The Honors College at the University of Arkansas enhances the learning of students by sharing unique learning experiences with participants. From 10-15% of Arkansas undergraduates participate in the Honors College. Entering freshman for the Honors College have an average score of 31 on the ACT and 4.0 high school GPA. Honors students benefit from smaller classes, priority registration, special housing and opportunities for hands-on research. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships worth $72,000 over four years and more than $1,000,000 in research, study abroad and service learning grants. The Honors College serves all undergraduate majors. In April 2002, the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation donated $300 million to the University of Arkansas. The donation was the largest in the history of public education at that time. After the donation, the Honors College announced its goal to enroll 2,000 Honors College undergraduates by the year 2010. This goal was met three years early. The University of Arkansas also set records for students in a freshman class, total enrollment, and minority enrollment in 2007. The first dean of the University of Arkansas Honors College was Bob McMath, former vice-provost of Georgia Tech. Following McMath's retirement in 2014, Curt Rom served as interim dean. Lynda Coon, professor of history at the University of Arkansas, was appointed dean in 2015. Under Coon's leadership the Honors College has launched a series of seminar and forum courses taught by top professors, addressing topics such as race, cancer, the Internet, and the 2016 Presidential election. The Spring 2017 Honors College Forum, Flagship U!, has been taught by Chancellor Joe Steinmetz in his home. Honors students at the University of Arkansas Honors College have received numerous honors, scholarships, fellowships, and accolades since the college was established. Honors College students have enjoyed a 90% acceptance rate to medical school and received Gates Cambridge, Rhodes, Madison, Marshall, Fulbright, Boren, Gilman, Truman, Goldwater, and National Science Foundation scholarships. The Honors College is one of only seven universities to have multiple Gates Cambridge scholarship recipients, ninth ranked overall in Goldwater Scholarship recipients in the United States for the last ten years, and has been a Truman Honor Institution since 2002.
