Jim Abrahams x’66
filmmaker, founder of the Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies

Mason Adams ’40, MA’41
Emmy Award–winning TV actor (Lou Grant)

Don Ameche x’31
actor (Cocoon)

Iris Apfel ’43
fashion icon

Charlie Berens ’09
creator of the Manitowoc Minute, a comedic take on the news with a Wisconsin twist

Andrew Bergman MA’66, PhD’70
film director/producer and writer (It Could Happen to You, Blazing Saddles)

Chester Biscardi ’70, MA’72, MM’74
composer

Jerry Bock ’48
co-composer of Fiddler on the Roof and Fiorello!

Phyllis Bramson MA’64
artist

Carol Helen Beule ’69, MFA’72
Emmy Award–winning costume designer (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

Stephen Burrows ’84
actor, film director

Erin Lee Carr ’10
director and producer for HBO documentaries; author of All That You Leave Behind, a memoire about her father, David Carr, a New York Times columnist

Dale Chihuly MS’67
glass artist (Mendota Wall in the Kohl Center)

Carrie Coon MFA’06
actor who starred in the movie Gone Girl and on stage

Joan Cusack ’84
actor (Working Girl, In & Out, Grosse Pointe Blank)

Lee (Louis) De Boer ’74
HBO mogul

André De Shields ’70
Emmy and Tony Award–winning actor, Broadway actor (The Full Monty, Hadestown), director

August Derleth ’30
author

Howard Dratch ’67
filmmaker

Michael Feldman ’70
host of public radio show Whad’Ya Know?

Sandi Fellman MFA’75
photographer

Kitt Reuter Foss ’79, MA’82
opera singer

Jerome “Jerry” Frautschi ’56
donor of $205 million to create Madison’sOverture Center

Zona Gale 1895, MA1899
author; first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama (Miss Lulu Bett, 1921)

Libby Geist ’02
former vice president and executive producer, ESPN Films and Original Content

Lauren Goff MFA’06
award-winning fiction writer

Erica Gruen MS’75
former president and CEO, Food Network

Uta Hagen x’41, honorary doctorate ’00
Broadway actor and acting teacher

Emily Hahn ’26
adventurer and travel writer who helped introduce U.S. readers to China, author of more than 50 books

Jane Hammond MFA’77
artist

Lorraine Hansberry x’52
playwright, author (Raisin in the Sun)

Lisa Heller ’90
executive vice president of HBO documentary and family programming

Kevin Henkes x’83
children’s book author and illustrator; winner of the Caldecott Medal (Kitten’s First Full Moon, 2004)

Frieda High (a.k.a. Wasikhongo Tesfagiorgis) MFA’71
artist, scholar, educator

Mary Hinkson ’46, MS’47
dancer, dance teacher

Jim Hirsch ’69
Hollywood screenwriter and producer (The Incredible Hulk, Rome)

Lee Hoiby ’47
composer

Anders Holm ’03
actor who has starred in Workaholics and The Mindy Project

bell hooks MA’76
cultural critic, author, poet

Mac Huff ’77
choral arranger

William Immerman ’59
film studio executive

Jane Kaczmarek ’79
actor (Malcolm in the Middle)

Kelly Kahl ’89
president of CBS Entertainment

Ben Karlin ’93
television producer and writer (The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Modern Family)

Rocco Landesman ’69
Broadway producer and former chair, National Endowment for the Arts

Sherrie Levine MFA’73
artist

Steve Levitan ’84
TV writer, director, executive producer (Just Shoot Me!, Modern Family)

Truman Lowe MFA’73
sculptor, 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Michael Mann ’65
filmmaker (Public Enemies, The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans)

Fredric March ’20
Oscar-winning actor (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1931; The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946)

Steve Marmel ’88
comedian, writer, TV producer

Steve Miller x’67
rock singer (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, 2016)

Thomas L. Miller ’62
TV writer/producer (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Bosom Buddies, Perfect Strangers)

Walter Mirisch ’42
producer (The Magnificent Seven, In the Heat of the Night, West Side Story, The Apartment)

Linda Montano MFA’69
artist

Erroll Morris ’69
movie, cable TV, and documentary producer (The Thin BlueLine, Gates of Heaven, The Fog of War)

