Alumni
Balzan Prize winners
Pulitzer prizes
Ethan Bronner (1976) – Pulitzer Prize (Explanatory Journalism, 2001); Battle for Justice (The New York Public Library , one of the 25 best books of 1989)
Lisa Chedekel (1982) – Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting (1999); finalist, Pulitzer (2007); George Polk Award ; Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting ; Worth Bingham Prize
Seth Faison (1981) – journalist, Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting (1994); former Bureau Chief, New York Times (1995–2000); author[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Sue Fox (B.A. high honors 1993?) – Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting (2004)[11] [12]
David Garrow (1975) – Pulitzer Prize for Biography (1987); Fellow, Homerton College , Cambridge University
Alan C. Miller (1976) – Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (2003), Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting (1997), George Polk Award (1996)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (2002) – playwright, winner of Pulitzer Prize in Drama (2016) for Hamilton
Lucille Renwick (1987) – 2 Pulitzers: Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting (1998); Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting (1995)[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Barbara Roessner (1975) – Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting (1999); finalist, Pulitzer (2007, 2003, 2001); Executive Editor, Hearst Connecticut Newspapers (2012–), Managing Editor (2006–09)[19] [20] [21]
Stephen Schiff (1972) – journalist; finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (1983)
Wadada Leo Smith – composer, musician; finalist, Pulitzer Prize for music (2013)[22]
Leland Stowe (1921) – Pulitzer Prize (Correspondence, 1930); runner-up for second Pulitzer (Correspondence, 1940)
Lawrence Rogers Thompson (B.A.) – Pulitzer Prize for Biography of Robert Frost (1971); professor of English, Princeton University [23] [24]
MacArthur Fellows
The following alumni are fellows of the MacArthur Fellows Program (known as the "genius grant") from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation . As this is an interdisciplinary award, recipients are listed here in addition to their listing in their field of accomplishment.
Ruth Behar (1977–88) – first Latin woman named a MacArthur Fellow; professor, anthropology, University of Michigan ; poet, writer
Majora Carter (1984–2005) – MacArthur Fellow; environmental justice advocate; urban revitalization strategist; public radio host; 2011 Peabody award
Mary Halvorson – 2019 MacArthur Fellow; avant-garde jazz composer and guitarist
James Longley (1994–2009) – MacArthur Fellow; documentarian, including Gaza Strip , Iraq in Fragments , Sari's Mother
Lin-Manuel Miranda – 2015 MacArthur Fellow; Broadway actor, composer, playwright, and lyricist (In the Heights , Hamilton ); 2008 Tony Award winner for Best Musical and Best Original Score , 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album , 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner
Academy, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy awards
Academy awards and nominations
Miguel Arteta (1989) – Student Academy Award , Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award ; film director (Chuck & Buck , The Good Girl , Youth in Revolt , Cedar Rapids )
Shari Springer Berman (1985) – Academy Award -nominated screenwriter, director, American Splendor (Best Adapted Screenplay); The Extra Man , Cinema Verite
Akiva Goldsman (1983) – Academy Award -winning screenwriter, A Beautiful Mind (2001, Best Adapted Screenplay ); Golden Globe Award ; The Client , A Time to Kill
Michael Gottwald (2006) – producer; 2012 nomination, Academy Award for Best Picture [25] [26]
Dan Janvey (2006) – director, producer; 2012 nomination, Academy Award for Best Picture [26] [27]
Sebastian Junger (1984) – documentarian ; Restrepo ; 2011 Academy Award nomination; Grand Jury Prize , Best Documentary, 2010 Sundance Film Festival
Jennifer Lame (2004)[28] – Academy Award -winning film editor, Oppenheimer (2023, Academy Award for Best Film Editing )[29]
