Our Mission and Values

Curiosity. Interdisciplinarity. Engagement. Responsibility.

The Donaghey Scholars Honors Program serves the university and our community by building a diverse group of high achieving students who share our commitment to curiosity, interdisciplinary approaches to problems, and responsible engagement with the world. Students use Little Rock as a laboratory, connecting to their studies through coursework, service learning, and final projects. The program develops Scholars who are collaborative, open minded, independent thinkers and who bring a broad base of knowledge as well as a strong sense of ethics and a depth of expertise to their careers and lives.

We achieve these goals through:

  • Thematic interdisciplinary courses that are discussion based and writing and presentation intensive, using primary sources and where possible, use the metropolitan area as an academic resource
  • Supported study abroad experiences for all Scholars that require them to not only experience another culture, but to figure out how to connect those experiences with their academic work
  • Signature experiences that engage Scholars in the Little Rock community, including internships, research projects, and volunteer work
  • Independent projects where Scholars do substantial, original work in the field of their choice, including research, creative works, service learning, and entrepreneurship
  • A challenging, diverse, and supportive community of Scholars, faculty, and administrators who play with ideas, wrestle with problems, and build lasting friendships
  • Full financial and programmatic support, allowing Scholars to take advantage of all that the university and larger community has to offer