100 Notable alumni of
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Updated:
The University of Wisconsin - Madison is 24th in the world, 15th in North America, and 15th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Wisconsin - Madison sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 3 individuals affiliated with the University of Wisconsin - Madison won Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine.
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Dick Cheney
- Occupations
- autobiographerbusinesspersonentrepreneurvice presidentmerchant
- Biography
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Richard Bruce Cheney was an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is widely considered to be the most powerful vice president in United States history. A member of the Republican Party, Cheney previously served as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford, the U.S. representative for Wyoming's at-large congressional district from 1979 to 1989, and as the 17th United States secretary of defense in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. He was also considered by many to be the architect of the Iraq War.
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Russell Wilson
- Occupations
- baseball playerAmerican football player
- Biography
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Russell Carrington Wilson is an American professional football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He has primarily played for the Seattle Seahawks. With the Seahawks, Wilson was named to the Pro Bowl nine times and helped Seattle win their first Super Bowl championship in Super Bowl XLVIII. He is regarded as one of the greatest dual-threat quarterbacks of all time. He is also a former professional baseball player.
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Charles Lindbergh
- Occupations
- aircraft pilotaviation writerair force officerfighter pilotdiarist
- Biography
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Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km), flying alone for over 33 hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the first transatlantic flight, it was the first solo crossing of the Atlantic and the longest at the time by nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km), setting a new flight distance world record. The achievement garnered Lindbergh worldwide fame and stands as one of the most consequential flights in history, signalling a new era of air transportation between parts of the globe.
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Seann William Scott
- Occupations
- television actorvoice actorfilm produceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Seann William Scott is an American actor. In film, Scott is best known for his breakout role as Steve Stifler in the American Pie film series (1999–2012). He also starred in a lead role as Doug Glatt in Goon (2011) and its sequel, Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017). His other notable lead film credits include Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Road Trip (2000), Final Destination (2000), Evolution (2001), The Rundown (2003), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), Mr. Woodcock (2007), Role Models (2008), and The Wrath of Becky (2023). Scott had a supporting voice role as Crash in the Ice Age film series (2006–2016).
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Joan Cusack
- Occupations
- television actorcomedianvoice actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Joan Mary Cusack is an American actress. An acclaimed character actress known for her distinctive voice and offbeat comedic timing, her portrayals of neurotic, endearing characters have earned her numerous accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards, winning once in 2015.
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Carrie Coon
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Carrie Alexandra Coon is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex women on stage and screen, she has received a Critics' Choice Television Award, as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award.
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Frank Lloyd Wright
- Occupations
- architectwriterdesignerurban plannerprintseller
- Biography
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Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and mentoring hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture".
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J. J. Watt
- Occupations
- television actorAmerican football player
- Biography
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Justin James Watt is an American former professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Houston Texans. He played college football for the Central Michigan Chippewas and Wisconsin Badgers and was selected by the Texans in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft.
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Joseph McCarthy
- Occupations
- military officerfarmerjudgelawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread communist subversion. He alleged that numerous communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately he was censured by the Senate in 1954 for refusing to cooperate with and abusing members of the committee established to investigate whether or not he should be censured. The term "McCarthyism", coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more broadly to mean demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
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Abraham Maslow
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied psychology
- Occupations
- university teacherpsychologist
- Biography
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Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization.
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Virgil Abloh
- Occupations
- civil engineerdesignercomposerrecord producerdisc jockey
- Biography
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Virgil Abloh was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. A trained architect, Abloh founded his own line of luxury streetwear clothing under the moniker Pyrex Vision in 2012, which he transformed into the Milan based fashion label Off-White in 2013. Abloh was appointed artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection beginning in 2018 and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021. Abloh worked in Chicago street fashion before he entered the world of international fashion with an internship at Fendi in 2009, alongside American rapper Kanye West. Abloh assumed the role of creative director at Donda, West's creative agency in 2010.
