Three of the inductees were in the field of science: Steve Ackerman, an atmospheric scientist the UW-Madison and one of the “weather guys” on Wisconsin Public Radio; Robert H. Dott Jr., longtime UW-Madison geologist, who has pioneered research into sedimentary processes; and Judith Faulkner, the founder of the phenomenal medical software company, Epic.
Letters honors were bestowed on longtime UW-Madison economist Donald Nichols, now emeritus, for his leadership at the university, his work as a public servant (he served as gubernatorial financial adviser for Gov. Tony Earl) and his award-winning teaching; and to Prof. Jeremi Suri, a nationally recognized UW-Madison history professor for the past ten years who wrote the critically-acclaimed Henry Kissinger and the American Century. Suri was recently named to a major chair in the University of Texas-Austin’s Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law.