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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.

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 are diverse, 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

Applications for prestigious sustainability research award now open

Applications for the Crabtree-Cornell Award for Research in Sustainability and the Environment are open.

Big Blue Slam returns to UK campus Jan. 27–31

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 27, 2025) — Big Blue Slam, the annual blood battle between the University of Kentucky fans and University of Florida fans to collect the most blood, is Jan. 27-31 at all Kentucky Blood Center (KBC) locations, including on the UK campus. The friendly competition with the Florida Gators is always an important event to shore up the winter blood supply, but a rough weather start to 2025 has placed a heightened level of importance on a big turnout.

Beckman Scholar acquires advanced skills, improved confidence in the lab

Lewis Honors College student Kaitlyn Brock shares her research experience as a Beckman Scholar.

Introducing the Rachel Carson Council

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Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

WilDCats at the Capitol Info Session

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Panel Featuring: Current Medical School Students

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Lewis Honors College, U133

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