Thanks to a $35M donation, some of the nation’s brightest and most inquisitive minds have a singular place to plumb the depths of intellectual passion, all in a unique small college setting. Mixing liberal education with the professional disciplines of the University at large, Kilachand Honors College isn’t your ordinary Latin Honors hothouse. The range of majors from across the University alone tells the story: biomed, history, hospitality, engineering, psychology, lighting design, human physiology. But it doesn’t stop there. Among the many intellectual extras, KHC students get regular behind-the-scenes exposure to the creative, political, and intellectual endeavors of non-University professionals throughout the city of Boston. We were more than pleased to see our first class of future difference-makers turn their tassels in May.
Firsthand knowledge
is lifelong knowledge.
As graduation loomed last spring, every Kilachand senior was putting the finishing touches on a substantial, in-depth work of research, creation, or invention. A dissertation of sorts. Our students follow their curiosity wherever it might lead—so if an International Relations major needs to visit Nepal to find hospital records or a biomedical engineer wants to create a device, KHC makes sure it happens with stipends of as much as $5,000 apiece.
Keystone
Projects
A sampling of topics from the 2014 Keystone Senior Projects
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Platform for Peace: A Case Study of Gang Violence in El Salvador and the Tenuous Truce
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Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”: An Unexpected Feminist Anthem
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Backyard Poultry Ownership in Boston and Beyond: A Comprehensive Look at Risks and Regulations
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Gender Influences in Collegiate-Level Co-ed Martial Arts
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Twitter and Digital Defamation Law
“The Honors College will truly produce a Renaissance person,” says KHC benefactor Rajen Kilachand, chair and president of the Dodsal Group, a multi-national conglomerate. “These are the true leaders of the world of tomorrow.”
Class of 2014
39
Students in first graduating class
13
summa cum laude
13
magna cum laude
95%
graduated with Honors
12
cum laude
2
graduated with honors in 2 separate schools
3.74
Average GPA
Jamie Lim (SAR’14, MED’18)
For his final project at the Kilachand Honors College, Jamie Lim got to travel to Nepal to seek out rural hospital records. He’d also spent time as an undergrad in Uganda studying malaria on the ground. But one of Lim’s most impactful experiences as a KHC scholar was taking a course called Innovation, Culture, and Society. “The class really opened my eyes to what innovation is and can be. It doesn’t just come from Silicon Valley and it doesn’t have to be a new piece of technology.” As someone passionate about global public health and delivering care to the poorest people, Lim’s brain circuitry lit up. “Innovation is really just a different way of thinking. It’s asking why patients aren’t showing up for clinic meetings, and realizing it’s about not having the money or transportation to get there, and then trying to provide those resources.”