Global Café

Global Café is an ISS-sponsored event hosted by rotating international student organizations. Each Global Café has a unique theme, interactive activity, and a menu of culturally relevant food to sample, all selected and led by the student org hosts!

Logo featuring two steaming coffee cups shaped like speech bubbles, one black and one red, with the text “ISS Presents GLOBAL CAFE”.

Student leaders from the Vietnamese International Student Association present about Vietnamese festivals

Students serve themselves food at Global Cafe hosted by the Azerbaijani Student Association.

Students from Colombian Badgers pose for a photo wearing traditional skirts

Student attendees pose with their paper cuttings.

Three students from WISMA present Jeopardy to Global Cafe attendees in Fall 2025

A group of students serves themselves Colombian food from aluminum trays on a table

A student from SLASO presents about Jordan in spring 2026.

Where and when does this event occur?

Global Café occurs on alternating Wednesdays from 4:30-6:00pm in the International Student Services (ISS) office, located on the first floor of the Pyle Center (702 Langdon St, suite 130).

You are not required to stay for the full event, but please keep in mind that the food oftentimes runs out before the end!

What can I expect if I attend Global Café?

Each Global Café is hosted by a different UW-Madison student organization and has three main components:

Presentation: The hosting student organization shares a presentation about an international topic such as a holiday in their home country or a cultural aspect like music, film, or dance.
Activity: Engaging activities planned by the student org might include trivia or other games, crafts, learning a song or dance, or group discussions. You are welcome to participate as much or as little as you feel comfortable.
Food: There is always good food at Global Café! We typically order appetizers from a local restaurant. Quantities are intended to be a snack rather than dinner.

Who can attend?

All members of the UW-Madison community are welcome to attend Global Café! This event is a low pressure opportunity to connect with the international community at UW-Madison, try something new, and meet friends from around the world.

RSVP is not required to attend, but helps us to know how much food to order!

If you need an accommodation to attend this event, please email issprograms@iss.wisc.edu. All accommodation requests should be made no less than two weeks before the event. We will try to fulfill requests made after this date, but cannot guarantee they will be met.

Interested in hosting Global Café?

Global Café is an opportunity for your Registered Student Organization (RSO) to share your culture or an internationally focused activity with up to 90 student attendees from across campus. ISS supports the event planning and funds the purchase of culturally relevant food/snacks to share with student attendees, but ultimately this is YOUR event! We hope you will consider signing up to host!

If you are interested, review our RSO Guide to Hosting Global Café and fill out our hosting interest form. Please reach out to us at issprograms@iss.wisc.edu with any questions!