The Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) offers an internal grant program that funds projects proposed by Universities of Wisconsin faculty, staff, and students. These grants support initiatives that advance OCE’s mission to strengthen civic and democratic life across campus and community contexts. This grant program continues the work previously supported through the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue (WICCD) internal grants.
Grant Program Purpose
OCE grants are intended to support projects that:
- Strengthen democratic engagement by encouraging participation in civic and democratic life
- Advance dialogue across differences through inclusive, respectful conversations among diverse individuals and communities
- Promote collaboration and civic action by connecting campuses with local or regional communities to address public issues
- Support civic learning and engagement by building knowledge, skills, and capacity for informed civic involvement
- Contribute to leadership in democracy-building by demonstrating innovative or scalable approaches that position the Universities of Wisconsin as a national leader in civic engagement
Grant Funding
Total funding available: $90,000
Grant period: FY27 / Academic Year 2026–27
Timeline
- Application deadline: May 1, 2026, by 5:00 p.m.
- Applicants should work with their Sponsored Programs Office when submitting proposals.
- Funding decisions announced: No later than June 1, 2026
Grant Areas/Criteria
Criteria remain strongly aligned with WICCD’s standards: OCE will award internal grants for projects related to one or more of the following areas:
- Research
- Events and related activities
- Assessment
- Curriculum and professional development
Projects should align with at least one or more grant area and may focus on topics including (but not limited to):
- Civil dialogue
- Civic participation
- Viewpoint diversity
- Academic freedom
- Free expression
Review Process
All proposals undergo a multi-stage review process:
- Initial Review: Proposals are first reviewed by the OCE Director or a qualified designee to assess completeness, relevance, and feasibility.
- Applicants whose proposals do not advance beyond the initial screening will receive feedback explaining why the proposal was not eligible for further consideration.
- Committee Review: Proposals that meet the initial criteria are forwarded to a grant review committee for evaluation.
- Final Decision: The review committee meets to provide funding recommendations, and final award decisions are made by the OCE Director.
Due to limited funding availability, not all eligible proposals can be funded. Applicants may revise and re-submit proposals in a future grant cycle.
Distribution of Funds
Grant funds will be distributed to the appropriate office or department at the applicant’s home university and are subject to all Universities of Wisconsin and home institution policies and procedures.
Please note:
- Grant funds may not be used for prizes, gifts, or cash awards of any kind.
- To ensure timely and accurate fund distribution, applicants must submit a detailed budget clearly identifying the salary expenses and supplies and expenses (S&E). Limited salary expenses are available. Providing this information supports efficient allocation and processing of grant funds.
Any unspent grant funds must be returned to OCE at the conclusion of the project period.
Post-Grant Report
Within 60 days of project completion, the Project Lead must submit a post-grant report to OCE that includes the following four sections:
- Project Implementation: Description of how the project was implemented, including any deviations from the original proposal and a summary of results and outcomes.
- Use of Funds: An accounting of how grant funds were spent, including identification of any unspent funds.
- Project Assessment: An evaluation of the project’s quality and the significance of its impact, along with any planned improvements for future initiatives.
Dissemination: A summary of completed or planned dissemination of project results or outcomes.
Past Grant Recipients
Spring 2025
UW Oshkosh Assessing Civil Dialogue & Free Speech Programs
UW OSHKOSH ASSESSING CIVIL DIALOGUE AND FREE SPEECH PROGRAMS
PROJECT MEMBERS
Project Lead: Michael Lueder, Director of the Center for Civic and Community Engagement
Other Project Members: Dr. David Siemers, Political Science Faculty; Dr. Amber Lusvardi, Political Science Faculty; Dr. Tony Palmeri, Communications Faculty
PROJECT DETAILS
University: UW-Oshkosh
Award: $6,000
Start / End Date: June 1, 2025 to September 1, 2025
Project Description: The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh will assess and evaluate our university’s work in civil dialogue. The team will produce the following, to be implemented during the 2025-2026 academic year: A full catalog of all courses and programming efforts related to democracy, civil dialogue, and free speech. Including the UW System course offered to all incoming students. A list of shared learning objectives that can be implemented across academic and program offerings. Assessment tools that will be used across academic and program offerings. A learning goal document focused on what we want all students at UWO to get out of free speech academics and programming. This document will outline current academic and programming offerings and make suggestions for future work across academic disciplines. Following the summer work, we will embed the learning outcomes and assessment tools into the academic course offerings and programs offered at UW Oshkosh. After each semester we will review the assessment results to gain a clearer understanding of the effectiveness of each offering.
