List of University of Wisconsin–Madison people

This is a list of notable people who attended, or taught at, the University of Wisconsin–Madison:

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
 * 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, Ph.D. 1953, 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
 * George Smith, postdoctoral fellow, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018
 * 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

Arts and entertainment



 * 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.
 * William Bast, screenwriter
 * Adrian "Wildman" Cenni, professional driver and stuntman
 * 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
 * Macdonald Carey, actor
 * 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/educator at University of Wisconsin-Madison
 * André DeShields, Emmy Award-winning actor/singer/dancer/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
 * Yung Gravy (Matthew Hauri), rapper
 * Charlie Hill, television writer
 * 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
 * Lee Hoiby, composer
 * Gwendolyn Holbrow, sculptor
 * Anders Holm, actor, writer, producer for Workaholics
 * Lawrence Holofcener, sculptor
 * Adam Horowitz, television writer
 * 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
 * Zola Jesus, born Nika Roza Danilova, singer/songwriter
 * 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, writer and author
 * 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 (Wm. 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
 * Tormod Skagestad, director of Det Norske Teatret
 * Joe Silver, Tony Award nominated actor of stage and screen
 * 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 writer
 * 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
 * William Walton, painter, government official
 * Sylvia Solochek Walters, artist, printmaker and educator
 * 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
 * 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 Soup Company 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
 * Lawrence R. Kaplan, president and CEO of SDVI
 * 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 Soup Company
 * 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 ManpowerGroup
 * 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, author, writer, 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
 * Esther Forbes, author and Pulitzer Prize winner
 * Genevieve Foster, author
 * Zona Gale, author and playwright
 * Robert Greene
 * Sam Greenlee, author
 * Horace Gregory, poet
 * Frederick Gutheim, author
 * Emily Hahn, author
 * Lorraine Hansberry, author and playwright
 * Eva Lund Haugen, author
 * Michael Heiser, author and Biblical scholar
 * David Henige, author
 * Kevin Henkes, children's author
 * Conrad Hilberry, poet
 * Hjalmar Holand, author and historian
 * bell hooks, author, writer, 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, author and playwright
 * Margery Latimer, author and 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
 * Ainehi Edoro, founder and editor of Brittle Paper
 * 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
 * Ella Giles Ruddy (1851–1917), author, editor
 * Sofia Samatar, professor, editor and writer
 * Pamela Redmond Satran, entrepreneur and author
 * Mark Schorer, writer, critic, and professor
 * Delmore Schwartz, poet and writer
 * Barolong Seboni, poet
 * Clifford D. Simak, science fiction author
 * Tormod Skagestad, poet
 * Raymond J. Smith, literary critic
 * John Snead, writer and role player
 * Midori Snyder, writer and author
 * David Stephenson, poet
 * Peter Straub, author, recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and the International Horror Guild Award
 * Mark Tatge, journalist
 * Martha L. Poland Thurston, social leader, philanthropist, writer
 * Steve Tittle, Canadian composer
 * Danielle Trussoni, writer from La Crosse
 * Francis Utley, folklorist and linguist
 * James Valcq, composer and writer
 * Stanley G. Weinbaum, science fiction author
 * Jody Weiner, novelist, author, film producer
 * Patricia Wells, author
 * Eudora Welty, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
 * Viola S. Wendt, poet
 * E.J. Westlake, playwright
 * Frank Wu, science fiction artist
 * Mark Wunderlich, poet
 * Marya Zaturenska, poet

News, journalism, and broadcasting

 * Roy Adams, Canadian journalist
 * Lynsey Addario, photojournalist
 * Mary Agria, journalist/author
 * Irene Osgood Andrews, former labor journalist
 * Jim Armstrong, sports writer, The Denver Post
 * Robert L. Bartley, former editor, Wall Street Journal
 * Rod Beaton (1951–2011), sports journalist for USA Today
 * Lowell Bergman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
 * Walt Bogdanich, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
 * Rita Braver, national reporter, CBS News
 * William Broad, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
 * Jane Brody, columnist, New York Times
 * Peter Brunette, film critic (The Hollywood Reporter) and film historian
 * Chris Bury, correspondent, Nightline
 * Erik Bye, Norwegian journalist
 * Tim Cahill, adventure travel writer, founding editor of Outside magazine
 * Susan Carpenter, journalist and author
 * Ethan Casey, journalist
 * John Darnton, journalist
 * Nancy Dickerson, journalist
 * Doris Dungey, former blogger
 * Andrew Feinberg, White House Correspondent for Breakfast Media
 * Michael Feldman, host of Public Radio's Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?
 * Bob Franken, correspondent, CNN
 * Elina Fuhrman, journalist
 * Jeff Greenfield, senior political correspondent, CBS
 * Ruth Gruber, author and journalist
 * Usha Haley, business journalist
 * Helen Holmes, journalist, historian, Women's Army Corps officer
 * Paul Ingrassia, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Don L. Johnson, journalist and author
 * Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Ben Karlin, creator and former executive producer, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report
 * Andy Katz, college basketball writer, ESPN
 * Jay Kennedy, journalist and writer
 * Louis P. Lochner, journalist
 * David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Patricia McConnell, co-host of Public Radio's Calling All Pets
 * Robert D. McFadden, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Karl E. Meyer, journalist for The New York Times and editor of World Policy Journal
 * Michael Meyer, journalist, travel writer
 * Edwin Newman, former NBC news correspondent
 * Arthur C. Nielsen Sr., founder of AC Nielsen (TV ratings and market research)
 * Michele Norris, journalist at National Public Radio
 * Miriam Ottenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Danny Peary, film critic
 * Gerald Peary, film critic
 * Nathan Rabin, film critic
 * Manu Raju, correspondent, CNN
 * Gil Reavill, journalist and screenwriter
 * Chris Rose
 * Phil Rosenthal, columnist, Chicago Tribune
 * Susanne Rust, journalist
 * Joe Schoenmann, journalist, author
 * Joseph Sexton, journalist and reporter with the New York Times
 * Anthony Shadid, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * Algie Martin Simons, journalist
 * Tom Skilling, chief meteorologist, WGN-TV
 * William P. Steven, editor and newspaper executive, Tulsa Tribune, Minneapolis Tribune, Houston Chronicle
 * James Suckling, wine and cigar critic
 * Nilofar Suhrawardy, journalist
 * Christopher Tennant, magazine editor
 * Mildred Ladner Thompson, former journalist
 * Stephen Thompson, NPR music journalist
 * Dave Umhoefer, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
 * David C. Unger, journalist, New York Times
 * Greta Van Susteren, broadcaster and news analyst, Fox News Channel
 * Tom Vanden Brook, journalist with USA Today
 * Kenneth P. Vogel, journalist with Politico
 * Mary Williams Walsh, journalist
 * James Wieghart, journalist
 * Conrad Worrill, broadcaster
 * David Zurawik, author, journalist with The Baltimore Sun, assistant professor at Goucher College

