Remembering Dr. Karen Steudel-Numbers
- Oct. 27, 2021

Dr. Karen Steudel-Numbers PhD’74 was chair of the Department of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before her retirement in 2010. She is well known on campus, having taught the introductory course, Zoology 101, to more than 400 students per semester for over 30 years. She passed away on her birthday, September 25, 2021, in Madison, Wisconsin. Professor Steudel-Numbers spent her career pushing the boundaries of how we understand locomotion, human evolution, and the role of women in academia. Her standards of excellence in terms of experimental design, data collection, and analysis allowed her to test assumptions and discover patterns left untouched by less meticulous scientists. Through extraordinary focus and a love of discovery, Karen became the first female zoology professor to receive tenure and the first female chair of the Department of Zoology at UW–Madison. By her retirement, Karen had published on the locomotion of nearly every known biped of the human lineage.
More Alumni Notes
Glen Zipper ’95, Oscar-winning producer of such documentaries as John Candy: I Like Me and IMAX’s The Blue Angels will be adding scripted projects to his filmography with Sony’s upcoming science fiction film Grand Gear, from Godzilla Minus O...
Alanna Goldman ’20 founded a sports media company, 5wins, based on her own experience growing up a Badger sports fan. As her interest in women’s college sports grew, she realized that understanding athletes as people and the passion of the w...
Michael Anderson ’05, MS’09, PhD’11 and Jie Liu ’09, MS’11 celebrated 14 years of marriage in November 2025. They met in 2009 while working for different Wisconsin professors at CERN in the city of Meyrin, Switzerland. Michael was a research assis...
Calvin Beyer ’86 was elected to the National Academy of Construction in the class of 2025. Calvin Beyer is the senior director of SAFE Workplaces for the national nonprofit SAFE Project (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic). Beyer leads national ...
Glen Zipper ’95, Oscar-winning producer of such documentaries as John Candy: I Like Me and IMAX’s The Blue Angels will be adding scripted projects to his filmography with Sony’s upcoming science fiction film Grand Gear, from Godzilla Minus O...
Alanna Goldman ’20 founded a sports media company, 5wins, based on her own experience growing up a Badger sports fan. As her interest in women’s college sports grew, she realized that understanding athletes as people and the passion of the w...
Michael Anderson ’05, MS’09, PhD’11 and Jie Liu ’09, MS’11 celebrated 14 years of marriage in November 2025. They met in 2009 while working for different Wisconsin professors at CERN in the city of Meyrin, Switzerland. Michael was a research assis...
Calvin Beyer ’86 was elected to the National Academy of Construction in the class of 2025. Calvin Beyer is the senior director of SAFE Workplaces for the national nonprofit SAFE Project (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic). Beyer leads national ...
Glen Zipper ’95, Oscar-winning producer of such documentaries as John Candy: I Like Me and IMAX’s The Blue Angels will be adding scripted projects to his filmography with Sony’s upcoming science fiction film Grand Gear, from Godzilla Minus O...
Alanna Goldman ’20 founded a sports media company, 5wins, based on her own experience growing up a Badger sports fan. As her interest in women’s college sports grew, she realized that understanding athletes as people and the passion of the w...
Michael Anderson ’05, MS’09, PhD’11 and Jie Liu ’09, MS’11 celebrated 14 years of marriage in November 2025. They met in 2009 while working for different Wisconsin professors at CERN in the city of Meyrin, Switzerland. Michael was a research assis...
Calvin Beyer ’86 was elected to the National Academy of Construction in the class of 2025. Calvin Beyer is the senior director of SAFE Workplaces for the national nonprofit SAFE Project (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic). Beyer leads national ...