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Jim Lovell
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- 1946-1948 studied engineering
- Occupations
- naval officertest pilotscreenwriternaval aviatorastronaut
- Biography
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James Arthur Lovell Jr. was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he, along with Frank Borman and William Anders, became one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth.
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Gena Rowlands
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands was an American actress, whose career in film, stage, and television spanned nearly seven decades. She was a four-time Emmy Award and two-time Golden Globe winner, and she was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
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Michael Mann
- Occupations
- film directorwriterproducerfilm screenwriterfilm producer
- Biography
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Michael Kenneth Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer. Best known for his stylized crime dramas, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as earned nominations for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. His most acclaimed works include the films Thief (1981), Manhunter (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001), Collateral (2004), Public Enemies (2009), and Ferrari (2023). He was executive producer on the popular TV series Miami Vice (1984–90), which he adapted into a 2006 feature film.
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Jane Kaczmarek
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorvoice actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Jane Frances Kaczmarek is an American actress. Her role as Lois on the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006) earned her three Golden Globe nominations and seven Primetime Emmy nominations. She also appeared as Linda Bauer in Equal Justice (1990–1991), Judge Trudy Kessler in Raising the Bar (2008–2009), Ann in Falling in Love (1984), Emily in The Heavenly Kid (1985), and Gayle in 6 Balloons (2018). She had recurring roles as Holly in Cybill and as Maureen Cutler in Frasier. Kaczmarek was a replacement for the character of Bella in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Lost In Yonkers.
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Agnes Moorehead
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorfilm actorvoice actorstage actor
- Biography
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Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. In a career spanning five decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television. Moorehead was the recipient of such accolades as a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards.
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Mike Webster
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Michael Lewis Webster was an American professional football center in the National Football League (NFL) from 1974 to 1990 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 1997. Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Webster anchored the Steelers' offensive line during much of their run of four Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1979 and is considered by many the greatest center in NFL history.
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Boz Scaggs
- Occupations
- composersinger-songwriterguitaristsinger
- Biography
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William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 1968.
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Iris Apfel
- Occupations
- modelbusinesspersonentrepreneurinterior designerdesigner
- Biography
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Iris Apfel was an American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion designer, known for her flamboyant style, outspoken personality and oversized eyeglasses. In business with her husband, Carl, from 1950 to 1992, Apfel had a career in textiles, including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies. In retirement, she drew acclaim for a 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry and styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear them. She became a fashion icon, was the focus of the 2014 Albert Maysles documentary Iris, then signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97.
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bell hooks
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1976 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopherwriter
- Biography
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Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She was best known for her writings on race, feminism, and social class. Her work explored the intersections of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. Her work served as foundational to the modern idea of intersectionality. She published numerous scholarly articles and nearly 40 books, in styles ranging from essays and poetry to children's literature, with a body of work that addressed love, gender, art, history, sexuality, and mass media.
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Anders Holm
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 2003 graduated with bachelor's degree in history
- Occupations
- voice actorshowrunneractorcomediantelevision actor
- Biography
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Anders Holm is an American comedian and actor. He is one of the stars and creators of the Comedy Central show Workaholics and starred in the short-lived NBC series Champions. He, along with fellow Workaholics creators Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, and Kyle Newacheck, formed the sketch group Mail Order Comedy.
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John Muir
- Occupations
- philosopherwriterautobiographerbotanical collectoressayist
- Biography
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John Muir, also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.
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Har Gobind Khorana
- Occupations
- university teachergeneticistbiologist
- Biography
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Har Gobind Khorana was an Indian-American biochemist. While on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for research that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell and control the cell's synthesis of proteins. Khorana and Nirenberg were also awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in the same year.
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Don Ameche
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm directortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Don Ameche was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, repertory theatre, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which led to the offer of a movie contract from 20th Century Fox in 1935.
