Join your colleagues and connect with us to make your class a high-impact learning experience for students!
UniverCity Year will connect your class to a Wisconsin community and give students the opportunity to apply their learning to real-world situations.
“It’s active learning. It’s project based learning. (Students are) actually getting out and working in the real world on something that they’re building.”
—Doug McLeod, Evjue Centennial Professor, School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Why work with UniverCity Year?
- We make it easy! UniverCity Year staff connect you with community partners that have identified projects and facilitate ongoing communication to ensure positive outcomes for all.
- We help cover the costs of doing projects.
- We help you tell your story. Read how Professor Holly Gibbs and her class worked with the Appleton International Airport or how Professor Doug McLeod’s journalism class visited Outagamie County’s Mosquito Hill Nature Center.
- You make the Wisconsin Idea come to life and show Wisconsin residents the benefit of having UW in the state.
- Students learn about public aspects of your discipline.
- Students report amplified learning, engagement, and satisfaction.
“We’ve noticed that student projects closely linked to the community organizations tend to be most successful and durable in terms of their impacts.”
—Jules Reynolds, PhD student in Geography and Environment and Resources working with Professor Holly Gibbs’ Geogrpahy 309 course called “People, Land and Food”
“When it’s real work, there are stakes. It’s one thing to say, ‘Hand in your papers by Friday at 5 p.m.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘You’ll be giving a briefing at the mayor’s office at the end of the semester on the content of your paper, and it might just make a difference in your community.'”
—Lori DiPrete Brown, Director, Global Health and Human Ecology, Civil Society and Community Studies, School of Human Ecology
Next steps
- Choose UniverCity Year projects for class assignments and capstones.
- Find field placements or internships for individual students.
- Pursue Community-Based Learning Designations.
- Apply your research to interesting community issues.
- Expand your network and engage with the “high-road” community.
We have new possibilities every year to partner with Wisconsin communities.
Email UniverCity Alliance at UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu to get connected today!