Law and politics

 * A–G


 * Charles L. Aarons, Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge
 * Shirley Abrahamson, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Henry Cullen Adams, U.S. Representative
 * Iajuddin Ahmed, former President of Bangladesh
 * Ronald E. Albers, California judge
 * Anita Alpern, former IRS commissioner
 * Arthur J. Altmeyer, former Commissioner of Social Security
 * Thomas Ryum Amlie, U.S. Representative
 * Rasmus B. Anderson, U.S. diplomat
 * Wilson Ndolo Ayah, former foreign minister, Kenya
 * William Bablitch, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Sergio Balanzino, Italian diplomat
 * Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator
 * Hiram Barber, Jr., U.S. Representative from Illinois
 * Peter W. Barca, U.S. Representative
 * Charles V. Bardeen, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Elmer E. Barlow, justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Robert Barnett, attorney
 * Tom Barrett, former U.S. Representative, mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * Charlene Barshefsky, former U.S. Trade Representative
 * Robert McKee Bashford, former mayor of Madison, Wisconsin; former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Robert C. Bassett, U.S. presidential advisor
 * Susan J. M. Bauman, former mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
 * Joseph D. Beck, former United States Representative
 * Bruce F. Beilfuss, former chief justice of Wisconsin
 * Ernst Benda, Minister of the Interior of Germany and president the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
 * Helen Ginger Berrigan, federal judge
 * Mario Ramón Beteta, former Secretary of Finance, Mexico
 * Abdirahman Duale Beyle, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somalia
 * George W. Blanchard, U.S. Representative
 * George L. Blum, Eau Claire County Judge
 * Nils Boe, 23rd Governor of South Dakota and judge for the United States Customs Court
 * Randall Boe, attorney
 * John W. Boehne, Jr., former U.S. Representative
 * Alexander Campbell Botkin, Lieutenant Governor of Montana
 * Ann Walsh Bradley, Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * J. Quinn Brisben, Socialist Party USA candidate for President of the United States and Vice-President; civil rights activist; teacher
 * Grover L. Broadfoot, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Dave Bronson, Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska
 * Angie Brooks, former president, United Nations General Assembly
 * Timothy Brown, former chief justice of Wisconsin
 * Webster E. Brown, U.S. Representative
 * Edward E. Browne, U.S. Representative
 * Andrew A. Bruce, former justice, North Dakota Supreme Court
 * Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, Deputy Minister of Local Government Development of Malaysia
 * George Bunn, diplomat
 * George Bunn, former justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
 * John R. Burke, U.S. diplomat
 * Michael E. Burke, U.S. Representative
 * Elizabeth Burmaster, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin
 * Louis B. Butler, federal judicial nominee, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Walter Halben Butler, former United States Representative
 * John W. Byrnes, U.S. Representative
 * William G. Callow, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * John Campbell
 * Milton Robert Carr, U.S. Representative from Michigan
 * Patrick G. Carrick, member of the Senior Executive Service
 * Savion Castro, a member of the Board of Education in Madison, Wisconsin
 * Sheri Polster Chappell, federal judge
 * Dick Cheney, former vice president of the United States (attended UW as doctoral student; received M.A. degree but did not continue)
 * Dave Cieslewicz, Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
 * Moses E. Clapp, U.S. Senator from Minnesota
 * Kathryn F. Clarenbach, first chairperson of the National Organization for Women
 * David G. Classon, U.S. Representative
 * Wilbur J. Cohen, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Cabinet of President Lyndon B. Johnson and "Father of Medicare."
 * William M. Conley, federal judge
 * Daniel Cosío Villegas, president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
 * Barbara B. Crabb, former federal judge
 * Lawrence William Cramer, former governor, United States Virgin Islands
 * Jason Crow, U.S. Representative from Colorado
 * Charles H. Crownhart, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * John Cudahy, U.S. diplomat
 * Richard Dickson Cudahy, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals
 * George R. Currie, former chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Herman Dahle, U.S. Representative
 * George Jonathan Danforth, South Dakota State Senator
 * Roland B. Day, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * John Paton Davies, Jr., U.S. diplomat
 * Joseph E. Davies, U.S. diplomat
 * Glenn Robert Davis, U.S. Representative
 * Albert F. Dawson, former U.S. Representative
 * Ada Deer, head of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
 * Evo Anton DeConcini, former justice, Arizona Supreme Court
 * Edward Dithmar, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
 * Christian Doerfler, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Mark Doms, chief economist, Economics and Statistics Administration
 * Brian Donnelly
 * James Edward Doyle, former judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
 * James Edward "Jim" Doyle, 44th Governor of Wisconsin
 * Lee S. Dreyfus, 40th Governor of Wisconsin
 * Stan Dromisky, former Member of Parliament
 * F. Ryan Duffy, former U.S. Senator and former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals
 * William S. Dwinnell, former Minnesota State Senator
 * Lawrence Eagleburger, former U.S. Secretary of State
 * Donald B. Easum, former U.S. diplomat
 * Herman Ekern, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
 * Richard Elsner, lawyer, judge and Wisconsin state legislator
 * Howard Engle (1919–2009), physician and lead plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry
 * John J. Esch, U.S. Representative
 * Evan Alfred Evans, former U.S. Appeals Court judge
 * Tony Evers, Current Governor of Wisconsin and former Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin
 * Thomas E. Fairchild, former U.S. Appeals Court judge
 * Sergio Fajardo, former mayor of Medellín and former governor of Antioquia, Colombia
 * Elizabeth P. Farrington, former U.S. Representative, Hawaii Territory
 * Joseph Rider Farrington, former U.S. Representative, Hawaii Territory
 * Russ Feingold, U.S. Senator
 * Bill Foster, U.S. Representative from Illinois
 * Alejandro Foxley, former foreign minister of Chile
 * Chester A. Fowler, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Oscar M. Fritz, former chief justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Harold V. Froehlich, U.S. Representative
 * G. Fred Galli, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
 * Kathryn Garcia (born 1970), Commissioner of the New York City Sanitation Department
 * Anne Nicol Gaylor, political activist
 * Edward J. Gehl, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Bernard J. Gehrmann, U.S. Representative
 * Hiram Gill, former mayor of Seattle, Washington
 * J. Michael Gilmore, director of the Operational Test and Evaluation Directorate
 * Myron L. Gordon, former federal judge
 * Robert N. Gorman, former justice, Ohio Supreme Court
 * Mark Green, U.S. diplomat
 * Stephen S. Gregory, former president, American Bar Association
 * Harry W. Griswold, U.S. Representative
 * John A. Gronouski, United States Postmaster General
 * Erica Groshen, commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
 * Herbert J. Grover, educator and legislator
 * Kenneth Philip Grubb, former federal judge
 * Philip Gunawardena, former Sri Lankan revolutionary, cabinet minister, Indian freedom fighter
 * Gunnar Gundersen, member of the Parliament of Norway (2005–present)
 * Henry Gunderson, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
 * Steve Gunderson, U.S. Representative


