Call for Honors Only Course Funding Proposals
Apply for funding to support Honors seminars or Honors discussion/lab sections that will be taught during the 2025-26 academic year.
Deadline: Friday, November 15, 2024
Submit completed proposals to Christine Evans (cmevans3@wisc.edu) as a single PDF. Proposal materials include:
1. Honors Course Funding Proposal Form for AY 2025-2026 (Fillable PDF) (1 per course, completed by instructor)
2. Draft Honors syllabus (1 per course, completed by instructor)
3. Cover letter (1 per department/unit, completed by chair or associate chair)
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 faculty-led discussions/labs. Financial support from Honors is intended to allow departments to increase their total offerings of Honors Only courses without compromising their other curricular needs and to encourage faculty engagement and innovation as part of the Honors in the Liberal Arts curriculum.
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Which courses are most desirable for the Honors Program?
We welcome proposals from all types of courses that can contribute to an engaging liberal arts education. Course characteristics that are 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
- Satisfy the ethnic studies requirement (ESR)
- Carry biological/physical/natural science breadth and are intended for students with non-science majors
- Connect to current issues, technology, health, or law/policy
- Interdisciplinary profile
We have had an overrepresentation of Communication B courses in recent years, so that is not a particular need at this time.
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. Honors funding can be received for the same course for multiple years.
In competitive application cycles, courses that have previously received funding may be deprioritized.
Who may teach an Honors Only course?
Honors Only seminars and discussion/lab sections should be taught by faculty members or permanent/long-term instructional staff with a terminal degree. As a general rule, graduate students, postdocs, and temporary lecturers should not be instructors in Honors Only settings.
We understand that each department’s situation may be different. If you would like to discuss your department’s plans for Honors teaching assignments, please reach out to the Honors Faculty Director or Associate Director of Advising and Curriculum.
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 budget/course funding plans for the next academic year.
- Complete the proposal materials:
- Honors Course Funding Proposal Form 2025-2026 (Fillable PDF)
- Draft Honors syllabus
- Cover letter from chair, associate chair, or Honors coordinator, as appropriate for the unit (one per department/program)
- Your department submits all Honors course funding proposals as a single PDF to Christine Evans (cmevans3@wisc.edu) by Friday, November 15, 2024.
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 or Honors course curricula and design, reach out to Christine Evans at cmevans3@wisc.edu.
- For other questions related to your proposal, reach out to Faculty Director Dan Kapust at director@honors.ls.wisc.edu.
- If you’re ever unsure where to start with a question related to L&S Honors, you can email honors@honors.ls.wisc.edu.