Promoting Productive Dialogue through Critical Thinking: Argument Mapping and Systematic Empathy for Campus and Community Discourse
PROMOTING PRODUCTIVE DIALOGUE THROUGH CRITICAL THINKING: ARGUMENT MAPPING AND SYSTEMATIC EMPATHY FOR CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY DISCOURSE
PROJECT MEMBERS
Project Lead: Dr. Dona Warren, Philosophy Faculty
Other Project Members: Dave Dettman, Library Instruction Program Coordinator and Assessment Librarian; Shanny Luft, Director of General Education; Anne Rogalski, Associate Director of Continuing Education and Outreach; Erin Speetzen, Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning
PROJECT DETAILS
University: UW-Stevens Point
Award: $18,000
Start / End Date: August 25, 2025 to May 16, 2026
Project Description: Research shows that argument mapping, which visually represents the structure of reasoning, helps reduce polarization in evaluating arguments for and against politically charged conclusions. In fall 2025, we will train faculty, staff, students, and administrators in the use of argument maps to facilitate discussions about controversial issues. In spring 2026, we will host a series of campus-community discussion forums, each structured around an argument map to guide conversation. If these forums foster productive dialogue, we will explore establishing an annual discussion series.
Establishing a Heterodox Academy Campus Community
ESTABLISHING A HETERODOX ACADEMY CAMPUS COMMUNITY
PROJECT MEMBERS
Project Lead: Heather McGrew, Teaching Professor
Other Project Members: [None listed]
PROJECT DETAILS
University: UW-Superior
Award: $13,000
Start / End Date: September 1, 2025 to May 31, 2027
Project Description: I propose the pursuance of a Heterodox Academy Campus Community at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Heterodox Academy is an organization whose “mission is to advance open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement across higher education — the foundations of our universities as truth-seeking, knowledge-generating institutions.” HxA invites applications annually for the creation of HxA Campus Communities that seek to improve institutional policies and culture and model the values of open inquiry. For those who receive the designation, HxA has a two-year timeline of setting up meetings, recruiting members, establishing trust, and hosting events that advance open inquiry and dialogue.
Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust: a Community Action Research Project
WISCONSIN ALLIANCE FOR CIVIC TRUST: A COMMUNITY ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT
PROJECT MEMBERS
Project Lead: Dr. Samantha June Larson, Public Administration Faculty and Interim Director of the Whitburn Center for Governance & Policy Research
Other Project Members: Dr. Paul Van Auken, Sociology Faculty; Lisa Lewis, Administrative Manager for the Whitburn Center; Dr. Scott McCallum, Whitburn Center Advisory Board and WisAct; David Haynes, WisAct; Allison Carter-Keely, WisAct
PROJECT DETAILS
University: UW-Oshkosh
Award: $19,000
Start / End Date: July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026
Project Description: The Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust (WisACT) is part of a national initiative established by The Carter Center. The program aims to promote trust in the political system, election integrity, and peaceful engagement. The need for WisACT emerged due to increasing polarization, misinformation, and threats of political violence. Based on recommendations of five focus groups in 2024, the objectives for this project include organizing six regional teams of campus and community leaders, providing conflict resolution training, and conducting a needs assessment for each region. Outcomes will be shared through monthly meetings, a final report, and a statewide summit in 2026.