 * H–M


 * Sami Haddad, Minister of Economy and Trade, Lebanon
 * David Warner Hagen, former federal judge
 * Oscar Hallam, justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Dean of the William Mitchell College of Law
 * Sa'dun Hammadi, former prime minister of Iraq
 * Don Hanaway, former Wisconsin Attorney General
 * Connor Hansen, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Doris Hanson, Wisconsin politician
 * Spencer Haven, former attorney general of Wisconsin
 * Charles Hawks, Jr., U.S. Representative
 * S.I. Hayakawa, former U.S. Senator from California
 * Everis A. Hayes, U.S. Representative from California
 * James B. Hays, former chief justice, Idaho
 * Donald Hayworth, former U.S. Representative
 * Ned R. Healy, U.S. Representative from California
 * Nathan Heffernan, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Walter Heller, Economist end presidential advisor
 * Robert Kirkland Henry, U.S. Representative
 * Charles N. Herreid, Governor of South Dakota
 * Emmett R. Hicks, former attorney general of Wisconsin
 * Harvey V. Higley, former administrator of Veterans Affairs
 * Knute Hill, former United States Representative from the State of Washington
 * Geraldine Hines, Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Court
 * Jeffry House, Canadian attorney
 * Henry Huber, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
 * Benjamin N. Hulburd, Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
 * Paul O. Husting, U.S. Senator
 * Clifford Ireland, U.S. Representative from Illinois
 * Andre Jacque, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
 * Edward H. Jenison, U.S. Representative from Illinois
 * Byron L. Johnson, U.S. Representative from Colorado
 * J. Leroy Johnson, former U.S. Representative
 * Lester Johnson, U.S. Representative
 * Sveinbjorn Johnson, former justice, North Dakota Supreme Court
 * Burr W. Jones, U.S. Representative
 * Howard Palfrey Jones, U.S. diplomat
 * Richard Jones
 * William Carey Jones, former U.S. Representative from State of Washington
 * Jim Jordan, U.S. Representative, Ohio, two-time NCAA wrestling champion
 * Pallo Jordan, former Minister of Arts and Culture, Republic of South Africa
 * Charles A. Kading, U.S. Representative
 * Steve Kagen, U.S. Representative
 * Philip Mayer Kaiser, U.S. diplomat
 * Henry Kajura, Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda
 * Marcy Kaptur, U.S. Representative, Ohio
 * Robert Kastenmeier, U.S. Representative
 * David Keene, activist and chairman of the American Conservative Union
 * Oscar Keller, U.S. Representative from Minnesota
 * James C. Kerwin, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Shishir Khanal, Nepali Minister of Education, Science and Technology
 * John C. Kleczka, U.S. Representative
 * Frank Le Blond Kloeb, U.S. Representative from Ohio
 * Warren P. Knowles, 37th Governor of Wisconsin
 * Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator
 * Scott L. Klug, U.S. Representative
 * Arthur W. Kopp, U.S. Representative
 * Carolyn H. Krause, member of the Illinois House of Representatives
 * Julius Albert Krug, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
 * Akihiko Kumashiro, member of the House of Representatives of Japan
 * John La Fave, Wisconsin politician
 * Belle Case La Follette, women's suffragist and wife of Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
 * Bronson La Follette, former attorney general of Wisconsin
 * Philip La Follette, 27th Governor of Wisconsin
 * Robert M. La Follette, Jr., U.S. Senator
 * Robert M. La Follette, Sr., 20th Governor of Wisconsin, U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator
 * Jeffrey M. Lacker, president, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
 * Richard Lamm, Governor of Colorado
 * John E. Lange, former U.S. Ambassador for Health and Pandemics
 * Peg Lautenschlager, former attorney general of Wisconsin
 * Charles Lavine, New York assemblyman
 * Barbara Lawton, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
 * Frank Le Blond Kloeb, former U.S. Representative
 * Elmer O. Leatherwood, former U.S. Representative
 * Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
 * Nick Leluk, former Member of Parliament
 * Olin B. Lewis, former Minnesota politician
 * Theodore G. Lewis, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * James C. Liao, president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan Academia Sinica.
 * Thomas A. Loftus, U.S. diplomat
 * James B. Loken, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals
 * William Lorge, Wisconsin politician
 * Alan David Lourie, judge, U.S. Appeals Court
 * Claude Zeth Luse, former federal judge
 * Richard Barrett Lowe, Governor of American Samoa and Guam
 * Patrick Joseph Lucey, U.S. diplomat and Governor of Wisconsin
 * Henry Maier, former mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * James Manahan, former U.S. Representative
 * John T. Manske, Wisconsin State Assemblyman
 * David W. Márquez, former attorney general of Alaska
 * John E. Martin, former chief justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Henry F. Mason, former justice, Kansas Supreme Court
 * Alyssa Mastromonaco, presidential aide
 * Charles McCarthy, author of The Wisconsin Idea
 * Francis E. McGovern, 22nd Governor of Wisconsin
 * Howard J. McMurray, U.S. Representative
 * Alexander J. Menza, former New Jersey legislator and judge
 * Balthasar H. Meyer, member of the Interstate Commerce Commission
 * Abner Mikva, former judge, U.S. Appeals Court
 * Laura Miller, former mayor of Dallas, Texas
 * Bob Mionske, attorney and former Olympic and professional bicycle racer
 * William J. Morgan, former attorney general of Wisconsin
 * Kamel Morjane, Foreign Minister of Tunisia
 * Elmer A. Morse, U.S. Representative
 * Wayne L. Morse, U.S. Senator from Oregon
 * Edmund C. Moy, 38th director of the U.S. mint
 * Dan Mozena, U.S. Ambassador to Angola
 * Reid F. Murray, U.S. Representative
 * Louis Westcott Myers, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court


 * N–S


 * Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian freedom fighter and political leader; awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1998
 * Philleo Nash, government official, college professor
 * Jennifer E. Nashold, Judge, Wisconsin Court of Appeals
 * Akmal Nasir, Malaysian politician and current Member Of Parliament for Johor Bahru
 * David D. Nelson, U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay
 * Gaylord Nelson, former U.S. Senator, 35th Governor of Wisconsin and founder of Earth Day
 * George B. Nelson, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * John M. Nelson, U.S. Representative
 * Ivan A. Nestingen, former mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
 * Mark Neumann, U.S. Representative
 * John Norquist, former mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * David Obey, U.S. Representative
 * Kenneth J. O'Connell, Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court
 * James L. O'Connor, former Wisconsin Attorney General
 * Alvin O'Konski, U.S. Representative
 * Tawiah Modibo Ocran, Supreme Court judge in Ghana
 * Eric Oemig, Washington (state) legislator
 * Conrad P. Olson, former justice, Oregon Supreme Court
 * Walter C. Owen, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Carolyn R. Payton, former director, Peace Corps
 * Russell W. Peterson, Governor of Delaware
 * Richard F. Pettigrew, former United States Senator
 * Joy Picus, Los Angeles, California, city council member, 1977–91; Ms. magazine "Woman of the Year"
 * Huang Pi-Twan, Minister for Culture, Taiwan
 * Roger Pillath, retired NFL player, Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers
 * Mark Pocan, U.S. Representative
 * Jeanne Poppe, Minnesota legislator, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
 * Hugh H. Price, U.S. Representative
 * David Prosser, Jr., Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * John Abner Race, U.S. Representative
 * David Rabinovitz, former federal judge
 * Rudolph T. Randa, federal judge
 * Clifford E. Randall, U.S. Representative
 * Henry Riggs Rathbone, former U.S. Representative
 * James Ward Rector, former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice
 * Lowell A. Reed, federal judge
 * Michael K. Reilly, U.S. Representative
 * Paul Samuel Reinsch, appointed minister to China in 1913
 * Oscar Rennebohm, former governor of Wisconsin
 * John W. Reynolds, Sr., Attorney General of Wisconsin, 1927–1933
 * John W. Reynolds, Jr., 36th Governor of Wisconsin
 * Daniel Riemer, legislator
 * Fred Risser, Wisconsin state senator and assemblyman
 * Fred Risser (Progressive), Wisconsin assemblyman
 * Charles Robb, former U.S. Senator and former governor of Virginia
 * Julius Edward Roehr, member of the Wisconsin State Senate, 1897-1908
 * Patience Roggensack, Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Hannah Rosenthal, executive director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
 * Horace Rublee, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland
 * David Sturtevant Ruder, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
 * Wiley Rutledge, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
 * Albert Morris Sames, former federal judge
 * Arthur Loomis Sanborn, former federal judge
 * David J. Saposs, former chief economist for the National Labor Relations Board
 * Harry Sauthoff, U.S. Representative
 * Marlin D. Schneider, Democratic Politician and teacher, longest serving member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, 1971-2011
 * Jim Sensenbrenner, U.S. Representative
 * Whitney North Seymour, former president, American Bar Association
 * John C. Shabaz, former federal judge
 * David I. Shapiro, attorney and activist
 * Helen Shiller, Chicago Alderman
 * Robert G. Siebecker, former chief justice of Wisconsin
 * J. Minos Simon, attorney, legal author in Lafayette, Louisiana
 * Stewart Simonson, Assistant Secretary of Public Health Emergency Preparedness
 * Slawomir Skrzypek, former president, National Bank of Poland
 * Chad "Corntassel" Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation
 * Daniel V. Speckhard, U.S. ambassador and diplomat
 * Paul Soglin, Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
 * Joan E. Spero, former ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council
 * John Coit Spooner, U.S. Senator
 * William Spriggs, assistant secretary, United States Department of Labor
 * Janet Dempsey Steiger, chairperson of the Postal Rate Commission and Federal Trade Commission
 * William A. Steiger, Congress
 * Donald Steinmetz, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * E. Ray Stevens, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * William H. Stevenson, former U.S. Representative
 * Anne K. Strasdauskas, Sheriff of Baltimore County, Maryland
 * Robert C. Strong, U.S. diplomat
 * Suchatvee Suwansawat, Thai Politicians, former President of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL)
 * Jessie Sumner, former U.S. Representative
 * Lori Swanson, Attorney General of Minnesota
 * Aleksander Szczyglo, Minister of Defense of Poland
 * Elaine Szymoniak, former Iowa State Senator


