About Honors
The Honors College works with all majors to help students look beyond standard degree requirements and do more - earning the highest undergraduate degree offered by the University of Utah – the Honors Baccalaureate.
Message from the Dean
At the University of Utah Honors College, you will find an amazing community. There are dedicated, talented, innovative faculty and staff who share the mission of supporting our students throughout their college careers. And the students! These are amazing, highly motivated students with a genuine concern for making the world a better place for everyone. It is a privilege to support our students as they push themselves in pursuit of that goal.
The Honors College offers something unique. In a world flooded with rapidly accumulating information, and educational approaches that cultivate narrow and highly technical expertise, we ask students to slow down, read closely, and be more mindful and reflective. We ask students to deliberate across divides with respect and curiosity. Alongside our partners across campus, we ask students to engage with some of the most pressing challenges in our world – climate change, inequality, and division – across disciplines, in scholarly and creative work. Our students become cutting-edge experts in their chosen specialties, but they also remain capable generalists – people who can explain why a highly technical science project matters for all of us, or who can convey a sense of empathy for others through movement and music that any viewer can understand.
As you look at the many things the Honors College offers, I hope you’ll consider joining us or supporting our students, staff, and faculty in their endeavors.
Monisha Pasupathi
Dean, Honors College
Past to Present
Honors at Utah was founded in 1960 with a Ford Foundation grant, making it among the oldest Honors programs in the country. From a small program emphasizing small classes taught by outstanding, tenured scholars in their fields for perhaps 200 students in the late 1960s, we have grown into a sizeable Honors College with 2500 students, a core Honors faculty, a foundational curriculum, and advising and learning communities staff committed to the success and flourishing of our students.
From a one-time trailer location, Honors now houses more than 700 students in the Katharine B. Garff Honors Tower, the Marriott Honors Community, and other spaces on campus. We now offer living-learning communities with dedicated classroom spaces in the residence halls and at our administrative center, located in historic Fort Douglas.
Our Graduates
The Honors College works with all majors to help students look beyond standard degree requirements and do more - earning the highest undergraduate degree offered by the University of Utah – the Honors Baccalaureate. Alumni talk about the impact of our Intellectual Traditions courses and their thesis work throughout their lives, noting how these experiences prepared them to be flexible and adapt to a changing world, and to solve ill-structured and complex challenges in their work and in their lives. University of Utah President Taylor Randall is an alumnus of our Honors College.
Through Honors College courses, students prepare for life beyond their undergraduate degree – engaging across disciplines around ideas and action; practicing communication through collaborations with others outside of their majors and across campus; extending what they have learned in their major to real-world, practical challenges; and learning to identify needs in the community. As they pursue independent scholarly and creative work, Honors students work closely with mentors in their home departments, doing in-depth research within their field or cutting-edge creative work that culminates in an Honors thesis.
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“What I loved about the Honors College was that I was introduced to so many unique ideas, creative problem-solving, and collaboration. Those skills translated really well to post-college.”
Honors College Alumni
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“My experience writing a thesis was a very useful introduction into the self-guided research process. During that time, I was able to work with faculty advisors in a way that felt much more collaborative and ‘peer-like,’ which prepared me for the type of relationships I could build with professors in graduate school. Additionally, the process of crafting a research project, advocating for opportunities to conduct such research, drafting a thesis, and undergoing the hefty editing process, was demanding in a way that was also rewarding.”
Honors College Alumni
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“In Honors classes, you are pushed to not just do the surface-level work but to dig a little deeper: ask questions you may not have even thought of, share your perspectives, and surround yourself with people who are motivated. I am a strong believer that if you surround yourself with people who are driven, they will act as a motivator for you.”
Honors College Alumni
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“The thesis writing process synthesized everything I had learned throughout my entire undergraduate experience into a final piece showcasing my technical knowledge and communication skills. I learned how to manage my own time and schedule effectively under the guidance of my thesis advisor. While every thesis is different, my thesis allowed me technical freedom in exploring the problem space, which you don’t often get to do in undergraduate courses.”
Honors College Alumni
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“My experience in the Honors College allowed me to explore a wide breadth of topics in intimate small classroom settings, scholars’ groups, and one-on-one meetings with professors. This type of study allowed me to dive deep into my area of interest and build meaningful relationships that lasted beyond my time as an undergraduate”
Honors College Alumni
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“It was a huge help having Honors on my grad school applications and having my thesis to use as a writing sample. It shows that you’re able to put your mind to something, come up with a project, work with others, and complete a project on your own.”
Honors College Alumni
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“Having the Honors thesis gave me the opportunity to connect with faculty and participate in a research project that could be used to market myself for graduate school and also gave me the confidence to even go to graduate school in the first place.”
Honors College Alumni
During their time, students also have unique access to honors housing, additional mentoring and advising resources, as well as many global curricular and co-curricular opportunities.
The Honors degree, with its emphasis on the ability to engage with unfamiliar ideas, interdisciplinarity, collaboration, problem-solving, and the research and creative work that go with the thesis, provides more than just a unique experience while you attend the University. It empowers you and enhances your career prospects. Graduates with an Honors degree are accepted into their first-choice graduate programs at higher rates, and they can command higher salaries upon entry into the job market based on a demonstrated capacity for independent, in-depth work and communication skills.