Miss America 2023 Grace (Stanke) Vanderhei will return to her alma mater on Dec. 14 to deliver the winter 2025 commencement address, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Wednesday.
A Wausau native and 2023 UW-Madison alum, Vanderhei earned her nuclear engineering degree while serving as Miss America — a role that took her about 270,000 miles around the world during her senior year. She spent her senior year doing something few UW-Madison students can claim: bouncing between nuclear engineering labs on Engineering Drive and glitzy Miss America events across the country — sometimes in the same week.
Despite her intense travel schedule, Vanderhei said Madison remained a grounding force in her life.
“Madison is a place where I found a community in friends and professors and in shared experiences,” Vanderhei said in a university press release. “I remember that about graduation, the camaraderie and friendship I felt celebrating with all those people who had come together in four years. I hoped that feeling would last, and it really has.”
Her platform as Miss America championed advancements in nuclear energy and life-saving nuclear medicine, work she continues today at Constellation, where she focuses on refueling and recommissioning nuclear power plants across the Midwest and East Coast.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said Vanderhei’s story illustrates the bold possibilities students can explore at UW-Madison.
“The way Grace Vanderhei leapt at the opportunity to carry the Wisconsin Idea to a global stage is a real inspiration for everyone at UW-Madison,” Mnookin said in the press release. “Grace has represented not only her home state of Wisconsin but also Badgers everywhere with intellect, passion and charm. Though she isn’t so far removed from her own UW-Madison commencement, I know she will have a lot to share with this year’s graduates.”
Senior class president Caasi Woji said Vanderhei embodies the “do-it-your-own-way” spirit UW students are known for, whether it’s engineering majors who moonlight as DJs, English majors who run startups or a nuclear engineer who also happened to be Miss America.
“We know Badgers have the creativity and drive to break the mold and upend people’s expectations,” Woji said. “There’s no better example than a nuclear engineer who was also Miss America. We’re excited to hear from Grace as a new class of UW grads set out on their own unique paths.”
Vanderhei’s keynote continues a long tradition of notable UW-Madison commencement speakers, including trailblazing alumni, athletes, CEOs and artists. But few have balanced thermodynamics homework with national pageant interviews or squeezed study sessions between appearances on national television.
Alaina Walsh is the associate news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has covered breaking news on city crimes and a variety of state and campus stories, including the 2024 presidential election and the UW-Madison budget.