Attentive Citizenship: Slow Civic Engagement in Milwaukee
ATTENTIVE CITIZENSHIP: SLOW CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN MILWAUKEE
PROJECT MEMBERS
Project Lead: Jennifer Johung, Director of the Center for 21st Century Studies
Other Project Members: Katherine Waddell, Managing Director of the Center for 21st Century Studies
PROJECT DETAILS
University: UW-Milwaukee
Award: $14,000
Start / End Date: July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026
Project Description: UWM’s Center for 21st Century Studies will develop an attention toolkit offering campus and community-driven participatory exercises that cultivate attention as the basis for engaged citizenship. This toolkit will be incorporated into the next phase of our Story Cart, a mobile story collection program that travels across campus and into community spaces, asking us to slow down and move away from screens and digital platforms in support of dialogues in real spaces. From toolkit to community engagement, “Attentive Citizenship” resists the fast-paced efficiency models dominating our contemporary lives, instead fostering a campus and community culture that privileges sustained civic engagement.
Assessing Civic Engagement as a Determinant of Health in the Family Medicine Clinic
ASSESSING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AS A DETERMINANT OF HEALTH IN THE FAMILY MEDICINE CLINIC
PROJECT MEMBERS
Project Lead: Mike Leasure, MD, Family Medicine Physician, Clinical Assistant Professor
Other Project Members: Mary Henningfield, PhD, Associate Director, Wisconsin Research & Education Network; Keelin McHugh, Project Coordinator, Wisconsin Research & Education Network
PROJECT DETAILS
University: UW-Madison
Award: $20,000
Start / End Date: May 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026
Project Description: Growing evidence suggests that civic engagement, including voting and volunteering, has measurable health impacts. However, its broader effects on well-being remain unclear. This study explores the role of family doctors in promoting civic engagement as a modifiable health behavior. We hypothesize that increased civic engagement among patients improves mental and physical well-being. Our initial plan is to survey patients in a clinical setting to examine this relationship further. If our pilot study supports this hypothesis, we aim to expand this research statewide. This work could inspire novel approaches to integrating civic engagement into healthcare to improve patient outcomes.
Fall 2024
Enhancing Campus Culture: Free Expression & Civil Discourse
Enhancing Campus Culture: Free Expression and Civil Discourse
Project Members
Project Lead: Alexander (Xan) Bozzo, Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Director, Center for Applied Ethics
Other Project Members: Mai Khou Xiong, Executive Director for Student Inclusion and Belonging; Rickie Ann Legleitner, Interim Director of Inclusive Excellence
Project Details
University: UW-Stout
Award: $10,000
Start / End Date: January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026
Project Description:
“Enhancing Campus Culture: Free Expression and Civil Discourse.” This project seeks to enhance the campus culture at UW-Stout around free expression, the First Amendment, and civil discourse more generally. The aim is to train a select group of instructors and staff, via a three-day seminar led by the Discussion Project from UW-Madison. From there, these instructors/staff will help facilitate student discussion at four Discussion Dinners. Each Discussion Dinner will center around a controversial political or ethical topic. The aim is to have students learn and model constructive dialogue in a relaxed and enjoyable setting. We hope that such programming can continue going forward.
The Civics Lab
The Civics Lab
Project Members
Project Lead: Russ Castronovo, Director, Center for the Humanities & Professor of English
Other Project Members: Ainehi Edoro, Assistant Professor of English; Megan Massino, CH Associate Director; Danielle Wiendling, CH Public Humanities Coordinator; Melissa Ulbricht, CH Events Coordinator
Project Details
University: UW-Madison
Award: $10,000
Start / End Date: February 1, 2025 to November 30, 2025
Project Description:
“The Civics Lab.” Through workshops and public lectures organized by the Center for the Humanities (CFH) at UW-Madison, the “Civics Lab” seeks to examine the factors impeding civil dialogue and the exchange of informed perspectives. Activities will also work toward identifying alternative factors and strategies to improve civil dialogue. Particular attention will be paid to the contexts behind the breakdown in civil discourse. Rather than smooth over differences of political perspective, the goal is to understand how unbounded inquiry is enhanced by the opportunity to evaluate evidence, compare aims, hear counterarguments—in short, to “sift and winnow.”