Bruce Nauman ’64
artist

Tracy Nelson ’67
country singer

Joyce Carol Oates MA’61
novelist

Hans Obma ’02
actor (Better Call Saul; known for expertise with accents and playing villains)

Zorba Paster ’69
public radio host (On Your Health)

Meinhardt Raabe ’37
actor (The Wizard of Oz)

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ’18
Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Yearling

Nicole Rocklin ’01
producer who was part of team who won an Oscar for the movie Spotlight

Gena (Virginia) Rowlands x’51
actor

Josh Sapan ’75
president and CEO, AMC Networks

Richard Schickel ’55
Time magazine film critic

Michael Schultz ’61
actor, director, filmmaker

Al Schwartz ’53
retired TV producer, longtime producer and director of the Golden Globe Awards and American Music Awards

Ben Sidran ’67
jazz pianist

Glenn Silber ’72
documentary filmmaker (The War at Home)

Boz Skaggs (William Royce) x’66
rock singer

Danez Smith ’12
award-winning poet who authored the collections [insert] Boy and Don't Call Us Dead: Poems, both of which have received multiple awards

Joey Soloway ’87
director, author, and GLBTQ+ activist who created the Amazon series Transparent, 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Brian Stack MA’88
writer for all three of Conan O’Brian’s shows and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Richard Steiner ’68
coproducer, Broadway musicals

Peter Straub ’65
gothic author, 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Susan Straub ’66
founder of New York City nonprofit Read to Me, 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

John Szarkowski ’48
photographer, former director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City

Brandon Taylor MS’17
former scientist turned award-winning novelist

Peter Tiboris ’70, MS’74
conductor and founder of Mid America Productions

Daniel J. Travanti ’63
Emmy Award–winning actor (Hill Street Blues)

Butch Vig ’80
music producer of bands (Nirvana, Garbage)

James Watrous ’31, MA’33, PhD’39
painter of Memorial Union’s Paul Bunyan murals

Eudora Welty ’2
author (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Optimist’s Daughter, 1973)

Allee Willis ’69
composer of hit songs such as “September” and the Friends theme song, noted collector of kitsch

Michael Wilmington x’68
Chicago Tribune film critic

Frank Lloyd Wright x1890
architect

David ’70 and Jerry ’72 Zucker
movie producers (Airplane, Naked Gun)

Alan Ameche ’56
1954 Heisman trophy winner

Kenneth Behring ’51
former owner, Seattle Seahawks

Chris Borland ’13
prematurely left a promising NFL career because of concerns about CTE; is now an advocate for those with the disease

Steven Bornstein ’74
former president and CEO, National Football League

Ron Dayne x’00
1999 Heisman trophy winner

Harold “Bud” Foster ’30
longtime UW basketball coach

Suzy Favor Hamilton ’91
track star; competed in 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics

Eric Heiden x’81
Olympic speed skater

Phil Hellmuth Jr. x’86
professional poker player, youngest winner of the World Series of Poker

Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch x’45
UW football star

Beau Hoopman ’03
gold medalist, rowing, 2004 Olympics

Lee Kemp ’79, MBA’83
Wisconsin’s greatest wrestler, who missed his chance at Olympic gold when the U.S. withdrew from the 1980 Olympics

Rose Lavelle ’17
standout soccer player for the U.S. women’s team in 2019 World Cup

D. Wayne Lukas ’57, MS’60
trainer of thoroughbred race horses

Buddy Melges ’51
America’s Cup skipper

Eric Mueller ’94
silver medalist, rowing, 1996 Olympics

Carly Piper x’05
gold medalist, swimming, 2004 Olympics

George Poage 1903
African American medal winner in track, 1904 Olympics

Allan “Bud” Selig ’56
former commissioner, Major League Baseball; chairman, Selig Executive Leasing Corp.; former owner, Milwaukee Brewers

Judith Sweet ’69
first woman president of National Collegiate Athletic Association

