100 Notable alumni of
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Updated:
The University of Wisconsin - Madison is 24th in the world, 14th in North America, and 14th 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
- politicianautobiographermerchantbusinessperson
- Biography
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Richard Bruce Cheney is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called the most powerful vice president in American history. 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 is the oldest living former U.S. vice president, following the death of Walter Mondale in 2021.
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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 Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played 10 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks and two seasons for the Denver Broncos. 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.
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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 33.5 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 longest at the time by nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km), the first solo transatlantic flight, and set 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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Joan Cusack
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actorcomedianvoice actor
- Biography
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Joan Mary Cusack is an American actress. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama Working Girl (1988) and the romantic comedy In & Out (1997). Her other starring roles include those in Toys (1992), Addams Family Values (1993), Nine Months (1995), Cradle Will Rock (1999), Where the Heart Is (2000), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), School of Rock (2003), and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008). She has also provided the voice of Jessie in the Toy Story franchise (1999–present), for which she won an Annie Award, and Abby Mallard in Chicken Little (2005).
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Seann William Scott
- Occupations
- film produceractorfilm actortelevision actorvoice actor
- Biography
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Seann William Scott is an American actor. Films in which Scott has starred have earned $4.91 billion at the global box office as of 2017.
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Frank Lloyd Wright
- Occupations
- architecturban plannerwriterdesigner
- 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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Carrie Coon
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Carrie Alexandra Coon is an American actress. She is known for her portrayals of complex women on stage and screen. She has received a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
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Joseph McCarthy
- Occupations
- politicianusheranti-communistmilitary officerfarmer
- Biography
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Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age 48 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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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
- Occupations
- screenwriternaval aviatorastronautnaval officertest pilot
- Biography
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James Arthur Lovell Jr. is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, 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
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- 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, was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
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Michael Mann
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directordirectorproducertelevision 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 received a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. 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
- actorfilm actorstage actortelevision actorvoice actor
- Biography
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Jane Frances Kaczmarek is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lois on the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006), which earned her 3 Golden Globe nominations and 7 Primetime Emmy nominations. She also appeared as Linda 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 and is also known for a large number of recurring and guest-starring roles in various television shows. Kaczmarek was a replacement for the character of Bella in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Lost In Yonkers.
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Carl Rogers
- Occupations
- psychologistfilm producerpsychotherapistnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Carl Ransom Rogers was an American psychologist who was one of the founders of humanistic psychology and was known especially for his person-centered psychotherapy. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his research with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1956.
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Agnes Moorehead
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision presenteractortelevision actorfilm 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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Iris Apfel
- Occupations
- fashion designermodelbusinesspersonentrepreneurinterior designer
- 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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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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Anders Holm
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 2003 graduated with bachelor's degree in history
- Occupations
- screenwritervoice actorshowrunneractorcomedian
- 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
- botanistwritermountaineerexplorernaturalist
- 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
- biologistuniversity teachergeneticist
- 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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Jayaprakash Narayan
- Occupations
- social workerpoliticianfreedom fighter
- Biography
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Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava, also known as JP and Lok Nayak (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and independence activist. He is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and calling for her overthrow in a "total revolution". In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include the Magsaysay award for public service in 1965.
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Don Ameche
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actorfilm directortelevision 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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Greta Van Susteren
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied economics and geography
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenterlawyer
- 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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Joyce Carol Oates
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1961 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- screenwriternovelistpoetdiaristprofessor
- 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 collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and 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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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Occupations
- politicianwritereconomistentrepreneur
- Biography
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Ellen 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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Edward Witten
- Occupations
- university teachermathematiciantheoretical physicistphysicist
- 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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Amy Landecker
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actorfilm directortelevision 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
- politicianwriternovelistnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Lynne Ann Cheney is an American author, scholar, and former talk show host. 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 genre 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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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 and is the dean of the United States congressional delegation from Wisconsin.
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Lawrence Wong
- Occupations
- chief executive officerpolitician
- Biography
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Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai is a Singaporean politician, economist and former civil servant who has been serving as the fourth Prime Minister of Singapore since 2024 and Minister for Finance since 2021. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Limbang division of Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC since 2015, and previously the Boon Lay division of West Coast GRC between 2011 and 2015.
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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
- politiciangeneticistadministratoragronomist
- Biography
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Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was an Indian agronomist, geneticist, 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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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 widely regarded as the greatest tournament player of all time.
