Jefferson County residents can now find out with the click of a mouse how the state's flagship university serves communities, businesses and citizens in the area.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has created an online database that contains more than 1,000 examples of university programs and projects benefiting the state at www.searchwisconsinidea.wisc.edu. Called The Wisconsin Idea in Action, the database is searchable by county, keyword, subject area and school or college.
It is named after The Wisconsin Idea, the century-old principle that the university should improve the lives of people beyond campus and throughout the state. Users of the database can select their county from a drop-down menu to get a list of programs and projects that either are active in their area, or are based in Madison and serve participants from the area. Each listing contains a thumbnail description of the activity with an e-mail link so users can communicate directly with the UW employee responsible. Each county's UW-Madison enrollment, alumni population, and various student placement totals are also included.