The Honors College broke its record for new student enrollment with 181 freshmen this fall, making up nearly 10 percent of the entering freshmen class.

“It’s an exciting time to be working at the Honors College,” said Bonnie Irwin, dean of the Honors College. “Word is really starting to get out on how good our program is.”

The first class of the Honors College in 1982 started out with 50 students, Irwin said, now it’s over 600.

“At this point, I don’t think we want to get too much bigger.”

There are 573 students in the university honors program and about 78 in the departmental honors program, Irwin said, with some students keeping active in both.

In the 90s, the Honors had a goal to make up 10 percent of the student body, but that goal has since changed, Irwin said.

“It’s important that the campus be diverse,” she said. “We can’t have Honors be too dominant.”

The college has been working toward Provost Blair Lord’s goal for the college to be “known as the university of choice for Honors College/programming among the state’s public comprehensive universities.” Much progress has been made since he announced the goal last fall.

“We’ve already made considerable progress in positioning our Honors College/programs to be the best in the state,” Lord said. “This may not be as widely known as I ultimately desire, but we’ve made real progress, much of which must be attributed to the excellent leadership of Dean Irwin.”

Increasing communication and visibility of the Honors College to possible students is one the college has increased numbers, Irwin said.

“We’ve always had excellent classes taught by some of Eastern’s best faculty,” she said. “Part of the difference is word is getting out to high schools that we have excellent classes and programs.”

In addition to making its Web site more accessible and keeping a close relation with the admissions office, Honors is becoming more appealing to students by implementing new programs.

One project in development is the National Student Exchange that will allow Eastern students to study at other colleges in the program while paying tuition close to Eastern’s. Students can study for a semester or a year at universities in 48 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

“It’s a great opportunity for our students,” Irwin said.

Students who have at least a 2.8 GPA and are in good standing with the university will be eligible for the program. The application process will begin early next year to travel in the fall semester.

The Honors College is also active in administering undergraduate grant and research dollars and helping students apply for national scholarships.

“These are some of the things that high caliber students are always looking for,” Irwin said.

Each year, the college has more applicants for the Presidential Scholars Program that provides four-year tuition and fees for 20 students a year. In its third year, 80 students applied for the program for the 2006-2007 school year.

“The program provides greater scholarship support to those accepted and provides a cohort type of experience and more emphasis on professional/leadership development,” said Martha Brown, chair of the Honors College Advisory Board.

Ken Baker, a member of the advisory board and director of Campus Recreation, said the programs and the college draw amazing students to the university.

“The Honors College and the Presidential Scholars program, those two things make us more attractive to those students,” he said.