About

CUE's working schemeCommunity-University Exchange (CUE) is a new community-based learning facilitation program sponsored by The Morgridge Center for Public Service at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The CUE pilot conducted during the 2010-2011 academic year was a success, where the Morgridge Center assessed the benefits of managing interdisciplinary community-based research projects using the European “Science Shop” model (read: CUE South Madison). The model itself was developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s and currently in use in many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America (mainly in Canada).

In particular, CUE follows the institutionally-based model, which is one of three most common Science Shop models. In this model, CUE is to facilitate a community-based project, mostly involves research, where an execution of a project is supervised by CUE Staffs or faculty members (CUE Affiliates) with supports provided by students. This project can be done in a form of either a research project or a service-learning class.

In principal, CUE offers:

  • Act “as a clearinghouse” of resources for campus-community partnerships between the UW-Madison and the wider community.
  • Connect academic resources with community knowledge by facilitating partnerships that afford students, faculty and staff the ability to interact with community members and work together to find sustainable solutions to community issues.
  • Encourage and support campus and community partnerships by providing learning resources to all partners through research to support social action.
  • Direct community needs and challenges to the appropriate disciplinary or interdisciplinary campus resources.
  • Develop and support a sustainable infrastructure for community-based learning at the UW-Madison campus.

More information about CUE can be found from the following reference: