Three from UWM honored as fellows by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters

John Schumacher, UWM Report

Three people with ties to UW-Milwaukee are among 16 people who have been named 2026 Fellows Award winners by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.

UWM-related winners include:

• Rebecca Klaper, dean of the School of Freshwater Sciences at UWM.
• Simone Ferro, professor emerita of dance at UWM.
• James DeVita, author, actor and theater director and an alum of UWM’s Peck Shool of the Arts.

The award, given every two years, recognizes educators, researchers, mentors, artists and civic or business leaders from across Wisconsin who have made significant accomplishments in their fields and substantial contributions to the cultural life and welfare of the state and its people.

The 2026 class of fellows will join over 100 current fellows from around the state.

James DeVita

James DeVita is an author, actor and theater director. He is a core company member and literary manager at American Players Theatre, a classical repertory theater in Wisconsin. He has worked as an actor in Japan, Germany, Australia, Ireland and throughout the United States. His novel “Sanctuary,” written under the pen name James Cleary, is being published this year by Penguin Random House in the U.S. and Canada, and also by HarperCollins in the UK. It will be released internationally in Italy, France and Germany as well. His previous novels include “A Winsome Murder” (WI-University Press), “The Silenced” (Milkweed Editions), and “Blue” (HarperCollins).

DeVita has also worked extensively as a playwright for adult and young audiences. A resident playwright at Milwaukee’s First Stage Children’s Theater, his work in the field has been acknowledged twice with the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance of Theater and Education; the Intellectual Freedom Award by the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts; and the Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwrighting Contest. The American Alliance of Theater and Education honored his body of work with the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award. DeVita is also a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Fiction.

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