Message From The Director

For thirty years, the William O. Douglas Honors College (DHC) has challenged students to reach their potential as writers, readers, speakers, and critical thinkers. As one of the country's few "Great Books" programs, the DHC gives students a broad, interdisciplinary background in intellectual history. Where else can you read Homer on the Trojan War, Aquinas on God, Wollstonecraft on gender, Nietzsche on morality, Einstein on relativity, and Gandhi on nonviolent resistance, all in one curriculum?

Through lectures and focused colloquium discussions, our students read and analyze the most important works in a number of fields: literature, philosophy, religion, political theory, history, and the philosophy of science. Students learn how to read critically, to present their work to others, and to develop their writing with feedback from their peers, all of which are immensely important in their endeavors after graduation. Our graduates are accepted to top-tier graduate programs and law schools, and are employed in a variety of fields.

The DHC has all of the advantages of a select liberal arts college in a university setting. With small class sizes, our students receive personal attention from some of our most accomplished professors, teachers who are eager to work with Central's best and brightest students. Participants in the Honors College form close relationships that extend well beyond their time at Central Washington University.

To hear more about the intellectual challenge offered by the Douglas Honors College, call us or send us an e-mail. Thanks for your interest.

Our Mission

The William O. Douglas Honors College will expand the general educational experience of talented undergraduate students at Central Washington University through an enriched program of studies in the arts, humanities, and natural and social sciences, so they may realize their fullest potential in their chosen fields of study. Students will develop skills in reading, writing, critical thinking, and public speaking, which are necessary to become responsible and productive citizens in a fast changing world. Through formal lectures and informal colloquia on the history of ideas and diverse traditions of inquiry drawn from major world civilizations, faculty will challenge students to develop global perspectives as a means to address the social and environmental issues of the new century.

Our Vision

The William O. Douglas Honors College will evolve as a regional and national center of academic excellence where an ethical commitment to learning is integrated with a passionate spirit of inquiry and a critical understanding of the responsibilities of global citizenship. By bringing together the great ideas from diverse traditions of knowledge around the world for analysis and understanding, the college will promote independent thinking and help prepare creative and innovative leaders to meet emerging challenges of local, national, and international issues.