Thirteen Spiritual Spaces

The UW’s prayer and reflection spaces allow students, staff, faculty, and visitors to “gather themselves and collect the internal resources needed to meet each moment of their day.” Althea Dotzour

UW–Madison has had a map of prayer and reflection spaces on campus, but there was no process for keeping track of changes, communicating with site administrators, or advertising new offerings. Now, the Center for Interfaith Dialogue is trying to change that.

Established in 2023, the center is devoted to supporting students’ religious and spiritual life. One of its first initiatives has been to take over administration of the map, along with creating a video tour to help students learn about the variety of prayer and reflection spaces at the Memorial Union, Engineering Hall, and other locations. The map and video are available online at interfaith.wisc.edu.

“These prayer and reflection spaces within the community can be seen as an oasis for students, staff, faculty, visitors, and others to gather themselves and collect the internal resources needed to meet each moment of their day,” says center staff member seigen johnson.

The map’s 13 designated spaces include Union South’s new foot-washing station in the third-floor bathroom. Foot-washing stations are particularly significant to Muslim students, who may use them to perform ritual washing before prayers.

“We prioritize our five daily prayers in our everyday lives,” says Diyaa Manasrah x’26, president of the UW–Madison Muslim Students Association. “We may have to step out of class and pray, sometimes in the middle of the street or inside a random building. But having these prayer and reflection spaces means we can go to designated areas and pray with our friends, as well as have a safe and clean space to pray. It truly does mean a lot to me, as well as the Muslims all across campus who step into these spaces.”

While some people use the prayer and reflection spaces several times a day, others can stop in spontaneously for a moment of rest and quiet reflection. As part of UW–Madison’s campus, they are not specific to any one religion or tradition.

Published in the Spring 2025 issue