Alumni & Giving

Dear fellow University Honors alumni,

I am writing this message to you to remind you of the incredible experiences we had while in the University Honors program and ask you to consider giving to support its future.

It’s been 20 years since I took my first University Honors program elective. As a freshman business student, I couldn’t have predicted all that I would learn and places the program would help me explore. In every honors class, I built relationships with faculty and classmates that would lead to some of the most incredible experiences in my life.

I remember fondly one of my first Honors electives. Led by Dean Richard Newrock (CEAS), Professor Eric Inglert (CEAS), and artist Stewart Goldman. Along with students from 5 or 6 different colleges, we explored the connections between the built environment and society. The class culminated in my first international trip to Paris, France.

In my role today, leading Healthcare and Life Science Innovation at Microsoft, I often reflect on our experience in Paris. I still remember sleeping in the tiny hostel, eating baguettes and Nutella every day, and soaking in both the historic city center of Paris and the futuristic business district of La Défense. We were there as digital technology was just being introduced. Some of us were calling home on pay phones with calling cards, while others brought cell phones.

Learning with others from different perspectives and disciplines while considering sociocultural, economic, and technological shifts became my passion and career. To this day, I still use what I learned in all those different classes and studios that only the University Honors Program could provide.

Today, the University Honors Program still represents the pinnacle of academic excellence and transformative potential at the University of Cincinnati. As we invest in these exceptional students—the top 7% of our undergraduate community—we are not just supporting education, we are cultivating future global leaders who will address the world's most complex challenges.

Hopefully, as you reflect on your education and career you also find direct links like I do to your experience in University Honors. As I mention above, your support makes their mission possible. By investing in the University Honors Program, you are investing in the most promising minds of our generation—students who will go on to solve global challenges, drive innovation, and create lasting positive change.

Together, we are building the future, one exceptional student at a time.