National recognition highlights unique programs, student success and growing influence under Dean Jill Hernandez.

Summary:

Texas Tech University’s Honors College has been named one of the top 20 Honors colleges in the U.S. by Road2College, ranking 17th nationally and second in Texas based on academic strength, student engagement and research opportunities. Under Dean Jill Hernandez’s leadership, the college has expanded its unique programs and national visibility, offering unmatched opportunities such as paid research from day one, global research travel and top-tier graduate placement.

Why This Matters:

• Strengthens Reputation: Reinforces Texas Tech’s national academic reputation and attracts high-achieving students.
• Unique Opportunities: Provides innovative, career-launching opportunities that are rare or unmatched in other Honors programs.
•  Highlights Students: Supports student success with exceptional outcomes, including 97% post-graduation placement.

Texas Tech University’s Honors College has been recognized as one of the top 20 Honors colleges and Honors programs in the U.S. by Road2College, one of five major organizations that compiles such rankings.

The Honors College is listed second of 36 public universities with Honors colleges or programs in Texas, and 17th out of 665 in the nation.

Road2College is unique in its approach in that it places programs according to the strength of academics, engagement and research, analyzing the full scope of each institution. Earning this mark was an express goal of Dean Jill Hernandez since before taking on the role in 2022, based on Texas Tech’s support of the Honors College through mentorship, tenured faculty and the Undergraduate Research Scholar program.

Pursuing a national rank included not only internal conversations but an active dialogue between Hernandez and the rankings organizations that pushed for a glance at the college’s excellence and pioneering methods.

“We didn’t think the ranking was going to happen this quickly,” Hernandez said, “but with the strength of the college that already existed along with the new things we’re doing, we really thought we had a good chance if anybody were to look.”

Through a heightened connection with Undergraduate Admissions, Hernandez and Assistant Dean Chad Cain are directly recruiting students in person in addition to launching the Senarian Leaders program. Senarian Leaders involves a more personal element, inviting the top 10% of high school seniors to apply and providing incentives to commit early.

In Texas alone, the Honors College boasts the only Honors research program that pays students on day one, the only program that sends Honors students abroad for research, the only undergraduate externship program, and the only Honors alumni mentoring program. It also has the best placement for jobs and graduate and medical programs, as 97% of graduates know where their next steps will be as they cross the stage during commencement ceremonies.

Hernandez added the college also claims the only Honors Enhanced experience in the country, which provides additional opportunities to earn Honors credit, and the only U.S. Honors Resilience and Retention advising program. 

There aren’t any additional fees to enroll in Honors, either.

All these components serve to boost what the college was already achieving through its programs, mentorship and teaching that existed before Hernandez arrived. The Honors College is now just taking the opportunity to spread the word of its amplified and unique efforts.

“We’re so excited to contribute to the national reputation of Texas Tech,” Hernandez said. “We live, as an Honors college, in service of a stellar university. We’re going to continue to recruit and retain scholars who we will strategically develop into the ethical and thought leaders in the state, the country and the globe.”

The college has an unapologetic goal of standing among the top 10 in the country, which will require tireless work but in turn raise the profile of the university and its fellow academic colleges.

Hernandez added Honors College staff feel a duty to maintain the college’s reputation on behalf of alumni. Securing a national ranking feels like an accomplishment similar to Red Raider men’s basketball reaching the national quarterfinals; it’s simultaneously fantastic and incomplete. 

“We’re not done,” Hernandez said with a grin.