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Joyce Carol Oates
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1961 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- diaristprofessorwriteressayistautobiographer
- Biography
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Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collection Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
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Greta Van Susteren
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied economics and geography
- Occupations
- television presenterlawyerjournalist
- Biography
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Greta Conway Van Susteren is an American journalist, lawyer, and television news anchor for Newsmax TV. She was previously on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. She hosted Fox News's On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren for 14 years (2002–2016) before departing for MSNBC, where she hosted For the Record with Greta for roughly six months in 2017. On June 14, 2022, she began hosting The Record with Greta van Susteren on Newsmax. A former criminal defense and civil trial lawyer, she appeared as a legal analyst on CNN co-hosting Burden of Proof with Roger Cossack from 1994 to 2002, playing defense attorney to Cossack's prosecutor. In 2016, she was listed as the 94th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, up from 99th in 2015.
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Occupations
- writereconomistentrepreneurpolitician
- Biography
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Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.
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Lawrence Wong
- Occupations
- chief executive officerpolitician
- Biography
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Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai is a Singaporean politician who has served as the fourth prime minister of Singapore since 2024 and the minister of finance since 2021. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been a member of Parliament (MP) for the Limbang division of Marsiling–Yew Tee Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2015. He had previously represented the Boon Lay division of West Coast GRC between 2011 and 2015.
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Amy Landecker
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm directortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Amy Lauren Landecker is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sarah Pfefferman on the Amazon comedy-drama series Transparent (2014–2019), as well as her supporting roles in the films Dan in Real Life (2007), A Serious Man (2009), All Is Bright (2013), Project Almanac (2015), and Beatriz at Dinner (2017), and the TV series Your Honor (2020–2023).
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Lynne Cheney
- Occupations
- novelistpoliticiannon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Lynne Ann Cheney is an American author, scholar, former talk show host, and the widow of Dick Cheney, the 46th vice president of the United States. She served as the second lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 when her husband was vice president.
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Steve Miller
- Occupations
- songwritersinger-songwriterguitaristsinger
- Biography
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Steven Haworth Miller is an American musician. He is the founder and only remaining original member of the Steve Miller Band, which he founded in 1966, and is the principal songwriter, lead singer, harmonicist, keyboardist, and one of the guitarists. He began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more pop-oriented arena rock sound during the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, releasing popular singles and albums. Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
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Edward Witten
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicisttheoretical physiciststring theoristmathematician
- Biography
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Edward Witten is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the school of natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics. Witten's work has also significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990, he became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union, for his mathematical insights in physics, such as his 1981 proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity, and his interpretation of the Jones invariants of knots as Feynman integrals. He is considered the practical founder of M-theory.
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Tammy Baldwin
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1989 graduated with Juris Doctor
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2013 as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, she has also served as the secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017. Baldwin has been the dean of the United States congressional delegation from Wisconsin since 2023, when Representative Ron Kind retired.
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Tom Wopat
- Occupations
- television actorsingeractorcomedian
- Biography
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Thomas Steven Wopat is an American actor and singer. He first achieved fame as Lucas K. "Luke" Duke on the long-running television action/comedy series The Dukes of Hazzard. Since then, Wopat has worked regularly, most often on the stage in musicals and in supporting television and movie roles. He was a semi-regular recurring character on the 1990s comedy series Cybill, and he had a small role as U.S. Marshal Gil Tatum in Django Unchained (2012). Wopat also has a recurring role as Sheriff Jim Wilkins on the television series Longmire. Additionally, Wopat has recorded several albums of country songs and pop standards, scoring a series of moderately successful singles in the 1980s and 1990s.
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M. S. Swaminathan
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Graduated with postdoctoral researcher
- Occupations
- geneticistadministratoragronomistpolitician
- Biography
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Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was an Indian geneticist and plant breeder, administrator and humanitarian. Swaminathan was a global leader of the green revolution. He has been called the main architect of the green revolution in India for his leadership and role in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice.
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Saul Bellow
- Occupations
- essayistuniversity teachernovelistwriterauthor
- Biography
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Saul Bellow was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction three times, and he received the National Book Foundation's lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 1990.
