# Ball State honors dean to lead UK's Lewis Honors College **Published:** 2026-06-04T15:01:04.000Z **Source:** [University of Kentucky News](https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/new-dean-uk-lewis-honors-college-announced) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/ball-state-honors-dean-to-lead-uk-s-lewis-honors-college LEXINGTON, Ky. — [The University of Kentucky has named James Buss, Ph.D., as the next dean of the Lewis Honors College following a national search](https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/new-dean-uk-lewis-honors-college-announced). Buss will begin his role on July 1. Buss currently serves as dean of the Honors College and director of the Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at Ball State University, where he has worked since 2023. At Ball State, he has grown the Honors College student population by 22 percent since 2022, welcoming its largest first-time student class of more than 600 students in Fall 2025. UK Provost Robert DiPaola praised the appointment, noting that Buss brings "a wealth of experience and knowledge in the field of honors education." Buss helped found honors colleges at Northern Kentucky University and Salisbury University, serving as founding dean at both institutions from 2016 to 2018 and 2018 to 2023 respectively. At Northern Kentucky University, he also served as interim associate provost from 2021 to 2023. Buss earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Bowling Green State University and a doctorate from Purdue University, all in history. He is the author of "Winning the West with Words: Language and Conquest in the Lower Great Lakes" and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. [The Lewis Honors College](https://honors.uky.edu/), established in 2015 through a $23 million gift from UK alumnus Tom Lewis and his wife Jan, represents [the largest single gift in UK history](https://www.lanereport.com/83344/2017/11/uk-dedicates-lewis-hall/). The college recently received more than 7,000 applications, making admissions more competitive than ever in its history, according to its website. Buss emphasized his vision for honors education in a statement, saying an honors experience means building "a community, an environment that helps transform students into great thinkers, creators and doers who go on to lead our communities to new horizons." ## Sources - [University of Kentucky News](https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/new-dean-uk-lewis-honors-college-announced) - [Lewis Honors College official website](https://honors.uky.edu/) - [UK dedicates Lewis Hall - information on the college's founding gift](https://www.lanereport.com/83344/2017/11/uk-dedicates-lewis-hall/) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from University of Kentucky News, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/new-dean-uk-lewis-honors-college-announced.