Skip to main
University-wide Navigation

By the Numbers

100% Experiential Education Participation

97.2% First-Year Retention Rate

93.4% 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

Boost the blood supply: DOUGH-nate at upcoming campus drives

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 28. 2026) — The great thing about donating blood is that just about anyone can do it. No “dough” is needed to make a difference in your community — all it takes is a little bit of time and a pint of blood. Stop by the Lewis Honors College (Scholars Student Lounge) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3 or Friday, Sept. 4.

Beam Institute students gain global spirits experience in Scotland

Bourbon is one of the Commonwealth’s signature industries, but Kentuckians aren’t the only group to pride themselves on their whisky. Students from the University of Kentucky James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits (JBBI) and the Lewis Honors College traveled to Scotland this summer to learn more about how spirits are made and marketed around the world.

UK researcher shines light on maintenance work in ‘The Keeping Space’ documentary

Thousands of people move across the campus of the University of Kentucky every day. They enter buildings that are already clean, walk through hallways already mopped and settle into classrooms prepared for the day. That work became a topic of research for Jena Seiler, Ph.D., lecturer in the UK Lewis Honors College, filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist whose creative practice focuses on helping audiences see the extraordinary in everyday life.

KY Blood Center Drive

-

Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

CPD Pause & Create: Bracelet Making Pop-Up

-

Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

Honors After Hours: Let's Be Blunt About Cannabis

-

Lewis Scholars Lounge

420 Hilltop Ave, Lexington, KY

Campus Map