{"id":13476,"date":"2026-04-14T07:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13476"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:24:22","slug":"five-years-forward-uwls-community-engaged-learning-program-celebrates-five-years-of-partnerships-between-classroom-community","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/five-years-forward-uwls-community-engaged-learning-program-celebrates-five-years-of-partnerships-between-classroom-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Five years forward: UWL\u2019s Community Engaged Learning Program celebrates five years of partnerships between classroom, community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo:<\/a>
UW-La Crosse’s Community Engaged Learning Program has grown and accelerated in its 5 years of existence. Pictured above is the Walk with an Eagle initiative.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Five years ago, a handful of courses at UW-La Crosse tried something different. Instead of focusing learning within the walls of a classroom, instructors built assignments around real questions from real organizations in the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, that experiment \u2014 under the umbrella of UWL\u2019s Community Engaged Learning Program<\/a> \u2014 has become a defining characteristics of the academic experience at UWL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the 2025\u201326 academic year, 41 courses have already received the Community Engaged Learning (CEL) designation. Sixteen of those are new, with 14 debuting in spring 2026 alone. Add in 21 returning courses and 32 instructors, and the numbers tell a clear story: The program is not just steady. It\u2019s accelerating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its heart, the CEL Program seeks to foster collaboration through mutually beneficial partnerships, allowing students and faculty to apply their knowledge to a project in the broader community. Through the Community Idea Exchange<\/a>, businesses, nonprofits and civic groups can propose projects and collaborate directly with faculty and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Partnership with Mid-City Steel allowed students to discover and address accounting challenges that often arise in the real world but are difficult to simulate in the classroom.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The results go well beyond volunteer hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese Community Engaged Learning experiences are considered high-impact practices and are linked to higher student satisfaction and retention \u2014 particularly when they occur early in a student’s college career,\u201d says Lisa Klein<\/a>, director of Community Engagement at UWL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, that means students are not just studying theory. They\u2019re collecting and analyzing data for local partners<\/a>. They\u2019re writing grants that will help communities flourish<\/a>. They\u2019re using evidence to support real recommendations.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For community organizations, it means access to university expertise and a new generation of creative problem-solvers.\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lisa Klein, director of Community Engagement\u00a0at UWL.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the program has gained momentum, community partners have strengthened their support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A three-year, $100,000 gift from Advisors Management Group (AMG) to the UWL Alumni & Friends Foundation<\/a> is providing resources that make it easier for faculty to develop and sustain community-based projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is hard to put into words the impact philanthropic gifts have on supporting the Community Engaged Learning Program,\u201d Klein says. \u201cGifts like the one provided by AMG not only create meaningful opportunities for students to learn alongside local organizations, but also benefit those organizations by allowing them to work with bright, energetic students who bring new, creative ideas to share. These types of gifts are an investment in UWL students, Greater La Crosse Area organizations, and the faculty who value student learning and community engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jenna Deets, chief compliance officer at AMG, supporting CEL was a natural fit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we learned of the Community Engaged Learning initiative at UWL, it really resonated with us,\u201d Deets says. \u201cWe see experiential learning as an incredible opportunity for these students to start bridging the transition from their course work to hands on application \u2026 a kickstart of sorts into the next phase of their lives after their education is complete.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Partnership with Trempealeau Parkland Development Project (TPP) gave UWL students the opportunity to apply their writing skills to a real-world cause.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Deets notes that AMG can only bring in a limited number of interns each year. Supporting UWL\u2019s CEL program allows the company to broaden its impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSupporting a program that will help hundreds of students is very exciting, and we are very grateful for the opportunity to do so.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as a handful of community-connected courses is now a vibrant, expanding network across UWL. As part of the university\u2019s UWL Forward strategic plan<\/a> and its long-standing commitment to the Wisconsin Idea, the program continues to prepare students not just for careers, but for meaningful contributions beyond campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Partnership with New Lisbon Correctional Facility allowed sociology students to create and pitch ideas for programs to help reintegrate incarcerated fathers into society.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by University Marketing & Communications, UW-La Crosse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwlax.edu\/news\/posts\/five-years-forward\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five years ago, a handful of courses at UW-La Crosse tried something different. Instead of focusing learning within the walls of a classroom, instructors built assignments around real questions from real organizations in the community.  Today, that experiment \u2014 under the umbrella of UWL\u2019s Community Engaged Learning Program \u2014 has become a defining characteristics of the academic experience at UWL.  For the 2025\u201326 academic year, 41 courses have already received the Community Engaged Learning (CEL) designation. Sixteen of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[147],"class_list":["post-13476","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse","story_category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13476"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}