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Phil Hellmuth
- Occupations
- poker playerauthor
- Biography
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Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won a record seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets, the majority in no-limit hold'em. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and he is a 2007 inductee of the WSOP's Poker Hall of Fame. He is the only player in poker history to have won a WSOP bracelet in 5 different decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tournament players in history.
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Marc Webb
- Occupations
- screenwritertelevision directorfilm directormotorcycle racertelevision producer
- Biography
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Marc Preston Webb is an American filmmaker and music video director. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer. He then directed The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), which later were dubbed the "Webb-Verse" by Marvel Studios in 2021. He also directed the 2017 dramas Gifted and The Only Living Boy in New York and the Disney live-action remake of Snow White (2025). His next planned film is Day Drinker.
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Fredric March
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorcharacter actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Fredric March was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars of the 1930s and 1940s. As a performer he was known for his versatility. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, two Tony Awards, two Volpi Cups, the Silver Bear, as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and three Emmy Awards.
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Lynn Margulis
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied in 1960
- Occupations
- biologistuniversity teacherecologistmicrobiologistbotanist
- Biography
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Lynn Margulis was an American evolutionary biologist, who was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis transformed and fundamentally framed biologists' understanding of the evolution of the Eukaryotes, organisms with nuclei in their cells. She proposed that they came into being by symbiotic mergers of bacteria. Margulis was the co-developer of the Gaia hypothesis with the British chemist James Lovelock, proposing that the Earth functions as a unified self-regulating system, and the principal defender and promulgator of the five kingdom classification of Robert Whittaker.
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Chris Chelios
- Occupations
- ice hockey playerrestaurateur
- Biography
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Christos Konstantinos Chelios is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was a three-time Stanley Cup champion: one with the Montreal Canadiens and two with the Detroit Red Wings.
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Frank Kaminsky
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied in 2011-2015
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Francis Stanley Kaminsky III is an American professional basketball player for Alvark Tokyo of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers.
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John Bardeen
- Occupations
- inventorphysicistelectrical engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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John Bardeen was an American condensed matter physicist. He is the only person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for their invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Cooper and Robert Schrieffer for their microscopic theory of superconductivity, known as the BCS theory.
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Mitzi Shore
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Mitzi Shore was an American comedy club owner. Her husband, Sammy Shore, co-founded The Comedy Store in 1972 and she became its owner two years later. Through the club, she had a huge influence on the careers of up-and-coming comedians for many decades.
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Virginia Apgar
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1937 studied anaesthesiology
- Occupations
- anesthesiologistpediatricianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Virginia Apgar was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after birth in order to combat infant mortality. In 1952, she developed the 10-point Apgar score to assist physicians and nurses in assessing the status of newborns. Given at one minute and five minutes after birth, the Apgar test measures a child's breathing, skin color, reflexes, motion, and heart rate. A friend said, "She probably did more than any other physician to bring the problem of birth defects out of back rooms." She was a leader in the fields of anesthesiology and teratology, and introduced obstetrical considerations to the established field of neonatology.
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Rose Lavelle
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- 2013-2017 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in sociology
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
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Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team.
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Dale Chihuly
- Occupations
- photographerglassblowerinstallation artistsculptoruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist. He is well known in the field of blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture".
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Melvin Gordon
- Occupations
- athletics competitorAmerican football player
- Biography
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Melvin Gordon III is an American former professional football running back. He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, earning unanimous All-American honors and winning the Doak Walker Award as the top college running back in 2014. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft with the 15th overall pick.
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Joe Thomas
- Occupations
- athletics competitorAmerican football player
- Biography
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Joseph Hayden Thomas is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle for 11 seasons with the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Wisconsin, earned unanimous All-American honors, and was recognized as the top college interior lineman.
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Lorraine Hansberry
- Occupations
- screenwritertheatrical directorwriterplaywrightactivist
- Biography
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Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright and writer. She was the first Black American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of Black Americans in Chicago living under racial segregation. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award – making her the first Black American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant in the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.
