Donna Shalala was the first woman to head a Big Ten university and the longest-serving secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first female head of state of any African country.

Pleasant Rowland founded the American Girls Collection, a popular line of books, dolls, and accessories that features girls living throughout U.S. history.

Mabel Raimey was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, attend Marquette University Law School, and practice law in Wisconsin.

Kathryn "Kate" Morrison was the first woman elected to the Wisconsin State Senate.

Katharine Lyall was the first woman president of the University of Wisconsin System.

Patricia "Patty" Loew is a celebrated journalist, filmmaker, and educator about Native Americans in Wisconsin.

Estella Leopold was a paleobotanist and conservationist who conducted ground-breaking research on fossilized pollen.

University of Wisconsin scholar Gerda Lerner founded the academic field of women's history.

Barbara Lawton, forty-third lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, was the first woman to be elected to that position.