For generations, American culture has been shaped by people who found new ways to tell stories, challenge conventions and help others see the world differently.
The University of Nebraska has been part of that story since its founding in 1869.
Across generations, Nebraska artists, writers, performers and creators have carried their work from the classroom and campus into the broader culture — putting the Great Plains on the literary map, transforming visual journalism, redefining late-night television, bringing American voices to stages around the world and exploring new possibilities in digital art.
Together, their stories reflect a larger tradition of creativity and curiosity — and the many ways a Nebraska education can become part of the nation's cultural story.
Here are 11 Dear Old Nebraska U alumni whose creative work in the arts helped shape how Americans see, hear, read and understand their country.
Willa Cather
Literature
A 1895 Nebraska graduate, Cather became one of the defining voices of American literature. Her novels drew on the people, landscapes and communities of the Plains, transforming a region often treated as a backdrop into a central setting in the American story.
Works including "O Pioneers!," "My Ántonia" and "The Song of the Lark" established Cather as one of the country's most enduring novelists. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for "One of Ours," and her writing continues to influence how generations of Americans understand the people and places of the Great Plains.
The Willa Cather Archive at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln preserves and expands access to Cather's work, helping scholars and readers better understand her life, writing and enduring influence.
Aaron Douglas
Visual art
Douglas earned his bachelor's degree from Nebraska in 1922 before moving to New York, where he became one of the most influential artists of the Harlem Renaissance. His illustrations, murals and graphic designs blended African art traditions with modernist influences, creating a distinctive visual style.
His work appeared in leading Black publications and helped define the visual identity of a movement that transformed American literature, music and visual art. Douglas later taught at Fisk University, where he helped develop generations of Black artists.
Johnny Carson
Television and comedy
After earning his bachelor's degree from Nebraska in 1949, Carson built a career in radio and television before taking over "The Tonight Show" in 1962. For three decades, he shaped American late-night television through his monologues, interviews and conversations with entertainers, politicians and cultural figures.
His influence extended beyond the television screen. "The Tonight Show" became a launching pad for generations of comedians and performers, while Carson's understated style helped establish conventions of late-night television that remain familiar today. Carson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and the Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
Read more about Carson's legacy in the College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Barbara Hendricks
Opera and classical music
A 1969 Nebraska graduate with majors in mathematics and chemistry, Hendricks went on to become an internationally acclaimed opera and concert singer. She has performed with major orchestras and at renowned opera houses and concert halls across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Hendricks has built a wide-ranging repertoire spanning opera, lieder, spirituals and contemporary music. Her international career has made her one of the most recognized American classical singers of her generation, bringing an American voice to audiences around the world.
Harold “Doc” Edgerton
Photography and visual innovation
Edgerton earned his bachelor's degree from Nebraska in 1925 before becoming an engineer, inventor and pioneering photographer. His development of stroboscopic techniques made it possible to freeze moments too fast for the human eye to see, from a bursting balloon to a bullet passing through an apple.
His photographs transformed scientific imaging while also capturing the public imagination. Edgerton demonstrated how technology could change not only what cameras recorded, but what people understood about the world around them.
Ted Kooser
Poetry
Kooser earned his master's degree from Nebraska in 1968 and went on to become one of America's most widely read contemporary poets. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2005 and served as the 13th U.S. poet laureate from 2004 to 2006.
Kooser's poetry often finds meaning in ordinary people, places and moments, using accessible language to reach readers beyond traditional poetry audiences. Through "American Life in Poetry," a nationally distributed weekly newspaper column he co-founded, Kooser helped introduce contemporary poetry to millions of Americans.
Roxane Gay
Literature and cultural criticism
Gay earned her master's degree from Nebraska in 2004 before becoming a bestselling author, essayist and cultural critic. Her books include "Bad Feminist," "Hunger" and "Difficult Women," works that explore race, gender, feminism, sexuality, body image and the complexities of American life.
Her writing has appeared widely in national publications, and her criticism and commentary have made her a prominent voice in contemporary American culture. Through essays, books, teaching and public commentary, Gay has challenged readers to examine the assumptions that shape how Americans understand themselves and one another.
Weldon Kees
Poetry, visual art and music
A 1935 Nebraska graduate, Kees built an unusually wide-ranging career as a poet, painter, critic, filmmaker and musician. His work placed him among the multidisciplinary artists of postwar American culture.
Kees published poetry, exhibited his paintings and contributed criticism to major publications while exploring film and jazz. Though his career was cut short when he disappeared in 1955, his poetry and visual work have continued to attract scholars, artists and readers interested in the experimental currents of postwar American art.
Karen Blessen
Graphic art and visual journalism
Blessen earned her bachelor's degree from Nebraska in 1973 and became a pioneering graphic artist in newspaper journalism. Her work combined illustration, design and reporting to tell complex stories visually.
In 1991, Blessen became the first graphic artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, sharing the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning with the staff of The Dallas Morning News. Her career helped demonstrate that visual journalism could do more than illustrate a story. It could report, explain and shape how readers understood the news.
Max Almy
Video and digital art
Almy earned her bachelor's degree from Nebraska in 1970 and became a pioneer in video and computer-based art. Her experimental work explored the possibilities of electronic imagery at a time when the technology was still emerging as an artistic medium.
Her work was exhibited by major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, and became part of the developing field of digital art. By combining technology with experimental visual expression, Almy helped expand what artists could create and what audiences could see in the emerging digital age.
Louise Pound
Literature, language and folklore
Pound earned her bachelor's degree from Nebraska in 1892 and her master's degree in 1895 before earning a doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. She returned to Nebraska and spent nearly half a century teaching English while establishing herself as a scholar of American English, folklore and linguistics.
Pound promoted the study of American speech and regional folklore, giving scholarly attention to the language and traditions of everyday Americans. In 1955, she became the first woman president of the Modern Language Association.
Her influence extended beyond scholarship. Pound was an accomplished athlete who competed successfully against men in tennis and won the Women's Western Tennis Championship in 1897. Her career made her a notable figure in American academics, athletics and women's professional life.
