Five mornings per week for 35 years, James C. “Jim” Pettersen, PhD, professor emeritus of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), introduced first-year medical students to the study of the human body in Gross Anatomy, one of the foundational and most-remembered courses in the study of medicine and human health. What kind of teacher was he?
A beloved professor who earned 14 different teaching awards during his tenure. A dedicated educator who forged close bonds with his many students over the years. And a man with a passion for teaching that colleagues and friends invariably cite when they describe him.
His three daughters — Barbara Pettersen, MS; Karen Banning, MA; and Ann Bertler, PT ’87 — are honoring their father’s commitment to medical education by establishing the James C. Pettersen, PhD, Scholarship Fund. The fund will be used to help medical students finance their education.
“Our father passed away in 2018, and we want to honor him for his dedication and commitment to teaching,” says Barbara Pettersen, a retired genetic counselor who suggested the idea shortly after their mother, Gloria Pettersen, passed away in 2024.
Barbara Pettersen continues, “Our dad woke up every morning excited to teach and contribute to the education of medical students. The country needs excellent and dedicated physicians now more than ever, and we are grateful to those who choose this career path.”
The Pettersen daughters remember a father who “would meet each learner at their level and pass on his excitement and knowledge in a way they could understand.” He held study sessions outside of class and, during the summers, worked with students who wanted to get a running start on the next semester.
Edward Bersu, PhD ’76, professor emeritus of neuroscience, agrees with this description. Bersu, who taught anatomy for many years with Jim Pettersen, recalls that he always had an open-door policy — any time during the day, a student could come in for help — and a knack for clearly explaining difficult concepts.
Jim Pettersen also paid attention to students’ lives outside class, meeting students on the Memorial Union Terrace, playing the occasional game of tennis, and frequently inviting students for dinner or barbecues at his home. In many ways, he treated students like family.
His top priority, his daughters attest, was his family. They remember a home full of books and lively music, with parents who set high standards and helped their children develop critical-thinking skills to meet those standards.
Everything was a teachable moment, the sisters recall. On camping trips, they would go on hikes during which the children learned about botany from their father, who knew the names of and details about virtually any plant he saw. Banning, a retired elementary-school teacher in Colorado, recalls family vacations when their dad “insisted that we stop at every historical site known to man.” She says that later, history became her favorite subject to teach. Even card games such as cribbage were occasions for using basic math. In fact, years later, Banning let her students play cribbage after they completed the day’s work.
Jim Pettersen’s lessons were always leavened by a robust sense of humor.
“Dad was full of fun,” says Bertler, sharing that he loved to rewrite lyrics from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, with the hilarious results often appearing in medical school skits or family sing-alongs at the piano. He enjoyed poking fun at his Norwegian heritage with Scandinavian jokes. And, with props such as brain molds and anatomy models, “we had some really good haunted houses for the neighbor kids,” Bertler recalls.
In addition to honoring Jim Pettersen with the scholarship, the sisters also intend to honor their mother, who put her home economics teaching career on hold to raise the three girls. Calling their mom a “warm, friendly, and caring woman,” Bertler notes that she also was strongly dedicated to education.
“Mom always found projects, classes, and activities in line with our interests,” says Banning, adding that their mom also was an active volunteer at the family’s church and at University Hospital. But, she recalls, their mother never missed a recital, concert, or sporting event in which her children took part.
Bersu knew what it meant to be treated like family. His parents died when he was young, and he says Jim Pettersen became a “second father” to him. When Bersu had just moved to Madison and was looking for a Lutheran church to join, he found himself at Midvale Lutheran one Sunday. Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder. It was Jim Pettersen, who invited him to join the family for dinner after the service. It was the first of many dinners he would enjoy at the Pettersen home over the 25 years the two worked together. And, when Bersu later shared that he had just bought his first house, Jim Pettersen gave him a “fatherly look,” asked about the state of the house’s windows, and suggested that Bersu call the real estate agent to tell her the two of them were coming over.
“I have had no better friend,” Bersu says.
Jim Pettersen retired from teaching in 1998 but remained active — traveling extensively, playing golf, and enjoying his four grandchildren — for the rest of his life. As a final act of generosity, he donated his body to SMPH to further the education of medical students.
From his earliest days at UW–Madison as an anatomy instructor in 1963, Jim Pettersen built a stellar career with generations of students while modeling for family and friends the value of hard work, compassion, and dedication to career and family.
Those are the qualities the James C. Pettersen Scholarship Fund aims to nurture in medical students at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
Learn more or donate to the Pettersen Scholarship
When a family, such as the daughters of James C. Pettersen, PhD, wish to honor their loved ones with a philanthropic gift to a unit in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), staff members of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) offer compassionate guidance about how to create the gift. The same is true for donors who wish to make other types of gifts. All such donations make a critical difference in upholding SMPH’s missions, including teaching and research.
For SMPH, Jill Watson and Sara Dillivan-Graves partner to help connect donors’ passions with philanthropic opportunities that support the advancement of SMPH. With 23 and seven years in their roles, respectively, they are part of a larger team at WFAA. Overall, the WFAA raises, invests, and distributes funds that help bolster the success of UW–Madison.
“Sara and I are honored to serve as trusted partners for donor families like the Pettersens who want to explore how to give back to the institution that provided them and their loved ones with so much,” says Watson, managing associate vice president for medical development, WFAA.
Dillivan-Graves, senior director of development, WFAA, adds, “Each gift represents a legacy of generosity and a commitment to advancing the missions of SMPH. It is inspiring to see how our supporters make tangible differences in the lives of our students, faculty, and the broader community.”
If you would like to discuss questions or talk about ways you can support SMPH and its students, please contact Watson at 608-262-4632 or jill.watson@supportuw.org; or Dillivan-Graves at 608-280-1124 or sara.dillivangraves@supportuw.org.
