Our History
The Honors Program at the University of Connecticut began at the behest of the University’s ninth president, Dr. Homer Babbidge, Jr. Early in his ten years leading this institution, he sought to enhance UConn’s reputation and rival universities such as Harvard. When ask how to accomplish this lofty goal, he proposed an honors program.

“If we have attractive programs and staff, we should let them know. We must try to offer education commensurate with the talents of the better students, so that it will be worth their while to come…We must not let these students come only to be bored or forgotten or lost.” (-Dr. Homer Babbidge, Jr.)

The pilot program launched in 1964 with a handful of students, and its first graduating class earned Honors degrees in 1968. Some of Honors’ earliest alumni have since become its most generous benefactors.

Every year, the program grows in size and services while increasing its selective criteria. Its students often must now decide between some of the nation’s highest-ranked universities and this top-twenty public research institution. Many are choosing UConn.

As the Honors Program nears is 50th anniversary, it has delivered on its promise. More than 5,000 graduates have the distinction of being Honors Scholars from the University of Connecticut and are now leading professionals in the private and public sectors. They are scientists and doctors, attorneys and business experts, educators and artists, entrepreneurs and advisors. Many have earned advanced degrees and are employed all over the world.

Honors Scholars are …

In graduate school: Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Harvard, NYU, Purdue, Tufts, UConn, University of Michigan, University of Southern California, Yale

In professional school: Albert Einstein, Boston College, Boston University, Columbia, Harvard, UConn, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Weill Cornell

Employed at: Aetna, Audubon Society, Choate Rosemary Hall, Cigna, Deloitte & Touche, GE, Hamilton Sundstrand, IBM, National Park Service, Peace Corps, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Teach for America, The Hartford, The White House, Travelers, United Technologies, Yale