Al Toon ’95
Badger wide receiver turned businessman

Professional football: Beau Allen, Zack Baun, Beau Benzschawel, Tyler Biadasz, Vince Biegel, Quintez Cephus, Jack Cichy, Corey Clement, Ryan Connelly, Michael Deiter, David Edwards, T. J. Edwards, Alex Erickson, Troy Fumagalli, Melvin Gordon, Ryan Groy, Rob Havenstein, Alec Ingold, Leon Jacobs, Natrell Jamerson, Dare Ogunbowale, Chris Orr, Ryan Ramczyk, Joe Schobert, Jonathan Taylor, JJ Watt, Russell Wilson

Professional hockey: Brian Elliott, Trent Frederic, Jake Gardiner, Wyatt Kalynuk, Luke Kunin, Jake McCabe, Ryan McDonagh, K’Andre Miller, Joe Pavelski, Justin Schultz, Brendan Smith, Craig Smith, Derek Stepan, Ryan Suter, Kyle Turris

Men’s professional basketball: Frank Kaminsky

Women’s professional basketball: Jolene Anderson, Rae Lin D’Alie, Marsha Howard, Taylor Wurtz

Women’s professional volleyball: Kelli Bates, Lauren Carlini, Tiffany Clark, Madison Duello, Lauryn Gillis, Romana Kriskova, Sheila Shaw, Tionna Williams

Virgil Abloh ’03
founder of Off-White, artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear

Carol Bartz ’71
former chair, president and CEO of Yahoo! Inc.

Kenneth Behring ’51
former owner, Seattle Seahawks

Oscar C. Boldt ’48
chair, Boldt Group

Viveca Chan ’76
CEO of WE Marketing Group, China’s first international ad agency

Jerome A. Chazen ’48
founder and chair, Chazen Capital Partners; former CEO, Liz Claiborne Inc.

C. K. Chow ’72
former chair of Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing, which owns the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Paul J. Collins ’58
former vice chair, Citigroup, London

Susan A. Davis ’68
chair and CEO, Susan Davis International (public relations), Washington, DC

Kenny Dichter ’90
CEO, Wheels Up; 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Marshall Erdman ’48
architect and builder, protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright (x1890)

Thomas Falk ’80
former president and CEO, Kimberly-Clark Corp.

David W. Grainger ’50
senior chairman, W. W. Grainger Inc.

Elzie Higginbottom ’65
founder, chair, and CEO, East Lake Management

Stacy Igel ’99
founder and creative director, Boy Meets Girl

Aaron Kennedy MBA’89
founder and former chair and president, Noodles and Co.

Kenji Kitatani MA’78, PhD’81
president, Live Asia, Inc.

Kay Smith Koplovitz ’67
founder, USA Network

Erick Laine ’55
chair, former president, and CEO, Alcas Corp. (died Dec. 2020)

Joan Lappin ’64
founder and chair, Gramercy Capital Management

Michael Levin ’72
executive chair, Titan Steel; founder and CEO, NewView Technologies

Sheldon ’51, LLB’53 and Marianne x’54 Lubar
UW Board of Regents President 1997–98, former assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Sheldon), philanthropists; 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients

Marie Moody ’90
founder, Stella & Chewy’s raw pet-food company

John P. Morgridge ’55
former chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems, San Jose, California

David Nicholas ’83
president and CEO, Nicholas Co.

Arthur C. Nielsen Sr. ’18
founder, A. C. Nielsen Co.

Arthur C. Nielsen Jr. ’41
former chair emeritus, A. C. Nielsen Co.; former director, Dun & Bradstreet

Bill Nygren MS’81
mutual fund analyst and manager

Tadashi Okamura MBA’73
president and CEO, Toshiba Corp.

Steven Pogorzelski ’83
former president, Monster North America; CEO of Avention, Inc.

Tom Pyle MBA’63
chair and president, Pyle Group; former chair and CEO, Rayovac Corp.

Lee R. Raymond ’60
former chairman and CEO, ExxonMobil

John Rowe ’67, JD’70
president and CEO, Exelon Corp.

