I really believe in the Wisconsin Idea, and I have seen young men and women expand their horizons intellectually and socially. I think it’s incumbent upon the alumni in a sense to protect the investment they have made in money, time and experience at Wisconsin.

Randall “Jabo” Jablonic (’60 BS ALS), former rowing coach

Recognizing a Decade of Good Science

In 1975, Samuel C. Johnson stood before a room full of business leaders and told them his company, S.C. Johnson Wax, was going to stop using chlorofluorocarbons in its aerosols out of concern for the environment. What happened next has become legend at the Racine, Wisconsin-based consumer products company.

"Sam Johnson," a voice cried out, "you alone are going to ruin the chemical industry." It never happened and today, Sam Johnson is considered one of corporate America's leading environmentalists. His visionary approach to business and the environment also is evident in his commitment to research programs at the UW.

In 1991, Johnson established a public-private sector partnership with UW-Madison to support top quality researchers working to advance science, benefit society and attract outstanding PhD candidates. For the past ten years, the S.C. Johnson Distinguished Fellowship has provided two faculty members with annual $25,000 stipends for three years. A total of 22 fellowships have been awarded to researchers in the colleges of Engineering, Letters and Science and Agricultural and Life Sciences and the School of Pharmacy. These researchers' work need not be in areas of business interest to S.C. Johnson, but need only promote "good science."
The two faculty members awarded fellowships in 2001 are Jon Foley, director of the Institute for Environmental Studies Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, who is examining the potential for offsetting atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions through land use practices in Wisconsin, and Sundaram Gunasekaran, professor of biological systems engineering and food science in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, who is using his fellowship to support his work on "Smart Hydrogels."

"Having the S.C. Johnson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship is very important to me as a UW-Madison professor," Foley said. "Not only does it support my research and one of my graduate students, it also is a tremendous honor to be associated with such a visionary company."

S.C. Johnson is Wisconsin's largest privately held company and one of the largest family-owned companies in the United States.