Civic Dialogue & Human Rights Workshop & Speaker Series
Civic Dialogue and Human Rights Workshop & Speaker Series
Project Members
Project Lead: Sumudu Atapattu, Teaching Professor and Director, Global Legal Studies Center, Law School
Other Project Members: Sara MacKinnon, Professor of Communication; Tyrell Haberkorn, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies
Project Details
University: UW-Madison
Award: $12,000
Start / End Date: January 15, 2025 to December 15, 2025
Project Description:
“Civic Dialogue and Human Rights Workshop & Speaker Series.” The Human Rights Program at UW-Madison seeks $45,000 in WICCD funding for a Civic Dialogue and Human Rights workshop and speaker series in spring and fall 2025, focusing on four contemporary human rights issues: (a) climate change; (b) academic freedom and protest; (c) gender and LGBTQ+ rights; and (d) immigration, migration, and refugees. This workshop and speaker series – a workshop and a flash talk-style event – will create a muchneeded space for constructive discourse on human rights issues, providing resources for honest robust conversation on issues that have given rise to considerable disagreement and polarization.
Dialogue Matters: Bridging Voices at UWL
Dialogue Matters: Bridging Voices at UWL
Project Members
Project Lead: Ashley Nowak, Director, D&I
Other Project Members: Caleb Colon-Rivera, Program Manager, D&I; Ashley H. Edwards, Inclusive Teaching Specialist; Nevin Heard, Assistant Vice Chancellor, D&I; Kara Ostlund, Dean of Student Affairs.
Project Details
University: UW-La Crosse
Award: $21,000
Start / End Date: January 1, 2025 to September 8, 2025
Project Description:
“Dialogue Matters: Bridging Voices at UWL.” A transformative initiative aimed at
enriching the new student orientation experience by promoting a resilient campus community anchored in civil discourse, inclusivity, and free expression. This initiative involves training faculty and staff in a proven dialogue protocol (The Discussion Project) applicable across various settings, including classrooms and student programs. A key component is the implementation of this protocol during UWL’s New Student Orientation sessions in groups of no more than 35. The time together is used to highlight free expression, civil discourse, and belonging through meaningful conversation.
Student Civil Dialogue Skill Building Project
Student Civil Dialogue Skill Building Project
Project Members
Project Lead: Chia Vang, UW-Milwaukee, Vice Chancellor for Community Empowerment & Institutional Inclusivity
Other Project Members: Sarah MacDonald, Training and Dispute Resolution Specialist, Division of Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity
Project Details
University: UW-Milwaukee
Award: $30,000
Start / End Date: January 1, 2025 to May 30, 2025
Project Description:
“Student Civil Dialogue Skill Building Project.” UWM’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Division of Student affairs will implement an educational, skills-building, and data and information gathering project to take place in the Spr 2025 semester. The project will consist of regular facilitated small group dialogues with various student groups and organizations regarding the intersections of free expression and inclusivity. These dialogues aim to increase students’ awareness of the implications of the First Amendment on a public campus; topics will include: Free Speech protections and limits, related campus resources, how these principles align with civic values and may enhance inclusivity, and ways to effectively navigate disagreements and conflict situations
Exploring Contentious Issues Through Civil Dialogue – A Speaker Series & Book Club
Exploring Contentious Issues Through Civil Dialogue – A Speaker Series and Book Club
Project Members
Project Lead: Joshua Bedi. Asst Professor, Economics
Project Details
University: UW-Superior
Award: $3,000
Start / End Date: January 22, 2025 to May 9, 2025
Project Description:
“Exploring Contentious Issues Through Civil Dialogue – A Speaker Series and Book Club.” This project will encourage a culture of civil dialogue by respectfully but critically exploring contentious issues. The project will be composed of two parts: a speaker series and a book club. The speaker series will introduce students to scholars exploring important but controversial issues like immigration, the role of government, and inequality. $1,500 will sponsor two speakers per semester, including hotels, flights and stipends. The book club will be similar, but undergrads will read books that offer competing views of the same issues. A budget of $1,500 will cover books and food for two meetings per month.
Bridge USA Madison Chapter
BridgeUSA Madison Chapter
Project Members
Project Lead: Miranda Garcia-Dove. UW-Madison student.