 * T–Z


 * James Albertus Tawney, former U.S. Representative
 * Amando Tetangco Jr., former Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
 * Donald Edgar Tewes, U.S. Representative
 * Nahathai Thewphaingarm, former Thai Minister of Education and spokesperson of Thai Rak Thai Party
 * Lewis D. Thill, U.S. Representative
 * George Thompson, Attorney General of Wisconsin
 * Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; former governor of Wisconsin (1986–2001)
 * Vernon W. Thomson, U.S. Representative and Governor of Wisconsin
 * Fran Ulmer, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
 * J.B. Van Hollen, Attorney General of Wisconsin
 * William Freeman Vilas, U.S. Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Postmaster General
 * Aad J. Vinje, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Edward Voigt, U.S. Representative
 * Thomas J. Walsh, U.S. Senator from Montana
 * Clement Warner, Civil war colonel and Wisconsin state legislator
 * Ernest Warner, Wisconsin assemblyman
 * Robert W. Warren, former federal judge
 * D. Russell Wartinbee, legislator and educator
 * Alexander Watson, former U.S. diplomat
 * Edward Weidenfeld, attorney
 * Paul Weyrich, conservative activist and former president of the Free Congress Foundation
 * John D. Wickhem, former justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Peter D. Wigginton, former U.S. Representative
 * Jon P. Wilcox, Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Alexander Wiley, U.S. Senator
 * Horace W. Wilkie, former chief justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Aaron S. Williams, director, Peace Corps
 * Michael D. Wilson, associate justice, Hawaii Supreme Court
 * John B. Winslow, former chief justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
 * Edwin E. Witte, Social Security advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
 * Leonard G. Wolf, former U.S. Representative
 * Lawrence Wong, Singaporean politician and cabinet minister; current Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance
 * Ann Wynia, Minnesota State Representative
 * Clayton K. Yeutter, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
 * Rebecca Young, Wisconsin politician
 * Hilbert Philip Zarky, attorney
 * Norma Zarky, attorney
 * Maung Zarni, Burmese educator, academic, and human rights activist noted for his opposition to the violence in Rakhine State and Rohingya genocide
 * Yeshey Zimba, former prime minister of Bhutan
 * Roger H. Zion, former U.S. Representative

Military

 * Frank L. Anders, Medal of Honor recipient
 * Thomas A. Benes, U.S. Marine Corps major general
 * Robyn J. Blader, U.S. National Guard brigadier general
 * Charles Ruggles Boardman, U.S. National Guard brigadier general
 * Joseph J. Brandemuehl, U.S. Air National Guard brigadier general
 * Clarence John Brown, U.S. Navy vice admiral
 * Howard G. Bunker, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Robert Whitney Burns, U.S. Air Force lieutenant general
 * Chester Victor Clifton, Jr., U.S. Army major general
 * James B. Currie, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Clinton W. Davies, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Gary L. Ebben, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Samuel Fallows, Union Army brigadier general
 * Gregory A. Feest, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Richard W. Fellows, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Irving Fish, U.S. Army major general
 * James F. Flock, U.S. Marine Corps major general
 * William Frederick Hase, U.S. Army major general
 * J. Michael Hayes, U.S. Marine Corps brigadier general
 * Richard W. Hunt, U.S. Navy vice admiral
 * Harry W. Jenkins, U.S. Marine Corps major general
 * Stephen E. Johnson, U.S. Navy rear admiral
 * Donald S. Jones, U.S. Navy vice admiral
 * Timothy M. Kennedy, U.S. National Guard brigadier general
 * Richard A. Knobloch, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Oscar Hugh La Grange, Union Army brigadier general
 * Daniel P. Leaf, U.S. Air Force lieutenant general; former commander of United States Pacific Command
 * Otto Lessing, U.S. Marine Corps major general
 * John D. Logeman, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Michael J. McCarthy, U.S. Air Force major general
 * John E. McCoy, U.S. Air National Guard brigadier general
 * Robert Bruce McCoy, U.S. National Guard major general
 * Todd J. McCubbin, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Charles C. McDonald, U.S. Air Force general
 * Montgomery Meigs, U.S. Army general
 * David V. Miller, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Peter George Olenchuk, U.S. Army major general
 * Jeffrey W. Oster, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general
 * John P. Otjen, U.S. Army lieutenant general
 * Walter P. Paluch, Jr., U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * J. Gregory Pavlovich, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Francis E. Quinlan, U.S. Marine Corps brigadier general
 * Russell Burton Reynolds, U.S. Army major general
 * Robley S. Rigdon, U.S. Army National Guard brigadier general
 * Carson Abel Roberts, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general
 * Walter Schindler, U.S. Navy vice admiral
 * Robert O. Seifert, U.S. National Guard brigadier general
 * Winant Sidle, U.S. Army major general
 * Fred R. Sloan, U.S. Air National Guard major general
 * Phillips Waller Smith, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Henry J. Stehling, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Woodrow Swancutt, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Scott L. Thoele, U.S. Army National Guard brigadier general
 * Tracy A. Thompson, U.S. Army major general
 * Holger Toftoy, U.S. Army major general
 * Richard Tubb, U.S. Air Force brigadier general; physician to the president
 * George V. Underwood, Jr., U.S. Army general; former commander of Fort Bliss and commander-in-chief of United States Southern Command
 * William J. Van Ryzin, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general
 * James M. Vande Hey, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Fred W. Vetter, Jr., U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Don S. Wenger, U.S. Air Force major general
 * Robert E. Wheeler, U.S. Air Force brigadier general
 * Ralph Wise Zwicker, U.S. Army major general

Religion

 * Frank Joseph Dewane, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Venice in Florida
 * W. Patrick Donlin, Supreme Advocate of the Knights of Columbus
 * Michael S. Heiser, Christian author
 * Florence E. Kollock (1848-1925), Universalist minister and lecturer
 * Marion Murdoch, Christian minister
 * Ronald Myers, Baptist minister
 * Paul J. Swain, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls

Science, technology, and engineering

 * A–M


 * Amy Aiken, winemaker
 * Howard Aiken, computer science pioneer and recipient Edison Medal
 * Loyal Blaine Aldrich, astronomer
 * Ruth F. Allen, plant pathologist
 * Gene Amdahl, computer scientist, Amdahl's law
 * Elda Emma Anderson, physicist
 * John Atanasoff, inventor of the electronic digital computer
 * Chris Bangle, automobile designer, former Chief of Design for the BMW Group
 * Florence Bascom (1862–1945), geologist
 * Ekkehard Bautz (born 1933), molecular biologist
 * Calvin Beale, demographer
 * Gwen Bell, former president of The Computer Museum, Boston
 * Willard Harrison Bennett, inventor and scientist
 * Paul Alfred Biefeld, electrical engineer, astronomer and teacher
 * Robert Byron Bird, chemical engineer, recipient of the National Medal of Science
 * William Bleckwenn, neurologist and psychiatrist, instrumental in the development of the truth serum
 * Joseph Colt Bloodgood, physician
 * Larry Curtiss, chemist
 * Gerard C. Bond, geologist
 * Paul Brehm, neurobiologist
 * Ernest J. Briskey, scientist, founder of the American Meat Science Association
 * George H. Brown, inventor, television pioneer, and Edison Medal recipient
 * William Bunge, geographer
 * Gail Carpenter, neuroscientist and mathematician
 * Olivia Castellini, physicist
 * K. K. Chen, researcher, Eli Lilly and Company
 * John Drury Clark, rocket engineer
 * Emily CoBabe-Ammann, planetary scientist
 * Douglas L. Coleman, biochemist
 * John Thomas Curtis, botanist and ecologist; the Bray Curtis dissimilarity is partially named for him
 * Donald Dafoe, surgeon
 * Charles A. Doswell III, meteorologist
 * Michael Dhuey, electrical and computer engineer, co-inventor of the Macintosh II and the iPod
 * L. K. Doraiswamy, chemical engineer, proponent of organic synthesis engineering and Padma Bhushan award winner
 * Olin J. Eggen, astronomer
 * Bruce Elmegreen, astronomer
 * Howard Engle, physician
 * Milton H. Erickson, psychiatrist, founder of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
 * Alice Catherine Evans, microbiologist
 * Frederick C. Finkle, geologist
 * Kassandra Ford, ichthyologist, biomechanist, and birder
 * Eleanor Ison Franklin, physiologist and endocrinologist
 * Michael J. Franklin, computer scientist
 * Louis Friedman, engineer
 * Michael Garey, computer scientist
 * Sol Garfunkel, mathematician
 * Harold Garner, biophysicist
 * Meredith Gardner, linguist and codebreaker
 * David H. Geiger, engineer and designer of domed stadiums
 * Alwyn Howard Gentry, botanist
 * Eloise Gerry, scientist with United States Forest Service
 * Gerson Goldhaber, discoverer of the charmed meson, and dark energy
 * Sulamith Goldhaber, physicist and spectroscopist
 * Danny Goodman, computer scientist and programmer
 * Morris Goodman, scientist
 * Eric D. Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute
 * Hary Gunarto, computer engineer
 * Paul Haeberli, computer programmer
 * Tom Hall, game designer, co-founder of id Software
 * Pat Hanrahan, computer scientist specializing in graphics, Turing Award laureate
 * Henry Paul Hansen, palynologist
 * Bruce William Hapke, planetary scientist
 * Walter Henry Hartung, pharmaceutical chemist
 * Nathan Havill, entomologist and evolutionary biologist
 * Leland John Haworth, physicist and director of the National Science Foundation
 * Susan Lynn Hefle, food allergen scientist
 * Ralph F. Hirschmann (1922–2009), biochemist who led synthesis of the first enzyme
 * Vasant Honavar, computer scientist, computational biologist, cognitive scientist, artificial intelligence, machine learning researcher, former program director, National Science Foundation
 * Earnest Hooton, physical anthropologist
 * Charles Morse Huffer, astronomer
 * Karl Jansky, physicist and radio engineer, founder of radio astronomy
 * Russell F. Johannes, agronomist
 * Larry R. Johnson, president of the National Weather Association
 * Richard A. Jorgensen, molecular geneticist
 * Willi Kalender, inventor of spiral scan computed tomography and professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
 * Dennis Keeney, soil scientist, first director of the Leopold Institute
 * Motoo Kimura, mathematician
 * Clyde Kluckhohn, anthropologist
 * Elmer Kraemer, chemist
 * Kyung J. Kwon-Chung, microbiologist and chief, molecular microbiology section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
 * Ben Lawton, physician
 * Esther Lederberg, microbiologist and immunologist, pioneer of bacterial genetics
 * Albert Lehninger, biochemist, pioneer of bioenergetics, and professor at Johns Hopkins University
 * Estella B. Leopold, botanist and daughter of Aldo Leopold
 * Harriet Lerner, psychologist
 * Karl Paul Link, biochemist, discoverer of anticoagulant warfarin
 * Walter K. Link, geologist
 * Bradley C. Livezey, ornithologist
 * Guy Sumner Lowman, Jr., linguist
 * Daryl B. Lund, food scientist and engineer, editor-chief-of Journal of Food Science
 * Ken Lunde, information processor
 * Nancy Oestreich Lurie, anthropologist
 * Jay Lush, geneticist
 * John F. MacGregor, statistician
 * Seth Marder, chemist
 * Lynn Margulis, author of the serial endosymbiotic theory of cell development, advocate of the Gaia hypothesis; former professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst
 * William Marr, engineer and poet
 * Max Mason, mathematician
 * Abraham Maslow, psychologist, founder of Humanistic psychology, Maslow's hierarchy of needs
 * Scott McCartney, engineer, author, actor
 * Karl Menninger, psychiatrist
 * Patrick Michaels, climatologist
 * Parry Moon, electrical engineer, author
 * David Moore, molecular biologist
 * M. Laurance Morse, microbiologist and immunologist
 * Newton Ennis Morton, founder of field of genetic epidemiology
 * Mark Myers, geologist and former USGS director


 * N–Z


 * Walter Nance, geneticist
 * Homer E. Newell, Jr., mathematician
 * Paula M. Niedenthal, psychologist
 * Arthur Nielsen, market analyst
 * Gerald North, atmospheric scientist, author of The North Report
 * Sarah Nusser, statistician
 * Larry E. Overman, chemist
 * Zorba Paster, physician
 * Brian Paul, computer programmer of the Mesa 3D open source graphics library
 * Emanuel R. Piore, former director of research, IBM
 * Lynn Ponton, psychiatrist
 * Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman, computer science pioneer and Padma Bhushan awardee
 * Richard V. Rhode, aeronautical engineer
 * Sylvia Rimm, psychology
 * JoAnne Robbins, creator of dysphagia medical device
 * Anita Roberts, molecular biologist
 * Havidan Rodriguez, award-winning sociologist, author
 * Carl Rogers, psychologist, co-founder humanistic psychology
 * Leon E. Rosenberg, physician-scientist, geneticist, and educator
 * Marshall Rosenberg, psychologist
 * Harry Luman Russell, bacteriologist
 * Joseph F. Rychlak, psychologist
 * Joseph F. Sackett, clinical radiologist and professor of neuroradiology
 * David Salo, linguist and translator
 * John C. Sanford, plant geneticist
 * William Bowen Sarles, microbiologist
 * John L. Savage, chief engineer of Hoover Dam
 * William Schaus, entomologist
 * Edward Schildhauer, a chief engineer on the Panama Canal project
 * Robert Serber, physicist, participated in the Manhattan Project
 * Digvijai Singh, chemical engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
 * Ashley Shade Director of Research at the Institute of Ecology and the Environment within Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
 * Dick Smith, software engineer and computer consultant
 * James E. Smith, computer engineer
 * Willem P.C. Stemmer, engineer
 * Calvin L. Stevens, chemist
 * Chauncey Guy Suits, former research director for GE
 * M.S. Swaminathan, "father of the Green Revolution in India"
 * Leslie Denis Swindale, soil scientist
 * Helmer Swenholt, commanding officer of the 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment
 * Katia Sycara, roboticist
 * Stephen Taber III, apiologist
 * Auguste Taton, botanist
 * Earle M. Terry, formed WHA (AM), the first radio station to clearly transmit human speech, with Edward Bennett
 * Victor A. Tiedjens, scientist
 * James Tour, synthetic organic chemist
 * Tso Wung-Wai, professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, political activist
 * Marilyn Tremaine, computer scientist
 * Glenn Thomas Trewartha, geographer
 * Mary Tsingou, numerical analyst
 * Billie Lee Turner II, geographer
 * Kameshwar C. Wali, research physicist and science writer
 * John Watrous, quantum theorist of computing
 * Warren Weaver, pioneer of machine translation
 * I. Bernard Weinstein, physician
 * Louis Jolyon West, psychiatrist
 * Albert Whitford, astronomer
 * Dave Winer, software designer
 * Samuel D. Wonders, engineer, president of Carter's Ink Company
 * Gordon Woods, veterinary scientist
 * Charles E. Woodworth, entomologist
 * A. Wayne Wymore, systems engineer and mathematician
 * Ned Xoubi, nuclear engineer
 * Joy Zedler, ecologist and botanist
 * Ying E. Zhang, biochemist and senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute
 * John Zillman, meteorologist
 * Otto Julius Zobel, inventor of the m-derived filter and the Zobel network