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Milton H. Erickson
- Occupations
- hypnotherapistpsychotherapistwriterhypnotistpsychiatrist
- Biography
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Milton Hyland Erickson was an American psychiatrist and psychologist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. He is noted for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution-generating. He is also noted for influencing brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, solution focused brief therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming.
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Butch Vig
- Occupations
- composersongwriterrecord producermusician
- Biography
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Bryan David "Butch" Vig is an American musician, record producer, and songwriter who is the drummer and co-producer of the rock band Garbage. Vig produced several alternative rock acts of the 1990s, including Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, L7, and Sonic Youth. Notable albums he produced include Nirvana's diamond-selling album Nevermind (1991), L7's Bricks are Heavy (1992), and the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream (1993).
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Mel Tucker
- Occupations
- American football coachAmerican football player
- Biography
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Melvin Gene Tucker II is an American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at Michigan State University from 2020 to 2023.
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Tom Laughlin
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorwriterfilm producer
- Biography
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Thomas Robert Laughlin Jr. was an American actor, filmmaker, educator, activist, and perennial candidate. He was best known as the star and director of the Billy Jack tetralogy of action drama films, produced between 1969 and 1977. His unique promotion of the 1974's The Trial of Billy Jack (TV trailers during national news and an "opening day" nationwide release) was a major influence on the way films are marketed.
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Tony Evers
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1973 graduated with Bachelor of Science in educational management
- In 1976 graduated with Master of Science in educational management
- In 1986 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in educational management
- Occupations
- head teacherpoliticianschool teacher
- Biography
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Anthony Steven Evers is an American politician and educator serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2009 to 2019 as Wisconsin's 26th superintendent of public instruction.
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Jeffrey Sprecher
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Jeffrey Craig Sprecher is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Errol Morris
- Occupations
- produceractordirectornon-fiction writerfilm producer
- Biography
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Errol Mark Morris is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of their subjects, and the invention of the Interrotron. In 2003, his The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. His film The Thin Blue Line placed fifth on a Sight & Sound poll of the greatest documentaries ever made. Morris is known for making films about unusual subjects; Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of an animal trainer, a topiary gardener, a robot scientist, and a naked mole-rat specialist.
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Sam Dekker
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Samuel Thomas Dekker is an American professional basketball player who last played for Joventut Badalona of the Spanish Liga ACB. Dekker played college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers. After finishing college on a championship game run in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, Dekker was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.
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John Vincent Atanasoff
- Occupations
- university teachermathematicianengineerinventorphysicist
- Biography
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John Vincent Atanasoff OCM was an American physicist and inventor credited with inventing the first electronic digital computer. Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa State College (now known as Iowa State University). Challenges to his claim were resolved in 1973 when the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand lawsuit ruled that Atanasoff was the inventor of the computer. His special-purpose machine has come to be called the Atanasoff–Berry Computer.
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Jim Jordan
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1986 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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James Daniel Jordan is an American politician who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for Ohio's 4th congressional district since 2007. Currently in his 10th term in the House, Jordan is a member of the Republican Party.
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Frank Olson
- Occupations
- biologistchemistmicrobiologist
- Biography
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Frank Rudolph Emmanuel Olson was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and an employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) who worked at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick) in Maryland. At a meeting in rural Maryland, he was covertly dosed with LSD by his colleague Sidney Gottlieb (head of the CIA's MKUltra program) and, nine days later, plunged to his death from the window of the Hotel Statler in New York. The U.S. government first described his death as a suicide, and then as misadventure, while others allege murder. The Rockefeller Commission report on the CIA in 1975 acknowledged their having conducted covert drug studies on fellow agents. Olson's death is one of the most mysterious outcomes of the CIA mind control project MKUltra.