Other Project Members: Amy Gangl, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Political Science
Project Details
University: UW-Madison
Award: $4,000
Start / End Date: September 6, 2024 to August 11, 2025
Project Description:
“BridgeUSA Madison Chapter.” Funding for the newly developed chapter at UW-Madison to host experts and hold events to address polarization on campus. BridgeUSA equips students with tools to navigate political polarization and tribalism, creating space for civic discourse that values empathy, understanding, and collaboration. Madison Chapter members will help students navigate difficult conversations and foster civil dialogue in their personal and academic lives both on and off campus.
Spring 2024
Bridge USA Chapter
Bridge USA Chapter
Project Members
Project Lead: Adam Kunz, Assistant Professor, Political Science and advisor to UWEC Bridge USA
Other Project Members: Student leaders of UWEC Bridge USA Chapter: Grace Schnabl, President; Teresa Fischer, VP of Monthly Meetings; Ian McCullough, VP of Speaker Series; Kahl Kotajarvi, VP of Activities; Jaylyn Duda, VP of Marketing; Anya Hermanek, Treasurer
Project Details
University: UW-Eau Claire
Award: $6,000
Start / End Date: September 4, 2024 to May 17, 2025
Project Description:
“BridgeUSA Madison Chapter.” Funding for the newly developed chapter at UW-Madison to host experts and hold events to address polarization on campus. BridgeUSA equips students with tools to navigate political polarization and tribalism, creating space for civic discourse that values empathy, understanding, and collaboration. Madison Chapter members will help students navigate difficult conversations and foster civil dialogue in their personal and academic lives both on and off campus.
A Remedy for Polarization? Citizen Conversations Across Partisan Difference
A Remedy for Polarization? Citizen Conversations Across Partisan Difference
Project Members
Project Lead: Lisa Ellinger, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Follette School of Public Affairs
Other Project Members: Susan Yackee, LSPA Director; Jennifr Wagner, LSPA Outreach Director; Dana Craig, Director Assistant, LSPA
Project Details
University: UW-Madison
Award: $15,000
Start / End Date: July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025
Project Description:
Funding to support facilitator training for La Follette School of Public Affairs to conduct Main Street Agenda Community Conversations. In advance of the 2024 elections and informed by data collected through the WisconSays Panel Survey, we will empanel Wisconsinites across the political spectrum and the rural/urban divide to talk about the public policy issues they care about. This activity will include four professionally facilitated community conversations, convening local citizens in different geographic regions of Wisconsin. communities being discussed for the events: Eau Claire, Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee. We expect to empanel at least 300 citizens in these events.
Empowering American Democracy: Curricular & Co-curricular Learning for Civil Dialogue and Civic Engagement
Empowering American Democracy: Curricular and Co-curricular Learning for Civil Dialogue and Civic Engagement
CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL REPORT
Project Members
Project Lead: Katelyn Bauman, Outreach Program Manager, Link Center
Other Project Members: Alison Weigus, Associate Professor of Media Studies & Universities Studies Coordinator; Stephanie Warden, Markwood Center for Learning, Innovation, and Collaboration (CLIC); Kathryn Guimond, Director, Center for Continuing Education
Project Details
University: UW-Superior
Award: $8,000
Start / End Date: August 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024
Project Description:
As a continuation of efforts to implement recommendations from the UW System 2023 Freedom of Speech Survey, the university is integrating civil dialogue into our curriculum and community. Curriculum change will be focused on revising and integrating into General Education courses learning outcomes for the category of individual and social responsibility to increase utilization of the outcome “students will demonstrate informed civic engagement, including intercultural competence as a dimension of experience.” New learning outcomes will incorporate the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Civic Engagement VALUE rubric. Beyond the classroom, the university will engage students, faculty, staff, and the community through events, programs, and presentations hosted by Jackets Vote to increase civic participation.
