Honors Program

The Kutztown University Honors Program supports motivated students seeking to maximize returns on their educational investment and win a competitive advantage in a rapidly-changing job market. 

A substantial body of research literature published by the National Collegiate Honors Council identifies a discreet series of high-impact learning activities that translate into success beyond graduation:

• Campus Involvement and Leadership
• Community Service
• Academic Achievement
• Active, Experiential, and Applied-learning Curricula
• Original Creative/Research Projects Developed alongside Faculty

Our distinctive program provides a community-based structure of accountability and support for ambitious students intending to amplify their college experience by meeting attainable goals in these five categories of achievement.

We welcome applications from both new-incoming and existing KU students in all major fields. 

Mission Statement

The Kutztown University Honors Program is dedicated to providing motivated and ambitious students with opportunities to engage in community service, leadership, and scholarship at the highest levels and, thereby, lay educational foundations for life-long professional and personal empowerment.

Vision Statement

The Kutztown University Honors Program aims to foster an inclusive, vibrant community of students and materially enhance their educational experience through vibrant and engaging classes, meaningful co-curricular experiences, and experiential learning.

Intentions

• Actively engage and challenge students throughout their undergraduate careers, preparing them for study in graduate and professional schools, careers, and a lifetime of intellectual growth
• Expand students’ intellectual horizons beyond the classroom by promoting participation in undergraduate research, study abroad, and internship experiences
• Help students develop leadership skills that will benefit our communities
• Foster opportunities for students to initiate and participate in service projects that will strengthen their civic engagement and elevate our communities

Commitments

The entire Kutztown University Honors community is actively committed to cultivating specific dispositions that enrich our lives and develop our communities.

• Leadership—We seek out opportunities both on and off campus to initiate and coordinate meaningful change and positive uplift throughout our lives and communities.
• Community—We actively endeavor to connect with others, foster inclusion, and participate in service projects that enhance the University and larger community with civic engagement.
• Intellectual Curiosity—Recognizing that learning is a dynamic, participatory process, we are personally motivated to seek out knowledge, to explore, to discover, to question, to make connections, to pursue deep inquiry at every opportunity.
• Experiential Learning—We respect the classroom as a critical site of intellectual exchange, and we also choose to expand our intellectual horizons beyond it through participation in athletics, creative projects, public performance, fieldwork, undergraduate research, study abroad, and internships.
• Originality—We are makers. We are doers. We transform learning into creativity, action, and innovation, all in the expectation to serve and inspire the world.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the University Honors Program, students will demonstrate achievement in:

Excellent Communication—developing and presenting trenchant ideas both logically and effectively to promote informed dialogue and inquiry for various audiences and purposes

Integrative Scholarship—integrating knowledge from multiple domains and methods of discovery to express insight and originality

Self-authorship—fortifying one’s sense of identity, beliefs values, and relationships into a set of expressed commitments that guide decisions and action