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C. Wright Mills
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teachersociologist
- Biography
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Charles Wright Mills was an American sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills published widely in both popular and intellectual journals, and is remembered for several books, such as The Power Elite, White Collar: The American Middle Classes, and The Sociological Imagination. Mills was concerned with the responsibilities of intellectuals in post–World War II society, and he advocated public and political engagement over disinterested observation. One of Mills's biographers, Daniel Geary, writes that Mills's writings had a "particularly significant impact on New Left social movements of the 1960s era." It was Mills who popularized the term "New Left" in the U.S., in a 1960 open letter "Letter to the New Left".
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield is an American diplomat who served as the 31st United States ambassador to the United Nations under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. She served as the U.S. 18th assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2013 to 2017. Thomas-Greenfield then worked in the private sector as a senior vice president at business strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington, D.C.
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David Zucker
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm screenwriterfilm produceractor
- Biography
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David Samuel Zucker is an American filmmaker. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized for collaborating with Jim Abrahams and his brother Jerry as part of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, with whom he wrote and directed the 1980 film Airplane! and created The Naked Gun franchise. As a solo filmmaker, Zucker has also directed Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006).
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Stephen E. Ambrose
- Occupations
- essayistuniversity teacherwriterhistorianbiographer
- Biography
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Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian, academic, and author, most noted for his books on World War II and his biographies of U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a longtime professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many bestselling volumes of American popular history.
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Marshall Rosenberg
- Occupations
- academicpsychologistnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Marshall Bertram Rosenberg was an American psychologist, mediator, author and teacher. Starting in the early 1960s, he developed nonviolent communication, a process for supporting partnership and resolving conflict within people, relationships, and society. He worked worldwide as a peacemaker, and in 1984 founded the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international nonprofit organization for which he served as Director of Educational Services.
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James White
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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James Calvin White is an American football coach and former running back who is currently the head coach for the Benet Academy Redwings high school football team along with the assistant running backs coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini. He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons with the New England Patriots. White played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers and was selected by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft. A three-time Super Bowl champion, he set the Super Bowl records for receptions and points scored in Super Bowl LI and is also tied with Darren Sproles for the record for the most receptions (15) in a playoff game.
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Dany Heatley
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Daniel James Heatley is a German-born Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. Originally drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers second overall in the 2000 NHL entry draft, he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the National Hockey League (NHL) rookie of the year in 2002. However, Heatley's time with the Thrashers was derailed when he was at the wheel in a car crash in September 2003 that killed teammate Dan Snyder. Heatley, who was also seriously injured but eventually made a full recovery, pled guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide and received probation.
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Uta Hagen
- Occupations
- stage actorteachertelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Uta Thyra Hagen was a German and American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful actress." Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.
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Bill Kazmaier
- Occupations
- strongmanpowerlifterprofessional wrestler
- Biography
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William Kazmaier is an American former powerlifter, strongman and professional wrestler. During his career, he set 40 world records across both powerlifting and strongman, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World's Strongest Man titles.
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Jim Abrahams
- Occupations
- actorscreenwriterwriterfilm screenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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James Steven Abrahams was an American film director and writer. With David and Jerry Zucker, he was best known as a member of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
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Michael Finley
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Michael Howard Finley is an American former professional basketball player who is an interim general manager and vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA, predominantly with the Mavericks, but also for the Phoenix Suns (who drafted him in 1995), the San Antonio Spurs, and the Boston Celtics. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2007.
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Joe Pavelski
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Joseph James Pavelski is an American former professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars.
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Jerry Zucker
- Occupations
- screenwriterdirectorfilm directorfilm produceractor
- Biography
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Jerry Gordon Zucker is an American filmmaker. With his brother David and Jim Abrahams, he is part the filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
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William S. Harley
- Occupations
- businesspersonengineer
- Biography
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William Sylvester Harley was an American mechanical engineer and businessman. He was one of the four co-founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company.
