Wisconsin Idea Undergraduate Fellowships Projects: 2005-06
The following eleven projects were awarded for 2005-2006.
“Ekyalo Kijjimu” The Village Health Project
Students: Abby Stepaniak, Jenna Klink, Micaela O’Neil, Kaitlyn Duckert and Jessica Thompson; faculty mentors: Assistant Faculty Associate John Ferrick (International Agriculture Program), Prof. James Ntambi (Biochemistry); community partner: Institute of Public Health, Makeree University, Uganda.
This project works to provide clean water to residents in rural Uganda through the construction of two new water tanks. The students will participate in organizing the overall project, provide educational sessions about water safety and work with local building teams to construct the water tanks. They will also assist in the identification of new opportunities within Uganda for future service-learning projects.
Fire Prevention Through Education (Medidas de Precaucion del Enferno por Educacion)
Student: Jason Gonzalez; faculty mentor: Assistant Faculty Associate Irene Katele (Legal Studies); community partners:
Town of Madison Fire Department & Centro Hispano of Dane County. Through translation and programming, this project promotes awareness and pre-incident planning for emergencies among the non-English speaking Hispanic population of the Town of Madison. Workshops and written materials will be provided to familiarize residents with the fire department as well as rules and preventative measures to ensure their safety.
Intellectual Freedom and the Independent Library Movement in Cuba
Student: Kelsey Vidaillet; faculty mentor: Assistant Prof. Greg Downey (Journalism and Mass Communications and Geography); community partner: Independent Libraries of Cuba.
This project promotes intellectual freedom in Cuba by examining the work of independent libraries throughout that country. The work will consist of original survey research on the Independent Library Movement’s access to information technology and an educational campaign to increase public awareness in the United States about this movement.
Promoting Wheels for Winners: Communication, Community and Bicycles
Student: Laura Witzling; faculty mentor: Assistant Prof. Michelle Nelson (Journalism and Mass Communication); community partner: Wheels for Winners.
Wheels for Winners is a small non-profit organization in Madison that repairs donated bicycles and awards them to children for doing community service. In order to create more public awareness of this organization and increase its financial support, this project will focus on the creation and implementation of a strategic marketing plan, including news articles, brochures and public service announcements in local media.
Reaching Latino Consumers in Wisconsin
Student: Maria Sol Carbonell; faculty mentor: Prof. Karen Goebel (Consumer Science); community partners: Centro Hispano of Dane County & Division of Consumer Protection, WI Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
While the Hispanic population in Wisconsin continues to grow rapidly, local organizations often do not provide consumer information in Spanish. This project will establish a consumer liaison among government agencies, communities and the media, raise awareness about Hispanic consumer needs as well as the importance of providing consumer information in Spanish; and educate the State’s Hispanic consumers about common frauds, how to prevent them and develop resources for assistance.
Returning to the Land: Reinvigorating the Environmental Aspect of the Wisconsin FFA Association
Student: Craig Kohn; faculty mentor: Prof. Gary Lake (Life Sciences Communication/Director of Agriscience Education); community partner: Wisconsin FFA Association.
Designed specifically to grow and strengthen the environmental education component within the Wisconsin FFA Association, this project will focus on student education and promote sound environmental practices through ecological research. Additionally, FFA advisors and teachers will gain access to trainings and other resources for the annual Agriscience Fair, FFA Environmental Proficiency Competition and Environmental Career Development Event.
Solar Cooker Program in Muramba, Rwanda
Students: William Brower, Adrienne Kuehl and Megan Bender; faculty mentor: Prof. Peter Bosscher (Geological Engineering); community partner: Engineers Without Borders –USA.
Building on a 2004-05 WI Idea Undergraduate Fellowship project, these students will focus on the development of clean drinking water for Rwandans living in and around Muramba. Solar cookers will be built in order to pasteurize water, effectively eliminating the bacterial and viral diseases that impact the residents. The project teams will also train locals on how to make and use solar cookers themselves.
The Three P’s HIV Education Project: Partnership, Peer Education, Prevention
Student: Jamie Cohen; faculty mentor: Prof. Raymond Kessel (Genetics); community partners: Midwest AIDS Training and Evaluation Center & Memorial High School.
Three P’s connects Madison Memorial High School students with South African students through the design, facilitation and implementation of a peer education project on HIV/AIDS with the goals of developing effective educational materials, bridging the gap of HIV/AIDS infection between domestic and international levels and creating students as powerful change agents.
Voices of Women in Globalizing India: Film Project
Student: Ashok Kumar; faculty mentor: Prof. Joe Elder (Sociology & South Asian Studies); community partner: International Human Development & Upliftment Academy (IHDUA), India.
Through the creation of an ethnographic documentary, this project will examine the lives of women in an increasingly globalizing India. The film will re-examine the popular notion that globalization benefits everyone in India through an investigation of possible negative effects of modernization on Indian women. Another goal of this project is the creation of a Foreign Service IHDUA program for students, providing UW-Madison students with an opportunity to undertake future service-learning projects in India.
Youth Engaged Through Language Project (YELP)
Student: Katrina Flores; faculty mentor: Assistant Prof. Yongping Zhu (East Asian Languages & Literature); community partner: Atwood Community Center.
YELP introduces 4th and 5th graders to Chinese language and culture through a mentoring/tutoring program with UW-Madison Chinese language students. This project will also work toward the development of a new service-learning Chinese language course that will count towards the major.
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