Mission & Values

Our Mission

At Rutgers Honors College, you’ll be inspired by real-world challenges to create groundbreaking ideas within a community of peers who share that sense of purpose. You’ll be empowered through rigorous academics, personalized mentorship, and the resources to bring your vision to life. And here, you’ll be connected like never before: to Honors students across Rutgers and to a network of industry leaders, researchers, and changemakers ready to help you make your mark. Inspired. Empowered. Connected.

Elevated Excellence 

Pursue excellence in every dimension of your education. Collaborate with distinguished faculty, engage in rigorous academics, and pursue hands-on experiences that challenge you to think deeper and achieve more. Here, curiosity sparks discovery, knowledge fuels growth, and service defines success that sets you apart as a scholar and a leader. 

Global Vision 

See the world not just as it is, but as it can be. Through research, creativity, and collaboration, you’ll gain the global perspective and critical insight needed to reimagine what’s possible and help build a future that advances the human condition for all. 

Impactful Innovation 

Turn bold ideas into real-world change. Our students tackle the world’s toughest challenges with creativity and determination, collaborating across disciplines to create transformative solutions that drive progress in their communities and beyond. 

Community of Purpose 

Step into a community where discovery, inclusion, and service ignite your life’s journey. At Rutgers Honors College, shared values and a spirit of exploration unite students from all backgrounds. Here, you’ll find a sense of belonging, unique opportunities to grow, and the support to transform your passions into a purpose that creates real impact in the world. 

Transformation and Opportunity

This is your chance to be part of something bigger. With an elevated curriculum, innovative learning-living opportunities, and an expanded network of mentors and peers, you’ll have the support and resources to push your boundaries, grow as a leader, and make a lasting impact on your community and beyond. 

From our motto we further derive the chief goals we strive for all our students to achieve:

Interdisciplinary Learning

Interdisciplinary learning is built upon understanding that one area of study or school is not better than another, but that knowledge derives from many people coming from different backgrounds and domains of knowledge. Students participate in interdisciplinary learning by pursuing double majors and minors, advanced classes in multiple subjects, and cross-field research projects.

Equity and Inclusion

Every Honors College student is expected to commit to the promises and the challenges of creating a community that includes humanity in all of its many complex and intertwined identities. This means understanding and appreciating how human diversities—race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, personal and collective histories, social experiences—have been structured by differential access to opportunities and resources, by growing up in different and distinct places, and by being shaped by different ideologies and beliefs. In short, we are each a unique person and we respect that essential truth.

Wellness

Effective participation in community can only come with self-care. Honors College students should live and work in an environment that will allow them to thrive. Members of the HC will be provided the tools to engage in self-knowledge and growth, and the Honors College will support students as they learn how to balance physical, mental, and emotional well-being for themselves, and respect those same values and practices for all others.

Service

Service is thinking and acting beyond oneself through meaningful partnerships built on a spirit of accompaniment, and mutual respect and learning. Through community-led initiatives and community organizations, HC students practice service with the knowledge that the ability to listen is equally as important as the ability to lead and create. Members of the Honors College contribute to tangible change through community service, philanthropy, and social responsibility.

Experiential Learning

At the Honors College, we believe the most valuable learning experience is when students actively participate in the pursuit of knowledge. Wherever they go, HC students engage in hands-on, project-based learning organized around student reflections, iterations, and creation of original work.

Professional Development

Professional development comprises a suite of skills and attitudes that allow students to succeed in a multitude of jobs and potential careers. At the HC, professional development emphasizes collaboration, communication, reliability, and cultural competence to ensure students pursue a career with purpose and become the effective leaders of tomorrow who understand the principles and dimensions of true leadership.

Our Pledge