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Jack Kilby
- Occupations
- photographerphysicistuniversity teacherengineerinventor
- Biography
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Jack St. Clair Kilby was an American electronics engineer who took part, along with Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958. For this invention, Kilby shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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Sergio Fajardo
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1981 graduated with magister degree
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianenvironmentalistjournalistmathematician
- Biography
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Sergio Fajardo Valderrama is a Colombian politician and mathematician. He first entered politics in 2003 when he was elected Mayor of Medellín, the second largest city in Colombia and the capital of Antioquia. He was the mayor of Medellín from 2003 to 2007 and was recognized for transforming the city from a violent and impoverished place to a model of social and urban development. Fajardo was the vice presidential nominee of Antanas Mockus in 2010, finishing in second place after losing the runoff against Juan Manuel Santos and Angelino Garzon. Fajardo served as the governor of Antioquia from 2012 to 2016. Fajardo brands himself as a pragmatic politician with no particular ideology, with political analysts and media outlets in Colombia labelling him as a centrist politician not tied to the traditional parties in Colombia.
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Bud Selig
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the commissioner emeritus of baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth commissioner of baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as de facto acting commissioner beginning in 1992 in his capacity as chairman of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Executive Committee before being named the official commissioner in 1998. Selig oversaw baseball through the 1994 strike, the introduction of the wild card, interleague play, and the de facto merging of the National and American leagues under the Office of the Commissioner. He was instrumental in organizing the World Baseball Classic in 2006. Selig also introduced revenue sharing. He is credited for the financial turnaround of baseball during his tenure with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record-breaking attendance.
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Cole Caufield
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
-
Cole Caufield is an American-Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a winger for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round, 15th overall, by the Canadiens in the 2019 NHL entry draft.
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Jason Crow
- Occupations
- military personnelpolitician
- Biography
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Jason Crow is an American politician, lawyer, and former U.S. Army officer serving since 2019 as the United States representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district. Crow is the first member of the Democratic Party to represent the district, which includes most of the inner eastern and southern suburbs of Denver, including Aurora, Littleton, Centennial and a portion of Denver.
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Sidney Gottlieb
- Occupations
- biochemistchemist
- Biography
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Sidney Gottlieb was an American chemist and spymaster who headed the Central Intelligence Agency's 1950s and 1960s assassination attempts and mind-control program, known as Project MKUltra.
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John Gottman
- Occupations
- writerpsychotherapistpsychologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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John Mordechai Gottman is an American psychologist and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. His research focuses on divorce prediction and marital stability through relationship analyses. Gottman's work is centered on the field of relationship counseling: enhanced relationship functioning and mitigation of behaviors detrimental to human relationships. Gottman's work has also contributed to the development of important concepts on social sequence analysis.
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Laurel Clark
- Occupations
- physicianastronautsubmarinermilitary officer
- Biography
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Laurel Blair Clark was an American NASA astronaut, medical doctor, United States Navy captain, and Space Shuttle mission specialist. She died along with her six fellow crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Clark was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
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Eudora Welty
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- 1927-1929 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in English-language literature
- Occupations
- photographerautobiographernovelistliterary criticshort story writer
- Biography
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Eudora Alice Welty was an American short-story writer, novelist, and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the South. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America. Her house in Jackson, Mississippi, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as a house museum.
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André De Shields
- Occupations
- stage actoractormusical theatre actorsingerfilm actor
- Biography
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André Robin De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Award.
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Russ Feingold
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1975 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyervisiting professoruniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Russell Dana Feingold is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U.S. Senate seat he had previously occupied. From 1983 to 1993, he was a Wisconsin state senator representing the 27th district.
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Eric Heiden
- Occupations
- orthopedic surgeonsport cyclistspeed skater
- Biography
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Eric Arthur Heiden is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, Heiden was the most successful athlete, setting four Olympic records, one world record, and winning an unprecedented five individual gold medals–more than any other athlete, and in fact more than any nation except for the Soviet Union (10) and East Germany (9). He was the most successful Winter Olympian from a single edition of any Winter Olympics until 2026 when cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo also won five golds, although two of his medals are in team events. Heiden's record of five individual Olympic gold medals at a single Winter Games remains unmatched. He delivered the Athlete's Oath at those same 1980 Games. His coach was Dianne Holum.
