UNH Today

The University of New Hampshire celebrated the official opening of the Hamel Honors and Scholars College on Sept. 29 at a ribbon cutting ceremony outside of the college's new home in Huddleston Hall. The college was made possible by a $20 million gift from longtime benefactor and UNH parent Dana Hamel. The transformative gift — announced last year — greatly expands UNH’s capacity to identify, reach and support high achieving students.  

The Hamel Honors and Scholars College builds on the university’s longstanding Honors Program to create a transformational homebase for student leaders at the center of a top public research university. In addition to establishing a dedicated community and classroom space at UNH’s remodeled Huddleston Hall, the gift enabled the enhancement of in-class and extracurricular opportunities for honors students and Hamel Scholars, as well as an expansion of the Hamel Scholars Program, UNH’s most prestigious scholarship.  

 “The Hamel Honors and Scholars College is a tremendous point of pride for UNH and an asset to the state,” UNH President Elizabeth Chilton says. “We are so grateful to Dana for his incredible commitment to UNH and its students. This is the kind of transformative gift that will continue to have impact for many years to come.” 

The Honors College is a new differentiator for New Hampshire’s flagship public university. Honors students will benefit from a revamped curriculum that creates connections between academic and experiential learning, enables students to create individualized honors experiences and offers greater opportunities to work with faculty mentors from all UNH colleges. 

“I am thrilled to see my vision and hope for high-achieving students coming to fruition,” says Hamel, who is the most generous philanthropist in UNH’s history. “I hope that these students will be challenged to grow through engaged scholarship, academic challenge and self-determination to make a positive impact at UNH, in the state of New Hampshire and beyond.” 

Hamel’s gift will enable the growth of the Hamel Scholars Program, founded in 2007 through gifts from Hamel to provide merit scholarships and special programming to exceptional New Hampshire students. The Hamel Scholars Program is housed within the Honors College, and all Hamel Scholars are honors students. 

The 2024 freshman class of Honors College students is composed of 290 first-year students and 73 transfer students. The Honors College now totals approximately 1,100 students.

"We are so happy to see high-achieving students and their faculty learning together in the beautiful spaces at the Hamel Honors and Scholars College,” says Catherine Peebles, director of the Hamel Honors and Scholars College. “With our innovative and highly flexible curriculum and an expanded Hamel Scholars Program, it's the most exciting time to be part of the UNH Honors community since its founding in the 1980s. What a privilege to witness our students making impacts here and now — in their academic fields and communities. We expect these impacts to grow for generations to come."