Project Summary

Community Scholars Program

The Community Scholars Program (CSP) is a one-year academic program for undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that combines opportunities for community service and experiential learning. CSP creates partnerships among students, faculty/staff and community organizations to develop projects that address needs identified by the community.

CSP students are required to participate in an interdisciplinary seminar which utilizes both university and community issues as tools for teaching and learning. CSP encourages students to draw upon their community work for in-classroom learning, linking their experiences with theory, curriculum, and readings. During the Fall semester, students focus on needs assessment and project planning with their community partners; in the Spring semester, teams implement their research plans. At the year's end, students present their research projects to their faculty/staff and community partners and the CSP seminar.

The goals of CSP are to:

• facilitate partnerships between students, faculty and staff, and communities,
• address community needs by utilizing and combining existing community and university resources,
• promote civic responsibility among all participants, and
• recognize service-learning, participatory research, and community-based experience as important educational tools.

For more information contact Gerry Campbell at phone: (608) 265-8137, or e-mail: campbell@aae.wisc.edu. Also, see the CSP website.