Wisconsin Idea Conference

Monday, April 7
8:30am – 4:30pm | UW-Madison’s Union South

The Wisconsin Idea Conference is a one-day event that brings together academics, service providers, community leaders, students, and others interested in fostering partnerships that advance meaningful impacts within our community and state. This year’s conference will focus on the concept of Exchange – together, we’ll explore ways to collaborate for positive change in our communities and across the state, build new relationships, and exchange ideas and resources to innovate solutions for the challenges facing our communities.

Contact: For questions about the event, please reach out to Cory Sprinkel.

Attending the Conference

Whether you’re from a university department or a community organization, this conference offers a unique opportunity to forge meaningful connections and explore how we can work together to strengthen Wisconsin communities.

Build and strengthen relationships between Wisconsin communities and UW-Madison faculty, staff and students in support of collaborative and innovative cross-sector partnerships.
Deepen understanding of both community and university resources and efforts for addressing issues relevant to Wisconsinites
Develop skills and strategies for strengthening collaborations

The submission deadline has passed. If you have a question about a proposal you submitted, please email info@morgridge.wisc.edu.

Poster Selection Timeline:

January 12 — Submission deadline
Mid-February — Notifications of selection sent
March 3 — Poster program finalized

Review Criteria:

Relevance of topic — Does the proposal focus on questions, practices, or challenges relevant to the conference focus on community-university partnerships? Does it provide new information on promising strategies, methods, relationships, or lessons learned?
Partnership Process — Does the proposal share knowledge about how the partnership was conceived and/or managed?
Implications for Practice — Does the proposal provide clear implications for practice relevant to academic and practitioner audiences?
Community Impact — Does the proposal outline project outcomes that had measurable impacts on the community?
Quality of Submission — Does the proposal demonstrate quality, indicated by clarity, accuracy, and demonstrated understanding of the topic?

Deadline: Monday, Feb. 3 or until capacity is reached

The Wisconsin Idea Conference is seeking community organizations and community-engaged campus units to table during the event. A limited number of tables will be available at the conference for interested groups to share resources and network with conference attendees. Tabling will occur during an hour-long session block that will also feature poster presentations.

Tabling Request Requirements:

Group name and contact information (no more than 2 people per table)
Organizational or unit mission
Briefly describe the benefit or resources your group will share with our conference audience

Due to capacity constraints, we may be unable to accommodate all who express interest in tabling.

For UW units seeking to table at the event, we do ask for a $100 tabling fee to support the costs of conference planning. If accepted, we will work with you to initiate an internal funds transfer for this cost.

Application Link

The history of the Wisconsin Idea offers a set of values — self-governance, integrity, egalitarianism, truth and interpersonal trust — that serve as a visionary ideal for the University and guides its approach to engaging with local communities. Amid and throughout this history, the Wisconsin Idea has had a complicated history, and opinions on the university’s commitment to the Wisconsin Idea vary widely. Through this conference, we encourage attendees to reflect critically on the role of institutions in communities and the tensions inherent in the Wisconsin Idea.

A few resources for you to explore

Where can I park?

There are three public parking lots near Union South:

Lot 80 (beneath Union South), 1308 W. Dayton Street. This tends to fill up quickly but is the most accessible option

Lot 17, 1525 Engineering Drive (0.2 miles from Union South)

Lot 20, 1390 University Avenue (0.1 mile from Union South)

You can find a map of all three lots here.

Check real-time visitor lot availability with this link.

Visitor parking rates: $1 per 30 minutes for the first 3 hours, $1/hour thereafter, $15 daytime maximum

Metered or short-term (2 hour) street parking is also available on Orchard St, Spring St, and Charter St.

Validate or Reimburse Parking Expenses?

Unfortunately, we cannot reimburse parking costs for conference attendees. However, we can offer parking passes for guest presenters or tablers.

Guest presenters or tablers, please reach out to Sara Gia Trongone to receive a parking pass.

Accessible by Public Transportation

Yes! Union South is accessible via the following bus routes:

C, D, J, O, R (W Johnson at N Orchard)
80 (N Randall at Engineering)
A, F (Orchard)

Conference Registration

Registration for the 2025 Wisconsin Idea Conference is now live. Online registration will remain open until the day of the conference, unless event capacity is reached.

The Wisconsin Idea Conference brings together innovative minds from both within and beyond campus walls. We welcome:

Community partners

Nonprofit organizations looking to amplify their impact through university collaboration
Public sector professionals seeking to bridge research and practice
Community leaders interested in shaping the future of university-community partnership

University participants

Faculty and researchers interested in community-engaged scholarship
Staff members working on outreach and partnership initiatives
Students passionate about applying their learning to real-world challenge

To ensure the event is accessible to a variety of attendees, a tiered pricing system is in place. Attendance is free for UW-Madison graduate/undergraduate students and supported options are available for community and campus audiences with financial barriers to attending.

- Standard Conference Registration | $35
  - Recommended for anyone who has professional development funding available.
- Supported Conference Registration | $0
  - Recommended for students and any community partners or UW staff without professional development funding available
- Sponsorship-level Conference Registration | $70
  - Recommended for those who wish to support conference attendance for students and community partners, as well as for those units interested in receiving recognition as event sponsors.
- Awards Luncheon Only registration | $18
  - For those who are ONLY attending the Community University Engagement Awards lunch

For questions about conference registration, please contact Cory (sprinkel@wisc.edu)

2025 Sponsors