This event has concluded.
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 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
Conference Registration
This event has concluded.
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
Hear what attendees had to say about last year’s conference.
Networking Across Campus & Community
- “I liked connecting with people from across campus. That can be challenging to do sometimes and I appreciated getting to learn about the amazing work going on at UW-Madison.”
- “[I enjoyed] getting to meet/talk with other individuals not in my division who do work that promotes the Wisconsin Idea.”
- “I like the mix of community and university attendees.”
Sharing Resources & Best Practices
- “The quality of presentations, resources, strategies, and networking. Time well-spent.”
- “[I appreciated] hearing from the different partners in community-engaged initiatives”
- “I like hearing what others are doing in this space and learning about community engagement in practice.”
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
- Standard Conference Registration | $35
For questions about conference registration, please contact Cory (sprinkel@wisc.edu)
2025 Sponsors
