Campus Spotlight: UW-Superior

May 1, 2017
UW-Superior
Established in 1893 with a mission to train teachers, the University of Wisconsin-Superior later became a part of the University of Wisconsin-System, and in 1998 was designated as Wisconsin’s Public Liberal Arts College by the University Of Wisconsin System Board Of Regents. The University serves over 2,500 traditional and non-traditional students and is dedicated to the integration of liberal and professional studies and to serving a diverse student population. UW-Superior has been recognized for their commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement in the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
On March 2, 2017, staff and community joined in a ribbon-cutting for the Center for Community Engaged Learning (the Center). A primary goal for the Center is to empower UW-Superior students to become active citizens that tackle critical challenges by participating in hands-on, practical learning experiences while reciprocally meeting the region’s most pressing needs and priorities. This academic service-learning (AS-L) allows students to apply what they are learning in class in the community and learn while serving, benefiting both student and service recipient. To help meet this goal, Center staff work with individuals from the community and the University to identify the area’s priorities and most pressing needs aligning them with the University’s strengths and expertise.
Examples of UW-Superior’s AS-L efforts include a partnership with the Superior School District to place 614 AS-L students as tutors and classroom support in 48 different courses for an impressive 8, 585 hours of volunteer work. 107 graduate-level counseling and social work Academic Service-Learners have worked with several chapters from the Boys and Girls Club of the Northland, providing 2,665 hours of leadership, mentoring, and friendship to help kids of various racial, cultural, language, and economic groups in the community.  And in 11 varied course sections, 134 Academic AS-L students donated 1,362 hours to the Center Against Sexual & Domestic Abuse (CASDA). Students created referral material for use at CASDA, assisted with organizing “Speak Out Superior,” which is a community rally and march against sexual and domestic violence, and also created unique writing projects dedicated to empowering and advocating for women.