Bob Schlicht ’73
former president, M&I Bank

Toni Sikes MS’83
founder, president and CEO, Guild.com

Carol Skornicka ’62, MS’64, JD’77
former senior vice president, Midwest Express Airlines

Joan Edelman Spero ’66
former president, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Peter Tong MA’65
high-tech entrepreneur; senior advisor at Arsenal Capital Partners

Charlie Trotter ’82
chef and owner of Charlie Trotter’s restaurant, Chicago (died Nov. 2013)

Scott Vandersanden EMBA’00
president, AT&T Wisconsin

Peter Weil ’70, JD’74
Los Angeles–based attorney, 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Duane Zitzner ’70
former vice president, Hewlett-Packard

Carolyn “Biddy” Martin PhD’85
former chancellor, UW–Madison; now president of Amherst College

Kit Saunders Nordeen MS’66, PhD’77
first UW women’s athletic director

Frederick Jackson Turner 1884, MA1888
historian who devised the “frontier thesis” about the American West

David Ward MS’62, PhD’63
former chancellor, UW–Madison

Helen C. White PhD’24
pioneering English professor at UW–Madison

John Wiley MS’65, PhD’69
former chancellor, UW–Madison

Former U.S. vice president: Dick Cheney PhDx’68

Former U.S. senators: Russ Feingold ’75, Wisconsin; Jon Blair Hunter ’64, MS’66, West Virginia; Herb Kohl ’56, Wisconsin; Robert Marion La Follette Jr. x’17, Wisconsin; Charles Robb ’61, Virginia

U.S. representatives: Tammy Baldwin JD’89, Wisconsin; Jason Crow ’02, Colorado; Bill Foster ’76, Illinois; Glenn Grothman ’77, JD’83, Wisconsin; Jim Jordan ’86, Ohio; Marcy Kaptur ’68, Ohio; Debbie Lesko ’81, Arizona; Mark Pocan ’86, Wisconsin; Bryan Steil JD’07, Wisconsin

Former U.S. representatives: Tom Barrett BA’76, JD’80 (now mayor of Milwaukee); M. Bob Carr ’65, JD’68, Michigan; Mark Green JD’87, Wisconsin; Bob Kastenmeier LLB’52, Wisconsin; Scott Klug MBA’90, Wisconsin; David Obey BA’76, JD’80, Wisconsin; F. James Sensenbrenner JD’68, Wisconsin

Governors: Tony Evers ’73, MS’76, PhD’86, Wisconsin.

Former governors: James Doyle ’67, Wisconsin; Lee Dreyfus ’49, MA’52, PhD’58, Wisconsin; Phillip Fox La Follette LLB’22, Wisconsin; Richard Lamm ’57, Colorado; Patrick Lucey ’46, Wisconsin; Russell Peterson ’38, PhD’42, Delaware; Tommy Thompson ’63, JD’66, Wisconsin

Mayors: Tom Barrett BA’76, JD’80, Milwaukee

Former mayors: Sue Bauman ’65, JD’81, MS’81, Madison; Dave Cieslewicz ’81, Madison; Laura Miller ’80, Dallas, John Norquist ’71, MA’88, Milwaukee; Paul Soglin ’66, JD’72, Madison; Sergio Fajardo Valderrama MA’81, PhD’84, Medellín, Colombia

Others: Iajuddin Ahmed MS’58, PhD’62, former president of Bangladesh

Thomas Barnett ’84
Pentagon adviser; senior strategic researcher, Naval War College

Charlene Barshefsky ’72
former U.S. trade representative

Jodie (Joan) Zeldes Bernstein ’48
former director, Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection

Cecil Blake PhD’76
former chief government spokesperson, minister of information and broadcasting, Sierra Leone

Lynne Vincent Cheney PhD’70
spouse of vice president Dick CheneyPhDx’68, former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities

Florence Chenoweth MS’70, PhD’86
former minister of Agriculture in Liberia

Piyabutr Cholvijarn ’72
president of Kenan Institute of Asia, former president and CEO of Union Bank of Bangkok

Ada Deer ’57
former head of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs

Lawrence Eagleburger ’52, MS’57
former secretary of state, diplomat

Abdel Rahman Hamad MS’72, PhD’75
former Palestinian minister of housing

JoAnn Jones ’82, MS’83, JD’87
former president, Ho-Chunk Nation

Richard Jones MS’76, PhD’80
former ambassador to Lebanon

Robert M. La Follette 1879
former Wisconsin governor and congressman, leader of Progressive movement

