Notable Alumni

The former Lawrence College football player would become the third coach in the history of the Green Bay Packers. His tenure lasted from 1954 to 1957. While his teams did not put up impressive records, he was instrumental in drafting players who would go on to establish the Packers as a dynasty in the 1960s, among them Forrest Gregg, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, and Ray Nitschke. He later returned to the Packers as a scout. He died in 1983.

The founder and chair of Old World Industries, president of Caerus Foundation, Inc., and founder of Three Lakes Foundation, has been a generous philanthropist for decades and has long advocated for education initiatives. Hurvis was a member of the Lawrence Board of Trustees from 1990-2002 and was elected trustee emeritus in 2003. He has served Lawrence as a class agent and More Light! campaign event volunteer as well as a member of the steering and gift committees for his 40th reunion. He has generously supported numerous Lawrence projects and initiatives over the years, among them the Warch Campus Center, Hurvis Crossing land bridge, the Lawrence Fellows Program, the Posse Program and conservatory ensemble tours.

Hurvis has received numerous awards including the Gertrude B. Jupp Outstanding Service Award, and the BUILDer for Life award.

She served prominent roles in the federal government during the 1980s and ’90s. She was named to the Postal Rate Commission in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter and served as its chair from 1981 to 1989. She was then named chair of the Federal Trade Commission in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, serving until 1995. She died in 2004. Photo credit: Kris Peterson

He was one of the giants of biochemistry. His research on the structure of ribosomes earned him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Thomas A. Steitz Hall of Science on the Lawrence campus was named in his honor in 2010. He died in 2018.

A professional actor whose career has been primarily on regional stages with forays into such TV shows as Seinfeld, ER, Star Trek, and Judging Amy. She originated the leading role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play WIT and tours with her solo version, The Wisdom of WIT. Liz also performs and lectures in healthcare venues on topics related to the humanities in medicine.

A longtime television director and producer in Los Angeles, she worked on such iconic shows as Family Ties, Murphy Brown, Northern Exposure, Spin City, Arrested Development, The Bernie Mac Show, Gilmore Girls, and The Middle. She’s been nominated for an Emmy Award four times and was nominated for two and won the 2002 OFTA for Best Direction in a Comedy Series for her work on Gilmore Girls.

Heiss, pioneered the alternative space movement utilizing abandoned NYC buildings for art exhibitions. She Founded and Directed, Clocktower Productions, a nonprofit arts organization and online radio station; The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Inc., and P.S.1 and its successor, MoMA PS1. Heiss curated 700+ exhibitions, and was featured in the film !Women Art Revolution. Awards and recognitions include the NYC Mayor's Award for Artistic Viability, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Order of the Polar Star, the Skowhegan Award, Women of Distinction Award, and the CCS Bard Award. Honorary Doctorates include Fine Arts from San Francisco Art Institute in 2001 and Humane Letters from Lawrence University in 2008.

Anton Valukas, a litigator and senior partner at Jenner & Block, focuses on major civil and white-collar criminal litigation nationwide. With a background as a former United States Attorney and Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Valukas led significant investigations, including the General Motors ignition switch recall and Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Recognized by Chambers USA and named "Person of the Year" by Chicago Lawyer, he's a renowned litigator and influential legal figure.

An icon of the opera world, Duesing has been an in-demand baritone for five decades. He’s performed on the world’s biggest stages and took home a Grammy Award in 1993.

The music buff turned his love of the blues into Alligator Records, a Chicago-based record label that marked its 50th year in 2021. He is a legend in the world of the blues, recording and supporting such artists as Albert Collins, Marcia Ball, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor, Shemekia Copeland, and Charlie Musselwhite, among others.

A current member of the Board of Trustees and Secretary of the Board at Lawrence University, he is the former Acting Associate Attorney General with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), a position he held from 2016-2017. In this role (the third highest ranked position within the DOJ), Bill supervised the department’s Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Tax, and Environment and Natural Resources Divisions. Previously, from 2013-2016, Bill served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division with the DOJ after being nominated by President Obama in 2012. He was a longtime partner with the law firm of Arnold & Porter and currently serves as a Visiting Fellow with the Brookings Institution.  Notably, the National Law Journal named Bill as one of “the decade’s most influential lawyers” in 2010. In 2006 and 2007, Bill was named the “leading competition lawyer in the world” by the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. 

The retired long-time president of the Merit School of Music in Chicago. Duffie was a transformational leader with Merit.  She helped grow the school’s student body to 5,000 annually, increased the organization’s budget from six figures to over $5M, and oversaw a $20M campaign which resulted in Merit purchasing a building in Chicago’s West Loop. Her board experience includes chair of the National Guild for Community Arts Education, Life Trustee with the Merit School of Music, and member of the board of directors of many music organizations.  Duffie is a former LUAA Director and currently serves on the Conservatory Innovation Collective.  In 2007, she received the Walter Service to Society Award at Lawrence. She was a music education major at Lawrence and earned a master’s degree in music at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

He is a former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, having served from 2004 to 2008. He is the first African American to serve on the state’s Supreme Court.

An accomplished pianist on the world stage, McDonald has presented masterclasses and performed in concerts worldwide, including performances with Isaac Stern and Midori and numerous high-profile ensembles. McDonald is on the faculty at The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins Chair in Piano Studies. He has been the recipient of the gold medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. In addition to being the artistic director of the Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico, he has participated in the Bergen, Lucerne, and Salzburg festivals in Europe, the Four Seasons, Marlboro, and Brevard festivals in the United States, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, as well as at the Banff Center in Canada and the Music Academy of the West. McDonald was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Lawrence in 2025. 

Krull was an award-winning children's book author and editor, whose published works include the Trixie Belden, Lives of..., Women Who Broke the Rules, Giants of Science, and What Was series, among others.

Klug is a lobbyist, author, and businessperson, as well as a former representative to the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin (2nd congressional district, 1991-1999), and Emmy-award winning television reporter.