Wisconsin Idea Symposium focuses on partnerships for the public good

One of the featured events of UW–Madison’s Year of the Wisconsin Idea will focus on “Principled Partnerships for the Public Good.”

The 2011 Wisconsin Idea Symposium is designed to engage staff, faculty and students in considering the values and purpose of the Wisconsin Idea. Symposium presentations and discussions are designed to provoke new understandings of the Wisconsin Idea that can influence both individual and institutional approaches to outreach and community engagement.

The event is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 11 from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Union South, Varsity Hall 2 and 3.

Interim Chancellor David Ward, political science professor Katherine Cramer Walsh, and the University of Minnesota’s David Weerts will share research and insights on the emergence and contemporary practice of the Wisconsin Idea, current challenges, and future possibilities.

The event also includes a poster exhibit that showcases over 40 exemplary community-campus partnerships. Between presentations, facilitated discussions will engage participants in reflecting on their own outreach and engagement practice and crafting a vision for the future of the Wisconsin Idea. The Wisconsin Idea story booth will be available on-site for attendees wishing to record their stories of community engagement.

“The Wisconsin Idea Symposium is an opportunity to reexamine our values and purpose and to transform our current practice,” says Katherine Loving, event co-chair and convener of the Community Partnerships and Outreach (CPO) Staff Network.

Weerts, a M.S. and Ph.D. graduate of UW–Madison, is an associate professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development and co-director of the Jandris Center for Innovative Higher Education at the University of Minnesota. His areas of interest are higher education finance, institutional advancement, community engagement and organizational theory. His work as both practitioner and scholar has focused on helping colleges and universities build strategic alliances with external partners to the mutual benefit of institutions and the constituencies they serve.

Walsh, who earned her undergraduate degree at UW–Madison, is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. She is also affiliate professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, affiliate professor of the LaFollette Institute for Public Affairs, and faculty director of the Wisconsin public opinion survey, the UW Survey Center Badger Poll. Her primary research and teaching interests include public opinion, political communication, civic engagement, and deliberative democracy.

Registration for the Wisconsin Idea Symposium is open through Friday, Nov. 4 at a cost of $10.

The event is organized by the Community Partnerships and Outreach (CPO) Staff Network, with support from the Division of Continuing Studies, the Office of Human Resource Development, the School of Library and Information Studies, the School of Medicine and Public Health, University Health Services and the Office of University Relations.