The Honors College is a perfect fit for students like Jacqueline Means, a first-year Medical Diagnostics major who promotes science, technology, engineering and math as the “STEM Queen” through the organization she founded, the Wilmington Urban STEM Initiative. 

"I hope to bring more young women into the STEM fields,” said Means, who has made numerous national media appearances. “Because we've been excluded, there are things we've missed, discoveries that we could have made. We belong in the field. Young women just haven’t been shown that yet."

The Honors College is defined by an immersive living-learning community of enthusiastic students, highly engaged professors and unique opportunities for cross-disciplinary study. The Honors College has taken a leading role on campus helping UD students apply for and win prestigious national awards. Honors students are frequently recognized nationally for their efforts promoting diversity and inclusion, and Honors graduates typically advance to elite graduate or professional programs, as well as working at leading companies.

“Like our highly accomplished students, we’re committed to stretching — even exceeding — our limits to simply become the best we can be,” said Michael Chajes, dean of the Honors College. 

Now, UD is reimagining the AAP to ensure it aligns with the educational needs of today’s students, building on what has worked so well to reach out to more students who otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t pursue a four-year degree.

In the AAP, students take courses taught by UD faculty at Delaware Technical and Community College locations, earning credits toward their bachelor’s degree. About 57% complete their AA degree within three years — far above the national average of 34% for community college students. Students then transition to the main campus — they are already UD students, so they are not transferring — where they complete their bachelor’s degree.

Under the reimagined program, UD expects to offer new pathways for students to pursue four-year degrees in engineering, health and other fields.

A United Nations stamp project incorporated the work of senior Chiara Fiori, who created a digital painting of a hospital worker wearing a mask covered in the words “thank you” in multiple languages.  

Sophomore Alexis Edmonds conducted research using poetry, song and dance to help middle and high school students express themselves and talk about race, equality and mental health. 

Leia Sofía Méndez, a first-year student, composed an orchestral piece in celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30th anniversary, which was the focus of a web seminar for teachers hosted by the National Science Teaching Association. “I love the idea of integrating science and art,” Méndez said. “We live in a world where nothing can be its own separate thing, in its own separate box. There is too much overlap and interconnection.”

Spurred by the social unrest of 2020, Amir Campbell, who is earning a master of fine arts, painted a mural in Philadelphia depicting a young girl blowing bubbles that spell out “love.” “I needed to create something that gives people a sense of nostalgia from their childhood when they walk by it and allows everyone, no matter what race or creed they are, to get a sense of happiness despite all the chaos that is going on,” Campbell said. “We all need to spread that message of peace.”