Feliciano School of Business, the College of the Arts, the John J. Cali School of Music, the School of Communication and Media, the Graduate School, the School of Nursing, and the New Jersey School of Conservation.

d. Effective February 1, 2016, the national Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which is the widely recognized classification of United States institutions of higher education, recognized Montclair State University as a Research Doctoral University, based on the substantial growth at the institution in doctoral-level education and research activity.

e. Effective March 31, 2016, the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education officially changed Montclair State University's programmatic mission to a doctoral degree-granting institution.

f. Pursuant to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, doctoral universities are ranked at three levels: Research 1, which have the highest research activity; Research 2, which have higher research activity; and Research 3, which have moderate research activity. Among the public universities in New Jersey, Rutgers-New Brunswick is a Research 1 university; NJIT and Rutgers-Newark are Research 2 universities; and Montclair State University and Rowan University are Research 3 universities. Of these institutions, only Montclair State University has not been recognized as a public research university by the State of New Jersey.

g. Montclair State University has successfully expanded its research activities and doctoral programs and its ability to attract federal funds for research from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the United States Department of Education, and other federal agencies.

h. Examples of important faculty research initiatives at the university include projects: to develop medical countermeasures for botulinum neurotoxin; to better evaluate drugs that inhibit, and find the causative agents of, Parkinson's Disease; to study the catastrophic collapse of ice shelves in the Antarctic; to solve the challenges of positioning autonomous vehicles in the ocean; to understand how urban students can come to think of themselves as mathematicians; to understand the sociodemographic factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in cancer prevention; to study the psychological effects on victims of natural disasters such as Superstorm Sandy; to evaluate the effectiveness of the portfolio management model being utilized in urban elementary schools; and to understand the unpredictable dynamics of stochastic disease spread.

i. These contributions to knowledge and the offering of advanced higher education programs are reflective of Montclair State University's historic contributions to New Jersey. Established in 1908, Montclair State University was the first of the State colleges to offer graduate programs in 1932.

j. In the past 15 years, Montclair State University has worked strategically and aggressively to grow enrollment, faculty, and facilities, and that growth has enabled the university to expand its educational programs and research initiatives in service to the State and the nation.

k. In light of Montclair State University's actual and successful transformation to a public research doctoral university and in recognition of the university's change in programmatic mission, it is appropriate at this time to designate Montclair State University as a public research university.

L.2017, c.178, s.2.