UWM Distinguished Professors
At the pinnacle of their careers, UWM Distinguished Professors have had significant impact on their fields of study. With remarkable productivity, international reputations, and glowing testimonials from peers, UWM Distinguished Professors continue to make significant scholarly contributions to their disciplines. Of the 36 distinguished professors who have achieved this status since 1973, 18 remain on the faculty, continuing their leadership role at our university.
- Margaret Atherton
Philosophy - The historian of philosophy is best known for her studies of Locke, Berkeley, and Descartes.
- James Cook
Chemistry - His chemistry of hope is leading to safer and more effective drugs to ease anxiety, alcoholism.
- Nadya Fouad
Educational Psychology - The professor and doctoral training director is interested in how culture and gender affect career development.
- John L. Friedman
Physics - Friedman has made a significant impact on the fields of gravitational physics and relativistic astrophysics.
- Jane Gallop
English - Gallop is described as "a brilliant feminist theorist whose work has received national and international recognition."
- Arun Garg
Industrial Engineering - Garg's ergonomics work has advanced understanding of repetitive-motion injuries and influenced OSHA policies.
- John Heywood
Economics - His research on interactions between employers and their workers spans the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia.
- J. David Hoeveler
History - Studying centuries of U.S. thought and culture, Hoeveler tracks the “creation of the American mind.”
- John Koethe
Philosophy - Perhaps best known as a poet, his work in epistemology and philosophy of language has been groundbreaking .
- Abbas Ourmazd
Physics - The accomplished researcher and entrepreneur has a strong track record of stimulating multidisciplinary work.
- David Petering
Chemistry - Petering has become an internationally recognized expert on the effect of metals on biological systems.
- Pradeep Rohatgi
Materials Engineering - His profound impact on cast metal matrix composites is evident in over 400 papers and presentations and 20 patents.
- Robert Schwartz
Philosophy - Schwartz's broad impact is greatest in philosophy of psychology: vision, language, and mathematical cognition.
- J. Rudi Strickler
Biological Sciences - J. Rudi Strickler has revealed the activities of species near the bottom of the aquatic food chain.
- Anastasios Tsonis
Mathematical Sciences - First to apply chaos theory and nonlinear techniques to meteorology, Tsonis built UWM's Atmospheric Sciences Program.
- Wilfred Tysoe
Chemistry - Tysoe is recognized for using surface science to study catalysis under “real world” conditions.
- Michael Weinert
Physics - His groundbreaking theoretical work in condensed-matter physics is enhanced by collaboration with experimentalists.
- Merry Wiesner-Hanks
History - Her inquiries into the lives of women in the early modern period helped establish the field of women's history.
Selection and Roles and Responsibilities of UWM Distinguished Professors 