HONORS COLLEGE
The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign has strengthened what it means to be an Honors student at The University of Alabama. Through extraordinary philanthropic support, we have expanded scholarships and access, enriched interdisciplinary learning and created more opportunities for research, experiential education, service, leadership, and discovery.
LETTER FROM THE DEAN
A Campaign Completed. An Honors Experience Transformed.
The University of Alabama Honors College celebrates the conclusion of The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign with deep gratitude for what we've accomplished and optimism for what lies ahead.
Through the generosity of our alumni, families, friends and partners, the Campaign has strengthened the distinctive Honors experience. Philanthropic support has expanded scholarships and access, enriched interdisciplinary academic programming and created new opportunities for research, experiential learning, service, leadership and discovery beyond the classroom.
These investments have empowered Honors students to pursue big questions, explore across disciplines, engage meaningfully with communities and connect their education to lives of purpose and impact.
The Honors College is deeply grateful to all who made this progress possible. The Campaign is complete, but its impact will endure through generations of exceptional thinkers, engaged citizens and leaders prepared to make a difference.
Tiffany A. Sippial
Dean
Honors College
THE MOMENTUM WE BUILT
$29M
TOTAL RAISED
8
NEW ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIPS
2,321
GIFTS RECEIVED
THE IMPACT OF RISING TOGETHER
THE KENNEMER CENTER: WHERE IDEAS BECOME IMPACT
The James C. Kennemer Center for Innovation and Social Impact was created following a $2 million gift from Kennemer in March 2023.
The Kennemer Center offers University of Alabama students a unique, highly visible platform that builds a capacity for critical thinking, encourages ethical and innovative approaches to social impact, and prepares students to be active and engaged citizens and to succeed in any career path. The center provides support for the Bama Innovation Gateway program, including the BIG Ideas contest, and funding for undergraduate research, speakers, forums and outreach programs, and other initiatives.
Since its inception, the Kennemer Center for Innovation BIG Ideas Contest has brought together over 200 students from diverse backgrounds – spanning seven colleges, 31 majors, 23 states, and eight countries – for a semester dedicated to impact-driven innovation. In 2025, 18 teams advanced visionary projects in fields like biotech, health tech, safety, infrastructure, sustainability, accessibility, edtech, communications technology and food insecurity.
Kennemer, who was a member of the charter class of UA’s Computer-Based Honors Program, now known as the Randall Research Scholars, said the inspiration for creating this center stemmed from the success of the BIG Ideas contest, which held its first competition in 2022. The contest challenges students to come up with creative solutions to social challenges.
“BIG Ideas is designed to be an entry-level contest, with no experience required,” Kennemer said. “We tell the students, ‘All you need to get started is an idea.’ Mentors, advisors and workshops assist them from their problem statement through researching and framing their solution.”
“Our goal is to produce students who are better able to recognize social challenges, and to provide them with the skills needed to research and develop solutions that have real social impact,” he added. “Those skills and their experience will benefit them in their classroom challenges and projects, in other campus contests, and then in the real world where ideas are what drive people in their professional careers.”
Kennemer said the excitement from students, speakers, advisors and mentors of the BIG Ideas program has been tremendous.
“This generation of students latches on to ideas, and putting emphasis on the social impact is something they really relate to,” Kennemer said. “If their project has profit potential, that’s great, but our judging criteria is social impact.”
Kennemer said a motivator for his gift to the University is the large impact UA has had on his life.
“Everything I’ve done – whether it’s my family, my career and accomplishments there, my closest friends – every important aspect leads straight back to my involvement in the Computer-Based Honors Program or the University itself,” he said.
“The University is the perfect place to do something that has the potential to make a real difference with a significant number of students every year,” he said. “We’re already doing that in the BIG Ideas program, and the center will provide the resources for more outreach and additional initiatives. It will also provide connections to and cooperation with other organizations and entities, including state, regional and federal efforts with an interest in innovation and social impact.”
