About UXU
A nonprofit built around one belief: technology education should be practical, local, and open.
UX University advances workforce development and strengthens communities through immersive technology education and real-world community engagement. We connect hands-on learning with real community needs—helping people build careers while supporting small businesses and nonprofits.
Who we are
User Experience University is a volunteer-powered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organized around teaching technology through real work. Our contributors are designers, researchers, engineers, educators, and product leaders who wanted a way to put their practice to use for the communities they live in.
We are not a bootcamp and we are not a consultancy. We run free and low-cost programs where learners and community organizations work on the same problem at the same time, and both leave better equipped than they arrived.
Why it matters
Technology education decides who gets to participate.
Digital tools now shape how a business is found, how a nonprofit raises money, how a student applies for a job, and how a town plans its future. Uneven access to those skills quietly becomes uneven opportunity.
Access first
Programs are designed so cost, credentials, and prior experience are not barriers to participating.
Evidence over opinion
We teach research habits — talk to people, test assumptions, and let what you learn change the work.
Local before global
We start with the community in front of us. Impact you can walk to is impact you can measure.
Practice, not performance
Participants finish with work they can show: a study, a prototype, a shipped improvement.
How we work
Education, applied projects, community engagement.
- 01EducationWorkshops and sessions that teach technology, design, research, and product fundamentals in plain language, with practical exercises rather than lectures.
- 02Applied projectsLearners join teams that partner with a real business, nonprofit, or civic group. Every project has a stated goal, a scope, and a deliverable the partner keeps.
- 03Community engagementWe share findings publicly, host open sessions, and bring partners together so what one project learns becomes something the whole community can use.
Our nonprofit commitment
UXU is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 39-2826857. Our programs are funded through donations, sponsorships, and partner support, and every dollar goes toward running educational programming, supporting applied projects, and keeping participation affordable for the people who need it most.
We publish what we learn, welcome volunteers from every discipline, and measure success by the outcomes our partners can point to — a business with a working online presence, a student with a portfolio, a public space improved by research the community helped gather.