She was a Senior Scientist Emeritus in the College of Letters and Science/Sociology[6] and the administrative director of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) of the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she worked from 1970 to 2011.
[11] She spent summers as an orchestral Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, a highly competitive program supported by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
[8]: 199–200 In 1970, William H. Sewell, the initiator of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), recruited Tess to join himself and Robert Hauser on the project.
[22] In a history of the department, Tess Hauser is credited with "much of the success of the WLS research operation over a forty-year period".
[8]: 215 A Faculty Senate resolution stated: “Her work changed the discipline of Sociology, the UW-Madison Sociology department, and faculty, staff and students within the department in important and profound ways.”[1] Her contributions to methods of survey research included procedures for locating respondents in longitudinal studies.
They reported that there were pay inequities related to official titles and salaries that could not be explained by education, work experience, or free market factors.
[8] Tess Hauser served on the Committee of Experts that was established to implement recommendations addressing gender and racial inequities and improve conditions at the university.
[24][4][5] For 2002-2003 Tess Hauser received the Judith S. Craig Distinguished Service Award from the College of Letters and Science.