Advancing Innovation
UW-Extension continues to promote innovation even in tight financial times. Rather than dialing back on new projects, UW-Extension stimulates innovation sharply focused on UW System goals to grow well-paying jobs, build stronger communities and produce more college-degree holders in Wisconsin.
Broadband Initiative
Communities can't function and thrive without infrastructure such as water, electricity and, increasingly, access to affordable, fast, high-capacity reliable Internet service. To help communities expand broadband access and effective use, UW-Extension collaborated with WiscNet, UW System, CCI Systems, Inc. and others to form a partnership with five Wisconsin communities. Under UW-Extension leadership,
the partners applied for $32.3 million in federal grants to advance economic development through expanded broadband access, outreach and education. The grants were announced in August 2010, with work beginning in fall 2010.To follow progress, including through a map showing where new fiber will be installed through 2013, visit the Building Community Capacity through Broadband website.
This broadband access will allow four of the five demonstration communities – the Chippewa Valley region, Platteville, Superior and Wausau – to advance economic development, empower more Wisconsin companies to compete globally, expand health care access through telemedicine, help attract businesses and residents to the communities served, offer unemployed residents access to job prospects and resources, open doors for online learning opportunities, and increase telecommuting options. The Menominee Nation joins the other communities in an educational outreach initiative to ensure increased subscribership within all five communities This will be accomplished through the creation of broadband educational resources and marketing tools tailored to the needs of each community.
University of Wisconsin System eCampus
In spring 2010, President Barack Obama announced his goal for the U.S. to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. Soon after, UW System President Kevin Reilly set a goal of increasing the number of UW graduates by 30 percent over the next 15 years to create a better educated Wisconsin workforce.
The UW System eCampus, launched in November 2010, is one strategy to help meet that goal. Designed as a gateway to more than 70 online degree and certificate programs offered by the UW System's 26 accredited campuses, the new eCampus portal enables students to search for specialized programs and locate advisors, an application or registration information through a single website, ecampus.wisconsin.edu. The site, building on the UW brand, will be marketed broadly so that place-bound adults have access to degree programs. The UW System eCampus is managed by UW-Extension's continuing education division.
Sustainability
Support for community development that sustains the people, profits and the planet is a long-term strategy for UW-Extension. Areas that educators are focusing on include policy, educational opportunities, research and leadership development. UW-Extension is the institution that leads innovation around community sustainability and creates a network for Wisconsin communities.
UW-Extension – including the UW-Extension Sustainability Team – UW Colleges, UW System and the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy & Service presented a spring 2010 Sustainable Communities Public Policy Forum, the third in the series of Wisconsin Idea Forums. As a follow-up to that Sustainable Communities Forum, the UW-Extension Sustainability Team captured and summarized input from the regional roundtables, forum and subsequent survey for a written publication, “Building a More Sustainable Future in Wisconsin: Findings and Recommendations from the 2010 Sustainable Communities Public Policy Forum.” The executive summary and full report are posted on the UW-Extension Sustainability Team website.
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