Kenneth Lonergan – playwright, screenwriter, director; nominated for two Academy Awards (2002, Gangs of New York ; 2000, You Can Count on Me ) and Pulitzer Prize (2001, The Waverley Gallery ); Grand Jury Prize , Best Drama, 2000 Sundance Film Festival (You Can Count on Me )
James Longley (1994) – documentarian; Student Academy Award (1994); Academy Award -nominated Iraq in Fragments (2007), Academy Award -nominated Sari's Mother (2008); three jury awards, 2006 Sundance Film Festival
Laurence Mark (1971) – producer, nominated for three Academy Awards : Jerry Maguire , As Good as It Gets , Working Girl ; Dreamgirls (won Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy ); Independent Spirit Award ; Julie & Julia
Roger Weisberg (1975) – documentarian ;[30] nominated for two Academy Awards (2000, Sound and Fury ;[31] 2002, Why Can't We Be a Family Again )[32] 1994 Peabody Award (Road Scholar );[33] [34] 100 other awards[35]
Paul Weitz (1988) – Academy Award -nominated director, American Pie ; About a Boy , Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant , Little Fockers
Joss Whedon (1987) – Academy Award -nominated screenwriter, Toy Story ; Speed ; director, screenwriter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Serenity , The Cabin in the Woods , The Avengers
Allie Wrubel – Academy Award -winning composer, songwriter, Song of the South , song, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah " (1947, Best Original Song ); Songwriters Hall of Fame
Benh Zeitlin (2004) – filmmaker, composer, director; his Beasts of the Southern Wild garnered four 2012 Academy Award nominations ; 2012 Caméra d'Or award, Cannes Film Festival ; 2012 Grand Jury Prize , Dramatic, Sundance Film Festival
Emmy awards
Emmy awards in journalism
Emmy awards in film and television
Phil Abraham – Emmy Award -winning film and television cinematographer , director
Dana Delany (1978) – two Emmy Awards ; actress; television shows China Beach , Presidio Med , Desperate Housewives , Body of Proof ; films Tombstone , Fly Away Home
Janet Grillo (1980) – Emmy Award -winning producer; writer and director[37] [38] [39] [40]
Evan Katz – Emmy Award -winning writer, executive producer of television series 24
Michael E. Knight (1980) – three Emmy Awards ; actor, best known for his role as Tad Martin on All My Children
David Kohan (1986) – Emmy Award -winning co-creator, executive producer, Will & Grace and Good Morning, Miami
Diane Kolyer – Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Children's Program (2004); director, writer, producer[41] [42]
Jeffrey Lane – five Emmy Awards , Golden Globe , two Peabody Awards , three Writers Guild of America Awards; author, television scriptwriter, film producer
Alan Levin (1946) – three Emmy Awards ; maker of documentaries
Marc Levin (1973) – three Emmy Awards (1988, 1989, 1999), documentary filmmaker; 1998 Caméra d'Or award, Cannes Film Festival ; 1998 Grand Jury Prize , Sundance Film Festival ; 1997 DuPont-Columbia Award ; founder Blowback Productions (1988)
Jim Margolis – six Emmy Awards (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007), writer, producer, co-executive producer, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart [43] [44]
Bruce McKenna (1984) – Emmy Award -winning television and movie producer, writer; Writers Guild Award ; The Pacific
Mary McDonagh Murphy – six Emmy Awards ; independent documentary film director, writer and producer[45] [46] [47] [48] [49]
Owen Renfroe – three Emmy Awards ; three Directors Guild of America Awards , television soap opera director; former film editor
Matthew Senreich (1996) – Emmy Award -winning screenwriter, director; producer, Robot Chicken
Bill Sherman (2002) – Emmy Award -winning composer (2011); currently Musical Director of Sesame Street [50]
Matthew Weiner (1987) – 2011 Time 's "100 Most Influential People in the World";[51] The Atlantic , one of 21 Brave Thinkers 2011 ;[52] nine Emmy Awards , three Golden Globes ; creator, executive producer, writer, Mad Men ; screenwriter, supervising producer, The Sopranos
Roger Weisberg (1975) – documentarian ;[30] Emmy Award –winning series Help Yourself ;[34] Dupont-Columbia Award