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Stuart Gordon
- Occupations
- actorwriterdirectorfilm producerproducer
- Biography
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Stuart Alan Gordon was an American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Gordon began directing films in 1985. Most of Gordon's cinematic output was in the horror genre, though he also ventured into science fiction and film noir.
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John Searle
- Occupations
- philosopherlinguistuniversity teacherartificial intelligence researcher
- Biography
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John R. Searle was an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959 and was Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Language and Professor of the Graduate School until June 2019, when his status as professor emeritus was revoked after he was found to have engaged in sexual harassment and retaliation against a former student and employee, in violation of the university's sexual harassment policies.
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Devin Harris
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Devin Lamar Harris is an American sports analyst and former professional basketball player. He played for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets.
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Peter Straub
- Occupations
- novelistwriterscience fiction writerauthorpoet
- Biography
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Peter Francis Straub was an American novelist and poet. He had success with several horror and supernatural fiction novels, among them Julia (1975), Ghost Story (1979) and The Talisman (1984), the latter co-written with Stephen King. He explored the mystery genre with the Blue Rose trilogy, consisting of Koko (1988), Mystery (1990) and The Throat (1993). He fused the supernatural with crime fiction in Lost Boy, Lost Girl (2003) and the related In the Night Room (2004). For the Library of America, he edited the volume H. P. Lovecraft: Tales and the anthology American Fantastic Tales. Straub received such literary honors as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award.
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Josh Stamberg
- Occupations
- television actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Joshua Collins Stamberg is an American actor. He was regular cast member in the Lifetime comedy-drama series Drop Dead Diva from 2009 to 2012, and later had recurring roles on Parenthood, The Affair, and WandaVision.
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Robert M. La Follette
- Occupations
- lawyerwriterpolitician
- Biography
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Robert Marion La Follette Sr., nicknamed "Fighting Bob," was an American lawyer and politician who represented Wisconsin in both houses of Congress and served as the 20th governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. A Republican for most of his life, he ran for president of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 United States presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history".
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Steven Levitan
- Occupations
- screenwritershowrunnerfilm directortelevision producer
- Biography
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Steven E. Levitan is an American television producer, director, and screenwriter. He has created many television series such as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, Modern Family, and Reboot.
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Paul Chryst
- Occupations
- American football coachAmerican football player
- Biography
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Paul Joseph Chryst is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012 to 2014 and the University of Wisconsin—Madison from 2015 to 2022. Chryst had previously been the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2005 through 2011. He also served in the same capacity at Oregon State University and was an assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). Chryst played college football at Wisconsin, where he lettered as a quarterback and tight end from 1986 to 1988.
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Ron Dayne
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Ronald Dayne is an American former football running back who played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1999. He also played professional football for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2000 NFL draft. He also played for the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.
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August Derleth
- Occupations
- biographerpublishereditorshort story writerwriter
- Biography
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August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. He was the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. He made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the cosmic horror genre and helped found Arkham House, a publishing company which did much to introduce hardcover prints of United Kingdom supernatural fiction works to the United States. Derleth was also a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography. Notably, he created the fictional detective Solar Pons, a pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
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Jim Leonhard
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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James Andrew Leonhard is an American professional football coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played professionally in the NFL as a safety for 10 seasons.
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Herb Kohl
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied in 1956
- Occupations
- businesspersonentrepreneurpolitician
- Biography
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Herbert Hiken Kohl was an American businessman, philanthropist, and Democratic politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served 24 years as a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, from 1989 to 2013, and earlier served as chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
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Clifford D. Simak
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writereditorjournalistscreenwriter
- Biography
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Clifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer and journalist. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is associated with the pastoral science fiction subgenre.
