Mary Hinkson ’46, MS’47 was born to dance, but as a black woman at the UW, she found Madison far from welcoming. Rather than give up, she became one of the nation’s leading performers.
Summer 2019
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Stories
Physicist Fatima Ebrahimi PhD’03 believes that if efforts to control nuclear fusion pay off, it will provide unlimited energy that will change the world.
Soon after basketball was invented, women at the UW picked up the sport — even before the men. Intramural teams quickly grew in popularity and competed for an unusual (and bleating) trophy.
Born in war-torn Hong Kong to a prominent but absent father and his sixth concubine, UW physicist Sau Lan Wu has overcome stunning obstacles on her path to three major scientific discoveries.
An adventurous summer road trip turned the UW’s first female engineering grad, Emily Hahn ’26, into one of America’s most storied travel writers.
As a nationally renowned sex reassignment surgeon, Marci Bowers ’80 — a transgender woman herself — is helping her patients find joy and belonging.
When popular graduate student Jenny Morrill MA1905 left campus for the summer, librarians found evidence of “a most awful crime” that she blamed on her morphine addiction.
Helen C. White Hall opened in 1971 with “135,000 books, a view, and a chance to be alone,” the alumni magazine stated at the time. The three-story section used for undergraduate studying and the book collection is known today as College Library, which stays open 24 hours on…
In 2002, Gillian Laub ’97 made what would be the first of many trips to Mount Vernon, Georgia, to photograph the lives of teenagers in the South. What she discovered was an idyllic yet racially divided town struggling to confront longstanding issues of race and inequality.
For the next decade,…
Throughout the academic year, campus celebrated the 150th anniversary of women receiving UW degrees.
Mackenzie Straub x’22 (pictured) was one of 796 incoming students during the 2018–19 academic year receiving free tuition through Bucky’s Tuition Promise. Jeff Miller
The first brainchild of the UW’s new Student Success Through Applied Research (SSTAR) Lab, Bucky’s Tuition Promise, has provided financial…
In 1869 — 150 years ago — the first class of women graduated from UW–Madison. In this special issue, you’ll read about some of the amazing women who have passed through campus since. On, alumnae!
Every few weeks, another one arrives: a visiting artist to create a new work at Tandem Press, UW–Madison’s fine-art print shop. Tandem is affiliated with the art department in the School of Education, and since 1987, it has brought nearly 100 artists to campus — to experiment, to create…
The landscape of higher education is changing rapidly, says the UW’s chancellor.
Women have served as UW chancellor for 14 of the last 31 years — and counting.
The winners of this year’s UW Cool Science Image contest were announced in March.
The activist has long been on the front lines of women’s and peace movements.
A UW–developed portable weather lab journeys to the Philippine Sea.
Experts use math to better understand a sea creature’s defense mechanism.
A young girl — Jo Wilder — solves mysteries of the state.
The #MeToo movement reaches far beyond Hollywood and Capitol Hill. The sciences are also grappling with how to address sexual harassment. This past year, the American Geophysical Union adopted a policy that added sexual harassment as a form of scientific misconduct, saying that it willfully compromises the integrity of…
The success of the women’s volleyball team at the Wisconsin Field House is a highlight of Gawlik’s tenure as a top UW athletics administrator. Bryce Richter
Terry Gawlik remembers the day when Title IX became federal law in 1972. She was a successful multisport athlete…
No men allowed: a group of 1960s female students relaxes in the Elizabeth Waters Residence Hall courtyard. The dorm would be the last on campus to remain segregated by gender. UW Archives 2018s00424
By 2005, Elizabeth Waters Residence Hall was the last standing gender-segregated dorm on…
Strength in numbers: a women-led UW faculty group meets in 1975 for the formation of what has become the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. UW Archives S17032
Before the 1970s, to study the history of the world was largely to learn of men fighting wars.…
Jason Tracy
If you’ve been to a wedding, baby shower, funeral, or birthday party in the last 13 years, you’ve probably crossed paths with Melvina Young ’90, MS’92, PhDx’07. She’s a quiet party presence — she usually arrives hidden in an envelope — but Young’s voice…
Renee Meiller
Nancy Spelsberg ’99, MBA’06 will gladly nudge students toward industrial engineering. And it’s not just because she’s a graduate of the UW Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and a member of its advisory board.
