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 63 professors who have achieved this status since 1973, 25 remain on the faculty, continuing their leadership role at our university.

Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee
Economics
Dr. Bahmani-Oskooee’s research areas include international reserves, open economy macroeconomics, and exchange rates.
Simon Bronner
General Studies
The dean of UWM’s College of General Studies is both a scholar of folklore and an expert on organizational development and leadership..
Derek Counts
Art History
Dr. Counts is a field archaeologist whose research focuses on the material and visual culture of ancient Greece, Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean.
Kathleen Dolan
Political Science
Dr. Dolan’s work focuses on women as candidates, gender stereotyping in voting and elections, and political knowledge and participation.
Peter Dunn
Biological Sciences
Dr. Dunn’s research on birds includes sexual selection, immunogenetics, and the impacts of climate change and plumage color on their survival.
Nadya Fouad
Educational Psychology
Dr. Fouad’s research interests include the effects of culture and gender on career development.
Karyn Frick
Psychology
Frick and members of her research team are exploring ways to prevent the memory loss that results from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Richard Grusin
English
Dr. Grusin studies various aspects of media, environmental, cultural, and American studies.
Fred Helmstetter
Psychology
Dr. Helmstetter’s research involves the complex psychological phenomena of learning, memory, and emotion.
Uk Heo
Political Science
Dr. Heo is an internationally recognized scholar in the overlapping fields of Korean politics, defense policy analysis, security studies, and political economy.
John Heywood
Economics
Dr. Heywood’s research includes interactions between employers and their workers throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Thomas Holbrook
Political Science
Dr. Holbrook’s scholarship is concentrated primarily on voter behavior. He has also contributed to the research literature on state and local politics.
John Isbell
Geosciences
Dr. Isbell is recognized as one of the leading authorities on the late Paleozoic ice age.
Mark McBride
Biological Sciences
Dr. McBride is recognized as a world leader in studies of two diverse bacterial families, Flavobacteriaceae and Cytophagaceae.
Stuart Moulthrop
English
The digital writer and artist was among a small group of pioneers in hypertext literature.
Abbas Ourmazd
Physics
Dr. Ourmazd is an accomplished researcher and entrepreneur with a strong track record of stimulating multidisciplinary work.
Deyang Qu
Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Qu is a leading researcher in the area of energy storage.
Dr. Belle Rose Ragins
Organizations & Strategic Management
Dr. Ragins conducts research on mentoring, diversity, and positive relationships at work.
Paul Roebber
Freshwater Sciences
Dr. Roebber’s is regarded as one of the leading forecasting experts in the United States.
Pradeep Rohatgi
Materials Engineering
Dr. Rohatgi’s research has had a profound impact on cast metal matrix composites.
Mark D. Schwartz
Geography
Dr. Schwartz’s work has revealed important ecological implications of phenology — the seasonal timing of plant life cycles.
Richard Stockbridge
Mathematical Sciences
Dr. Stockbridge’s research has mostly been connected to the relation between stochastic control and linear programming.
J. Rudi Strickler
Biological Sciences
Dr. Strickler’s work has revealed the activities of species near the bottom of the aquatic food chain.
Wilfred Tysoe
Chemistry
Dr. Tysoe is recognized for using surface science to study catalysis under “real world” conditions.
Michael Weinert
Physics
Dr. Weinert’s research includes groundbreaking theoretical work in condensed-matter physics.