Monona will serve as a living lecture hall for UW

This fall, the city of Monona will serve as a living lecture hall for many students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, thanks to a new program aimed at strengthening the connection between the university and communities across the state.

The UniverCity Year program is a yearlong partnership with a Wisconsin city, county or community organization that pairs academic courses, faculty, staff and students with projects identified by the community. Monona, a city of about 7,500 just outside Madison, is the first community to join.

“Every community could use more help to do the things they have to do, to do them better, to do them smarter. There’s no reason that it should be confined to UW–Madison,” says Jason Vargo, an assistant scientist with the Nelson Institute and the Global Health Institute who leads the initiative. “Students can bring up ideas that maybe politicians can’t.”...