As a student tour guide on campus, Ari Rosenblatt tells prospective students and families about her internship with the Innovation Center Stoughton as an example of the many opportunities available at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Rosenblatt, who will be a junior in the fall, connected with Innovation Center Stoughton through Design Studies 341: Design Thinking for Transformation during the fall 2023 semester when she and her fellow students explored opportunities with the center in a “design sprint.”
Now, she’s a paid intern creating new programs for Innovation Center Stoughton in partnership with Executive Director Katrina Becker.
“My goal is to get into organizational development and do leadership consulting, which is why doing design strategy was really important,” said Rosenblatt, who is double majoring in communications and sociology with certificates in design strategy and Jewish studies. “The Innovation Center internship has been absolutely amazing and doing organizational development for them is exactly the right first step for me to get into that world.”
Innovation Center Stoughton partnered with UniverCity Alliance from 2021-24 to advance its goals of providing experiential learning, technical assistance, mentorship, and connection to a network of resources to the Stoughton area.
Becker appreciated the evolving connections created through the partnership, including working with the design strategy class and hiring Rosenblatt as an intern.
“It’s really great to hear new perspectives that are outside of what I or the board might come up with on our own. That’s a huge benefit,” Becker said, “and having a dedicated person to take on additional projects and plan for the future.”
Work completed in the design studies class, taught by Kathleen Erickson, and Rosenblatt’s internship builds on eight projects completed by students in a range of disciplines, including engineering, management and human resources, and landscape architecture during the 2022-23 academic year.
Erickson expressed how exciting it is to continue connections with the students and hear how working with Innovation Center Stoughton changed their mindset.
“These students were eager to put in practice their learnings! It was transformative to see their dedicated focus and collaboration within and between their classmates,” Erickson said. “Partnering with UniverCity Alliance and communities such as Stoughton provides powerful learning opportunities for everyone who participates – the businesses, the communities, and the students.”
Innovation Center Stoughton is closing in on securing a physical location in the community, which will help move forward its mission of helping individuals and organizations conceptualizing, prototype, incubate, and grow their ideas.
Rosenblatt’s assignments for the summer will contribute to the services the center can provide. She is building a mentorship and volunteer program and a membership program. To support her work, Rosenblatt attends board and executive committee meetings and is exploring other ways to connect Innovation Center Stoughton to campus.
Rosenblatt said she’s considering programming and systems that encourage community involvement.
“Organizational development is about making a company work and function and meet their goals,” Rosenblatt said. “For the Innovation Center, we have all these opportunities to get people involved in different ways.”
Supporting community priorities, leveraging university resources, and fostering unique learning experiences is UniverCity Alliance’s mission.
“UniverCity’s partnership with Stoughton is a great example of cross-sector partnerships between cities, businesses, and the university. These partnerships only happen when fueled by trust,” Managing Director Gavin Luter said. “UniverCity listens to community needs and delivers to them what they request. We all benefit when we partner together.”
Luter said the UniverCity model provides a unique learning experience that allows students to get off campus and experience different parts of the state.
Through this internship, Rosenblatt has learned more about Stoughton. Her hometown is in California, and this experience offered her an opportunity to experience Wisconsin life and culture outside of Madison. Rosenblatt has visited Stoughton several times, even attending the city’s Norwegian Syttende Mai festival.
“There’s a sense of community (in Stoughton),” Rosenblatt said. “Being able to have Innovation Center Stoughton so involved in my class was such a great resource.”
–Abigail Becker