Famous people's places / Ann Arbor
University of Michigan
Michigan's flagship public research university, chartered in Detroit in 1817 and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837, whose students have included musician Don Was, artist Mike Kelley and cartographer Marie Tharp.
01 / The story of this place
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The University of Michigan traces to 1817, when it was chartered in Detroit as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, one of the first public universities established in the country; it moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 and grew into one of the nation's leading public research universities. Musician and producer Don Was spent a year here around 1970-71 before leaving to pursue music, later producing albums for the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt and heading Blue Note Records. Artist Mike Kelley studied here from 1972 to 1976, graduating with an art degree and co-founding the noise-rock band Destroy All Monsters with fellow students before an influential career in installation art. Geologist Marie Tharp earned a master's degree in petroleum geology here in 1943-44, admitted through a wartime program that opened the field to women, years before she co-created the first scientific map of the entire ocean floor. The university today enrolls tens of thousands of students on its Ann Arbor campus as one of the country's most prominent public research institutions.
- Chartered in Detroit in 1817, moved to Ann Arbor in 1837
- Musician and producer Don Was studied here around 1970
- Artist Mike Kelley graduated in 1976 and co-founded Destroy All Monsters
- Geologist Marie Tharp earned her master's here in 1943–44
- One of the leading public research universities in the U.S.
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 51
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Madonna born 1958 · singer, songwriter, producer, actress
Studied here
She studied dance here on a scholarship before leaving for New York in 1978.
- Samuel C. C. Ting born 1936 · particle physicist
Studied here
He earned his undergraduate degrees and his 1962 physics doctorate here, twenty years after being born in the university hospital.
- Thomas Huckle Weller 1915–2008 · virologist, physician
Studied here
He studied medical zoology here, where his father taught pathology.
- Gilda Radner 1946–1989 · comedian, actress
Studied here
Radner enrolled here after Liggett before leaving for Toronto.
- Charles Horton Cooley 1864–1929 · sociologist
Worked here
He studied here and taught economics and then sociology for more than three decades.
- Kazimierz Fajans 1887–1975 · physical chemist
Worked here
He taught and researched chemistry here after leaving Munich.
- Lawrence Kasdan born 1949 · screenwriter, film director, producer
Studied here
Kasdan won four Hopwood Awards here (1968–1970) and earned a master's in education in 1971; he gave his archives to the university in 2025.
- Chris Webber born 1973 · basketball player, broadcaster
Studied here
Where he led the "Fab Five" to two NCAA championship game appearances.
- Rudolf Arnheim 1904–2007 · art and film theorist, psychologist
Worked here
He taught here as a visiting professor for about a decade after retiring to Ann Arbor.
- David Burtka born 1975 · actor, chef
Studied here
Burtka earned his BFA in theater here.
- Lin Shaye born 1943 · actress
Studied here
Shaye studied art history here before moving to New York.
- Marie Tharp 1920–2006 · geologist, oceanographic cartographer
Studied here
She earned her master's in petroleum geology here when the wartime program first admitted women.
- Natalie Zemon Davis 1928–2023 · historian
Studied here
She completed her doctorate in history here in 1959.
- Jessica Cauffiel born 1976 · actress, singer
Studied here
Cauffiel earned her BFA at the School of Music here.
- Rima Fakih born 1985 · beauty queen, TV personality
Studied here
Dearborn campus of the University of Michigan, where Fakih earned her degrees.
- John Henry Holland 1929–2015 · computer scientist, complexity theorist
Worked here
He took his graduate degrees here and taught psychology and computer science for more than fifty years.
- Robert McKee born 1941 · screenwriting teacher, author, story consultant
Studied here
McKee earned a BA in English and an MA in theatre arts here, attended its cinema school and began the doctoral project that became his seminar.
- Tiffany Porter born 1987 · track and field athlete, hurdler
Studied here
Where she won five NCAA titles and later earned a PhD in pharmacology.
- Don Was born 1952 · bassist, record producer, label executive
Studied here
He spent a year here before dropping out to pursue music.
- Dave Coulier born 1959 · comedian, actor, voice actor
Studied here
Coulier spent his freshman year here before leaving for comedy.