Other notable alumni



 * Milo Aukerman, biochemist, front man of the Descendents
 * Mary Brunner, former Manson Family member and ex-girlfriend of cult leader Charles Manson
 * Clarence Chamberlin, aviation pioneer
 * Kathryn F. Clarenbach, first chairwoman of the National Organization for Women
 * Tim Cordes, blind physician
 * Charity Rusk Craig (1849-1913), national president, Woman's Relief Corps
 * Lionel Dahmer, research chemist and author who was the father of serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer.
 * Laurie Dann, mass shooter who attacked elementary school children in Winnetka, Illinois
 * Anna Essinger (1879–1960), educator who aided hundreds of European children before, during and after the Holocaust
 * Robert Fassnacht, graduate student, killed in the Sterling Hall bombing
 * Ada Fisher, physician
 * Phil Galfond, 3-time WSOP bracelet-winning champion
 * Alexander Gee Jr, pastor and community leader, CEO of the Center for Black Excellence and Culture
 * Frederick Gutheim, urban planner
 * Eva Lund Haugen, author and editor
 * Jerome Heckenkamp, computer hacker
 * Phil Hellmuth, 14-time WSOP bracelet-winning champion
 * Prynce Hopkins, activist and psychologist
 * Robert Kotler, physician
 * Drew Binsky, Traveller and youtuber, has visited over 170 countries
 * Mary Lasker, health activist, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal
 * James T. Minor, academic administrator and sociologist.
 * John Muir (1838–1914), naturalist, founder of the Sierra Club, instrumental in preserving Yosemite National Park
 * Carol Myers-Scotton, linguist
 * Sigurd F. Olson, conservationist
 * Pauline Park, transgender activist
 * Janet Meakin Poor, landscape designer
 * Lori Ringhand, judicial analyst
 * Carl Schramm, president, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
 * Bud Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball
 * Rafael Rangel Sostmann, rector of Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and member of the World Bank
 * Bill Stumpf, furniture designer
 * Charlie Trotter, chef
 * Althea Warren, president of the American Library Association, 1943–44

Fictional alumni and faculty

 * Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) in the 1999 movie The Insider (film)
 * Chris (Will Arnett), MRI tech on TV series Parks and Recreation, says he went to UW for both his undergrad and graduate work.
 * Harold "Harry" Crane, head of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's television department in Mad Men
 * Jack and Maddie Fenton, scientist parents of Danny Phantom
 * Laurie Forman, character on the situation comedy That '70s Show (did not graduate)
 * Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) in the 2008 movie Definitely, Maybe
 * Vladimir "Vlad" Masters, a/k/a Vlad Plasmius, supervillain and foe of Danny Phantom
 * Donna Moss, White House staffer in the television series The West Wing (dropped out halfway through to support her boyfriend as he went through medical school)
 * Alison Parker (Melrose Place) (Courtney Thorne-Smith) on Melrose Place, the TV series which ran from 1992 to 1999.
 * President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) taught at the University of Wisconsin in the 1995 movie The American President
 * A. Clarence "Silverlock" Shandon, titular character of the fantasy novel Silverlock, has a business administration degree from U.W. and was bow on the crew team for three years
 * James Walker (Michael Vartan) from Big Shots (TV series), an 11-episode TV series.
 * Many, perhaps most, of the characters in the 2006 film The Last Kiss, set in Madison and in part on the UW campus, are connected to the university: Kim is a student, Professor Bowler is on the faculty, and several other characters are apparently alumni.

