Forests and rivers will shape our learning on the 2025 Wisconsin Idea Seminar.
Our five-day journey will include stops at some of Wisconsin’s large and small river cities. We will hear Wisconsin residents describe how their communities developed at the water’s edge and how their orientation toward local rivers has evolved over time. Through both theme and device, the river will be our entrée into a host of broader Wisconsin realities, challenges, and pleasures.
Along our Forest + River route we will visit the land and people shaped by Wisconsin’s waterways. Wisconsin Idea Seminar travelers—faculty and staff from the University of Wisconsin-Madison—are students of Wisconsin life, deepening their understanding of the state and reaffirming their commitment to public service and the Wisconsin Idea.
We will visit forests, meet environmental stewards and business owners, spark ideas with Universities of Wisconsin colleagues, and see the spaces and places where many of our UW students come from. Experts and practitioners from across the state will join the journey at various points along the way to enrich our learning throughout the week.
Throughout our journey we will hear directly from Wisconsinites who show how their communities thrive when people come together with respect, creativity, and a desire to work for the collective good.
Highlights of the 2025 Forest + River Journey
- Introduction to Ho-Chunk cultural land and waterscapes
- A visit to a dairy farm
- Conversations with UW-Stevens Point faculty about integrating community-engaged research into undergraduate curriculum and how they prepare the next generation of natural resource stewards
- Listen to the rushing spring waters of the Wolf River
- Learn about forest management on the Menominee Reservation
- Engage water educators, artists, and makers
Our team is busy weaving together many more elements of our journey, so stay tuned for more updates.
Join us!
We encourage eligible members of the UW-Madison community to apply now.
Photos from the 2024 Wisconsin Idea Seminar
Get a sense of the activities of the Wisconsin Idea Seminar through a look back the 2024 journey. Each Seminar is different and tailored to the themes and geographies of the journey.
In the words of Seminar alumni
Every year returned Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants tell us they wholeheartedly recommend the experience to colleagues. And each year the most repeated phrase in their recommendations to others is “Just do it.”
Learn how your colleagues have been shaped by the Wisconsin Idea Seminar.