John Lange ’71, JD’75
former ambassador to Botswana

Jon Leibowitz ’80
lawyer who served as chair of the Federal Trade Commission

Patrick Lucey ’46
former U.S. ambassador to Mexico

Doris Meissner ’63, MA’69
former head of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Gaylord Nelson LLB’42
former Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator, founder of Earth Day

Vel Phillips LLB’51
first woman and African American elected to Milwaukee’s Common Council, first African American judge in Wisconsin, first woman and African American to serve as Wisconsin’s secretary of state

Joy Newberger Picus ’51
former Los Angeles city council member

Kate Hamilton Pier LLB1887
attorney and first woman in the U.S. to be granted a judicial appointment (commissioner of Milwaukee County Circuit Court)

Conchita Poncini-Jimenez MS’64
former president, Non-Governmental Organizations Committee on the Status of Women

Rafael Rangel-Sostmann MS’67, PhD’73
former rector of Mexico’s Monterrey Institute of Technology

Daniel Speckhard ’80, MA’82, MS’83
former ambassador to Greece and to the Republic of Belarus; now president and CEO of Corus International, an ensemble of faith-based organizations

Tommy Thompson ’63, JD’66
former Wisconsin governor, former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, current interim president of the UW System

Hung-mao Tien MA’66, PhD’69
former minister of foreign affairs, Taiwan

Frances Ulmer ’69, JD’72
former lieutenant governor, Alaska

Jean Wilkowski ’44
former ambassador, 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Yeshey Zimba ’75, MA’76
former prime minister, Bhutan

Lynsey Addario ’95
Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist known for war photography

Stephen E. Ambrose ’57, PhD’63
author, biographer, historian

Avi (Edward Wortis) ’59, MA’62
children’s author, Newbery Medal winner

Lowell Bergman ’66
former 60 Minutes producer, Pulitzer Prize winner as New York Times journalist

Deborah Blum MA’82
author, Pulitzer Prize winner

Walt Bogdanich ’75
60 Minutes producer, New York Times investigative editor, Pulitzer Prize winner, 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Steven Bornstein ’74
chair, GO.com; former head of ABC Sports

Rita Braver ’70
national reporter, CBS News

William Broad MA’77
Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, New York Times

Jane Brody MS’63
health columnist, New York Times

Christopher Bury MA’77
former correspondent and backup anchor for ABC News’ Nightline, now with Al Jazeera America

Kelly Cobiella ’93
CBS Evening News correspondent

John Darnton ’67
Pulitzer Prize winner and writer for the New York Times

William Evjue x1906
founder of the Capital Times

Jason Gay ’92
Wall Street Journal sports columnist and rabid Badger fan

John Geddes MA’76
comanaging editor, New York Times

Peter Greenberg ’72
chief travel correspondent, Travel Channel; travel editor, Today

Jeff Greenfield ’64
news analyst, CNN

Ina Jaffe ’72
NPR correspondent

Carrie Johnson MA’96
NPR justice correspondent

Haynes Johnson MS’56
author and journalist; former columnist, Washington Post; Pulitzer Prize winner

Kay Koplovitz ’67
former president and CEO, USA network

Belle Case La Follette 1879, LLB1885
journalist, Progressive movement leader

Dale Lang ’55
former chair, Lang Communications (published Working Woman magazine)

David Maraniss x’71
Pulitzer Prize–winning associate editor, Washington Post; author

Bruce (Rudy) Martzke ’64
former sports columnist, USA Today

Patricia McConnell ’81, MS’84, PhD’88
former cohost, Calling All Pets, Wisconsin Public Radio; author

Robert D. McFadden ’60
Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, New York Times

Karl E. Meyer ’51
editor, World Policy Journal; former reporter and member of editorial board, New York Times

Edwin Newman ’40
author, journalist

Eric Newhouse ’67
Pulitzer Prize winner

Pongsak Payakvichien MA’71
Thai newspaper-journalism pioneer

David Pittle MS’65, PhD’69
former senior vice president of technical policy, Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports)

Manu Raju ’02
senior congressional correspondent for CNN

Steven Raymer ’67, MA’71
former director, National Geographic Society News Service

Ben Relles ’97
head of unscripted programming, YouTube Originals (got his start with “Obama Girl” video)

Rhonda Wolter Rowland ’84
video producer and former CNN medical correspondent

Richard Schickel ’55
book author; former movie critic, Time/Life

Anthony Shadid ’90
journalist, Washington Post; Pulitzer Prize winner

Leonard Shapiro ’68
former sports columnist, Washington Post

Larry ‟Ratso” Sloman MS’72
journalist and author who has written about Bob Dylan, Mike Tyson, Harry Houdini, Howard Stern, and other colorful figures

William Siemering ’56, MS’60
a founder of National Public Radio, creator of All Things Considered

Robert Sims MA’71
former executive vice president, National Geographic Society

Steven Smith ’72
former CEO of Journal Communications, Milwaukee

Alair Townsend MS’64
former vice president and publisher, Crain’s New York Business

Greta Van Susteren ’76
attorney and former TV news anchor for CNN, Fox News, and NBC News; now political analyst with Gray Television

Mitchell Waldrop PhD’75, MA’77
author, public affairs specialist, National Science Foundation

Patricia K. Wells MA’72
cookbook editor and author; restaurant critic; former food editor, International Herald Tribune

Jonathan Wolman ’72
former editor and publisher, Detroit News; former executive editor and vice president, Associated Press

David Zweifel ’62
editor emeritus, Capital Times, Madison

Robert Leroy Bartley MS’62
editorial-page editor of the Wall Street Journal for more than 30 years

Shirley Abrahamson DJS’62
former chief justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

William Bablitch ’63, JD’68
former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Ann Walsh Bradley JD’76
justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Louis Butler JD’77
first African American Wisconsin Supreme Court justice

William Callow ’43, LLB’48
retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice

Barbara B. Crabb ’60, LLB’62
chief U.S. district judge (semiretired), Western District of Wisconsin

Judith Dobkin ’65
prosecuting attorney, Chicago Justice Department Strike Force

James Doyle ’67
former attorney general, State of Wisconsin

Nathan S. Heffernan ’42, LLB’48
chief justice (retired), Wisconsin Supreme Court

Richard B. Lowe III ’64
former justice, New York Supreme Court

David T. Prosser Jr. JD’68
former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Mabel Watson Raimey 1918
believed to be the first Black woman to graduate from the UW and the first to practice law in Wisconsin

Donald W. Steinmetz ’49, JD’51
former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

J. B. Van Hollen JD’90
former attorney general, State of Wisconsin

Jon P. Wilcox JD’65
former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Kashoua Kristy Yang JD’08
judge, Milwaukee Circuit Court; first Hmong American female judge in the nation

Marci Bowers ’80
sought-after sex reassignment surgeon who is herself transgender

Helen Dickie ’35, MD’37
pulmonologist who helped identify “farmer’s lung” and helped eradicate TB on campus; one of the UW’s first female faculty members

Mary Lasker x’22
creator of the influential Lasker Foundation, which lobbied to strengthen cancer and other medical research

Harriett Goldhor Lerner ’66
psychologist, author

Abraham Maslow ’30, MA’31
psychologist, devised “hierarchy of needs” theory

Eilzabeth McCoy ’25, PhD’29
noted microbiologist who helped identify the first marketable strain of penicillin

Ann McKee ’75
expert in degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)

Karl Menninger ’14, MS’15
psychiatrist; founder, Menninger Clinic

Linnea Smith ’81, MD’84
founder and medical director of Yanomono Medical Clinic in Peru, 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Kevin Thao ’06, MD’10, MPh’11
physician, Aspirus Wausau Family Medicine; faculty associate, UW Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Paula Bonner MS’78
former president and CEO, Wisconsin Alumni Association

Josh Bycel ’93
founder, OneKidOneWorld; 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Kaleem Caire ’00 and Lisa Peyton-Caire ’96, MS’99
cofounders, Next Generation Education Foundation; 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients

Sarah Coglianese ’00
creator of #WhatWouldYouGive campaign

Abigail David, ’96, MS’98
director, Helping Hands Center; 2009 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Clayt Freed ’97
founder and director, Progressive Voter Network; 2009 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Shihoko Fujiwara ’03
coordinator with the Polaris Project, nonprofit organization that combats human trafficking; 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Matthew Geck ’92, MD’96
founder, SpineHope; 2009 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Zainab Ghadiyali ’12
cofounder of Wogrammer

