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Overview

The University of Kentucky Lewis Honors College provides an enhanced course of instruction for outstanding, highly motivated students from all programs of study. Honors education is, at its heart, a liberal arts education that, coupled with the resources available at the major research land-grant University of Kentucky, make Lewis Honors College a unique experience. Regardless of major, the fundamental goal of Honors education is to provide all students with a broad, critical intellectual base from which they can then engage more deeply and thoughtfully in their chosen fields while prioritizing their health and well-being.

The mission of the Lewis Honors College is to better the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the world by helping students to explore their purpose, develop intellectually, and lead with integrity.

Honors students, made up of people with different backgrounds and experiences, are innovative, intellectually engaged, and interested in creative thought. They are expected to be citizens of their University and their world and to possess an inquisitive attitude toward a wide range of ideas and intellectual concepts.

News and Events

Students Rally Behind Operation Secret Santa with Holiday Food Drive

During the Ideas that Matter series, our third guest speakers were Operation Secret Santa (OSS) nonprofit founder Katie Keys (also known as “Head Elf”) and Honors alumna Lucy Jett Waterbury, who shared OSS’s inspiring origin story and its growing impact.  Through its mission “Creating Christmas without barriers,” OSS served over 2,000 families, including over 6,000 children, last year.

‘It’s a special outdoor classroom’: UK Robinson Forest Field Day demonstrates flash flooding modules for local youth

CLAYHOLE, Ky. (Nov. 20, 2025) — More than 60 middle school and high school students from Breathitt and Letcher counties were invited to learn about the factors influencing flash flooding at Robinson Forest, a 14,800-acre forest in the Cumberland Plateau and home to some of the least disturbed watersheds in Eastern Kentucky. 

2025 Oswald Research and Creativity Competition winners announced, 12 from Lewis Honors College!

The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) recently announced the 21 undergraduate winners of the 61st annual Oswald Research and Creativity Awards. Chad Risko, Ph.D., faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and Research Ambassadors, presented the awards.

Donuts and Fruit with the Dean

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Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

CPD Honor the Balance: Massage Chairs

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Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

Honors Thesis Showcase

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Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

Blue Outline Checkerboard

T.W. Lewis

Thomas W. Lewis is a seventh-generation Kentuckian who grew up in Lexington. He graduated from Bryan Station High School in 1967 and the University of Kentucky in 1971 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He received his Master’s in Business Administration in 1973 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tom began his career in real estate development. After 18 years with four different companies and building upon those experiences, he started his own home building business in 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona. T. W. Lewis Company built approximately 250 homes per year from 1991 through 2011 and received many awards during this period, including America’s Best Builder in 1998 and the National Housing Quality Gold Award in 2009. 

In 2001, Tom and his wife, Jan, formed T.W. Lewis Foundation to support higher education, children and families in need, youth education and a variety of community nonprofit organizations. In 2015, in order to give back to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Tom and Jan made a generous gift to the University of Kentucky to establish the Lewis Honors College. 

Mr. Lewis’ vision for the Lewis Honors College is to provide a world-class Honors experience that is known for the success of its students, the quality of its faculty and curriculum, the respect of its peers and the economic and social progress of the Commonwealth of Kentucky

Tom Lewis