“You can go into business, you can…
The new event featured 1,848 minutes of pure fun, spirit, and generosity.
Florence Bascom shows off a tool of her trade: a Brunton compass. During her work with the U.S. Geological Survey, she placed benchmarks like the one pictured below, which denoted a site’s exact elevation. Florence Bascom Papers, Smith College
There’s an apocryphal story about what set…
In the spirit of the Summer 2019 special women’s issue, we’re profiling a few of the many Badger alumnae — past and present — whose accomplishments deserve wider recognition.…
Hamilton Pier became the first woman in the country to be granted a judicial appointment. Courtesy of Fond Du Lac County Historical Society
Kate Hamilton Pier LLB1887 was a successful real estate saleswoman in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, when she decided to get a law degree.…
Hamerstrom, one of the UW’s pioneering ecologists, exhibits the tail feathers of a broad-winged hawk in Plainfield, Wisconsin, in 1965. UW Archives Neg. 18146
Frances (Fran — pronounced “Fron”) Hamerstrom MS’40 was a pioneering wildlife ecologist. She and her husband, Frederick, came to the UW to study…
Larzette Hale-Wilson, pictured with accountant Milton Wilson, became the first African American woman in the country to earn a PhD in accounting. Courtesy of Theresa A. Hammond
Larzette Hale-Wilson MPh’43, PhD’55 was the first female African American CPA to earn a PhD in accounting. Orphaned…
A champion of Title IX, Saunders-Nordeen became the UW’s first women’s athletic director in 1974. UW Archives dn05052510
As the first UW women’s athletic director (1974 to 1990), Kit Saunders-Nordeen MS’66, PhD’77 helped open the door for women to participate in intercollegiate athletics.
She began her…
Estrin introduced computing technology to medical research, leading the way to today’s health-care systems. Wikimedia Commons
Thelma Estrin ’48, MS’49, PhD’52 blazed a trail in the field of medical informatics (the practice of applying computers to medical research and treatment). Although she always had an aptitude…
Dickie, pictured in 1974, played a leading role in treating tuberculosis throughout Wisconsin. Submitted photo
When Helen Dickie ’35, MD’37 joined the UW medical school faculty in 1943, tuberculosis was still a threat. Dickie worked tirelessly to detect and treat the disease until…
Disch has long been an advocate for improving health care in the U.S. “I want to blow up our system,” she said in 2007. Submitted photo
Joanne Disch ’68, a former professor of nursing at the University of Minnesota, is known for improving patient safety and…
As a nun, Keller defied traditional expectations in becoming the first woman to earn a PhD in computer science. Courtesy of Clarke University
In 1965, Sister Mary Kenneth Keller PhD’65 became the nation’s first woman to earn a PhD in computer science. She came close…
After her husband died in 1966, Manchester became a leader in the meat distribution industry, earning several career honors. Submitted photo
When Jean Manchester ’48’s husband died suddenly in 1966 and left her with four children, she took over the management of the family business, Neesvig’s…
McCoy, pictured in her bacteriology lab in 1953, became one of the first women in science to earn a full professorship at the UW. UW Archives S08175
Bacteriologist Elizabeth McCoy ’25, PhD’29 joined the UW faculty in 1930, and in 1943, she became the second woman at the…
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Cynthia Fisher Swanson ’87 of Denver has published her second book, The Glass Forest. The literary suspense novel takes place in the 1960s, when 21-year-old Angie Glass is living a picturesque life in her Wisconsin hometown with her husband,…