Distinguished Alumni Award
The Distinguished Alumni Award is Wisconsin Alumni Association’s highest honor and most high-profile and long-standing award. It celebrates prestigious graduates of UW–Madison for their professional achievements, contributions to society, and support of the university over the course of their career or lifetime. Past recipients include fashion icon Iris Apfel ’43, former Wisconsin senator Herb Kohl ’56, actor André De Shields ’70, and brain researcher Ann McKee ’75 (see past winners below).
Distinguished Alumni Award 2024 Recipients
Susan Engeleiter ’74, JD’81
UW Majors: English, Communications, Law
President and CEO, Data Recognition Corporation
Patrick Hanrahan ’77, PhD’86
UW Majors: Nuclear Engineering, Biophysics
Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
Cofounder, Tableau Software
Gary Wendt ’65
UW Major: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Cofounder, Deerpath Capital Management
Philanthropist
Past Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
Please note: the titles listed here represent the positions the honorees held at the time they received their awards. Many later went on to fill other prestigious roles.
Past Recipient Stories
“I was blessed to have parents who were able to send me to college, and I think everybody ought to have that chance.”
Pat Hanrahan won the prestigious Turing Award, known as the “Nobel Prize of computing,” for his work to create realistic animation in filmmaking as...