Vel Phillips achieved many firsts, including first woman and first African American to be elected to the statewide office of secretary of state.

Barbara Nichols was the first African American president of the Wisconsin Nurses Association and of the American Nurses Association.

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.

Community leader Helen Connor Laird was the inspiration for the Laird Endowment Fund for the Arts in central Wisconsin.

Belle Case La Follette was the first woman to graduate from law school in Wisconsin and an outspoken advocate for women's right to vote.