Peer Institutions
Carnegie Classification Criteria
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has been the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education since 1973. This framework has been widely used in the study of higher education, both as a way to represent and control for institutional differences, and also in the design of research studies to ensure adequate representation of sampled institutions, students or faculty.
Western Michigan University considers and selects peer institutions based on their relative similarity in the following categories:
- Control: Public
- Academic Program Mix: Professions-focused
- Award Level Focus: Undergraduate/Graduate-Doctorate
- Size: Large
- Campus Setting: Primarily residential
- Research Activity: Research 2: High research spending and doctorate production
Carnegie Peer Institutions
Based on the previously described selection system and input from WMU senior leadership, the following 15 institutions were chosen in 2018 based on Carnegie's 2018 classification criteria as those that most resembled Western Michigan University.
- Ball State University (Muncie, IN)
- East Carolina University (Greenville, NC)
- Kent State University at Kent (Kent, OH)
- Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ)
- Northern Illinois University (Dekalb, IL)
- Ohio University - Main Campus (Athens, OH)
- Oklahoma State University - Main Campus (Stillwater, OK)
- Portland State University (Portland, OR)
- SUNY at Binghamton (Vestal, NY)
- The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)
- University of Memphis (Memphis, TN)
- University of Nevada - Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks, ND)
- University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS)