Teach with the Honors Program

Honors instruction is a valued high-impact practice in L&S and provides you with an opportunity to develop inspiring courses and collaborate with some of the most engaged, intellectually curious undergraduates on campus. Support L&S students and the L&S mission by teaching and mentoring students in the Honors Program!

The campus Honors course designation policy outlines three Honors designations:

  • Honors Only
  • Accelerated Honors
  • Honors Optional

Learn about teaching the various types of Honors classes and review guidance provided by the L&S Honors Program below.

On this page

Ways to Teach Honors

Yaa Gyasi speaks from a podium to students wearing masks in a large room with many windows

Honors Only

Offer low-enrollment seminars or small, faculty-taught discussion sections for Honors Program students intended to foster enriched intellectual engagement, active learning, and community.

See Honors Only teaching ideas and policies ​ ​
Students look through vintage telescope under dim red lights

Accelerated Honors

Cover notably more content or go into much greater depth, often at a theoretical level, than the standard version of a course/curriculum. Accelerated Honors courses are not limited to Honors Program students, but may have other eligibility criteria.

See Accelerated Honors teaching ideas and policies ​ ​
Professor sits at desks with three students in a classroom

Honors Optional

Allow individual students to select the Honors Option during enrollment and then complete an Honors-specific project or experience that enriches their learning and complements the standard work for the course.

See Honors Optional teaching ideas and policies ​ ​
Yellow board with black cutouts of houses and some diagonal red lines

Green Sheets

Form an official, student-initiated agreement that allows a student to earn Honors credit in a non-Honors course. If you are open to supporting multiple students who wish to earn Honors credit, consider setting up your course as Honors Optional.

See Green Sheet project ideas and policies ​ ​
Green Sheet information for students ​ ​
Professor and students smile in an office doorway

Mentored Research

Support Honors students who are seeking introductory research experiences over the summer or completing a Senior Honors Thesis.

Find Honors research grant information ​ ​
See Senior Honors Thesis policies ​ ​

Guidance for Departments

Which courses to offer for Honors

Course characteristics particularly sought after by students and helpful to the Honors in the Liberal Arts curriculum include:

  • No or few prerequisites, including courses open to first-year students
  • Science courses intended for students pursuing non-science majors
  • Connect to current issues, technology, health, or law/policy
  • Interdisciplinary profile

Please keep the following in mind with regard to course designation of courses offered for honors:

  • Courses with no breadth designation are of limited value to the Honors in the Liberal Arts curriculum, though they may support Honors in the Major requirements or students with specialized interests.
  • There is a particular need for more Honors Only and/or Honors Optional courses with “B” (biological), “P” (physical) and “N” (natural) science designations.
  • While a course with any breadth designation can be valuable for Honors in the Liberal Arts, Honors Only courses with the “L” (Literature) and “Z” (humanities or social science) breadth designation generally have more success attracting students than courses with the “H” (humanities) designation.
  • Honors Only and/or Honors Optional courses that can satisfy the ethnic studies requirement (ESR) are highly desirable.
  • While Honors Only courses with a Comm B designation can be helpful to some students, we recommend that you consult with the Honors Program if potentially offering an Honors Only+Comm B course so that we can help ensure that there are not more of these courses than demand justifies.

If you are developing a new course intended for a broad student population, consider piloting the course with highly engaged Honors students by offering it as an Honors Only seminar or with an Honors Only discussion section.

Section-level designations rather than catalog-level designations are typical for Honors Only and Honors Optional, and section-level designations do not require a Lumen proposal. Information for curricular representatives can be found on the Honors setup in SIS page.

      Scheduling of Honors Only courses

      • Units should try to spread Honors Only course offerings across semesters.
      • If your unit plans to offer two Honors Only courses in a given academic year, splitting them across the two semesters can help increase enrollments. This is particularly true for smaller units.
      • While a variety of Honors course offerings are needed each semester, overall demand for Honors Only courses is greater in fall semesters than in spring semesters. Because of this, if you are uncertain about the potential demand for a new Honors Only course, we would generally recommend offering it in fall rather than spring.
      • Predictability of Honors offerings supports higher enrollment in those courses and feasibility of Honors degree completion by students.
      • Before enrollment begins, we strongly encourage instructors to add Honors-specific instructor provided content to any Honors Only section through the Faculty Center. Honors students report that descriptions demonstrating the instructor’s interest in a particular topic and providing specific details about course assignments and activities make a positive difference when students are deciding whether to enroll.

      Additional Department and Staff Resources

      Honors Course Setup in SIS
      Apply for Honors Only Course Funding
      Exceptions and Changes to Honors in the Major
      L&S Honors Policies in Guide

      Contact Honors

      Please reach out to the Honors Program with questions or to get support with Honors planning for your course/unit.

      • Dan Kapust, Faculty Director
      • Christine Evans, Associate Director of Advising and Curriculum
        • cmevans3@wisc.edu
        • Honors course development, curricular updates, e.g., for Honors in the Major, questions impacting Honors students in a current or upcoming course
      • Pete Keys, Associate Director of Admissions and Engagement
        • pkeys@wisc.edu
        • Refer a student to the L&S Honors Program, research funding for Honors students, co-curricular connections with Honors students
      • Aren’t sure where to start the conversation?