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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

UK Libraries to honor Crystal Wilkinson at annual Spring Celebration

University of Kentucky Libraries is honoring award-winning and critically acclaimed novelist, short story writer, essayist, poet and professor Crystal Wilkinson, as the 2026 recipient of the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement.

UK Libraries Awards Two Seniors for Excellence in Undergraduate Research

UK Libraries is proud to recognize seniors Natalie Lewis and Siena Pilati (Lewis Honors College) with the 2026 UK Libraries Award for Undergraduate Research.  The annual prize celebrates exceptional and original undergraduate scholarship and is awarded to students whose research makes substantive and creative use of UK Libraries’ collections, services, and resources.

4 students named Excellent Undergraduate Research Ambassadors

Every year, the University of Kentucky’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) selects a new cohort of Undergraduate Research Ambassadors — a group of outstanding students who serve as advocates for undergraduate research at UK. This year, OUR awarded four students as Excellent Undergraduate Research Ambassadors in recognition of their outstanding contributions, achievements and dedication to promoting undergraduate research opportunities across UK’s campus and fostering community engagement.

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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