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Wish You Were Here: Brush with Fame

You never know whom you’ll meet on campus. Alumni share stories of encounters with celebrities at UW–Madison.

January 06, 2021
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER RUSSELL WILSON, SUPER BOWL–WINNING QUARTERBACK FOR THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AND FORMER BADGER FOOTBALL STAR (LEFT) TALKS WITH ALEXANDRA ARRIAGA, SOON-TO-BE-GRADUATING CHANCELLOR'S SCHOLAR WITH A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN JOURNALISM AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, AND HER FATHER, GERARDO ARRIAGA, DURING A PRIVATE BREAKFAST RECEPTION FOR INVITED STUDENTS AND GUESTS AT THE HOTEL RED BEFORE THE START OF THE SPRING COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY AT CAMP RANDALL STADIUM ON MAY 14, 2016. THE OUTDOOR GRADUATION WAS ATTENDED BY APPROXIMATELY 5,600 BACHELOR’S AND MASTER’S DEGREE CANDIDATES AND THEIR GUESTS. (PHOTO BY JEFF MILLER/UW–MADISON)

You never know whom you might meet at UW–Madison. On any given day, on or near campus, you could run into Zach Braff or Rodney Dangerfield or Joan Baez or Jawaharlal Nehru. (Okay, maybe not most days. Typically, you just see students you don’t know or that professor who gave you a C in chemistry, and whom you wish you could forget.) A university like the UW attracts the famous and near famous, and celebrity-spotting adds spice to Badger memories.

We want to hear about the famous person you saw when you were a student. Did you catch U2 in concert at Camp Randall — or spot them unloading the touring bus? Did you hear Barack Obama speak on Bascom Hill? Did you sit in on a lecture with author Lorrie Moore?

Send us your suggestions. (Include memories and photos, please!) We’ll add them to this scrapbook.

JOHN F. KENNEDY SHAKES HANDS WITH AN UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN DURING A CAMPAIGN STOP. A YOUNG GIRL STANDS NEARBY, CA. 1958–60. (UW ARCHIVES, S08113)
JOHN F. KENNEDY SHAKES HANDS WITH AN UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN DURING A CAMPAIGN STOP. A YOUNG GIRL STANDS NEARBY, CA. 1958–60. (UW ARCHIVES, S08113)

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