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The Mark Stephen Cosby Honors College

The Mark Stephen Cosby Honors College is a welcoming, engaged learning community for high-achieving students from all majors. As part of Honors at UW-Eau Claire, you'll have the chance to work with a diverse group of faculty and students who will challenge you, support you, and help you dream big.

Intro

The Mark Stephen Cosby Honors College is a welcoming, engaged learning community for high-achieving students from all majors. As part of Honors at UW-Eau Claire, you'll have the chance to work with a diverse group of faculty and students who will challenge you, support you, and help you dream big.

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The Mark Stephen Cosby Honors College at UW-Eau Claire

Just
The
 Facts

30+ Honors Courses Each Semester
Explore dozens of small, discussion-oriented courses reserved exclusively for Honors students.
Get Your Dream Job Faster
Honors students hold an average GPA of 3.87 — and nearly 95% graduate in four years or less.
800 Students from 140 Majors
Our nationally recognized Honors College is a community built upon academic excellence.

Reach the Next Level

Choose from a wide variety of innovative courses only offered in Honors, take advantage of unique leadership and research options, and become part of a vibrant community. Our goal? To create opportunities that will help you develop intellectually, personally, and professionally.

Click below to read about our next slate of honors courses, and follow the journeys, successes, and big dreams of some of our honors students.

Explore our Innovative Honors Courses
Honors Stories

Honors is a mark of curiosity and passion at UW-Eau Claire. As an Honors student, I am supported and encouraged to explore niche interests, academic awards, and unique career opportunities.

Here You Can
Carrie Schwartz
Carrie Schwartz
Communication Studies
2026
More About Honors
As a Cosby Honors College student, you'll have a chance to explore widely, shape the future of your field and your communities, and build your resume.
How to Join
Courses and Research
Community and Leadership
About Us

A Different Kind of Learning

The Cosby Honors College takes pride in its small, interdisciplinary, discussion-based courses. When our highly motivated students from different backgrounds and majors share perspectives and work together, that’s where the Honors magic happens. Our courses are not harder—instead, they offer a different kind of learning. 

We offer over 30 courses per semester that are open only to Honors students. These courses include Honors colloquia—interdisciplinary classes on special topics, designed for Honors students—as well as Honors sections of introductory courses that are required in many majors. Honors students can also earn Honors credit for a variety of other high-impact experiences, including study abroad, research, and leadership.

With 95% of Honors students graduating in four years or less, Honors will help you get the most out of your education without extending time to graduation. In fact, Honors priority registration helps some of our students graduate early. Nearly all of our courses count toward the university's General Education framework, and some courses also count toward major or minor requirements. 

There's no better way to learn about Honors than to check out this semester's Honors course descriptions!

Recent Honors Courses
Students in Dr. Wellnitz's World of Water honors course look gather field data from the UWEC aquatic ecosystem
1/5
A World of Water
In this regular honors course, Emeritus Professor of Biology, Dr. Wellnitz, invites students to explore the mysteries of the aquatic through biological and creative lenses. Students study marine ecology, explore the biology of local aquatic life right here on campus, and use literature and film to discuss how water shapes human imagination.
students smiling on a patio
2/5
Art in New Mexico
After a semester studying the intersection of American Indian art and modernism in New Mexico, this honors course also led students on a study trip to Santa Fe and Taos for a two-week immersion experience.
Professor Mahaffy's honors karate class practice in Gi
3/5
Shotokan Karate
Professor Mahaffy’s course is more than a practice in self-defense: she teaches how Shotokan is a way of life (Bushido) that simultaneously develops the mind, body, and soul. Students take on a humble, “beginner’s mind,” growing in the practice and skill of karate, learning about its history and philosophy, and digging into how karate is represented in popular culture.
Professor Foreman in a kitchen, surrounded by hot peppers, explains the sociological role of fermentation to a first-year honors student
4/5
Fermentation: Cultures Meet Culture
Science meets sociology in this popular fermentation class, where students learn about the chemistry and cultural role of fermented foods while making their own kimchi, hot sauce, sourdough, and cheese.
four students stand in front of an image of the brain with a professor.
5/5
Care of the Neurologic Patient
Students worked with Dr. Sather from UW-Eau Claire and Dr. Young, a neurologist from Mayo Clinic Health System, to learn about brain health through a hands-on, patient-centered lens.

Joining Honors was genuinely one of the best decisions I made coming into UWEC. I met upperclassmen in my first Honors class who helped me get comfortable with campus and break out of my shell. The Honors classes let me explore topics I wouldn’t have taken otherwise, and the resources we get have been an absolute game-changer as a double major.

Exceptional Support
Joey Klaith Headshot
Joey Klaith
Finance & Accounting
2028

First-Year Experience in Honors

In the Cosby Honors College, you'll find a community of faculty, staff, and students who will challenge and support you to aim high and learn everything you can. We host a student leadership organization called Honors Student Council and a community hub in the Honors Commons in McIntyre Library. Almost every week, there's an Honors event where you can meet other students—social gatherings, meals with professors, community service projects, information sessions, special events, relaxation walks, and off-campus activities. Our weekly newsletter, the Honors Headline, will keep you updated about all of this and more.

Honors LLC

Housed in Bridgman Hall, the Honors LLC is led by a team of experienced Honors student RAs. The LLC serves as the center for the social life of Honors, combining the Honors mindset with a supportive community. We host movie nights, parties, game nights, outings, community dinners—just about everything. We’d like this to be a place that you can call home.

Catalyst

New honors students are also eligible to participate in Catalyst, a free weeklong summer program for all incoming honors students. A week before classes begin, from Aug. 23 - 27, 2027, new honors students are invited to move in early, meet student mentors, learn from honors faculty, hold academic discussions, explore campus, and participate in community-led projects. It's a week for all incoming honors students to get a head start: to find new friends, cultivate new curiosities, participate in their new Eau Claire community, and chart new paths to academic and personal growth.

Catalyst 2026
Professor Arndt and students laugh around mixing bowls as they begin to make fermented cheese
1/5
Catalyst students rotate through daily activities and faculty-led sessions, giving them a glimpse of what honors classes are like at UWEC. Here, biology professor Rob Arndt offers a hands-on, cheese-making lesson to teach students about the biochemical process of fermentation.
Honors students at Hilltop having lunch
2/5
Mealtimes at Hilltop are full of Catalyst camaraderie, and cookies, and (sometimes) even a special drop-in from Chancellor...
Students enjoy ice cream at Phoenix Park
3/5
Groups of Catalyst students spend an evening in downtown Eau Claire, enjoying ice cream and local music at Phoenix Park.
A group of honors student volunteers poses in front of Feed My People Food Bank in Eau Claire
4/5
On the last day of Catalyst, honors students volunteer to serve their community through different nonprofits, including Feed My People, Eau Claire's largest Food Bank and food insecurity organization.
Students smiling after a hard day of trail maintenance with CORBA
5/5
One group of Catalyst students helped cull invasive plant species and restore trails through the Community for Outdoor Recreation, Biking, and Adventure (CORBA), one of this summer's service project partners.
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Mark Stephen Cosby Honors College

McIntyre Library 2002
103 Garfield Avenue
Eau Claire, WI 54701
United States

715-836-3621