Fox Cities News

The Honors College at UW Oshkosh is preparing for a significant increase in student enrollment this fall, while also expanding its academic offerings and experiences. The college will introduce a new Honors College residence hall community.

Honors College Dean Laurence Carlin stated that approximately 167 students are expected to enroll this fall, up from 117 in fall 2023, marking a 30 percent increase. The college will also open its new “Honors Living and Learning Community” in Evans Hall.

“It provides a great opportunity to live with other Honors students in a supportive environment that fosters academic success,” Carlin said. “Students here take classes together, eat together, help each other study and form lifelong friendships. We’re planning to do some programming there too: Pizza with Professors, research presentations and other events.”

In fall 2023, the college had nearly 500 students overall, with an average high school GPA of first-year students at 3.85. Students pursued 54 different UWO majors.

Dominik Dempsey of Kimberly praised his experience at the Honors College.

“Without a doubt can I say that joining the UWO Honors College is the absolute best decision I could have made in my college career and in my young adult life,” Dempsey said.

“I can truly say that the Honors College is devoted to student success. No matter what you are dealing with, even if it does not directly pertain to the Honors College, there is always an amazing team of professors and advisors ready to help… With this also comes how the Honors classes are set up. You don’t see class sizes larger than 30 people, allowing you to make those meaningful connections with professors. It allows you to really get to know everyone in your class, further building connections and creating a learning environment like no other.”

The Honors College was established in fall 2017 from UWO’s former honors program. The college format provided opportunities for additional high-impact classroom and off-campus experiences.

Carlin aims to sustain enrollment over the next two years while continuing collaboration with UWO Admissions and focusing on retention.

UWO Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ed Martini highlighted efforts to enhance the program.

“These are some of the latest efforts to enrich and grow the Honors College experience for current and future students and we’re pleased that our department chairs and deans found creative, affordable solutions to make it happen within the ongoing academic restructuring at UWO,” Martini said.

New first-year course seminars starting fall 2024 include themes such as Satire and Society; Justice and the Environment; Memory and Storytelling; International Conflict; and Mediated Lives—an interdisciplinary examination of modern media’s effects on human experience.

The college continues its commitment to study abroad experiences which Dempsey described as his “most memorable experience thus far.”

“Nothing is better than being able to take a city as beautiful as Paris and turn it into your classroom (in my case it was Paris, but any destination offered would be just as amazing),” he said. “The trip offered endless opportunities to learn... It also taught me valuable lessons of world history and how to navigate a world outside of the United States as I move into my adult life.”

Carlin emphasized efforts aimed at identifying high-achieving applicants for UWO by showcasing all opportunities available through the Honors College.

“We want our Honors students out there experiencing all that the university has to offer,” Carlin concluded.