Honors College leadership announcement

Dear faculty, staff and students,

I am writing to share the news that Ralph Keen will be stepping down as dean of the Honors College to return to the faculty on Aug. 16, 2026. His 10 years as dean, preceded by a year as interim dean, set the record for longevity since the creation of the Honors College nearly a half century ago.

Under Keen's leadership, the Honors College has grown in enrollment, expanded in course offerings and programming, and broadened recruiting efforts in the interest of admitting diverse classes of high-achieving students. By raising the requirement for credits in order to graduate with honors, instituting a junior-year course to prepare students for undergraduate research and professional schools, and promoting opportunities for civic engagement and leadership across campus, Keen has ensured that the Honors College is an enriching experience for students from their first year through the completion of the honors capstone project. With almost 100 courses every year and over 700 faculty fellows, the Honors College fulfills the priorities identified in its 2018 mission statement by being a community of academic excellence.

Dean Keen is a member of the steering committee of HSI-Honors, a consortium of Honors colleges at Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and serves an inaugural member of the editorial board of the monograph series Pädagogische Diskurse, published under the auspices of the Görres Gesellschaft, a multidisciplinary academy based in Bonn, Germany, of which he is currently the only American member. During his time as dean, Keen has also been elected to the presidencies of the American Society of Church History and the American Catholic Historical Association, the two national scholarly organizations in the history of Christianity.

Honored for his teaching with the 2022 Honors College Instructor of the Year award as well as the Award for Distinguished Teaching from the American Catholic Historical Association in 2023, Keen has regularly taught courses in the Honors College and served as a faculty fellow for students who have gone on to prominent graduate programs across the country. His dedication to supporting the work of others is evident also in his editorship of the monograph series Catholic Christendom 1300-1700, published in the Netherlands by Brill. Maintaining an active research program while dean, he is currently finishing a monograph on late-medieval theories of causation and their reception in the first half of the 16th century.

These accomplishments are truly commendable, and Dean Keen has been a stalwart leader who has positioned the Honors College for continued success both in the years ahead and, more immediately, as we launch an internal search for the next dean of the Honors College, chaired by dean of the Graduate College, David Eddington, with the objective of concluding the search before the end of the spring 2026 term.

Please join me in thanking Dean Keen for his remarkable service to the Honors College over the last 10 years and in wishing him well as he prepares for his return to the faculty.

Sincerely,

Karen J. Colley
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

For more information, please contact: Tyler Nielsen [email protected]