Notable faculty and staff

 * A–G


 * Martha W. Alibali, psychologist
 * Timothy F. H. Allen, botanist
 * Stub Allison, head coach of the Washington Huskies, South Dakota Coyotes, and California Golden Bears football teams, Washington Huskies men's basketball team, and Washington Huskies baseball team
 * Ann Althouse, professor of law and well-known blogger
 * Rasmus B. Anderson, professor, author, diplomat
 * Rozalyn Anderson, assistant professor, scientist
 * Fred J. Ansfield, physician, chemotherapy pioneer, co-Founder of American Society of Clinical Oncology, Emeritus Professor of Human Oncology
 * Michael Apple, leading educational theorist
 * Richard Askey, mathematician, the Askey–Wilson polynomials and Askey–Gasper inequality are partially named for him
 * Sanjay Asthana, Alzheimer's disease researcher
 * Louis Winslow Austin, physicist, recipient of the IEEE Medal of Honor
 * Stephen Babcock, inventor of the Babcock test for measuring the butterfat content of milk
 * Bob Babich, NFL assistant coach
 * Eric Bach, computer scientist
 * Ira Baldwin, bacteriologist
 * Charles Russell Bardeen, first dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School
 * Amy Barger, astronomer
 * Michael Barnett, scholar of international relations
 * Quan Barry, poet
 * Helmut Beinert, professor of biochemistry
 * Edward Bennett, professor of electrical engineering, formed WHA (AM), the first radio station to clearly transmit human speech, with Earle M. Terry
 * Tony Bennett, NBA player and head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team
 * Leonard Berkowitz, psychologist
 * Robert Byron Bird, chemical engineer, recipient of the National Medal of Science
 * George David Birkhoff, mathematician, discoverer of the ergodic theorem
 * Raymond Ward Bissell, art historian
 * Lisle Blackbourn, NFL head coach
 * Gary Blackney, head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons football team
 * Earl Blaik, head coach of the Dartmouth Big Green and Army Black Knights football teams, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * William Bleckwenn, neurologist and psychiatrist, instrumental in the development of the truth drug
 * Craig Bohl, head coach of the North Dakota State Bison football team
 * David Bordwell, prominent neoformalist film theorist and author
 * Laird Boswell, professor of History
 * George E. P. Box, statistician
 * Paul S. Boyer, historian of American thought and culture
 * Léon Brillouin, physicist
 * Royal Alexander Brink, plant geneticist
 * Thomas D. Brock, microbiologist
 * Martin Bronfenbrenner, economist
 * Aaron Brower, professor of social work and Vice-Provost for Teaching & Learning
 * Richard A. Brualdi, professor of combinatorial mathematics
 * Robert V. Bruce, winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for History
 * Edgar Buckingham, physicist
 * Tim Buckley, head coach of the Ball State Cardinals men's basketball team
 * Jacob Burney, NFL assistant coach
 * Robert H. Burris, recipient of the National Medal of Science
 * Gibson Byrd, noted painter
 * Angus Cameron, U.S. Senator
 * Antoinette Candia-Bailey, academic administrator
 * Sean B. Carroll, professor of evolutionary biology
 * Delia E. Wilder Carson (1833–1917), art educator
 * Frederic G. Cassidy, editor-in-chief of the Dictionary of American Regional English
 * Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, founder of the Journal of Geology
 * Bill Chandler, head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones and Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball teams
 * Y. Austin Chang, professor of material engineering
 * Chang Jen-Hu, chairman of the board of directors of Chinese Culture University
 * Arthur B. Chapman, professor of animal breeding and genetics
 * Geep Chryst, NFL, assistant coach
 * Paul Chryst, head football coach, University of Wisconsin-Madison
 * Clarence S. Clay, Jr., geophysics faculty
 * W. Wallace Cleland, biochemist
 * John Coatta, NFL scout
 * Eddie Cochems, head coach of the North Dakota State Bison, Clemson Tigers, Saint Louis Billikens, and Maine Black Bears football teams
 * Bill Cofield, former men's basketball head coach, first African American coach of a major sport in the Big Ten Conference
 * John R. Commons, one of the architects of Social Security in the United States
 * Clifton F. Conrad, professor of educational leadership & policy analysis
 * Ron Cooper, head coach of the Eastern Michigan Eagles, Louisville Cardinals, and Alabama A&M Bulldogs football teams
 * Elizabeth A. Craig, biochemistry professor
 * William Cronon, Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies, winner of the Bancroft Prize, recipient of MacArthur fellowship
 * James F. Crow, professor of genetics, population geneticist
 * Vincent Cryns, professor of medicine, chief of endocrinology
 * John Culbertson, professor of economics
 * Richard N. Current, historian
 * Merle Curti, historian of U.S. intellectual history
 * Philip D. Curtin, historian
 * John Thomas Curtis, botanist and ecologist, the Bray Curtis dissimilarity is partially named for him
 * Marshall E. Cusic Jr., U.S. Navy admiral, Chief of the U.S. Navy Medical Reserve Corps
 * Scott Cutlip, dean of the University of Georgia College of Journalism and Mass Communication
 * Lawrence F. Dahl, professor emeritus of chemistry
 * James Dahlberg, professor emeritus of biomolecular chemistry
 * Farrington Daniels, early researcher in solar energy
 * Richard Davis, jazz bassist
 * Richard Davidson, professor of psychology and psychiatry, widely known for his mind-body research
 * Carl de Boor, professor emeritus of mathematics and computer science; winner of National Medal of Science, best known for pioneering work on splines
 * Hector DeLuca, researcher of vitamin D
 * Robert Disque, president of the Drexel Institute of Technology
 * Dave Doeren, head coach of the Northern Illinois Huskies football team
 * Donald Downs, professor of political science
 * Mitchell Duneier, sociologist
 * Mike Eaves, NHL player and assistant coach
 * Jordan Ellenberg, professor of mathematics, novelist, writer
 * Edward C. Elliott, educational researcher and Purdue University president
 * Amy Burns Ellis, professor of mathematics education
 * Richard Theodore Ely (1854–1943), professor, social activist, economist
 * Joseph Erlanger, 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
 * Nathan Feinsinger, chairman of the Wage Stabilization Board and associate general counsel to the National War Labor Board
 * Carl Russell Fish, professor of history
 * Harold K. Forsen, professor of Nuclear Engineering
 * Perry A. Frey, professor of biochemistry
 * Milton Friedman, associate professor of Economics Nobel Prize for Economics
 * John Gallagher III, editor of the Astronomical Journal
 * Adam Gamoran, professor of sociology and director, Wisconsin Center for Education Research
 * Morton Ann Gernsbacher, professor of psychology and president of the Association for Psychological Science
 * Har Gobind Khorana, 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for describing the genetic code and how it operates in protein synthesis
 * Harvey Goldberg, historian
 * James R. Goodman, professor of computer science and computer architect, known for his work on cache coherence protocols
 * Doug Graber, NFL assistant coach
 * M. Elizabeth Graue, professor of Curriculum and Instruction
 * Michelle Grabner, professor of art
 * Luther W. Graef, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers
 * Carson Gulley, head chef from 1927 to 1954


 * H–M


 * Theodore S. Hamerow, historian
 * Mike Hankwitz, head coach of the Arizona Wildcats and Colorado Buffaloes football teams
 * Harry Harlow, psychologist, known for studies on affection using rhesus monkeys with artificial mothers
 * Fred Harvey Harrington, historian
 * Edwin B. Hart, conductor of the single-grain experiment, the Institute of Food Technologists' Babcock-Hart Award is partially named after him
 * Einar Haugen, linguist
 * Robert J. Havighurst, physicist, aging expert
 * James Edwin Hawley, mineralogist, Hawleyite is named for him
 * Carolyn Heinrich, former professor, currently Sid Richardson professor at University of Texas at Austin
 * Daniel Hershkowitz (born 1953), Israeli politician, mathematician, rabbi, and president of Bar-Ilan University
 * Elroy Hirsch, NFL player, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame
 * Alexander Rudolf Hohlfeld, professor of German
 * Jeff Horton, NFL assistant coach, head coach of the Nevada Wolf Pack and UNLV Rebels football teams
 * Clark L. Hull, psychologist
 * William Hunter, statistician
 * Krisztina Morvai associate professor of law, member of the European Parliament
 * Willard Hurst, seminal figure in the development of modern American legal history
 * Anna Huttenlocher, cell biologist and rheumatologist
 * Rob Ianello, head coach of the Akron Zips football team
 * Hugh Iltis, known for his scientific discoveries in the domestication of corn
 * Yannis Ioannidis, computer scientist
 * Roland Duer Irving, member of the United States Geological Survey
 * Greg Jackson, NFL player
 * Arnold Jeter, head coach of the Delaware State Hornets football team
 * Gunnar Johansen, artist-in-residence
 * Bob Johnson, NHL head coach
 * Mark Johnson, NHL player and 1980 Winter Olympics Miracle on Ice team
 * Burr W. Jones, U.S. Representative
 * Horace Kallen, philosopher
 * Nietzchka Keene, filmmaker
 * Jesse Lee Kercheval, poet, memoirist, translator and fiction writer
 * Har Gobind Khorana, 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for describing the genetic code and how it operates in protein synthesis
 * Franklin Hiram King, soil scientist and early promoter of sustainable agriculture
 * Philip King, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Rufus King, U.S. diplomat, Union Army general
 * Grayson L. Kirk, president of Columbia University
 * Stephen Cole Kleene, a foundational contributor to theoretical computer science
 * Rudolf Kolisch, violinist
 * Thomas R. Kratochwill, psychologist
 * Gloria Ladson-Billings, leading educational theorist and past president of the American Educational Research Association
 * Elmer A. Lampe, head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs and Dartmouth Big Green men's basketball teams
 * Jane Larson, feminist legal scholar
 * Vernon Lattin (born 1938), president of Brooklyn College
 * Judith Walzer Leavitt, professor of history of medicine, history of science, and women's studies
 * Lewis Leavitt, pediatrician
 * Mike Leckrone, director of the University of Wisconsin marching band from 1969 to 2019
 * Joshua Lederberg, 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
 * For his research in genetic structure and function in microorganisms


