Wisconsin Idea Endowment going strong in its seventh year

The Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment is supporting a diverse portfolio of community-inspired projects for 2009, from improving Midwest flood-response policies to exploring Wisconsin’s language roots.

Included in the 14 projects totaling more than $800,000 this year are initiatives to get Wisconsin youth involved in the National Science Olympiad; bringing the restorative power of creating art to UW Hospital patients; making piano instruction affordable for lower-income families; establishing a program to help Wisconsin businesses tap global markets; and helping farm families get involved in small-scale food processing.

The Baldwin endowment, now in its seventh year, funds projects at UW-Madison that directly advance the Wisconsin Idea through collaborations with communities and outside organizations. Projects are judged by an eight-member campus committee on the strength of their ability to address the needs and priorities of external partners.

Peyton Smith, assistant vice chancellor and chair of the Baldwin endowment, says out of the nearly 100 pre-proposals submitted in 2008, the final proposals were the strongest yet and featured greater input from community partnerships.

“The quality of the proposals continues to get better every year,” Smith says. “The projects are more fully developed and there is a greater focus on outcomes. I also think there is more recognition campuswide that the Wisconsin Idea is one of our core values and people are highly motivated to participate.”

This is the first year that two separate projects submitted primarily by students received funding. Smith says students compete on the same plane as faculty and staff for available grants, something that speaks well to the quality of our undergraduates.

“The Baldwins said in creating this program that the strength of the university lies in its students, staff and faculty, and these projects further illustrate the kind of talent we are developing here,” he adds.

To date, nearly 70 projects, running in length from one to three years, have been supported by the Baldwin endowment, which remains one of the largest gifts ever received by UW-Madison.

New projects in 2009 include:

The 2011 National Science Olympiad Tournament, led by College of Engineering Dean Paul Peercy and Associate Dean Steven Cramer.

This project will expand on the college’s existing outreach to area middle and high schools with Science Olympiad teams by getting undergraduate student organizations directly involved in advising and mentoring teams. The Olympiad promotes a strong knowledge of science and the investigative process. This effort will lead up to UW-Madison serving as host of the National Science Olympiad Tournament on May 19–21, 2011.

Artist-in-Residence Program: Making Art Transforms Hospital Patients and Staff, led by Sarah Petto, artist in residence, School of Medicine and Public Health.

This program, based at UW Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC), will use the arts to create a valuable dimension to improving healing and wellness in patients. A pilot project demonstrated that making art enlivened the hospital atmosphere, reduced patient pain, and engaged patients and staff in conversations that were beneficial to recovery. This project will expand the pilot effort from the Physical Medicine and Acute Rehabilitation Unit into UWHC’s burn units, the Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center and to off-campus clinical settings.

Bringing Rigorous Research and Dispassionate Analysis to State Policy-makers: Policy Options for Building Wisconsin’s Economy, led by Karen Bogenschneider, Rothermel Bascom Professor of Human Ecology.

This project will provide seminars, discussion sessions and briefing reports for state policymakers, including legislators, legislative aides, governor’s office representatives, legislative service agency staff, state agency officials and university researchers. A group of 14 economic experts from UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, the state legislature and several state agencies will help extend the award-winning Family Impact Seminar from family to economic policy.

Engineering Development Within the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, led by civil and environmental engineering graduate student Alison Sanders and mechanical engineering undergraduate Matthew McLaughlin.

The Engineers Without Borders UW-Madison Domestic Project group will partner with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to help provide sustainable engineering solutions to flooding problems in a tribal cemetery. The cemetery redesign will include the implementation of a French drain and drainage tile running underneath the site to lower the water table.

From Sandbags to Sanity: Lessons from the Midwest Floods of 2008, led by La Follette School of Public Affairs associate professor Donald Moynihan and La Follette outreach director Terry Shelton.

When record floods swept through the Midwest in 2008, local crisis response and recovery practices varied widely. This project will work to improve state policies before the next disaster, and provide better information on everything from hydrology to climate change and intergovernmental collaboration. The project, also funded through the UW-Madison Water Resources Institute, will consist of a spring 2009 seminar that matches the needs of key policymakers within a variety of local and state agencies with a broad range of UW-Madison expertise. The seminar is timed to enhance legislative and executive branch policy originating from the Wisconsin Recovery Task Force and a special legislative committee.

Growing Wisconsin Business Globally: International Business Workshops for Wisconsin Businesses, led by Suzanne Dove, outreach director, Center on International Business Education Research/World Affairs and the Global Economy, and Alberto Vargas, professor and associate director, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program.

