Connecting Campus and Community through Community-based Service, Learning, and Research
The Early Career Fellows program is a new, yearlong learning community for staff and graduate students at UW–Madison with an interest in conducting high-quality, collaborative community-engaged scholarship.
In this episode of GridgeFridge, we sit down with Esther Kang, an assistant professor of design studies in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. With a background in art, and social and civic design, Esther has built a career rooted in exploring how design shapes communities, public participation and the systems people interact with every day.
Seventeen faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have been named Morgridge Fellows. The fellows were selected through a juried process to participate in the year-long learning community designed to further institutionalize and support community-engaged scholarship.
The Morgridge Center for Public Service released its annual report highlighting the center’s activities and programs over the past year. The report details how the center lives out its mission of building a thriving democratic society by connecting campus with community through service, community-based learning and research.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison community gathered on Thursday, June 18, 2026 to celebrate an institutional milestone: receiving the Carnegie Elective Community Engagement Classification.
In this episode of GridgeFridge, we dive into how one local agricultural nonprofit organization, Rooted, runs its multifaceted mission to build community-led food systems, making fresh, quality food accessible to everyone.
Since the program’s inception in 2008, Badger Volunteers has provided UW-Madison students semester-long volunteer opportunities that pairs them with community organizations to volunteer one to four hours each week at the same organization.
The Wisconsin Idea Conference is an opportunity for community-engaged scholars across campus and the state to come together to network, share best practices and support each other’s partnerships.
Through community-based research, an Educational Policy Studies course partnered with Rocky Knoll Health Care Center during the fall 2025 semester to create a lasting curriculum that connects seniors and children.
With the year coming to a close, the Morgridge Center is grateful to look back on 30 great years of community engagement. Through pillar programs such as Badger Volunteers, impactful Community-based Learning courses, and the annual Wisconsin Idea Fellowship only continuing to grow, the Morgridge Center looks forward to the next 30 years to come.