Academic Offerings in Honors

At UW-Eau Claire, Honors courses emphasize discussion, collaboration, and interdisciplinary connection. Why? We know that becoming a skilled participant in high-level discussions will elevate your learning, keep you engaged, and positively impact your future career. Being able to listen productively, link your thoughts into a larger conversation, and think outside of the boundaries of a single field--these are valuable skills in every field.

With 30+ courses per semester open only to Honors students, the Honors Program offers a highly customizable curriculum. Our students choose courses that allow them to expand their thinking, explore new interests, develop career-related skills, and dig into unique projects. Honors is also a place where students and faculty from every major on campus meet and work together--you'll grow your network and make new connections.

Course Highlights

To learn more about our course offerings, check out the course catalogs below and this playlist of video highlights for some of our Fall 2024 courses. Some of our most exciting new courses in 2024-25 include:

• Chemical Computing and Artificial Intelligence in Health Care
• Swiftology: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Taylor Swift's Music and Impact
• Vibes: Affect and the Politics of Feeling
• Fashion as Global History, Identity, and Resistance
• The Neurologic Patient: Evaluation, Treatment, and Clinical Pathways
• Empire in the Ancient World

Research

The Honors Program supports student-faculty collaborative research, which gives our students opportunities to explore topics they care about, learn more about a field of study, and distinguish themselves through presentations and publications.  Every Honors student has the opportunity to earn Honors credit for research.

The Honors Thesis

The thesis is one of the signature opportunities available through the University Honors Program: it’s a chance to make a real contribution to your field. Completed in the senior year, the Honors thesis is a flexible opportunity to pursue a research project of your own design. Thesis writers work closely with faculty advisors and join a supportive community of fellow writers. Thesis projects range from traditional research to applied and creative works.

Recent Honors Theses

• Isaac Swenson, "A Contemporary Re-Evaluation of German Grand Strategy: An Analysis of the Soft-Power Strategy" (Political Science, 2024). Isaac is pursuing a PhD in chemical engineering at Brown University.
• Sage Mathisen, "Exploring Engineering Through Fashion: A Fashion Collection" (Biomedical Engineering and Art, 2024). Sage is working at a biomedical engineering firm in Minnesota.
• Rachel Tuma, "Examining the Presence of Latin American Traditional and Complementary Medicine in the United States" (Public Health and Environmental Studies and Spanish, 2024). Rachel is working in a bilingual outreach role at a community health nonprofit in Colorado.
• Adeline Schultz, "Analyzing the Ethnic Conflict in Wolverine and the X-Men" (Political Science, 2024). Adeline is taking a gap year before applying to PhD programs in political science.
• Grace Cunningham, "Developing Effective Community-Targeted Chemical Safety Materials: A Meta-Analysis" (Chemistry, 2024). Grace is taking a gap year to pursue writing projects before beginning an MD/PhD program.

Graduation

Why complete Honors? Mostly, it's about the opportunities you'll have to develop high-level discussion skills, explore new interests, collaborate with other outstanding students and faculty, and distinguish yourself through research and leadership. But graduating with University Honors will also be noted on your transcript, and you will receive a medallion engraved with your name to wear at commencement and recognition in the commencement program. The Honors Program hosts a festive graduation reception for its graduates the week before commencement, where we celebrate our amazing students and their accomplishments. In spring 2024, 100 students graduated with University Honors.

To graduate with University Honors, students complete a 26-credit curriculum of courses, most of which will also count toward liberal education or major requirements. Pursuing Honors should not delay a student's time to graduation or add extra courses. In fact, more than 95% of our students graduate in four years or less.