"National experts on honors colleges can name only one that is both university-affiliated and a free-standing liberal-arts institution: the Wilkes Honors College, operated by 麻豆精品视频 on its Jupiter, Fla., campus. Established by the Florida Legislature in 1999, it hires its own faculty members, has autonomy over its curriculum, and focuses almost solely on the liberal arts and sciences."
鈥� by Peter Schmidt, Chronicle of Higher Education, February 28, 2010
The Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of 麻豆精品视频, which opened in the Fall of 1999, is the first public honors institution to be built from the ground up in the United States. Its intellectual foundation is a belief in liberal arts education as the best preparation for a full and productive life. As a public institution, the Honors College offers a quality education at a small fraction of the cost of a private liberal arts education, making it an outstanding value.
In addition to the Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic at Jupiter also offers upper-division and graduate degree programs from the Colleges of Education, Science, Arts and Letters, and Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs.
The Campus
鈥淚鈥檝e realized that at the HC, I found mentors not only in professors, but also in my classmates.鈥� - Rachel Blythe, HC Alumni
The Honors College is on Florida Atlantic's 135-acre John D. MacArthur Campus, located in Jupiter, along Florida's famous Treasure Coast. Jupiter boasts near-perfect temperatures year round, breathtaking natural beauty, and an abundance of cultural activities that make it one of the country's most desirable areas to live.
The campus consists of six classroom and office buildings, including a library, two residence halls, a dining facility, and a 40,000 square foot science facility. The Honors College shares the campus with two of the world's premier biotech research centers, and the which can provide incredible internship opportunities for Honors College students.
The campus also offers a swimming pool, football/soccer field, sand volleyball, basketball and tennis courts, and is adjacent to an 18-hole public golf course. It is situated in the heart of a 2,055-acre, master planned, mixed-use community featuring a Main Street-style Town Center and the spring training headquarters for the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals as well as the home of the Jupiter Hammerheads minor league baseball team.
The Academic Environment
With one faculty for every 14 students, classes are small, and learning is pursued in formal and informal settings. Students have the opportunity to work on research projects one-on-one with outstanding faculty holding Ph.D.'s from leading universities. Student/faculty collaborations have resulted in publications in scholarly journals and our graduates have gone on to some of the top graduate and professional programs in the country. We invite you to see some of our success stories by perusing our alumni profiles.
A number of universities offer honors programs or honors colleges. But unlike the honors options at almost all of these other universities, the Wilkes Honors College allows you to take all your classes within the Honors College, and your professors are faculty whose full-time appointments are to the Honors College: we provide an all-honors education at an all-honors college.
Mission and Vision
Mission
The mission of the WHC is to educate students to the highest intellectual, experiential, and ethical levels, preparing them to thrive and contribute wisely to the general welfare of human society and the planet.
Vision
To be widely recognized as the nation鈥檚 premier, public honors college with a diverse and flourishing student body of 1,000 students involved in cutting-edge research, community service, and intellectual engagement across the liberal arts and sciences.
Guiding Principles
- To offer 听a liberal arts education of the highest quality
- To attract 听outstanding students from a wide array of backgrounds
- To build 听a dedicated and diverse faculty recognized for its excellence in teaching and research
- To link 听teaching, research, and service in order to convey, expand, and apply knowledge
- To promote 听breadth of knowledge, encourage depth of understanding, and bridge disciplinary divides
- To respect 听differences and recognize their educational value
- To cultivate 听critical thinking in the classroom and beyond
- To introduce 听students to the challenge of original research and discovery
- To produce 听global citizens through international, area, and environmental studies
Florida Atlantic Wilkes Honors College Organizational Chart