Critical sectors of the Wisconsin economy, particularly in smaller communities built around manufacturing, struggle to compete in the face of globalization. Wisconsin companies must learn to take advantage of opportunities to expand their markets outside the United States. Through a partnership with state businesses and business organizations, the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and other UW System campuses, this project will work to foster international export opportunities in three regions of the state: Eau Claire, Wausau and Janesville.

Interdisciplinary Public Health in Mexico, led by Lori Diprete-Brown, faculty associate, Center for Global Health.

Faculty and Spanish-speaking graduate students are engaged in a public health service-learning program in Tequililla, a small community in rural Mexico. The project expands an ongoing university partnership with the University of Guadalajara at Los Altos, and will provide opportunities for faculty and students from both universities to show the effectiveness of academically grounded, community-based service learning in a rural health care setting in Mexico.

Language Matters for Wisconsin: A Community-based Initiative, led by Max Kade Institute assistant professors Thomas Purnell and Eric Raimy.

All across Wisconsin, “language” is a topic of great interest and an issue of immediate concern, often related to historical or current immigration and questions of identity. This program aims to address these concerns and create a collaborative community model that will provide knowledge and insights to enhance public debate about language in Wisconsin. Focusing on Kenosha-Racine, Rhinelander, Mineral Point and Wausau, the project will showcase each community’s unique regional language features and history; develop a community-linked Web site; sponsor public forums in each community and a statewide meeting in Madison; and produce a general-interest book exploring languages and dialects across Wisconsin, past and present.

Piano Pioneers: UW-Madison Music Students Bringing Piano Instruction to Youth and Adults from Low-Income Backgrounds, led by associate professor of piano and piano pedagogy Jessica Johnson and School of Music project assistant Paola Savvidou.

Learning to play an instrument offers people of all ages the chance to create something new, express themselves and connect with others. This project will provide children and adults from lower-income Madison families with high-quality group and individual piano instruction, and practice instruments that would otherwise be unaffordable. The goals are to give talented, enthusiastic students a chance for musical success and enjoyment, provide piano students opportunities to develop teaching skills, and build stronger ties between the university and local communities. See Page 1 for more on this program.

Robotics Outreach Program, led by College of Engineering undergraduate Jessica Lakosil and Kathy Prem, Engineering Career Services assistant director.

This project engages the student Engineering Expo committee and students from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Robotics Team to foster and promote robotics with state high school students. Because Engineering Expo provides a unique opportunity to expose young students to the world of engineering through numerous exhibits and competitions, including the Robotics Challenge, this effort will create an entirely new robotics competition course that can be used for future university and statewide competitions.

Tales from Planet Earth II, led by Gregg Mitman, William Coleman Professor of History of Science, Medical History and Bioetchics, and interim director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

The Center for Culture, History, and Environment and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies will present this model for what can happen when harnessing the formative power of film to deepen public understanding of environmental issues. Building on the 2007 original, this project includes a year of community and campuswide outreach, four issue-based film screenings, two graduate student courses, numerous panel and audience discussions, and engagement with filmmakers across the globe. It will culminate in a three-day celebration Nov. 6–8, 2009.

The UW-Madison-Mazomanie Science Outreach Outpost, led by Michelle Harris, associate faculty associate of Biocore.

This project will connect university personnel and resources to K-12 teachers, students, and community members from Sauk, Richland, Iowa, Lafayette, Dane and Green counties. Located in the Wisconsin Heights School District, the outpost will provide K-12 teachers with accessible professional development through sharing of inquiry-based science curricula; provide a physical location where teachers, students, and community members can carry out investigations of nearby diverse natural areas in southwestern Wisconsin; and serve as a model for successful partnerships between K-12 schools and UW System faculty.

Wider Economic Opportunities for Wisconsin Farm Families: Small-Scale Food Processing Training, led by Associate Professor of Food Science Barbara Ingham and Professor of Food Science Steve Ingham.

Wisconsin is a prime agricultural state and increasingly owners of small family farms are diversifying their income through manufacture of processed products such as jams, jellies, salsa and pickles. Many of these food products have found a ready market through outlets such as farm markets and on-farm sales, while community groups see small-scale food processing as a way to empower clients to develop new skills. In July 2008, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection began enforcing regulations that require food safety training for all small-scale food processors. This initiative will provide a training program aimed at helping Wisconsin farmers and others produce safe, high-quality processed foods suitable for sale to the general public.

Wisconsin International Year of Astronomy-Galileoscope, led by UW Space Place Director James Lattis.

One Wisconsin contribution to the International Year of Astronomy is the 2009 statewide Galileoscope project. This effort will involve family groups and school children in state parks, recreational areas, and communities who will build their own telescopes from available kits and use them to explore the sky. Galileoscope activities will also be available online.