This is a list of notable people who attended, or taught at, the University of Wisconsin–Madison:
Notable alumni
Nobel laureates
John Bardeen, B.S. 1928 and M.S. 1929, only two-time recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 and 1972 Saul Bellow, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976, did not graduate Günter Blobel, Ph.D. 1967, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1999 Paul D. Boyer, M.S. 1941, Ph.D. 1943, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1997 William C. Campbell, M.S. 1953, Ph.D. 1957, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 Herbert Spencer Gasser, A.B. 1910, A.M. 1911, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1944 Alan G. MacDiarmid, M.S. 1952, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 Stanford Moore, Ph.D. 1938, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1972 Erwin Neher, M.S. 1967, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991 Theodore Schultz, M.S. 1928, Ph.D. 1930, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979 Edward Lawrie Tatum, B.A. 1931, M.S. 1932, Ph.D. 1935, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958 John H. Van Vleck, A.B. 1920, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977
Athletics
Academics
Arts and entertainment A–M
Virgil Abloh, fashion designer, artistic director of Louis Vuitton's men's wear collection Don Ameche, Academy Award–winning actor Joseph Anthony, playwright, actor, and director Iris Apfel, interior designer and fashion icon Hazel Larsen Archer, photographer William Bast, screenwriter Gary Beecham, glass artist James Benning Andrew Bergman, film writer, director, and producer Rick Berman, television/movie producer Drew Binsky, travel influencer Chester Biscardi, composer Keith D. Black, screenwriter Jerry Bock, composer Karen Borca, musician Kate Borcherding, artist Pat Brady, cartoonist, creator of Rose Is Rose Tamara Braun, actress Marshall Brickman, screenwriter Gary Hugh Brown, artist Oscar Brown, musician Johnny Burke, lyricist Amy Nelson Burnett (born 1957), historian, author and academic Macdonald Carey, actor Adrian "Wildman" Cenni, professional driver and stuntman Gina Cerminara, author Jeff Cesario, comedian and writer Ann Fox Chandonnet, poet Alison Chernick, filmmaker Dale Chihuly, glass artist Robert Clarke, actor Alf Clausen, film composer Hunter Cole, artist Carrie Coon, actress Joan Cusack, actress Rich Dahm, co-executive producer and head writer of The Colbert Report Richard Dauenhauer, poet Richard Davis, jazz-bassist, recording artist, professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison André DeShields, Emmy Award–winning actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer Chip Dunham, cartoonist Susan Dynner, film director, producer Lois Ehlert, illustrator, Caldecott Medal recipient Dean Elliott, film composer Joe Feddersen, artist David Fishelson, Broadway producer, playwright, filmmaker Honor Ford-Smith, actress Jason Gerhardt, actor Glenn Gissler, interior designer Jill Godmilow, filmmaker Roger Goeb, composer Bert I. Gordon, film director Stuart Gordon, stage and film director Evan Gruzis, painter MK Guth, artist Daron Hagen, composer, conductor, pianist Uta Hagen, actress, recipient of the National Medal of Arts Tom Hall, game designer Anna Halprin, pioneer of postmodern dance Timothy Hasenstein, painter and sculptor Sorrel Hays, pianist Sam Herman, glass artist F. Scott Hess, painter and conceptual artist Charlie Hill, television writer Lee Hoiby, composer Gwendolyn Holbrow, sculptor Anders Holm, actor, writer, producer for Workaholics Lawrence Holofcener, sculptor Adam Horowitz, television writer Zola Jesus, born Nika Roza Danilova, singer/songwriter Jane Kaczmarek, actress Kelly Kahl, television executive Irene Kampen, author Ben Karlin, Emmy Award–winning television producer Catherine Ransom Karoly, flutist Carol Kolb, author, television writer Craig A. Kraft, sculptor Karl Kroeger, composer Myron W. Krueger, computer artist Kay Kurt, painter Rocco Landesman, producer Steven Levitan, television writer, director, and producer Marvin Lipofsky, glass artist Joseph Lulloff, musician C. Cameron Macauley, photographer Michael Mann, movie director/producer
Fredric March, actor Steve Marmel, comedian, writer, Fairly Odd Parents Karen Thuesen Massaro, ceramicist Pat McCurdy, singer-songwriter John O. Merrill, architect Steve Miller, musician, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Kui Min Walter Mirisch, Academy Award–winning film producer Paul Monash, former screenwriter and producer Jemeel Moondoc, musician Agnes Moorehead, actress Errol Morris, Academy Award–winning director Kevin Murphy, writer, actor, and puppeteer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 Michael Derrington Murphy, chemist and musician
N–Z
Floyd Naramore, architect Bruce Nauman, glass artist Ken Navarro, jazz guitarist Jennifer Nehrbass, artist Aaron Ohlmann, editor, producer, and documentarian Tricia O'Kelley, actress Lance Olsen, non-fiction writer, novelist, poet, short-story writer Irna Phillips, actress; soap opera writer and script editor Meinhardt Raabe, Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz Nathan Rabin, film critic Som Ranchan, poet Rita Mae Reese, poet and publisher Rosetta Reitz, jazz historian Mary T. Reynolds, writer Mark Rosenberg, film producer Tom Rosenberg, Academy Award–winning film producer Brad Rowe, actor Gena Rowlands, actress Boz Scaggs (William Royce Scaggs), musician Ira Schneider, video artist Jana Schneider, actress and journalist Jon Schueler, artist Michael Schultz, filmmaker and television director Delmore Schwartz, poet Seann William Scott, actor Barolong Seboni, poet Brittany Shane, singer and songwriter Tom Shannon Ben Sidran, jazz pianist Joe Silver, Tony Award–nominated actor of stage and screen Tormod Skagestad, director of Det Norske Teatret Danez Smith, spoken word artist, poet Bently Spang, multidisciplinary artist Lev L. Spiro, television director Brian Stack, Emmy Award–winning writer and comic Josh Stamberg, actor Leon C. Standifer, horticulturist, novelist, and memoirist Robert Stone Herbert Stothart, film composer Richard Steven Street, photographer Sun Yu, film director David Susskind, producer of film and television John Szarkowski, curator and photographer Daniel J. Travanti, Emmy Award–winning actor Charlie Trotter, chef, PBS host Neal Ulevich, photographer James Valcq, composer Michael Velliquette, artist Butch Vig, musician, Garbage Eric Villency, interior designer Sylvia Solochek Walters, artist, printmaker and educator William Walton, painter, government official Marc Webb, film, television, and music video director Matt White, singer-songwriter Nancy Metz White, sculptor John Wilde, painter Allee Willis, songwriter Tom Wopat, actor/musician Frank Lloyd Wright (attended), architect Frank Wu, science-fiction artist Yung Gravy (Matthew Hauri), rapper Jorge Zamacona, television writer and producer Marilyn J Ziffrin, composer Glen Zipper, film producer Charlotte Zucker, actress David Zucker, movie director/producer Jerry Zucker, movie director/producer
Aviators and astronauts
Laurel Clark, astronaut Roger G. DeKok, astronaut Fred E. Gutt, aviator Marcella Hayes, first African-American woman pilot in the U.S. Armed Forces Walter Edwin Lees, aviator Charles Lindbergh, aviator (did not graduate) Nathan J. Lindsay, astronaut Jim Lovell, astronaut, Apollo 13 mission Robert Campbell Reeve, founder of Reeve Aleutian Airways Richard V. Rhode, aeronautical engineer, NACA and NASA; awarded Wright Brothers Medal in 1937 Brewster Shaw, astronaut, former director, Space Shuttle Operations, NASA
Business
Carol Bartz, former CEO of Yahoo!, former chairman of the board, president, and CEO of Autodesk Randall Boe, general counsel for AOL Jerome Chazen, co-founder of Liz Claiborne Chow Chung-Kong, CEO of MTR Corporation M. J. Cleary, insurance executive Michael J. Critelli, executive chairman of Pitney Bowes William H. Davidson, former president of Harley-Davidson Willie G. Davidson, former vice president, Harley-Davidson Thomas J. Falk, CEO of Kimberly Clark Judith R. Faulkner, CEO and founder of Epic Systems Edgar Fiedler (1929–2003), economist Donald Goerke, Campbell's executive, inventor of SpaghettiOs William S. Harley, founder of Harley-Davidson Charles Walter Hart, founder of Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company, coined the word "tractor" Harvey V. Higley, president of Ansul Colin Huang, founder, chairman, and CEO of Pinduoduo David J. Lesar, chairman, president and CEO of Halliburton Energy Services Kevin Mather, baseball executive Larry McVoy, CEO, Bitmover John P. Morgridge, chairman of the board, former president and CEO of Cisco Systems, philanthropist William Beverly Murphy, former president and CEO, Campbell's Keith Nosbusch, CEO, Rockwell Automation Richard Notebaert, former chairman and CEO of Qwest, Tellabs and Ameritech Lee R. Raymond, former chairman and CEO, ExxonMobil Philip D. Reed, former president of GE Stephen S. Roach, economist with Morgan Stanley John Rowe, CEO of Exelon Kenneth L. Schroeder, CEO, KLA-Tencor Deven Sharma, president of Standard and Poor's Jane Trahey, advertiser Reuben Trane, president of Trane Patrick Waddick, president and COO of Cirrus Aircraft Peter Booth Wiley, publisher Elmer Winter (1912–2009), founder of ManpowerGroupMartin, Douglas. "Elmer Winter, 97, Co-Founder of Manpower Temp Agency, Dies ", The New York Times, October 30, 2009. Retrieved November 2, 2009. Lewis Wolff, real estate developer and owner of the Oakland Athletics and San Jose Earthquakes Zhu Yunlai, CEO of China International Capital Corp
Literature
Nazik Al-Malaika, Iraqi poet Kevin J. Anderson, author Nuala Archer, poet Alice Elinor Bartlett, author Lynne Cheney, children's writer, novelist and former Second Lady of the United States Donald Clarke, author on music Eleanor Clymer, children's author Betsy Colquitt, poet Jane Cooper, poet Richard Dauenhauer, poet August Derleth, writer, editor, anthologist of H. P. Lovecraft, and founder of Arkham House publishing Ainehi Edoro, founder and editor of Brittle Paper literary magazine Esther Forbes, author and Pulitzer Prize winner Genevieve Foster, author Zona Gale, novelist, playwright, and short-story writer Robert Greene Sam Greenlee, author Horace Gregory, poet Frederick Gutheim, author Emily Hahn, author Lorraine Hansberry, non-fiction writer, playwright, screenwriter Mildred Elizabeth Fish Harnack, literary historian, English/German translator, WWII resistance fighter Eva Lund Haugen, author Michael Heiser, author and Biblical scholar David Henige, author Kevin Henkes, children's author Conrad Hilberry, poet Hjalmar Holand, historian bell hooks (born Gloria Jean Watkins) , non-fiction writer, children's writer, poet, and activist Carolyn Hougan, writer Jim Hougan, writer Jens Joneleit, composer Lesley Kagen, author Jay Kennedy, editor-in-chief of King Features Syndicate Herbert Kubly, non-fiction writer, novelist, playwright, short-story writer Margery Latimer, novelist and short-story writer Ann Lauterbach, poet Flora E. Lowry (1879–1933), anthologist Gordon MacQuarrie, author, writer, and outdoorsman Honoré Willsie Morrow, author, magazine editor Lotte Motz, scholar of German mythology Joyce Carol Oates, National Book Award–winning author and professor at Princeton University Ed Ochester, poet Lance Olsen, author and writer Sigurd F. Olson, author and naturalist Alicia Ostriker, poet Kenneth Patchen, poet Gerald Peary, film critic Robert Peters, poet, playwright, critic, and professor Richard Quinney, author Som Ranchan, scholar and author Ellen Raskin, author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Pulitzer Prize–winning author