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Saul Bellow
- Occupations
- authoressayistuniversity teachernovelistwriter
- 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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Fredric March
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actortelevision actorcharacter 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, and two Tony Awards 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
- zoologistlecturerevolutionary biologistecologistbotanist
- Biography
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Lynn Margulis was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis transformed and fundamentally framed current understanding of the evolution of cells with nuclei by proposing it to have been the result of symbiotic mergers of bacteria. Margulis was also the co-developer of the Gaia hypothesis with the British chemist James Lovelock, proposing that the Earth functions as a single self-regulating system, and was the principal defender and promulgator of the five kingdom classification of Robert Whittaker.
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Marc Webb
- Occupations
- television producerscreenwritertelevision directorfilm directormotorcycle racer
- 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. Then he directed The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), which later were dubbed the "Webb-Verse" by Marvel Studios in 2021. He also directed Gifted and The Only Living Boy in New York (both 2017 dramas) and the upcoming Disney remake of Snow White (2025).
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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 Raptors 905 of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers.
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Chris Chelios
- Occupations
- ice hockey playerrestaurateur
- Biography
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Christos Konstantinos Chelios is a Greek-American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was one of the longest-tenured players in the National Hockey League (NHL), and is a three-time Stanley Cup champion—one with the Montreal Canadiens and two with the Detroit Red Wings.
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John Bardeen
- Occupations
- university teacherinventorphysicistelectrical engineer
- Biography
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John Bardeen was an American electrical engineer and theoretical 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 the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon N. Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory.
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Melvin Gordon
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Melvin Gordon III is an American 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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Virginia Apgar
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1937 studied anaesthesiology
- Occupations
- university teacherpediatriciananesthesiologistphysician
- 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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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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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 NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team.
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Dale Chihuly
- Occupations
- glass artistphotographerglassblowerinstallation artistsculptor
- Biography
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Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is well known in the field of blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture".
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John Searle
- Occupations
- university teacherartificial intelligence researcherphilosopherlinguist
- Biography
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John Rogers Searle is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC 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 at the University of California, Berkeley, until June 2019, when his status as professor emeritus was revoked because he was found to have violated the university's sexual harassment policies.
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Milton H. Erickson
- Occupations
- psychologisthypnotherapistpsychotherapistwriterhypnotist
- 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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Joe Thomas
- Occupations
- American 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. The Browns chose Thomas with the third overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft. He was invited to the Pro Bowl in each of his first 10 seasons and did not miss a single play in his career until the 2017 season (his final season in the NFL); his 10,363 consecutive snaps played is the longest streak since the NFL began recording snap counts in 1999. He is regarded as one of the best offensive linemen of all time. In 2023, Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, becoming the first Cleveland Brown inductee since their reactivation in 1999.
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Lorraine Hansberry
- Occupations
- activistscreenwritertheatrical directorwriterplaywright
- Biography
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Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright and writer. She was the first African-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 African-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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Butch Vig
- Occupations
- record producermusiciancomposersongwriter
- 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. Known for producing the diamond selling Nirvana album Nevermind (1991), Vig also produced for several other alternative rock acts of the 1990s, including the Smashing Pumpkins, L7, and Sonic Youth. Some notable production credits of Vig's include L7's Bricks are Heavy (1992) and the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream (1993).
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Jonathan Taylor
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Jonathan Taylor is an American professional football running back for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). Taylor played high school football at Salem High School, where he set a New Jersey state rushing yards record. He played three seasons of college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, finishing his college career as the sixth all-time rusher in the NCAA and becoming the first player in history to rush for more than 6,000 yards in any three-year span.
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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
- film actorpoliticianscreenwritertelevision actorfilm director
- Biography
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Thomas Robert Laughlin Jr. was an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator, and activist.
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Alan Mozo
- Occupations
- inventorphysicistcomputer scientistuniversity teachermathematician
- 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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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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Sam Dekker
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Samuel Thomas Dekker is an American professional basketball player for the Joventut Badalona of the Liga ACB and EuroCup Basketball. 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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Errol Morris
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorproduceractordirector
- 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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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
- politicianschool teacherhead teacher
- Biography
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Anthony Steven Evers is an American politician and educator, serving as the 46th governor of Wisconsin since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served from 2009 to 2019 as Wisconsin's 26th superintendent of public instruction.
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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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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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Dany Heatley
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Daniel James "All Star" 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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James White
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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James Calvin White is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers and was selected by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft. White won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and appeared in 4. He set the Super Bowl records for receptions and points scored in Super Bowl LI and holds the record for the most receptions in a playoff game.