Shana Hazan ’02
chief development officer, Jewish Family Services of San Diego

James Kass ’91
founder, Youth Speaks; 2008 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Steven Olikara ’12
founder and president, Millennial Action Project

Janet Olson ’92
founder, Basic Animal Rescue Training; 2008 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Roberto Rivera ’04
founder of Chicago-based The Good Life Organization

Ben Schumaker ’03, MS’06
founder, The Memory Project; 2008 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Kathy Dwyer Southern BBA’68, MA’72
former president and CEO, Capitol Children’s Museum, Washington, DC

Zoe Timms ’97
director, Women’s Education Program; 2009 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Neil Willenson ’92
CEO and founder, One Heartland; 2009 Forward under 40 Award recipient

Jake Wood ’05
founder of Team Rubicon, which mobilizes volunteers after natural disasters

Fay Ajzenberg-Selove MS’49, PhD’52
physicist, recipient of 2007 National Medal of Science

Matthew Aliota ’05, PhD’10
expert in tropical mosquito-borne diseases including the Zika virus

Ethel K. Allen ’28, MS’30
coauthor of the “encyclopedia” of the role of legumes in nitrogen fixation

John Bardeen ’28, MS’29
winner, two Nobel Prizes in physics

Günter Blobel PhD’67
winner, 1999 Nobel Prize in medicine; head of cell biology lab at Rockefeller University in Manhattan

Laurel Clark ’83, MD’87
astronaut, space shuttle Columbia

Raymond Damadian ’56
inventor, magnetic resonance imager for diagnosis

Hector DeLuca MS’53, PhD’55
UW faculty, pioneer in synthesizing vitamin D

Matthew Desmond MS’04, PhD’10
Princeton sociologist who won a 2016 Pulitzer for the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Carl Djerassi PhD’45
chemist, Stanford University professor; “father of the birth control pill”; novelist; playwright

James Dumesic ’71
discovered process for turning biomass into hydrogen

Conrad Elvehjem ’23, MS’24, PhD’27
former UW professor and president; discovered cure for pellagra

Thelma Estrin ’48, MS’49, PhD’52
pioneering engineer who introduced computing technology into medical research

Alice Evans MS1910
dairy researcher who was key in the advent of pasteurization

Fran Hamerstrom MS’40
pioneering wildlife ecologist who was one of the first women in the field, known for her research on raptors

David M. Jacobs MA’68, PhD’73
retired Temple University historian and ufologist known for his research and books on alleged alien abductions

Sr. Mary Kenneth Keller PhD’65
computer science pioneer who was the nation’s first woman (and possibly first person, male or female) to earn a PhD in computer science

Jack St. Clair Kilby MS’50
physicist; inventor; winner, Nobel Prize in physics

Charles Lindbergh x’24
aviator who completed the first solo trans-Atlantic flight

Karl Paul Link ’22, MS’23, PhD’25
discovered blood thinner dicumerol

Jim Lovell x’50
astronaut, Apollo 13 mission

Alan MacDiarmid MS’52, PhD’53
professor, University of Pennsylvania; winner, Nobel Prize in chemistry

John Muir x1863
naturalist, father of national park system

John Allen Paulos ’67, PhD’74
mathematician; author of 1989 bestseller, Innumeracy

George Schaller MS’57, PhD’62
animal behaviorist

Brewster Shaw ’68, MS’69
astronaut, space shuttle Columbia; former director, Space Shuttle Operations, NASA,

Fredrick J. Stare ’31, MS’33, PhD’34
founder of Harvard’s department of nutrition

Harry Steenbock MS’10, PhD’16
professor, discovered and patented vitamin D irradiation method

Adam Steltzner PhD’99
one of NASA’s top engineers who is leading the effort to find life on Mars

Paulina Stowhas MS’15
veterinarian and expert on human-wildlife conflicts

Margaret (Maggie) Turnbull ’98
astronomer who specializes in looking for life on habitable planets

Stephen Turner ’91
founder and chief technology officer of Pacific Biosciences, 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient

Rupa Valdez ’03, MS’07, PhD’12
assistant professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia; founder, Blue Trunk Foundation