Honors Program FAQs

The Honors Program at UWRF provides an academic and social community for students who have outstanding records of academic achievement and who seize opportunities to pursue knowledge in a variety of subjects, engage with their communities and develop leadership skills and leadership potential.  

Please note that our Honors Program is not like an AP or Honors program you find in high school where you complete extra work or take several additional classes to graduate with Honors.  At UWRF, we cater your Honors Program to your course requirements so that nearly all of the classes you take to complete the Honors Program count toward graduation.

Graduating from an Honors Program has many benefits to your career. The most obvious benefit is that when people who are considering your qualifications for a job, graduate school, medical school, the Peace Corps or any other experience, they will recognize the level of dedication you paid to your academics while in college. Secondly, those same people may see this as a reason to interview you rather than another candidate. In other words, they could wonder what your program was like and want to talk to you in person about it. Additionally, your experience in the Honors Program strengthens your critical thinking, communication and leaderships skills, all of which are beneficial for your career. Finally, the connections you make with fellow Honors students will last long after you graduate, thus creating a network of peers that will follow you into your career. 

We recommend that you apply for the Honors Program in your first eligible semester so that you have adequate time to complete the requirements and partake in our community atmosphere. Keep in mind that Honors students are required to take HON 190 – Honors Seminar (1 credit) within the first two semesters of joining the program as it introduces the core competencies and helps you to develop your individualized Honors Program plan. Early, advanced planning ensures minimizing extra credits required for graduation.  

Current UWRF students may be eligible to join the Honors Program up until their junior year depending on how many major, minor and University requirements they have to complete. Current students need to meet with the Honors Program Director Kathleen Hunzer to figure out if the Honors Program will fit into their remaining time at UWRF.

Incoming first year students who are eligible can apply as soon as they are admitted to UWRF but we do have "rolling admission" throughout the year, which means you can join at any time during the year. The sooner you apply the better, because the Honors Program requires 135 hours of community service, which needs to be completed between the time of application and graduation.

Once you have been admitted to UWRF, you can complete the online Honors Program application using your Falcon Account. Honors Program applications will be reviewed within a few business days and you will receive a formal notification of your acceptance via mail shortly thereafter. If you are applying as a current or transfer student, your acceptance letter will be emailed to your student email address.

The Honors Program is designed to work with all majors. 

Since most of your Honors requirements double-count elsewhere in your degree plan, the Honors Program will not delay your time to graduation or require you to take several "extra" classes. The only requirements outside of your graduation requirements in the program are for our opening seminar, HON 190, and our senior seminar, HON 497, both of which are only one credit. 

Honors Program students must complete HON 190 and HON 497, meet the requirements of the five core competencies, complete 135 hours of community service before graduation and graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. Successful completion of the Honors Program will be notated on the student's final transcript.

You do not need to complete "extra work" in a class for you to receive Honors credits for that class, and with the exception of HON 190 and HON 497, you do not need to take specific sections of classes for them to count in your Honors Program.

Our curriculum requires two (2) one credit, Honors-specific classes that you must take (HON 190 and HON 497). Outside of that, the program is designed so that nearly all of the classes you take to complete the Honors Program count toward graduation.

Our curriculum requires two (2) one credit, Honors-specific classes that you must take:  HON 190-Honors Seminar and HON 497-Honors Capstone Seminar.   

Depending on your individualized Honors Program plan, there are optional Honors-specific classes as well such as HON 371-Service Learning and ENGL 200 Honors-specific sections.

One of the core competencies - Community Engagement - requires that all Honors students complete 135 volunteer hours prior to graduation. These 135 hours may be split across all four years or done in a shorter amount of time and may be done throughout the year, including over the summer, Spring Break or J-Term. Students have the option of using the volunteer hours during the semester as service learning credit with HON 371 (1 credit=45 hours, 2 credits=90 hours, 3 credits=135 hours), they can complete a portfolio or do a combination of HON 371 and the portfolio.

Any volunteer work you complete in a community that is unpaid and not connected to a course requirement may count toward your 135 required hours of community engagement. You choose where and when you volunteer.  Keep in mind that some hours dedicated to volunteer work with student organizations may also count as community engagement. If you are unsure, come talk to us in Rodli Hall 231.

Once you are admitted to the program, you will have access to several forms and guidelines through the program's Canvas course. One of the documents is a fillable PDF log that you can use to record your hours. You must provide "proof" of your hours through an email or a note from a supervisor. Once you complete your 135 hours, you will submit that log, all "proof," and a reflection essay.

URSCA stands for Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity. The 300- or 400-level class that most closely links with the research you present in HON 497 will be double-counted as your URSCA requirement in the Honors Program. 

Honors students benefit from priority registration. At UWRF, your registration date and time are assigned based on your completed credits; therefore, if you are an active member of the program, you will receive a time that same day that is earlier than you would have been assigned if you were not in the Honors Program. This does not apply for summer registration. The Registrar’s Office automatically assigns the priority registration and day and time, so the date and time you see on eSIS already factors in your priority registration.

We recommend contacting Annaka Isenberger, the program associate for the Honors Program, to set-up an appointment to meet with Kathleen Hunzer for advising help.  Otherwise, you are always welcome to stop into Rodli Hall Monday-Friday between 8 a.m. - 4:30pm. 

There are three types of merit awards recognized at graduation. See the Graduation Honors information listed on the Registrar's website.

Incoming Honors students may choose to live on the same floor as other Honors students in one of our first-year residence halls. If you have a roommate selected who is not in the Honors Program, you can still have that person as a roommate in Honors housing. When completing your housing contract, select the Honors Learning Community as your first choice of housing.

UWRF has no affiliation with HonorSociety.org or National Student Leadership group. We will never ask you for a membership fee to participate in the Honors Program at UWRF.

Yes, you can still be a member of the Honors Program if you are in any of these programs, but you will have to create a plan with the Director of the Honors Program to ensure that you can fulfill all of the program requirements.