During the Fall 2024 semester, nine UniverCity Alliance scholars worked with five communities around Wisconsin on individual projects, ranging from tackling AI policy to increasing language accessibility and exploring sustainability initiatives.
These undergraduate and graduate students formed connections with their community partners and navigated evolving projects, gaining professional skills that will benefit them in their future careers.
“You have to be comfortable not knowing a lot at the beginning,” said junior Miguel Garcia, who is majoring in biology. “You’re here to listen to the community and learn from the community.”
Garcia worked with the City of Waupaca to research how to expand city services to support residents whose first language is not English. He interviewed 11 community members and developed pamphlets outlining resources in the community.
“This community really exemplifies the community I came from. My parents were immigrants, and I was the main one translating,” Garcia said. “For me to see a community of a lot of people who don’t speak Spanish or other languages really hit home.”
This is the second cohort of students that UniverCity has brought together through the UCA Scholars program. Through this program, UniverCity is able to convene a group of committed students excited by working with Wisconsin communities to work on individual projects with local government partners.
Upon completion of the project, the students received $1,500 scholarships that were generously provided by the Division of Continuing Studies and UW alumni John Holton, Pat Thiele, Colleen Goggins, John Nelson, Bill and Karen Monfre, John Bauman, Jane Mandula, and Curt Fuszard, and others.
In partnership with UniverCity’s community partners, the scholars’ work resulted in the following:
- Research evaluating affordable housing in the City of Black River Falls
- AI use policy and a user guide for Iowa County employees
- Outline of legal barriers to shared services for Iowa County
- Analysis of existing needs assessments to guide community engagement programming for the UW–Madison and City of Madison South Madison Partnership
- Research and recommendations on sustainability best practices for the Village of DeForest
- Resources for expanding City of Waupaca services to native Spanish speakers
For the second iteration of the UCA Scholars Program, students received additional professional development and mentorship. Amy Gangl, director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Political Science, and Emmeline Prattke, an advisor at SuccessWorks, met individually with students and fostered engagement and reflection through a new Canvas course.
Gangl said it was inspiring to get to know the scholars over the semester and watch them hone skills like report writing, professional communication, collaboration, and networking.
“These projects give students hands-on experience that you just can’t get in a classroom,” Gangl said. “They’re learning how to apply what they’ve studied to help real people in their community, and they also push students out of their comfort zones. They get to work with diverse groups, solve actual problems, and leave their mark on the community.”
Prattke said she saw the students “learn how to navigate the ambiguity of the professional world with confidence and independence as they applied the skills and knowledge from their degree program in a new environment.”
“Partnering with experts and professionals outside of the university system allows students to benefit from a more diverse range of perspectives, and to see the tangible impact their work can have within a community,” Prattke said.
Confidence boost
Working with a community partner over a semester provides students unique learning experiences and the opportunities to enhance their academic careers and build professional skills that will benefit them in the future.
For third-year Information School PhD candidate Yaxuan Yin, the UCA Scholars program created the opportunity to learn from a new audience: government employees. Yin integrates human-computer interaction, statistics, and geography to solve complex social computing challenges.
“Overall this project gave me a different perspective to understand specifically how local government employees perceive AI,” Yin said. “Interviewing government employees trained my qualitative skills and how to navigate research questions from interviews.”
Nate Dancer, a junior majoring in landscape and urban studies and human geography, said he now has a better understanding of commitment to community service and increased confidence in his research abilities.
“Working with (South Madison Partnership) over the course of the semester enhanced my communication skills greatly while also giving me the platform to apply technical skills I have been learning throughout my collegiate career thus far,” Dancer said. “I can draw from this experience to understand and relate to the real-world impacts that major projects may have on community members.”
Sophomore Amelia Alvarez, who is majoring in political science, researched affordable housing in the City of Black River Falls for her UCA Scholars project. She said the experience enhanced her understanding of how to manage and execute these types of projects.
“This project has sparked a newfound interest in research for me,” Alvarez said. “It’s not something I initially envisioned pursuing, but after spending the past semester collecting and analyzing data, I’ve come to truly appreciate the progress and impact that initiatives like this can generate.”
Carolyn Shumaker, a senior majoring in landscape and urban studies, geography, and environmental studies, said she was nervous at the beginning of the semester about the prospect of applying for jobs. But her work with the Village of DeForest on environmental sustainability has given her more confidence.
“This experience has really made me feel a lot more capable as an applicant,” said Shumaker, noting that the experience and her final project are included on her resume.
—Abigail Becker