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Stephen E. Ambrose
- Occupations
- biographeressayistuniversity teacherwriterhistorian
- 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
- psychologistnon-fiction writeracademic
- 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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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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Bill Kazmaier
- Occupations
- professional wrestlerstrongmanpowerlifter
- Biography
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William Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During his illustrious career, he set over 40 powerlifting and strongman world records, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World's Strongest Man titles. In the 1980s, Kazmaier became famous for his claim to be "the strongest man who ever lived" by equaling and surpassing spectacular and versatile feats of strength of famous strongmen of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time, and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
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Uta Hagen
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actorteachertelevision actor
- Biography
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Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-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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Michael Finley
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Michael Howard Finley is an American former professional basketball player who is the assistant 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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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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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 currently serving in his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for Ohio's 4th congressional district since 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party.
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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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Jack Kilby
- Occupations
- photographerphysicistcomputer scientistuniversity teacherengineer
- Biography
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Jack St. Clair Kilby was an American electrical engineer who took part, along with Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments (TI) in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on 10 December 2000.
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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 is widely 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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David Zucker
- Occupations
- film produceractorscreenwriterfilm directorfilm screenwriter
- Biography
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David Samuel Zucker is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. 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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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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John Gottman
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterpsychotherapistpsychologist
- Biography
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John Mordecai 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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Russ Feingold
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- In 1975 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerprofessorvisiting scholar
- 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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Jerry Zucker
- Occupations
- film produceractorscreenwriterdirectorfilm director
- Biography
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Jerry Gordon Zucker is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is one third of the filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. He is best known for his role in writing and directing comedy spoof films like Airplane! (1980) and Top Secret! (1984), and for co-creating the television series Police Squad!, which was later adapted into the The Naked Gun film series. He is also the director of the Academy Award-winning supernatural drama film Ghost (1990).
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Eudora Welty
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- 1927-1929 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in English literature
- Occupations
- short story writerwriterartistphotographerautobiographer
- 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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Laurel Clark
- Occupations
- physicianastronautsubmarinermilitary officer
- Biography
-
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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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, mostly with the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets.
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Cole Caufield
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Cole Caufield is an American professional ice hockey 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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Eric Heiden
- Occupations
- sport cyclistspeed skaterorthopedic surgeon
- Biography
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Eric Arthur Heiden is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Heiden was the most successful athlete at those Olympic Games, single-handedly winning more gold medals than all nations except for the Soviet Union (10) and East Germany (9). He is the most successful Winter Olympian from a single edition of any Winter Olympics. He delivered the Athlete's Oath at those same 1980 Games. His coach was Dianne Holum.
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André De Shields
- Occupations
- film actortheatrical directortelevision actorchoreographerstage 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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Stuart Gordon
- Occupations
- film directorfilm produceractorplaywrightscreenwriter
- 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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Peter Straub
- Occupations
- authorpoetnovelistwriterscience fiction writer
- 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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Montee Ball
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Montee Ball Jr. is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Denver Broncos. He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, twice earning consensus All-American honors. Until November 2015, Ball held NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) records for the most career rushing touchdowns with 77 and the most career total touchdowns with 83. He was selected by the Denver Broncos in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2025.
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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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Jason Crow
- Occupations
- military personnelpolitician
- Biography
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Jason Crow is an American lawyer, veteran, and politician serving as the United States representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district since 2019. Crow is the first member of the Democratic Party to represent the district, which encompasses eastern and southern portions of the Denver metropolitan area, including Aurora, Littleton, and Centennial.
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Steven Levitan
- Occupations
- television producerscreenwritershowrunnerfilm director
- 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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Suzy Favor Hamilton
- Occupations
- writercall girlathletics competitor
- Biography
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Suzy Favor Hamilton is an American former middle-distance runner and escort. She competed in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympics.
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August Derleth
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writerpoetbiographerpublisher
- 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 the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK). 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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Herb Kohl
- Enrolled in the University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Studied in 1956
- Occupations
- entrepreneurpoliticianbusinessperson
- 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 United States senator from Wisconsin, from 1989 to 2013, and earlier served as chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
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Robert M. La Follette
- Occupations
- writerpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Robert Marion La Follette Sr., nicknamed "Fighting Bob", was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 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 U.S. presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history".
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Clifford D. Simak
- Occupations
- screenwriterprose writerwriternovelistscience fiction writer
- Biography
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Clifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. 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.
