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By the Numbers

100% Experiential Education Participation

96% First-Year Retention Rate

90% Employment or Graduate/Professional School

Mission in Action

Explore Your Purpose

Honors advisors and the Center for Personal Development counselors partner with students in their exploration of purpose to cultivate well-being, leadership, and career readiness.

Develop Intellectually

Honors at Kentucky has a long and proud history, dating back to 1959, and thousands of students have passed through our program, exploring themselves and the boundaries of thought with outstanding faculty.

Lead With Integrity

Providing leadership development opportunities enables students to fulfill their experiential credit while bolstering lifelong skills to apply as a graduate student or employee.

The Honors classes I took my freshman year exposed me to ideas that I would not have otherwise thought deeply about. The topics we discussed have allowed me to engage with current events and the social sciences more than I would have been able to otherwise.

Asa O'Neal
Asa O'Neal '25
NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, Astronaut Scholar
Asa O'Neal

News and Events

Record participation reflects growing demand for honors education abroad programs

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 15, 2026) — A record 60 Lewis Honors College students participated in four honors faculty-directed education abroad programs this summer, a 54% increase over last year. Overall, a record 250 honors students studied abroad through a variety of programs during the past academic year. In the four honors faculty-directed programs, students traveled to Ecuador, England, Greece, Italy and Scotland to study sustainability, leadership, writing and distilling.

The 2026 Outstanding Teaching Awards: Ryan Voogt

Ryan Voogt, Ph.D., the director of undergraduate studies and a senior lecturer in the University of Kentucky Lewis Honors College, was among 10 educators honored with the UK’s 2026 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

Public Health Student Hollie Hagan found her calling in rural Kentucky

Growing up in Grayson County, Hollie Hagan always knew she wanted to help people. She just wasn’t sure what that looked like.

Lewis Launch Virtual Meetup

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Lewis Launch

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CPD Honor the Balance: Create Your Well-Being Toolkit

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Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

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