“Each year, we will be helping develop these students into becoming lifelong difference-makers themselves. Think of the difference that can make. That to me is just great.”
UA students participate in the Kennemer Center’s “Big Ideas” contest.
UA students participate in the Kennemer Center’s “Big Ideas” contest.
The Kennemer family celebrates the announcement of the Kennemer Center in 2023.
The Kennemer family celebrates the announcement of the Kennemer Center in 2023.
GIFT TO UA FELLOWS PROGRAM HONORS FORMER UA PRESIDENT
Former University of Alabama President Dr. Robert Witt.
Former University of Alabama President Dr. Robert Witt.
The late Reta Mudd, a UA alumna whose gift to the Honors College named the Witt University Fellows Program and expanded its offerings.
The late Reta Mudd, a UA alumna whose gift to the Honors College named the Witt University Fellows Program and expanded its offerings.
In February 2024, the University Fellows Experience at The University of Alabama was renamed for its founder and former UA President, Dr. Robert E. Witt, following a gift from the family of UA alumna Reta Mudd.
The naming of the Dr. Robert E. Witt University Fellows Program celebrates the successes of its students and their community engagement over the program’s 17 years.
Witt, who served as president of the University from 2003 to 2012 and chancellor of The University of Alabama System from 2012 to 2016, continues to support the Honors College as a professor.
“As I’ve reflected on this incredibly generous gift and honor, I know there’s a foundation to help ensure that University Fellows will endure and be a part of Honors College in perpetuity,” Witt said.
Mudd died Oct. 20, 2022 at the age of 94. A Tuscaloosa native and UA alumna, Mudd was introduced to Honors College leadership and students around 2015. She and her son, Bill Mudd, also a UA alumnus, have since been ardent supporters of the Honors College.
Dr. Allen Yeilding, chair of the Honors College Board of Visitors and close friend of the Mudd family, said the Mudds’ gift to Honors College is an “incredible tribute” to the Capstone.
“I’ve been fortunate to be in the dirt with Honors College students for 20 years,” he said. “So, it’s an honor and privilege that Reta Mudd saw the vision and the opportunity to not only help the University and young people, but also our community, culture and country.”
Rooted in service with a focus on leadership, Honors College students selected for the Witt University Fellows Program earn a minor in social innovation and leadership, develop service projects with partners in the Black Belt and Tuscaloosa communities, and conduct research with UA professors.
Dr. Dana Patton, director of the program, said the gift from the Mudd family will also support the Witt University Fellows Program in the following ways:
- Expanding professional development services offered to fellows.
- Providing scholarship support to fellows for summer internship experiences and presentations at academic conferences.
- Establishing seed grants for significant Magnum Opus projects.
- Creating immersion experiences focused on economic development, culture and ecology and supporting shadowing opportunities with professionals in the region.
- Procuring and maintaining an inventory of critical items to support the activities of Witt Fellows, such as work tools for the Black Belt Experience, software licenses and audiovisual equipment.
“The Mudd family’s transformative gift stands as a testament to their unwavering dedication to the advancement of higher education and the cultivation of intellectual excellence,” Dr. Tiffany Sippial, dean of UA’s Honors College, said. “This exceptionally generous endowment establishes an enduring legacy that will enrich a dynamic community devoted to fostering critical thinking, innovation and a lifelong love for learning.”
Each year, the Witt University Fellows Program receives around 350 applications from academically elite high school seniors. Finalists complete two rounds of interviews with up to 25 students selected to comprise the next cohort.
Fellows engage with the world outside the classroom through community immersion, cultural exposure, and project design and implementation. Central to a Witt Fellow’s experience is a network of encouragement and positive challenge, and the Witt University Fellows Program strives to develop a close-knit, mutually supportive group of peers.
Alumni of the program often pursue graduate degrees in law, medicine and the fine arts and are working in finance, public education and aerospace, among other industries.