The Cathedral’s top floors are home to some of the University’s top scholars

When a rising tower was imagined as the anchor of the University of Pittsburgh footprint more than a century ago, the vision was for a place where children of working-class families could rise through education.

Today, from the top floors in that same building, Nicola Foote leads the David C. Frederick Honors College, an entity built on that same idea: that talent exists everywhere and that opportunity should, too.

From her office on the Cathedral of Learning's 36th floor, Foote can look out over Oakland and across much of Pittsburgh. On clear days, the view stretches for miles - the bridges microscoped with neighborhoods and rivers winding below.

It's not too difficult to imagine that if Foote looks hard enough, she might be able to see the midlands of Leicestershire, England, where she grew up in a working-class family. Her father worked in a frozen foods warehouse. Her mother was a school secretary. Neither went to college, but both believed deeply in education. Their dreams for their daughter led Foote to life-changing academic experiences.

After spending time at University College London, she spent a year abroad at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. In the Caribbean, she studied sociology and political science, and that exposure to interdisciplinary learning opened up her intellectual world and would later define her philosophy as an educator and leader.

That belief carried Foote across continents and into a life shaped by learning - first as a student, then as a scholar and now as dean of Pitt's honors college and the Bernice L. and Morton S. Lerner Chair in Honors Education since 2021.

At the Frederick Honors College, that mission takes shape through a model that brings students together from across disciplines and challenges them to think beyond boundaries. It also is a place undergoing rapid transformation: One of the nation's oldest honors colleges is now emerging as one of its most innovative.

Pitt Magazine spoke with Foote about what defines an honors college and why access and aspiration remain at the heart of its future. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pitt Magazine: What distinguishes an honors college, and what role does it play within a university?

Dean Nicola Foote: An honors college is a special and unique place.

At its core, it's about interdisciplinarity, hands-on experiential learning and research. We're helping students connect to the fundamental academic mission of a research university - knowledge creation - and maximize what's possible in their undergraduate experience.

But we intentionally bring those elements together to create opportunities for students across different majors to learn from one another. And we're layering additional challenge with additional support.

We provide curated opportunities - research, mentorship, fellowships - and we organize those through dedicated offices, like our Office of Honors Research. But just as important is the sense of belonging. Students identify as part of the Frederick Honors College. They know what that means.

So, it's really the intersection of classroom and cocurricular experiences that defines honors. That combination shapes students in powerful ways and helps drive the kinds of outcomes we see.

Pitt's honors college is approaching its 40th anniversary. How does its history fit into the broader history of honors education?

Foote: The two are deeply connected. Pitt's is one of the oldest honors colleges in the country. Our roots go back to honors courses in the 1950s, and our founding dean, G. Alec Stewart, who was a national leader in shaping the concept of honors education.

His vision was to take the strengths of an elite liberal arts college - close community, intellectual engagement - and connect them to the scale and opportunity of a major public research university.

Nationally, honors colleges expanded in the late 1990s and early 2000s. So, in many ways, Pitt helped pioneer this model. And now we're seeing renewed interest in it across the country.

What's exciting is that we're once again at the forefront, thinking about how honors education evolves for today's students.

You've seen remarkable growth in recent years. What's driving that?

Foote: It's been extraordinary. We've seen growth of nearly 700% in student participation. It's because we don't have a fixed admission process. We bring in about 700 students a year in our first-year classes, and our students are from every single undergraduate major at Pitt. Overall, we're about 15% of the student body.

But part of our growth also is structural. We've created three clearer and more accessible pathways into the college. We've introduced the joint degree, which students can apply for, and it's a shared degree with their major; there is the honors distinction, which any student with 3.0 GPA or above can declare; and there is the Bachelor of Philosophy, the most prestigious, which, after a year of research, faculty mentorship and successful defense, converts a bachelor's degree into a research degree for having completed graduate-level work.

But our growth also is about demand. Students are excited about Pitt's growing national reputation, its being recognized as a "New Ivy" and that Pitt is a top producer of national scholarship winners.

And, importantly, we see growth and excellence as intertwined. By bringing in students from across disciplines, we actually strengthen the intellectual environment and create more opportunities for collaboration.

How do you measure success beyond growth?

Foote: Retention and completion are critical. Nationally, honors completion rates are often in the mid-50% range. Ours is 94%. That tells us students are finding value and staying engaged.

We also look at outcomes. Within six months of graduation, 98.3% of our students are either in graduate programs or in high-level jobs. They're going to institutions like Harvard, Oxford and Johns Hopkins or working at top organizations.

And then there's the alumni network - students who stay connected, who mentor others and who continue to pay that success forward.

How are you continuing to innovate and advance the honors education model?

Foote: As AI reshapes the landscape, we're expanding opportunities that technology can't replace, like experiential learning and close peer connection. A prime example is our Rees-Chancellor's Scholars Program, recently endowed and expanded by Honors alumnus and Goldwater Scholar Michael Rees (A&S '97, ENGR '97). This cohort-based program focuses on leadership by immersing students directly in research, global study and real-world projects.

With this model, we're preparing students to lead, innovate and drive progress across every sector, much like Michael himself has done in the finance industry.