Honors College Objectives

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Mission
- The mission of SDSU’s Honors College is to provide talented, motivated students with a personalized, engaging, distinctive academic and enrichment educational experience that positions them for success as lifelong learners and leaders.
Vision
- Through the quality and diversity of its students, faculty, curricula and programs, the Honors College is a positive, dynamic, innovative, ‘value added’ presence in the South Dakota State University community. We attract, retain, and provide extraordinary educational experiences for the best and brightest students of the region.
Guiding values
- Academic quality: The Honors College represents the university’s highest academic ideals. Honors students practice higher order thinking skills in rigorous academic environments, guided by passionate, committed teachers and scholars, and characterized by excellence in pedagogy and mentoring.
- Collaboration, integration and coordination: The Honors College engages in strong, trusting relationships with partners on and off campus, including academic colleges and departments, the Office of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs units (e.g. Admissions, Residential Life, Registration and Records, Scholarship Services), and off-campus units such as employers and agencies.
- Diverse perspectives and multidisciplinary approaches: The Honors College values, embraces and supports diversity in all its forms. By encompassing diverse people, cultures, disciplines, ideas and experiences, the Honors student’s education is enhanced. With a classic interpretation of the role of the university and a campus-wide presence, Honors College values and encourages diverse, collaborative academic pursuits, including arts and humanities, social sciences, mathematics, science and engineering, and professional fields such as agriculture, nursing and pharmacy.
- Engagement, service and leadership development: The Honors College fosters and supports well-rounded educational approaches that develop whole persons and empowered citizens. Opportunities for student involvement on campus and in the community, in addition to targeted leadership development and service learning experiences are encouraged.
- Community: Honors College develops and maintains respectful, caring, trusting collegial relationships between faculty and staff members, students, administrators and community partners. These relationships are characterized by transparency, integrity, openness, dialog, growth, accountability, kindness and mutual support.
- Innovation and experimentation: Honors College provides leadership and support for wise risk-taking and creative, progressive, responsive approaches to teaching, learning, student development, and scholarly pursuits. We assess what we learn and leverage this lessons in a spirit of constant program improvement.
- Global perspectives: Honors students and faculty demonstrate global awareness and cross cultural competence. These perspectives are infused throughout the Honors curriculum and fostered through development and participation in international travel/study/work/service programs.
- Broader view: Honors College benefits from looking outside the organization. Through involvement in regional, national and international organizations and by promoting participation in nationally and internationally recognized fellowship, internship and scholarship programs, rich new perspectives are developed that enhance the scholarly life and academic experience of our faculty and students.
- Research, scholarship and creative activities: Through successful completion of Honors coursework and independent study projects, Honors students are exposed to the scholarly life, taste the excitement of discovery, and are well prepared for advanced study. Faculty who guide and support these experiences are recognized and rewarded. Honors faculty are leaders in research and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Their experiences are shared on campus, regionally, nationally and internationally.
- Ethics and integrity are prized in the Honors College. Students and faculty strive to give honor, and to be honorable human beings.

Strategic Intent
- The strategic intent of the Van D. and Barbara B. Fishback Honors College is to be nationally-recognized, locally relevant, accessible Honors College that is recognized for excellence on campus, in the region and across the nation as providers of a world class undergraduate academic and co-curricular experience.