UWL’s Community Engaged Learning Program celebrates five years of partnerships between classroom, community

UWL's Community Engaged Learning Program celebrates five years of partnerships between classroom, community

Five years ago, a handful of courses at UW-La Crosse tried something different. Instead of focusing learning within the walls of a classroom, instructors built assignments around real questions from real organizations in the community.

Today, that experiment - under the umbrella of UWL's Community Engaged Learning Program - has become a defining characteristics of the academic experience at UWL.

For the 2025-26 academic year, 41 courses have already received the Community Engaged Learning (CEL) designation. Sixteen of those are new, with 14 debut ing in spring 2026 alone. Add in 21 returning courses and 32 instructors, and the numbers tell a clear story: The program is not just steady. It's accelerating.

At its heart, the CEL Program seeks to foster collaboration through mutually beneficial partnerships, allowing students and faculty to apply their knowledge to a project in the broader community. Through the Community Idea Exchange, businesses, nonprofits and civic groups can propose projects and collaborate directly with faculty and students.

The results go well beyond volunteer hours.

"These Community Engaged Learning experiences are considered high-impact practices and are linked to higher student satisfaction and retention - particularly when they occur early in a student's college career," says Lisa Klein, director of Community Engagement at UWL.

In practice, that means students are not just studying theory. They're collecting and analyzing data for local partners . They're writing grants that will help communities flourish . They're using evidence to support real recommendations.

For community organizations, it means access to university expertise and a new generation of creative problem-solvers.

As the program has gained momentum, community partners have strengthened their support.

A three-year, $100,000 gift from Advisors Management Group (AMG) to the UWL Alumni & Friends Foundation is providing resources that make it easier for faculty to develop and sustain community-based projects.

"It is hard to put into words the impact philanthropic gifts have on supporting the Community Engaged Learning Program," Klein says. "Gifts like the one provided by AMG not only create meaningful opportunities for students to learn alongside local organizations, but also benefit those organizations by allowing them to work with bright, energetic students who bring new, creative ideas to share. These types of gifts are an investment in UWL students, Greater La Crosse Area organizations, and the faculty who value student learning and community engagement."

For Jenna Deets, chief compliance officer at AMG, supporting CEL was a natural fit.

"When we learned of the Community Engaged Learning initiative at UWL, it really resonated with us," Deets says. "We see experiential learning as an incredible opportunity for these students to start bridging the transition from their course work to hands on application … a kickstart of sorts into the next phase of their lives after their education is complete."