For Wisconsin and the World: Focusing a Great University on its Core Mission, Public Purpose, and Global Reach

Fourth-Year Progress Report

Reinvigorate the Wisconsin Idea and renew our commitment to our public mission

Marking the UW’s legacy of pushing boundaries and discovering new possibilities, 2012–13 was designated the Year of Innovation. Following a well-attended kickoff lecture by Sir Ken Robinson in October, the Year of Innovation shined a spotlight on events featuring “creativity put into practice” — Sir Ken’s definition of innovation — by hundreds of faculty, staff and students. The year will culminate at the Wisconsin Science Festival on September 26-29, 2013.
Thirty Wisconsin communities received grants totaling $6.6 million through the Transform Wisconsin Coalition administered by University Health Services, funding projects that are creating healthier places to live, work and play.
University Research Park on Madison’s west side is home to 126 companies employing 3,600 people. Many of the firms have emerged directly from UW research. A second phase, located southwest of Mineral Point and Junction roads, is expected to be ready for development in early 2014.
The Office of Industrial Partnerships (OIP) completed its first year of operation, working at the interface of many campus partners and the private sector to foster broad research-based collaborations. OIP processed more than 1,200 agreements supporting $27 million of funded activity.
Increasing the number of discoveries that are translated into products that benefit the state and the world is the aim behind a new entity: Discovery to Product. Soon to be launched, this new approach and office will leverage the strengths of UW–Madison’s great research engine by coordinating a seamless process from early stages of research and discovery through the creation of successful products and companies.
The past year brought several pieces of news related to the dairy industry: The UW’s Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research was awarded a federal grant to work with state, industry and university partners, helping dairy companies to develop innovative products and to grow. A five-year, $10 million effort led by the UW is identifying dairy-production practices that minimize the emission of greenhouse gasses and are more resilient to climate change. And a major renovation of the campus’s Dairy Cattle Center was completed.
Service learning and community-based research received a boost from the Morgridge Center for Public Service via eight matching grants in areas ranging from education to health to law, bringing the center’s total support for such projects to $1.7 million since 2009.
The UW Law School reached out to populations that often don’t have access to legal counsel, establishing the state’s first Immigrant Justice Clinic to assist undocumented immigrants in deportation proceedings, and launching a Veterans Law Center to help veterans who need civil legal services.
Practicing engineers around the state and beyond who can’t attend courses on campus can turn to a highly regarded option. For the second year in a row, U.S. News and World Report ranked UW–Madison in the top ten for its online master’s degree program in engineering.
The Odyssey Project, a program that helps individuals explore great works in the humanities as a way to recognize their own gifts and ease into the demands of college, celebrated its 10th anniversary.
In partnership with campus units, Visitor & Information Programs provided campus visits for approximately 71,000 people during the past year, including 45,000 prospective students and family members, and 26,000 individuals who participated in a customized-visit program.
University Relations coordinated visits to Marinette, Burlington and the State Capitol during the year, bringing the UW experience to Wisconsin communities, promoting postsecondary education and demonstrating that the university community feels strongly about reaching out to the rest of the state.

Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Projects

A social marketing campaign to decrease HIV risk in Milwaukee
A service-learning project to improve public hygiene and provide a renewable energy source in Uganda
A program to introduce teachers to engineering and ways to bring that knowledge into their classrooms
An experiment that pairs graduate students with inmates to explore literature and writing
A campus-community collaboration to address achievement gaps in Madison schools
A project to develop a community-growing center and wellness programs for a Wisconsin city
A partnership to inspire Latino youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math
A program that pairs graduate students with Madison high school girls to introduce research in math and science
An effort to help Ethiopian youth to develop skills and tools to address their communities’ challenges
Expansion of a program that helps adults achieve their dreams through higher education