About Us
Learning to work across differences of cultural background and experience is a process essential to intellectual growth and lifelong learning, and ultimately to building a better world. This is the philosophy at the heart of the Cultures and Communities Program Office, which provides an administrative home for key initiatives in multicultural education and community engagement, including our Community-University Partnerships grants program. For reports and data on our accomplishments since our start-up in 2000, see the links at the bottom of this page.
Key program components include:
Cultures and Communities Certificate
The Certificate gives students a chance to meet their General Education Requirements as they explore cultural diversity, both in the classroom and through service in the Milwaukee Community. Since its inception in 2004, more than 300 students have earned the certificate.
Community University Partnership Grants
These grants link the university with the community by funding projects that promote social justice, environmental initiatives, gender and immigration issues and cross-cultural literacy. Established in 1999, the grant program has awarded more than $100,000 to 70 metro area non-profit organizations.
Collaboration with the Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership, and Research
The Center offers students real world experiences that enrich academics, build critical thinking skills, foster civic responsibility and provide significant benefits to the hundreds of local nonprofit groups which host UWM students.
Through the courses and service experiences we offer our students, and through our many partnerships in the Milwaukee community, we continue to help students become engaged citizens in today’s diverse world.
Reports and Data
- Cultures and Communities Certificate Program: Summary of Student Learning Based on Exit Surveys from 2010-11.
- Cultures and Communities-Institute for Service Learning Self-Study: 2000-2011. Program highlights, data, achievements, challenges, and plans.