Scroll down for a brief history of the Jere W. Morehead Honors College.
1956
The University of Georgia begins a review, known as the Brumbaugh Self-Study, which initiates the possibility of an Honors Program at UGA.
1959
A committee is appointed by John O. Eidson, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, to work out the practical details of an Honors Program. C. Jay Smith, Jr. is chairman of the initial committee and becomes the Honors Program’s first director.
1960
A proposal for an Honors Program is adopted in March 1960. By fall 1960, 43 students are enrolled, and the first Honors courses are in place. The seven courses are in chemistry, history, philosophy, geometry, French, and political science.
1961
The Honors Program grows to 13 course sections during winter term. Student enrollment increases to 126 by the spring.
1964
The graduating class of 1964 includes 19 Honors Degree recipients, whose achievements are recognized by the phrase “Honors Program” on their diplomas.
1966
The Honors Program Student Committee, today known as the Honors Student Council, is constituted. It consisted of 15 Honors students who contributed their efforts in recruitment, publicity, and other administrative affairs.
1967
Lothar Tresp is named director of the Honors Program after serving as acting director starting in 1965. He first joined the Honors Program as a faculty advisor in 1963.
1970
The Outstanding Honors Professor Award is established in recognition of superior teaching and dedication to Honors students in senior faculty members. Charles Bullock—who is now the Richard B. Russell Chair in Political Science, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, and University Professor of Public and International Affairs—is its first recipient.
1973
Fred F. Manget is the first Honors student to be named a Rhodes Scholar and the 15th at the University of Georgia. He graduated from UGA in 1973 with a degree in political science.
1982
Honors student and history major Jonathan Gould is named UGA’s first Truman Scholar.
1984
The designations “High Honors” and “Highest Honors” are awarded to 23 graduating Honors students. The designations were instituted in 1982.
1985
The Honors Program celebrates its 25th anniversary.
1993
The Outstanding Honors Professor Award is renamed the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award in recognition of Lothar Tresp (1927-2019), former Honors Program director. The J. Hatten Howard III Award, named after late geology professor J. Hatten Howard III (1939-1992), is established to recognize faculty members who exhibit special promise in teaching Honors courses early in their careers.
1995
UGA receives its first two Barry M. Goldwater Scholars: Thomas A. Bryan and Robert M. Sutherland were Honors students and Foundation Fellows.
1997
The Foundation Fellowship, the top academic scholarship for undergraduates at UGA, is moved under the administration of the director of the Honors Program. The fellowship was founded in 1972 by University of Georgia Foundation Trustees.
1999
The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) is established at UGA and housed within the Honors Program.
1999
Jere W. Morehead, now the 22nd president of the University of Georgia, is named the director of the Honors Program. Before becoming UGA president in 2013, he served as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
2001
The Honors Program moves into the remodeled and rededicated Moore Hall building, which is adjacent to Herty Field. Completed in 1876, the building housed the State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts and various other departments, including engineering, physics, astronomy, romance languages, and others until its rededication.
2001
Semil Choksi is named UGA’s first Gates Cambridge Scholar. An Honors and Foundation Fellow alumnus, he majored in genetics and mathematics.
2003
Kacie Moreno-Schoen Darden becomes UGA’s first Udall Scholar. An Honors and Foundation Fellow alumna, she completed a bachelor’s degree in ecology and a master’s degree in conservation ecology and sustainable development.
2004
David S. Williams is named director of the Honors Program. He is the first recipient of the Jere W. Morehead Distinguished Professorship, a title held by all subsequent deans of the Morehead Honors College.
2005
Katherine H. A. Vyborny is named UGA’s first Carnegie Junior Research Fellowship recipient. An Honors and Foundation Fellow alumna, she majored in economics and international affairs.
2009
Christina Faust, an Honors student and Foundation Fellow who earned a dual bachelor’s/master’s degree in ecology, is named UGA’s first Mitchell Scholar.
2010
The Honors Program celebrates its 50th anniversary. Honors alumnus James C. Cobb, now the B. Phinizy Spalding Professor Emeritus in the UGA Department of History, discusses his experience as an Honors student and professor in a talk entitled, “It seems like only 50 years ago: A half century of Honors at UGA.”
2016
Torre Lavelle, an Honors student and Foundation Fellow who majored in ecology and environmental policy, is named UGA’s first Schwarzman Scholar during the graduate fellowship’s inaugural year.
2017
Shawn Foster, an Honors student who majored in cognitive science and linguistics, is named UGA’s first Beinecke Scholar.
2019
Anita Qualls, an Honors student who majored in biology, is named UGA’s first Churchill Scholar.
2020
The Honors Program celebrates its 60th anniversary.
2021
The Honors Program is named the Jere W. Morehead Honors College in May as part of a $12 million campaign effort led by University of Georgia Foundation trustees and emeritus trustees. David S. Williams is named founding dean of the Morehead Honors College.
2022
Margaret A. “Meg” Amstutz is named dean of the Morehead Honors College in August.
2023
The Foundation Fellowship celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023-2024.
2024
The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, administered by the Morehead Honors College, celebrates the 25th year of the annual CURO Symposium.