About
Training Our Future Leaders
Quick Facts
Here at the University of Arkansas Honors College, our goal is to build a diverse, transformative community of students and faculty that prepares graduates who excel professionally, flourish personally and lead globally.
in grants and 90 freshman fellowships awarded each year
of Honors College graduates have engaged in undergraduate research with faculty mentors.
of our students have studied abroad by the time they graduate.
Meet Dean Lynda Coon
Lynda Coon brings a deep commitment to honors education and a fresh vision for the future to her role as dean of the Honors College.
Vision
The University of Arkansas Honors College was established to provide opportunity in a state with deep educational needs and to offer a competitive in-state option for top students. As part of the state’s land-grant and flagship university, the Honors College is committed to preparing students to become leaders who make meaningful intellectual, economic, cultural, and ethical contributions across a wide range of fields.
In 2020 we met to redefine our vision and establish pillars that guide our work day to day.
The Honors College’s home is located in the heart of campus, in a beautiful, 21,000-square-foot addition to historic Gearhart Hall. Designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects of New York City, a nationally renowned architecture firm, the Honors College wing features study areas, rooms for honors seminars and a spacious student lounge (pro tip: best naps on campus!)
Pillars
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Inclusion
We strive to reflect the diversity of our state and to build a college community that embraces and uplifts the widest variety of experiences and insights. -
Curiosity
We critically engage the rich and varied insights of the past and reach for the pressing questions of contemporary scholarly life. -
Innovation
We encourage students to become intellectual risk takers who draw from resources across the university and in the community to identify and pursue a fulfilling life path, not the easy or expected one. -
Accountability
We embrace our role in cultivating engaged individuals and seek to act as responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us and to be accountable to the communities we serve.
Established in 2002
Honors College History
In April of 2002, the University of Arkansas received the largest gift in the history of American public higher education — a $300 million commitment from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.
The Honors College received more than one-third of this generous gift as an endowment to fund undergraduate Honors College fellowships and to provide support for study abroad and undergraduate research opportunities. The fellowships and grants help honors students finance their education, travel the globe and participate in ground-breaking research.
The University of Arkansas has a distinguished history of honors studies that dates back to 1954, when the honors program in the College of Arts and Sciences was established. In 1997 the Walton College of Business established its own honors program, focused on the needs of business students. Following the Walton gift, the Honors College partnered with faculty across campus to extend the honors experience to students in all disciplines, tailored to their specific majors.
Today the top students and most research-active professors from every college and major on campus participate, as a community of learners, in Honors College activities in the classroom, in laboratories and studios, and in sites around the world.