Empowering Excellence and Expanding Opportunity
The Honors College at Marshall University serves as a vibrant academic hub, nurturing intellectual curiosity, ethical action, and innovative thinking across disciplines. As a home for high-achieving students from a range of academic programs, we face unique challenges in delivering responsive, impactful educational experiences that meet the demands of a rapidly changing world. Limited operational funding constrains our ability to adapt and scale our programs to meet these needs. Establishing operational funds—especially a major gift for an operational endowment—will act as a catalyst for sustained excellence, enabling the Honors College to secure its role as a leader in honors education and expand transformative learning opportunities for students.
Case for Your Support
As noted by the Marshall University Foundation, our university is state-assisted, not state-funded. Declining government support for higher education places increased importance on private generosity to maintain Marshall’s status as one of the nation’s most distinctive and affordable public universities. As a “support unit,” the Honors College does not benefit from additional revenue with increased enrollment, despite our growth and success in attracting top students. Our state allocation remains flat even as we expand our reach to serve more students. A centralized budget structure limits our flexibility to meet student needs fully—whether expanding integrative learning initiatives, building new partnerships, or providing unique educational experiences.
Creating an operational endowment would fundamentally empower the Honors College, providing the sustainable support necessary to fulfill our commitment to prepare students as lifelong learners, ethical leaders, and adaptable problem-solvers. This endowment will support essential initiatives, enabling us to attract outstanding students, enrich their educational journeys, and respond dynamically to evolving opportunities and challenges.
Impact of Your Gift
Advancing Experiential and Integrative Learning
With dedicated operational funds, the Honors College could significantly expand hands-on, integrative learning opportunities, including study abroad programs, internships, community-based projects, and research initiatives. These experiences are vital to developing students’ real-world skills, enriching their academic experiences, and equipping them with the global perspectives essential in today’s workforce.
Expanding Student Access and Engagement
Your support enables us to create programs that open doors for a broader range of high-achieving students, enhancing access to scholarships for study abroad, research funding, and other high-impact learning opportunities. By removing financial and logistical barriers, we foster a more engaged and prepared student body, contributing to improved retention and long-term success for each Honors student.
Creating a Legacy of Academic Excellence
Raising significant operational funds establishes a foundation for continuous innovation in our curriculum and co-curricular offerings. This funding allows us to develop interdisciplinary courses, faculty-led seminars, and unique projects that deeply engage students across various areas of study. Your support helps build a nationally recognized Honors College that not only meets but exceeds the evolving needs of students and the Marshall community.
A Legacy of Lasting Impact
An investment in the Honors College’s operational fund is more than a financial contribution; it demonstrably shapes students’ lives. With your support, we can transform the Honors College into a leading model of modern honors education, attracting talented students from across the region and preparing them for meaningful, impactful careers. Together, we can empower these students to realize their full potential, not only as learners but as leaders who will contribute thoughtfully to their communities and beyond.
We would be delighted to explore how this vision aligns with your philanthropic goals and to discuss how you can make a lasting impact on the future of education at Marshall University.
Annual Fund Giving
Online
Simply visit the Foundation’s convenient donation portal for gifts to the Honors College. Make sure that you see the “Fund Designation” indicating “Honors College Annual Fund.”
Annual Fund giving is essential to helping us achieve our mission as these funds permit us to most flexibly support our students as their needs change over time. Most of our funds are currently restricted in a wide variety of ways–such as by the particular characteristics of the student (e.g., only students with a particular high school GPA, standardized test score, or residency) or the kind of support we can provide (e.g., tuition only). Annual Fund giving allows us to support any student in the college who needs it for such things as expenses to attend academic conferences in their major or for materials necessary to engage in research or creative projects.
Donate to our MissionBy Mail
If mailing a check to the Foundation, please be sure to include “Honors College Annual Fund” on the memo line. Checks can be made payable to:
Marshall University Foundation, Inc.
519 John Marshall Dr.
Huntington, WV 25703
Interested in Giving Differently?
We encourage you to demonstrate your leadership and support for honors education by considering endowing operational funds for the college. With a stable financial foundation, the Honors College can not only effectively respond to immediate needs but also anticipate and plan for future challenges and opportunities. An operational endowment would empower us to invest in long-term initiatives, whether that’s pioneering new interdisciplinary collaborations on campus, establishing partnerships for community-based learning, or creating mentorship programs spanning multiple years. In essence, it allows us to think and act with a vision that extends beyond the academic year, shaping the Honors College at Marshall University into a leader in honors education for decades to come.
If you would like to create a new fund or make a gift to an established, named fund to benefit the work of the college, please contact the Marshall University Foundation.
