$1 million gift from Warren Foundation creates endowment for future world leaders
As The University of Tulsa continues to build a home for the nation’s high achievers in its Honors College, Dean Jennifer Frey has identified a transformative opportunity that gives incoming first-year students an experience of the classical world and its culture before they ever set foot on campus.
Thanks to a visionary $1 million gift from The William K. Warren Foundation, UTulsa’s Jumpstart program for new undergraduates is expanding its destinations to include Rome, the cultural and intellectual epicenter of the ancient world, and one of the cradles of Western Civilization. Honors College students will explore the history, art, philosophy, religion, theology, science, and literature of the Eternal City.
“The conception of the liberal arts that animates the Honors College is deeply informed by classical tradition,” Frey said. Through the study of classic texts, we develop and make more precise our vision of what we take to be true, good, and beautiful.”
UTulsa’s Jumpstart program is unique in that it is open only to incoming first-year students. It began eight years ago with a one-week summer trip to Panama and has grown to include options to visit Mexico, Germany, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Rome was added in 2025 for Honors College enrollees.
Study abroad offers ample opportunities for character growth as undergraduates – many of whom have never left the United States – as they learn to navigate an unfamiliar culture. While abroad, students gain perspective on themselves in relation to other cultures, which is essential to developing key virtues like wisdom, gratitude, and humility.
Finally, students abroad help one another navigate novel scenarios and expand their intellectual and personal horizons in ways that cannot be accomplished in a traditional campus setting.
The Rome Jumpstart program will emphasize the collaborative nature of Honors education. “We ask students to work together on projects that involve active, interdisciplinary, experiential forms of learning as they think about how different disciplines shed light on the whole of knowledge,” Frey said. “This is a new mode of learning, and it is a good way of getting them into the habits of thinking they will be developing in their Honors seminars.”
In Rome, Honors College students will visit sacred spaces and experience some of the world’s most awe-inspiring works of beauty that command profound reverence and respect.
With the support of The University of Tulsa and the Chapman Moment Opportunity Matching Initiative, the Honors College has the ability to match this transformative gift. Donations will be matched at 50% (1:2), which means that for every $25,000 raised, an additional $12,500 is applied to expanding study abroad opportunities in the Honors College. Pledges are payable over a maximum of five years. Groups of donors may pool their gifts for matching funds. Matching funds are on a first-come, first-served basis.