Since the University of Wisconsin held its first classes in 1849, campus has worked to increase educational opportunities for all students. But it wasn’t easy for the Badgers who were the first members of their race or gender to attend or graduate from the UW. Their educational experiences were often filled with obstacles that their fellow classmates didn’t have to face. However, their perseverance through adversity paved the way for the hundreds of thousands of Badgers who have graduated since.
Learn about five of these trailblazing Badgers, and don’t forget to explore the full interactive timeline celebrating 175 years of UW–Madison!
Clara Bewick Colby 1869
Pictured above, Clara Bewick Colby 1869 was the UW’s first female valedictorian. She was one of six women who were the first graduates of the Female College. After graduation, she remained at the university to teach history and Latin before moving to Nebraska. There, Colby began a long-standing career as a journalist and renowned suffragist. She founded the Woman’s Tribune, the second-longest-running suffrage paper in the United States; toured the world giving lectures on women’s rights; and was the first woman appointed war correspondent during the Spanish-American War. Photo courtesy of UW Archives.
William “Cesar” F. Terrazas 1906
William “Cesar” F. Terrazas 1906 was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and came to the UW as a senior in 1905. He is the first known Mexican student at the university and was an active member of the International Club and the Agricultural Society. Terrazas completed his thesis, “The Influence of Feeding on the Amount of Water Drunk by Swine,” and graduated with a degree in agriculture in 1906. Photo courtesy of UW Archives.
Guok-Tsai Chao 1910, MA1911
Guok-Tsai Chao 1910, MA1911 was in the first cohort of Chinese students that graduated from the UW. Chao, who was from Shanghai, studied political science and was president of the Wisconsin International Club for several years. After graduating, he returned to China and wrote The Who’s Who of American Returned Students in 1917. The book documented the contributions of Chinese students who took part in the relatively new educational movement of Chinese students studying abroad. His — and the rest of the cohort’s — time at the UW began a strong relationship between the university and China, and Chinese students are now the largest group of international students at UW. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin China Resource.
Geraldine Decoteau Harvey MS’50
Born in Wisconsin to a Chippewa Algonquin father and an Oneida Iroquois mother, Geraldine Decoteau Harvey MS’50 became the first known Native American student to graduate from the UW when she earned a master’s degree in education in 1950. (Seven years later, Ada Deer ’57 became the first Native American woman to earn an undergraduate degree from the UW.) Harvey devoted her professional life to teaching Native American students and spent time travelling to teach in isolated regions across the United States before settling down permanently in Taos, NM. Photo courtesy of UW Archives.
Song Kue ’82
Raised in Laos, Song Kue ’82 studied French and taught himself English using a French-English dictionary. He came to the United States as a refugee in the 1980s, and his efforts to learn English paid off when he was accepted to UW–Madison. In 1982, Kue became the first Hmong graduate of the UW, earning his degree in electrical engineering. After graduation, he was recruited by the U.S. government to design data chips. Photo courtesy of UW Archives.