Greetings. My name is Tom Barden. I am the director of the University Honors Program at the University of Toledo. Our program brings highly motivated students together to make their undergraduate experience the very best it can be. Honors is what I like to call a "talent enhancement plan" for your college career. Our promise to you is that we will provide a program and a curriculum that meet your high expectations, intellectually, culturally, and socially. We will recruit the best faculty for your courses, provide you with intensive, personalized advising, connect you with excellent advisers for your thesis project, locate scholarship and internship opportunities for you, and help you plan for your future success after you leave the University of Toledo.
If you are a current Honors student, I invite you to come by my office so I can meet you personally if we haven't met already. If you are a high school student considering the University of Toledo and applying for our Honors Program, I invite you to attend one of our recruiting events in the late fall or spring to see our beautiful campus. Visit Sullivan hall, pick up some information, and get a feel for the program. If you are a community college student or transfer student from another college or university, and you are interested in the UT Honors Program, please contact me at thomas.barden@utoledo.edu to discuss your academic standing, your Honors transfer credits, and how our program might fit with your educational and career plans. When I'm not at work in the Honors Program, I'm a professor of English with specialties in folklore and American literature, especially the work of John Steinbeck. And when I take off my university hat altogether, I play a great little 1918 Gibson A model mandolin. I'm on campus every day from 8:30 to 5:00, either in my office, in class, or in the library. So stop by to see me or give me a call if you want to talk about the University of Toledo Honors Program and your place in it.