These seven students and faculty are proof that that the Wisconsin Idea is a living, serving idea.
This year’s Wisconsin Without Borders awards honor these students and faculty for their community-engaged work at home and across the world. The 2018 awards honor work that demonstrates excellence in collaboration between the university and local and global communities. Each award carries a prize of up to $1,000.
Wisconsin Without Borders (WWB) is a UW-Madison alliance and award program that recognizes globally-engaged interdisciplinary scholarship and fosters excellence by networking through joint learning activities. WWB draws on the history and values of the Wisconsin Idea and the many remarkable partnerships that UW-Madison faculty members and students have initiated, both in Wisconsin and around the world.
WWB is a partnership between the Morgridge Center for Public Service, the Global Health Institute and the International Division.
Peter Bosscher Undergraduate Award:
Ciara Michel
The Apiary Project with Children of Peace
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Ciara Michel led ‘The Apiary Project’ along with Joe Perry and Bhabna Pati. In partnership with the Children of Peace Uganda (CPU) organization, she worked with the women and children in Northern Uganda to help them find a stable source of financial income after the civil war. The participants were taught the technical aspects of beekeeping and the process of selling the honey to local markets. This fostered a sense of community between the participants. Her long-term goal was to establish a sustainable business around managing beehives and manufacturing honey. The project aims to financially empower these households as the income generated could be used to purchase basic needs such as food, education, and healthcare.
Community-Based Learning Award for Graduate Student:
Molly Harris
Warrior Book Club with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum
College of Letters and Science
The goal of The Warrior Book Club is to foster conversation about war experiences and developing an appreciation for critical analysis of literature. In partnership with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, the book club discussions are held on a monthly basis. They are led by a UW-Madison graduate student whose research focuses on classical war literature. These discussions encourage participants from diverse backgrounds to share their personal experiences and further develop their understanding on the themes related to war. It aims to foster an empathetic community by connecting people of vibrant backgrounds and strengthens an appreciation of the past.
Community-Based Learning Award for Faculty:
Jennifer Angus
Co-Design: Drawing on the Best of Two Worlds
Textile and Apparel Design, School of Human Ecology
Jennifer spearheaded the ‘Drawing on the Best of Two-Worlds’ project in India which strives to empower artisans and their families through the promotion of their handcrafts. Over the 2017 summer, Jennifer co-designed a project in which she got to work closely with graduate students at Somaiya Kala Vidya, a design school for traditional artisans. She got to experience an intercultural and reciprocal learning exchange. The long-term goal of this project is to empower women to pursue their ambitions and promote their cultural heritage. She also worked engaging the Madison community with the Global Artisans Initiative (GAI) to successfully establish student internship opportunities in the summer.
Community-Based Research Award for Faculty:
Sue Robinson
How Power and Privilege Shape Public Discourse
Faculty, School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Sue worked with the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) to explore how power and privilege shape public discourse. The goal of the project was to create recommendations for school officials to facilitate better conversations around race and build trust with communities. She shared her research to journalists in the form of workshops and learning exchanges so that they could amplify the voices of people who face the problematic realities of racially charged discourse. Sue also developed a community-based learning course called ‘Journalism for Racial Justice: Amplifying Marginalized Voices in Local Communities’.
4-W Award: International Studies
Krystal Du, Kayla Hui, Rose Lamensdorf
Working with the Women’s Education Project (NYC) and Sudar Foundation (Madurai, India)
Group Nomination, International Studies
This team of undergraduates worked with the Women’s Education Project in NYC and Sudar Foundation in Madurai, India. The goal was to support education access and professional development for young women. They captured the stories of these women through photos, videos and interviews and demonstrated the power of storytelling to showcase their successes. They sought to create a platform for women to connect young women in the U.S. and India to explore careers and build their goals together. The long-term goal of this project is to create a lasting social change for women and meet the new needs of young women