Updating the Wisconsin Idea
Throughout this century, the university has maintained its status as a preeminent teaching and research institution, and we are dedicated to ensuring the university's future success. Over the past few years, for example, we have made major efforts both to recon-ceptualize undergraduate education and to remodel and expand our research facilities.
But our priorities have also concentrated on revitalizing and redefining our partnership with Wisconsin and its citizens, for this bond is an integral component of our mission to create, integrate, transfer and apply knowledge. In this report, we feature many examples of this partnership in order to illustrate how we are striving to share our knowledge, collaborate with and learn from the people of Wisconsin.
The university's partnership with the state began nearly 150 years ago and was bolstered by the land-grant institution designation in 1866. The Wisconsin Idea, the philosophical framework for this partnership, became a national model. Some of the university's earliest efforts became a part of the national fabric - the drafting of national legislation for social security and unemployment compensation, for example, and the breakthrough development of a method to irradiate vitamin D to fortify foods and prevent rickets.
Our commitment to the citizens of Wisconsin is stronger than ever as we approach the 21st century. Today we are building new relationships and creating different connections. We are striving to encourage joint efforts with a variety of public and private institutions and to enhance our use of information technology on behalf of a variety of customers. Many of these linkages and activities grow out of partnerships with state and national funding agencies, the University of Wisconsin-Extension, and private business and industry.
Our efforts to make contributions span all disciplines. The multidisciplinary nature of these activities demonstrates the collaborative response we have developed to confront issues that face Wisconsin. When our faculty, staff and students sense a need within the Wisconsin community, or they are faced with a challenge that does not fit neatly within one discipline, they show their willingness to cross departmental boundaries to apply their knowledge. (Because of this collaborative effort, many of the activities highlighted in this report could fit into several categories.)
In addition to campus-based learning for more than 40,000 students (most from Wisconsin), we also serve thousands of the state's citizens through our many and varied outreach programs. We share new technologies and areas of expertise to improve Wisconsin's economy, environment, agricultural and industrial base, health care, businesses and schools - in short, Wisconsin's quality of life. Every year, faculty, staff and students are engaged in individual public service activities as well as formal UW-Madison programs designed to serve the state.
The significance of our partnership activities is illustrated by a survey conducted in February for the University of Wisconsin System. The survey found that the importance of access to university technical and research services to Wisconsin businesses has increased from 34 to 61 percent in the past three years.
Our activities, be they in the classroom, laboratory, field, or communities across the State, are becoming increasingly integrated and overlapping. As faculty and staff apply basic research concepts to new problems, not only do they serve as a valuable resource to the state, but they further their own research knowledge. Our undergraduate and graduate students benefit from the experience of information transfer. As we engage in these partnerships, we listen to and learn from the state's citizens, their elected officials, our alumni, and our many friends throughout Wisconsin.
This overview provides a sampling of the university's partnership activities. Consider it an introduction to some of the many ways that UW-Madison contributes to and benefits from the people of Wisconsin. I know you will be impressed with the breadth and depth of these partnerships and how we hope they reflect a beginning of a new and more dynamic expression of the Wisconsin Idea.
Facts about the UW
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