A university comprises several relatively autonomous colleges. A college is an academic administrative unit responsible for developing and administering admission, curriculum and graduation policies for students and faculty with similar interests and goals. Most colleges organize and administer policies for groups of related disciplines, e.g., the College of Business, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, or the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

While honors programs at American universities have existed since 1933, only recently have some created honors colleges to assure that outstanding undergraduates receive the benefit of academic and administrative attention focused on their unique needs. An honors college assures that: 1) the needs and interests of strong undergraduates are represented at the highest levels of university decision-making; and 2) the standards for honors course work and for graduating from the university with honors remain the same no matter what major a student may choose.

A student in Barrett, The Honors College can complete an honors degree in any major and at any ASU campus. The standards for admission to the college, the requirements for graduating from the college and the quality of the education each student receives will be uniform throughout the University. The student can change academic majors or emphases without losing honors credit. If necessary, a student can even withdraw from the college without forfeiting any honors credit. All honors work at ASU receives full transcript recognition, including transcript notation of all courses completed for honors credit, the honors creative project or thesis, and graduation from the college.

Many honors programs are decentralized and tied to specific disciplines throughout a university. Barrett students have the advantage of the support of an entire college of honors faculty and staff devoted to enhancing their honors experience. They also benefit from a large endowment that is used to support honors student projects. In addition, unlike many honors programs or colleges, Barrett is a living and learning community where honors students benefit from meeting students with similar interests from all disciplines. This Fall we will break ground on a new Barrett Honors College multimillion dollar site at the southeast corner of the ASU Tempe campus. Students will dine with faculty in the new state of the art honors complex which will feature a dining center and LEED certified sustainable living and learning community.