Promoting Civil Dialogue on Campus & Beyond
Promoting Civil Dialogue on Campus and Beyond
Project Members
Project Lead: Michael Gilmer, Dean of Students
Other Project Members: Elise Peters, Events and Activities Coordinator, Office of Student Involvement
Project Details
University: UW-River Falls
Award: $20,000
Start / End Date: September 3, 2024 to December 3, 2024
Project Description:
The Dean of Students Office in collaboration with the Office of Student Involvement will host four events during the fall 2024 academic term. 1. Student Leader Training: Braver Angels will teach participants strategies for engaging politics without demonizing and how to constructively intervene in social conversations with peers. 2. Free Expression in the Classroom: UW Office of General Counsel and faculty will discuss the different forums on campus outlining the scope and limitations of free speech while promoting civil dialogue in a limited forum (classroom). 3. Free Expression on Campus: FIRE, university police, and student activities presenters will share information outlining the scope and limitations of free speech while promoting civil dialogue in a public forum (outdoor space). 4. Engagement with differently minded persons.
Engage Wisconsin: Bridging Community Health & Civic Participation through Deliberative Inquiry
Engage Wisconsin: Bridging Community Health and Civic Participation through Deliberative Inquiry
Project Members
Project Lead: Jen Braun, Health and Well-Being Institute State Specialist, Division of Extension, Health and Well-Being Institute
Project Details
University: Extension – UW-Madison
Award: $15,000
Start / End Date: April 15, 2024 to December 31, 2024
Project Description:
UW-Extension brings together a statewide network of educators, specialists, and community members to address issues of local and statewide concern. This project is designed to develop a network of UW-Extension experts and public health practitioners to address community health concerns using deliberative inquiry methods that will inform Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIP) and Community Health Assessments (CHA). Funds will support (1) a Deliberative Inquiry Workshop with the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service (WIPPS) and the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship & Civil Dialogue (WICCD) and (2) from Spring 2024 to the end of the year, hold four pilot deliberative dialogues utilizing deliberative inquiry to assess the viability of UW-Extension and public health practitioners collaborating to employ deliberative inquiry to increase civic engagement and tangible actions in the CHIP process.
Foundations in Facilitating Dialogue
Foundations in Facilitating Dialogue
Project Members
Project Lead: Michael Lueder, Director, Center for Civic and Community Engagement
Other Project Members: Kathy Zuckweiler, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and Dean of Graduate Studies
Project Details
University: UW-Oshkosh
Award: $13,000
Start / End Date: August 5, 2024 to September 10, 2024
Project Description:
The projects organize an in-person workshop by the Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) for approximately 40 faculty and staff. The workshop “equips participants with the skills to facilitate meaningful conversations about contentious issues. Participants will learn out-of-the box strategies to proactively create a culture of trust, techniques to support the development of students’ mindsets and skills for engaging across differences, and specific tactics to intervene in tense moments of conflict.” The workshop will help build a critical mass of skills at UWO to help facilitate and advance a culture of civil dialogue in curricular and co-curricular settings. This workshop will complement UWO’s participation in the Tommy G. Thompson Center’s Bridging the Divide program, a student-led and student-focused program that aims to “replace snark with civil dialogue and increase engagement and understanding between people with different opinions.”
Fostering Civil Dialogue through Professional Development Programming
Fostering Civil Dialogue through Professional Development Programming
Project Members
Project Lead: Rimi Zakaria, LEARN Center Director and Fellow
Other Project Members: Heather Niemeier, Professor of Psychology and LEARN Center Fellow
Project Details
University: UW-Whitewater
Award: $13,000
Start / End Date: August 15, 2024 to May 30, 2025
Project Description:
The university’s LEARN Center proposes a yearlong professional development initiative to enhance democracy by improving instructors’ skills at fostering civil dialogue. Specific activities include: (1) four instructional workshops on best practices tied to promoting civil dialogue in instructional spaces including online classrooms, experiential and project-based courses, reflection-based learning, and educational assessment, (2) a competitive micro-grant program that requires instructors to design, implement, assess, and disseminate innovative classroom practices related to fostering civil dialogue, and (3) a campus/community book club focused on civility in partnership with a community effort to support civility in Whitewater in an election year. The initiative also will provide ongoing support and opportunities for collaborations improving civil dialogue in our community and foster a culture of continuous learning and teaching excellence surrounding civil dialogue in our educational spaces.