The University of North Florida Hicks Honors College is set to finish construction on the new Honors dorms to be ready to house students by this coming fall.

The new UNF Honors dorm broke ground about a year ago and will be completed this summer. The project, which has been in the works since the endowment of the Hicks Honors College in 2016, is set to open in time for the Fall 2025 semester.

The idea for Honors housing was initially created by Jeff Chamberlain, UNF’s first Honors College dean, in 2015. Chamberlain envisioned a residential space where students could live and learn in a tight-knit community.

“That was a vision that [Chamberlain] worked throughout his entire tenure as dean here to see come to reality,” said Dr. Scott Brown, the current dean of the Hicks Honors College, crediting the work of Chamberlain and the Hicks family to the new dorms.

Brown and Professor Will Pewitt, assistant director of the Hicks Honors College, also touched on how a big goal of the Honors housing is to bring diversity across different majors together. 

Pewitt said once students are in their majors, they don’t tend to get to know and work alongside students in other majors as deeply. 

“You don’t get to have the kinds of relationships across intellectual and professional boundaries that really are a part of the real world,” said Pewitt. 

He said the new dorms will be a space for students of all majors to “develop that kind of social-emotional intelligence” while living together.

“So having a place where we get that kind of sharing and overlap between people with not just different fields of study, but just different kinds of interests is part of the goal that we’re kind of working into that as well,” said Brown.

The new space will house more than 500 beds and will feature study spaces on every floor, with areas for collaboration and events and views of the nearby nature reserve and pond.

The floorplan looks like an “H” with each corner of the H having a small study room. There will also be one large multipurpose room for students to study individually or in a group. This room will also host many events for students in the dorms as a way to bring residents together. 

What sets the Honors dorms apart from other residence halls on campus is its emphasis on creating a supportive community for every student living there.

Even students who are not part of the Honors College can still apply to live in the Honors Dorm.

“We have already had situations where honors students would like to room with a close friend who is not in the honors program, and we absolutely want to accommodate those students. We also, I strongly believe, in an honors program which is always an open invitation to the rest of the UNF community to participate,” Brown said. 

In addition to having open doors, the Honors dorms will have three distinct Living-Learning Communities that cater to students’ different interests and academic focuses, according to Dr. Brown, 

These communities include a Freshman LLC, the International-focused Global Honors LLC and the more flexible Honors Horizons LLC.

The Freshman LLC will house a large group of incoming students and is designed to support them during their transition to university life. The Global Honors LLC will be a space for students interested in international studies to be together and is only available to upperclassmen. 

“Honors is a pretty diverse student body to begin with,” Brown said, mentioning the college’s study abroad programs and its number of international students. 

The third and new LLC, Honors Horizons, will allow students to live alongside others who share their passion for the Honors College and its interdisciplinary approach, according to Brown.

Like any other LLC, students must apply to be a part of the Honors LLCs. These applications show up on the myHousing portal when students complete their housing contracts. 

The eligibility requirements for each LLC, according to Hicks Honors College is as follows:

Honors Freshmen

• Must be a First-Time in College (FTIC) student accepted to the Hicks Honors College
• Must enroll in IDH1923 (H) Colloquium in the fall semester of their first year

Global Honors

• Be a current sophomore, junior, or senior (by year, not credit) in the Hicks Honors College
• And/or be an international exchange student.

Honors Horizons

• Be a current upperclassman (sophomore, junior, senior) in the Hicks Honors College
• And/or be an incoming transfer student (sophomore, junior, senior) who has been accepted to the Hicks Honors College. 

According to Brown, an applicant doesn’t have to be in a Living Learning Community to live in the Honors dorm, but those are options meant to “enrich” the living experience.

For honors students who may feel disconnected from the program or living on campus, the new dorm allows students to reconnect.

Amanda Bubb, a UNF honors student majoring in health administration, became an honors student in the fall of her freshman year. 

“Personally, I don’t quite feel as connected as I used to,” Bubb said. 

Although she lives off-campus, Bubb said, “UNF housing is awful from what I’ve heard, so I’m very happy to hear that [honors is] opening a dorm. I’m sure the honors community will grow stronger there.” 

Pewitt said that connection to the program is something the new honors housing will encourage students to do as they will be involved in the program’s environment.

“You have another chance to kind of be around this community,” Pewitt said.

The future of growth for the Honors program aligns with that of the university.

“We are in a growth mode at the University of North Florida, and that means a growth mode for the honors program,” said Brown.

Students can go to the Hicks Honors College website to apply or learn more about Honors housing.

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