Course Funding Proposals for the 2024-2025 Academic Year
We are now accepting course funding proposals for 2024-25! For full consideration, please submit your proposal as a single .pdf by 5:00 PM on Friday, November 17, 2023. Please email your proposal to Pete Keys (pkeys@wisc.edu).
The Honors Program encourages you to consider offering undergraduate courses as Honors courses! Honors instruction is a valued high-impact practice in L&S and provides you with an opportunity to develop innovative courses and collaborate with some of the most engaged, intellectually curious undergraduates on campus.
Funding is available to support “Honors Only” courses, including stand-alone seminars and instructor-led discussions/labs. Financial support from Honors is intended to allow departments to increase their total offerings of Honors Only courses without compromising their regular offerings.
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Which courses are most desirable for the Honors Program?
Instructors and departments from all L&S disciplines are encouraged to apply for Honors funding.
Courses with no or few prerequisites and that are open to first-year students are in high demand. Students pursuing an Honors in the Liberal Arts degree are required to take Honors courses across L&S breadth areas, which means that courses at the intermediate/advanced level with an L&S breadth designation are also highly valuable.
We welcome courses with an interdisciplinary profile. Some course characteristics that are particularly sought by students are:
- Courses that carry biological/physical/natural science breadth and could appeal to non-science majors
- Courses with literature/humanities breadth that could appeal to non-humanities majors
- Social science breadth courses with content related to natural sciences, medicine, or legal studies
What form of funding is available?
Three forms of funding are available, based on the format of the Honors Only instruction.
- For an Honors Only seminar: Short-term replacement lecturer salary (33.3% lecturer)
- For a faculty-led Honors Only discussion/lab: $2000 supplies and expense allocation
- For a faculty-led Honors Only discussion/lab: $2000 bonus salary for the participating faculty member
Replacement lecturer funds can enable departments to “free up” a faculty member to teach a low-enrollment Honors Only seminar and hire a lecturer to teach elsewhere in the curriculum. For large courses that will have an Honors discussion(s) or lab(s) led by the instructor of the main lecture, departments can elect to receive either a supplies & expense allocation for use by that instructor or *bonus pay for the participating faculty member.
*If the faculty member is requesting bonus salary, the department chair’s letter must include a statement that the faculty member is currently in good standing.
If you or your department have other ideas for how you would wish to use available funding or if you have questions about possibilities, do not hesitate to reach out to the Honors Program Director.
Can I receive funding for the same course more than once?
Yes. To aid with longer-term curricular planning, Honors funding is renewable (by application) for subsequent years.
Proposal Process
- Learn more about the Honors Program, the different types of Honors courses, and possible teaching ideas.
- Talk with the Honors Program to discuss your course idea and get answers to your questions about the funding proposal.
- Check in with your department chair and curricular representative about your interest in teaching Honors, how offering Honors courses can support your unit and College-wide priorities, and course funding plans for the next academic year.
- Complete the proposal materials:
- 2024-25 Course Funding Proposal (Fillable PDF)
- Draft syllabus
- Cover letter from Chair or Associate Chair (one per department)
- Your department submits all Honors course funding proposals as a single .pdf to Pete Keys (pkeys@wisc.edu) by 5:00 PM on Friday, November 17, 2023.
Timeline
Early Fall
- Departments begin preparing course plans for the following academic year.
- Faculty consider their teaching plans and can prepare Honors Only course funding proposal materials.
November
- Honors Course Funding Proposals are due.
December
- The Faculty Honors Committee will review proposals and make award decisions.
- Departments will be notified of the award status of their proposals by late December.
Questions?
- For questions about the application process, reach out to Honors Interim Associate Director Pete Keys at pkeys@wisc.edu.
- For questions about Honors course curricula and design, reach out to Honors Associate Director Christine Evans at cmevans3@wisc.edu.
- For all other questions, reach out to Faculty Director Jenny Saffran at director@honors.ls.wisc.edu.
- Please email honors@honors.ls.wisc.edu for all other questions.