The 4th annual conference was held on Monday, March 2, 2026 at Union South.
The Wisconsin Idea Conference seeks to bring together community-minded people from across the Madison area to discuss creative, mutually beneficial approaches to community-university partnership. The conference reaffirms the importance of collaborating across organizations to make a positive impact in our shared neighborhoods on issues that matter to residents.
This type of community-driven, applied work is at the core of the Wisconsin Idea and the larger founding mission of higher education across the United States. The conference is a multi-disciplinary celebration of the Wisconsin Idea and the relationships it fosters.
Contact: For questions about the event, please reach out to Dave Lassen.
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.
- Provide community-university scholars, organizers, and practitioners with strategies, models, and resources to support the development and use of mutually beneficial partnership practices.
- Create spaces for UW faculty, staff, and students to meaningfully connect with members of their local communities to explore mutually beneficial partnerships they can create together.
- Elevate and learn from community voices and highlight exceptional examples of community-university partnership.
- Strengthen relationships among UW community-engaged scholars, practitioners, and students that enhance interdisciplinary collaboration, networking, and the professionalization of excellent community engagement.
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.”
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
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 community partners. Supported options are available for anyone with financial barriers.
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- 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 Dave Lassen (dlassen@wisc.edu)