- Matt Letscher born 1970 · actor, playwright, director
Studied here
Letscher was a drama major here.
- Evan Bates born 1989 · ice dancer
Studied here
Bates earned a degree in organizational studies here in 2013 while competing.
- Kyle Connor born 1996 · ice hockey forward
Studied here
Where he set freshman scoring records for the Wolverines before turning pro.
- Ellen Sandweiss born 1958 · actress, singer
Studied here
Sandweiss earned her degree here.
- Peter Vanderkaay born 1984 · competition swimmer
Studied here
Where he swam for the Wolverines and won five NCAA titles.
- Elizabeth Armstrong born 1983 · water polo goalkeeper, coach
Studied here
Where she played goalkeeper and later coached; she still holds the program's all-time save record.
- Robert Ashley 1930–2014 · composer
Studied here
He studied music here and later worked at the university's Speech Research Laboratories.
- Dick Costolo born 1963 · technology executive, former CEO of Twitter
Studied here
He studied computer and communication sciences here and returned as commencement speaker in 2013.
- Don Harvey born 1960 · actor
Studied here
Harvey graduated with a BA in 1982.
- Mike Kelley 1954–2012 · artist, musician
Studied here
Where he studied art, graduating in 1976, and formed Destroy All Monsters.
- Max Gail born 1943 · actor
Studied here
Gail earned his MBA here.
- Alexander H. Smith 1904–1986 · mycologist
Worked here
He did his graduate work here and spent his whole career at the University of Michigan Herbarium.
- Thomas Knoll born 1960 · software engineer
Studied here
He studied here and wrote the first version of Photoshop while a doctoral student in computer vision.
- Eric Namesnik 1970–2006 · competition swimmer, coach
Studied here
Where he swam and later coached for nearly two decades.
- William Talman 1915–1968 · actor
Studied here
Talman acted in theater here after Dartmouth.
- Emmett Leith 1927–2005 · electrical engineer, physicist
Worked here
He spent his whole career with the university, first at Willow Run Laboratories and then as a professor of electrical engineering.
- Maejor born 1988 · record producer, singer, rapper
Studied here
He produced his first gold record while a student here.
- Denise Nicholas born 1944 · actress, writer
Studied here
Nicholas entered the university as a pre-law student before leaving for the civil rights theater movement.
- Matthew Dear born 1979 · electronic producer, DJ, singer
Studied here
Where he met Sam Valenti IV and started Ghostly International.
- Lynn Goldsmith born 1948 · photographer, recording artist, film director
Studied here
She graduated here in three years, magna cum laude, in English and psychology.
- Werner Emmanuel Bachmann 1901–1951 · organic chemist
Worked here
He took his doctorate under Moses Gomberg here and taught at the university for the rest of his career.
- Abdullah Hammoud born 1990 · politician, mayor of Dearborn
Studied here
Where Hammoud earned his biology degree.
- Nicholas Nixon born 1947 · photographer
Studied here
Where he studied American literature and discovered photography.
- Rob Cantor born 1983 · singer-songwriter, guitarist, video creator
Studied here
He formed Tally Hall here with fellow students in 2002.
- Bernie Krause born 1938 · musician, synthesizer pioneer, soundscape ecologist
Studied here
He studied here as an undergraduate while working as a recording engineer in Ann Arbor.
- Kenneth Jay Lane 1932–2017 · costume jewelry designer
Studied here
Where he studied before transferring to the Rhode Island School of Design.
- Niagara born 1955 · singer, painter
Studied here
She met her Destroy All Monsters bandmates here as an art student.
- Bill Kirchen born 1948 · guitarist, singer, songwriter
Studied here
As a student here he formed the bands that led to Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
- The Electrifying Mojo · radio DJ and broadcaster
Studied here
He studied here after Air Force service and began broadcasting on the university station.
- George Frayne 1944–2021 · pianist, singer, bandleader, painter
Studied here
He earned his design degree and a master's in sculpture and painting here and briefly taught at the university.
- Sam Valenti IV · record label founder
Studied here
Where he met Matthew Dear and founded Ghostly International in 1999.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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