The University Honors Program (UHP) is designed to enhance the education of UW-Stout students. Our emphasis is on challenging students to think in more depth and detail and to provide the opportunity to meet other students while doing so. We challenge talented and intellectually adventurous students through formal academic and extracurricular activity. UW-Stout's Honors Program is not like most high school honors classes. It is not simply more or harder work -- it is an entirely different approach to learning. Discussion and debate don't end at the classroom door. You'll find yourself continuing to explore issues in your conversations outside the classroom. Read what current students and alumni have to say about the program.
Academic Requirements
Honors Seminars
UHP students take four honors seminars during their time at Stout. Honor Seminars are small classes open only to UHP students. Students earn general education and general elective credits by taking Honors Seminars in place of regular classes. Students read primary source materials rather than textbooks and classes are centered around questions and are discussion based.
Honors Seminar in Literature: ENG-113
Fulfills three credits of General Education requirement in Communication Skills (same as ENG 102 or 112).Honors Seminar in Human Development: HDFL-195
Fulfills three Psychology credits of General Education requirement in Social and Behavioral Science.Honors Seminar in Technology: TECH-230
Fulfills General Education requirement in TechnologyHonors Seminar in Service: SOC-400
Fulfills General Elective requirements.
Honors Options
UHP students must also complete four honors options, which must include at least one honors contract. Honors options are learning experiences that go beyond standard UW-Stout degree requirements through the acquisition of knowledge and/or the application of skills to novel situations. Student learning in honors options is assessed by a faculty mentor and the student. Learning experiences that qualify as honors option and are currently offered at UW-Stout include honors contracts; academic study in a country other than the USA in which the student earns a minimum grade of B; departments honors courses (e.g., ENGL-111) in which the student earns a minimum grade of B; seminars in fields other than the student's major in which the student earns a minimum grade of B.
Honors Contracts
UHP students will complete at least one learning experience for which they will earn honors credit through an honors contract. To receive these honors credits, students meet with their professor to design and accomplish a project that interests them and that adds depth or breadth to their study.
Honors Colloquia
Each semester honors students consider an issue and a related text. Readings are done independently and a date is set for the whole of the UHP student body to meet to discuss the topic in small groups. Members of the faculty facilitate the small group discussions. The evening ends with each group forming a question or statement summarizing their discussions. A listserv may be set up to continue the discussions on the web.
Living and Learning Communities
The UHP has a "living and learning" component of the program whereby students may choose to live in Antrim-Froggatt Hall for their first year and Wigen Hall for those past their first year.