The Morgridge Center for Public Service hosted its second Wisconsin Idea Conference on Tuesday, April 9.
Over 150 community members, students, faculty and staff attended the conference. Breakout sessions included groups from UW Extension, Three Gaits Therapeutic Riding Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, Covering Wisconsin and more showcasing their community-engaged efforts to strengthen and reinvigorate the Wisconsin Idea.
“We were thrilled with the success of this event,” Community-Engaged Scholarship Specialist Cory Sprinkel says. “It is one thing to constantly talk about and recognize the Wisconsin Idea — to reckon with its history and mission — but on Tuesday we were able to see through real examples, stories and relations what the Wisconsin Idea means.
The conference also featured a plenary panel with Dane County Executive Joe Parisi moderating a panel of community and campus leaders. The panelists were thrilled to tailor their responses to the students in the room — reiterating the important role they play in leading our state and society forward given the high volume of civic disinterest in uncontested or vacant positions in local government.
See below for photos from the plenary panel and breakout sessions from this year’s conference.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi (far left) moderates a panel of community and campus leaders (L-R: Sheri Johnson, Sabrina “Heymiss Progress” Madison, Zach Vruwink, and Sara Richie) on the importance of community-university partnerships and local government.“Reflection in Community-based Learning” — Angela Johnson, lecturer in UW-Madison’s Division of the Arts teach participants how to create a Zine and how they can apply it in their own community-engaged work.“The Creation and Implementation of Creando Comunidad” — Fostering Student Engagement and Activism through a Cohort Model: Community Engagement Preparation Graduate Assistant Bertha Gonzalez discusses with participants how her and Community-Engaged Scholarship Graduate Assistant Nasitta Keita created a program to center and empower the strengths of undergraduate students partaking in critical service work as well as provide opportunities for community building, collaboration, support, and personal/professional development.“Making Better Places Together Through Effective Listening: UniverCity Alliance” — UniverCity Alliance Senior Associate for Communications & Outreach Abigail Becker moderates a panel to discuss the importance of DEI-related courses and expertise on campus so that they can respond to capacity-building requests from communities across Wisconsin. Panel included (L-R) Community Studies Professor Ben Fisher, Design Studies Professor Uchita Vaid, and Mayor of Milton Anissa Welch.“Students Leading Students: Igniting Change, Empowering Communities” — BadgersVote Co-Lead intern Amanjot Kaur (left) and Student Organization Partnership intern Claudia Liverseed (right) talk to participants about how they center student leadership in their work and the impact of peer-to-peer leadership on campus and in community engagement.“Cooking Up Change: Community-University Partnerships to Improve School Food in Madison” — Associate Professor of Civil Society & Community Studies Jennifer Gaddis talks to participants about the power of community partners and how they were able to provide and support food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.“Community Impact and Engagement Through Seed to Table” — UW Dining and Culinary Services Chef Yusuf Bin-Rella show participants how to grind an indigenous variety of corn using traditional tools.
