Honors Program
The Honors Program is designed for students who love to learn. Are you a student who goes above and beyond on required assignments? Have you ever asked a teacher for further reading on a topic? Do you sometimes find yourself wishing that a class wouldn’t end, but that you could inquire more deeply into the subject? If so, Honors might be for you.
Why Choose Honors Program
The Honors Program is for students who genuinely love to learn. If you have ever gone above and beyond on an assignment, asked a teacher for additional reading, or wished a class wouldn’t end, you might feel at home here. Open to all majors, the program adds depth to your studies through small, seminar-style classes, close mentorship from devoted faculty, and a culminating senior thesis. It is a place for meaningful questions, thoughtful conversation, and rigorous academic engagement.
My experience at Baylor University cannot be adequately described without including the Honors College. Every aspect of my wonderful four years of college were affected by being a University Scholar and Honors Program student. From incredible professors who care about their students as godly people and not just another grade, to classmates dedicated to being lifelong learners, to hours long debates in the dining hall with friends, to the meaningful community of faith and friendship that living in the Honors Residential College provided, each area of my life has been enriched by being an honors student.
Honors Program News
Baylor University has received a $295,000 implementation grant from the Teagle Foundation’s Knowledge for Freedom initiative to expand the Examined Life Scholars program into a residential experience for high school students from the Waco area.
The multi-year grant will support the program’s next phase by allowing the Honors College to offer a fully immersive, two-week residential experience that introduces students to liberal learning, campus life and the rhythms of college study while continuing to provide mentoring and college-readiness support throughout students’ senior year.
Byron R. Johnson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and director of the Institute for Global Human Flourishing, has announced the appointment of Darin H. Davis, Ph.D., as distinguished senior fellow in the Institute.
Launched in April 2025, the Institute for Global Human Flourishing positions Baylor University as a global leader for research on faith and human flourishing, as well as the epicenter for global flourishing research/practice alongside research partners at Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program.
The Honors College has launched Micah Scholars, an initiative for pre-health students who seek to integrate faith, service and professional formation in their preparation for healthcare vocations.
Rooted in the biblical call from Micah 6:8 to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God,” the program helps students explore medicine as a calling shaped by compassion, justice and humility. Participants are selected for their commitment to serve others and their desire to approach healthcare as both an academic pursuit and a morally and spiritually shaped vocation.
In 2018, Baylor University received a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch the Soundings Project. The vision was simple yet ambitious: invite congregations to explore how Christians discern God’s call in today’s complex world. Over seven years, the initiative gathered twelve churches from across Texas, representing a wide range of Christian traditions, endured the upheaval of a global pandemic, and sparked practices that continue to bear fruit after the grant period has ended.