 * Albert L. Lehninger, biochemist
 * Charles Kenneth Leith, geologist, Penrose Medal recipient
 * Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac, which helped spawn the environmental movement and interest in ecology; also founded the Wilderness Society
 * Gerda Lerner, professor emerita; historian of women's and gender history; considered a founder of women's history
 * Philip H. Lewis Jr., landscape architect and planner
 * Olin B. Lewis, Minnesota politician
 * Tom Lieb, head coach of the Loyola Marymount Lions and Florida Gators football teams, Olympic medalist
 * George Little, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Harvey Littleton, founder of the modern American studio glass movement
 * Miron Livny, computer science professor and founder of the Condor High-Throughput Computing System
 * William Lorenz, Army Distinguished Service Medal recipient
 * Henry S. Magoon, U.S. Representative
 * Abby Lillian Marlatt, director of home economics
 * Carolyn "Biddy" Martin, professor of German and current president of Amherst College
 * Abraham Maslow, psychologist, known for Maslow's hierarchy of needs
 * Ron McBride, head coach of the Utah Utes and Weber State Wildcats football teams
 * Dan McCarney, head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones and North Texas Mean Green football teams
 * Anne McClintock, Simone de Beauvoir Professor and author of Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest
 * Elmer McCollum, biochemist, co-discovered vitamins A, B, and D
 * Tasha McDowell, head coach of the Western Michigan Broncos women's basketball team
 * Mike McGee, NFL player, head coach of the East Carolina Pirates and Duke Blue Devils football teams, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Nellie Y. McKay, scholar of African-American literature and co-editor of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature
 * Howard J. McMurray, U.S. Representative
 * Patrick McNaughton, art historian, Associate Professor of Art History
 * Milton McPike, NFL player
 * Walter Meanwell, former head coach of the men's basketball team, member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Alexander Meiklejohn, philosopher and free-speech advocate
 * Erika Meitner, poet, author, and English professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison
 * William Shainline Middleton, co-founder and secretary-treasurer of the American Board of Internal Medicine
 * Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean
 * Frederic E. Mohs, surgeon and developer of the Mohs surgery technique for removing types of skin cancer
 * Howard Moore, head coach of the UIC Flames men's basketball team
 * Perry Moss, NFL player, athletic director of Florida State University, head coach of the Florida State Seminoles and Marshall Thundering Herd football teams
 * George L. Mosse, professor; historian of European nationalism and gender
 * Regina Murphy, professor of chemical engineering, AIMBE fellow
 * Reid F. Murray, U.S. Representative


 * N–S


 * Steven Nadler, professor of philosophy and Jewish studies
 * Gerhard Brandt Naeseth, genealogical author; member of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
 * Adolphus Peter Nelson, U.S. Representative
 * Kathryn Norlock, feminist philosopher
 * Ronald Numbers, historian of science
 * Allan R. Odden, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis
 * Hakkı Ögelman, physicist and astrophysicist
 * Richard Page, chair, department of medicine
 * John Palermo, NFL assistant coach
 * Charles D. Parker, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
 * Harry Partch, avant-garde composer
 * Zorba Paster, co-host of Public Radio's Zorba Paster On Your Health
 * Klaus Patau, geneticist, best known for the discovery of trisomy 13 (a.k.a. Patau syndrome)
 * Stanley Payne, historian
 * Russell W. Peterson, Governor of Delaware
 * Saul Phillips, head coach of the North Dakota State Bison men's basketball team
 * Felix Pollak, curator of Special Collections; poet
 * Andrew C. Porter, former director of Wisconsin Center for Education Research, professor of education policy at Vanderbilt
 * Ellis Rainsberger, head coach of the Kansas State Wildcats football team
 * Hans Reese, Olympic athlete
 * Paul Samuel Reinsch, U.S. diplomat
 * Milton Resnick, artist-in-residence
 * Pat Richter, NFL player, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Patrick T. Riley, political theorist
 * Paul Roach, NFL assistant coach, athletic director and head football coach at the University of Wyoming
 * Carl Rogers, psychologist and founder of Client-Centered Therapy
 * Thomas A. Romberg, professor emeritus of curriculum and instruction (mathematics education)
 * Walter Rudin, mathematician best known for his books on mathematical analysis
 * Joe Rudolph, NFL player
 * Bo Ryan, current head men's basketball coach
 * Alfred A. Sanelli, U.S. Army general
 * Harrison Schmitt, adjunct professor of engineering physics, 12th man on the Moon as Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist
 * Hans Schneider, mathematician, best known for his contributions to the Linear Algebra and Matrix society
 * Isaac Jacob Schoenberg, mathematician, best known for the discovery in 1946 of splines
 * Jennifer Schomaker, chemist, professor, researcher
 * John Settle, NFL player
 * Donna Shalala, chancellor 1987–1993; secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1993–2001
 * Charles S. Slichter, mathematician and physicist
 * Ithamar Sloan, U.S. Representative
 * Red Smith, MLB and NFL player and coach
 * Oliver Smithies, faculty 1960 to 1988, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007
 * Clarence Spears, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Bob Spoo, head coach of the Eastern Illinois Panthers football team
 * Kurt Squire, director of the Games, Learning & Society Conference
 * Dale Steele, head coach of the Campbell Fighting Camels football team
 * Harry Steenbock, biochemist, vitamin D researcher
 * John Stiegelmeier, head coach of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team
 * Mike Stock, NFL assistant coach
 * Scott Straus, assistant professor of Political Science and International Studies, specialising in the study of genocide
 * Harry Stuhldreher, NFL player, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Stephen Suomi, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Comparative Ethology Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health
 * Aage B. Sørensen, sociologist


 * T–Z


 * Brandon Taylor, writer
 * Cecil Taylor, jazz pianist
 * Henry Charles Taylor, agricultural economist
 * Howard Temin, 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of reverse transcriptase
 * Edward Ten Eyck, first American to win the Diamond Challenge Sculls
 * Eeva Therman, geneticist, characterized trisomy 13 and trisomy 18
 * James Thomson, credited with first successful culturing of human embryonic stem cells
 * Arthur Thrall, artist
 * Giulio Tononi, professor of psychiatry
 * Darold Treffert, psychiatrist
 * Frederick Jackson Turner, historian and creator of the "frontier thesis" explaining the American character
 * Timothy Tyson, professor of African-American history and author
 * John J. Uicker, mechanical engineer
 * Stanislaw Ulam, mathematician who joined the Manhattan Project during World War II
 * Harry Vail, rowing coach, the Dad Vail Regatta is named after him
 * Ryan G. Van Cleave, author
 * Clark Van Galder, head coach of the Fresno State Bulldogs football team
 * Charles R. Van Hise, geologist and university president who formulated the "Wisconsin Idea"
 * Edward Burr Van Vleck, mathematician and professor
 * Alexander Vasiliev (1867–1953), Byzantinist and Arabist
 * Jan Vansina, historian of Africa and father of oral historical methodology
 * Grace Wahba, statistician, developed generalized cross validation and formalized Wahba's problem
 * Pete Waite, head coach of the women's volleyball team, author
 * David Ward, president of the American Council on Education
 * Oliver Patterson Watts, chemical engineer
 * Viola S. Wendt, poet
 * Albert Whitford, astronomer
 * Eugene Wigner, 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics
 * John Wilce, head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team, member of the College Football Hall of Fame
 * Noah Williams, economist
 * William Appleman Williams, historian of American diplomacy
 * Erik Olin Wright, sociologist
 * Randall Wright, macroeconomist and pioneer of search theory in monetary economics
 * Sewall Wright, professor of genetics, one of the fathers of population genetics
 * Todd Yeagley, MLS player
 * Kenneth Zeichner, winner of several awards for Teacher Education
 * Efim Zelmanov, recipient of the Fields Medal in 1994
 * Howard Zimmerman, organic chemist, discovered barrelene
 * Otto Julius Zobel, inventor of the m-derived filter and the Zobel network