Eloise Gerry was the first woman scientist to work with the U.S. Forest Service.

Marcia Anderson was the first Black woman to earn the rank of major general in the US Army.

Grace Wahba was the first woman to join the faculty of the Department of Statistics at UW–Madison, and she created a formula that was vital for more accurate satellite data collection.

Theta Mead was the first public health nurse of Lincoln County and an early advocate for public health.

Judy Greenspan is a lifelong activist, known for being one of the first out lesbian political candidates in the United States.

Velma Bell Hamilton was the first Black teacher hired in Dane County and the first president of the Madison Chapter of the NAACP.

Kashoua Kristy Yang is the first Hmong person to be elected without appointment as a judge in the U.S. and the first Asian American judge elected without appointment in Wisconsin.

For decades, Elizabeth Hawkes was the only practicing woman attorney in northern Wisconsin, and she was the first woman president of the Wisconsin State Colleges Board.

Florence Bascom was a trailblazing geologist and the first woman to receive a degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Sister Mary Kenneth Keller was the first U.S. woman to earn a PhD in computer sciences and worked to expand access to computers in education.