Joss Whedon (1987) – Emmy Award , Nebula Award , two Hugo Awards ; writer, creator, producer, director, Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Angel , Firefly , Dollhouse , Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Bradley Whitford (1981) – Emmy Award -winning actor; television dramas, The West Wing , Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ; films, Billy Madison , The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Bill Wrubel (1985) – three Emmy Awards (2010, 2011, 2012); co-executive producer, writer Modern Family ,[53] [54] [55] [56] Ugly Betty , Will & Grace [57] [58]
Tony and Grammy awards
Bill Cunliffe (1978) – jazz pianist, composer, arranger; 2009 Grammy Award ;[59] won 1989 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Award; won several Down Beat Awards ; 2 Emmy nominations; 4 Grammy nominations
Thomas Kail (1999) – director; Tony Award winner for Hamilton and nominee for In the Heights
Jorge Arevalo Mateus (PhD) – 2008 Grammy Award (Best Historical Recording); Curator/Archivist, Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives (1996–)[60] [61] [62] [63]
Lin-Manuel Miranda (2002) – creator, composer, lyricist, actor: In the Heights (two Tony Awards , 2008, Best Musical and Best Original Score; Grammy Award , 2009) and Hamilton (three Tony Awards , 2016, Best Musical, Best Book of A Musical, Best Original Score; Grammy Award, 2016)
Jeffrey Richards (1969) – producer; six Tony Awards ;[64] including 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, 2011 The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (Paulus adaptation) ; August: Osage County (Pulitzer Prize , five Tony Awards ); co-producer, Spring Awakening (three Tony Awards , Grammy Award )[65] [66]
L. Shankar (PhD) – Tamil Indian virtuoso violinist, composer; professor of music; 1994 Grammy Award ; 1996 Grammy nomination
Bill Sherman (2002) – orchestrator, arranger; 2008 Tony Award , Best Orchestration (In the Heights ), 2009 Grammy Award [67] [68] [69]
Frank Wood (1984) – Tony Award -winning actor (Side Man ); Angels in America
Academia
Presidents, chancellors, founders
See also #Religion for listing of additional college presidents.
Samuel Rogers Adams (B.A. 1851, M.A. 1856) – president, predecessor of the University of Evansville (1856–61)[70] [71] [72]
David Allison (B.A. 1859, M.A. 1862) – president, Mount Allison University , Canada (1891–1911); 2nd president, Mount Allison College , Canada (1869–78)
John W. Beach (1845) – 7th president, Wesleyan University (1880–87)[73] [74]
Joseph Beech (1899) – co-founder, 1st president, West China Union University in Chengtu , West China[75] [76]
Douglas J. Bennet (1959) – 15th president, Wesleyan (1995–07)
Katherine Bergeron (1980) – 11th president, Connecticut College (2014–)[77]
Anthony S. Caprio (1967) – 5th president, Western New England College (since 1996)
Hiram Chodosh (1985) – 5th president elect of Claremont McKenna College (2013–)[78]
Charles Collins (1837) – 1st president Emory and Henry College (1832–52); 11th president, Dickinson College (1852–60)[79] [80] [81]
Edward Cooke (1838) – 1st president, Lawrence University (1853–59);[82] [83] 2nd President, Claflin Universityb (HBCU ) (1872–84);[84] Board of Examiners, Harvard University [85] [86]
Joseph Cummings (1840) – 5th president, Wesleyan (1857–75); 5th president, Northwestern University (1881–90); president, predecessor of Syracuse University (Genesee College )
W. H. Daniels – interim president, Pentecostal Collegiate Institute , antecedent of Eastern Nazarene College [87]
Joseph Denison (1840) – co-founder, 1st president, Kansas State University (1863–73); president, Baker University (1874–79); 1st president, Blue Mont Central College
Nicholas Dirks (1972) – 10th chancellor-designate, University of California, Berkeley (effective June 1, 2013); professor, anthropology, history, and dean, faculty of arts and sciences, Columbia University
Paul Douglass – 6th president, American University (1941–52)
Gordon P. Eaton (1951) – 12th president, Iowa State University (1986–90)
Ignatius Alphonso Few (1838) – co-founder and first president, Emory University
Cyrus David Foss (1854) – 6th president, Wesleyan (1875–80)
E. K. Fretwell (1944) – president, University at Buffalo (1967–78); 2nd chancellor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1979–89); interim president, University of Massachusetts (1991–92); interim president, University of Florida (1998)
Charles Wesley Gallagher (A.B. 1870, A.M. 1873) – 6th president, Lawrence University (1889–93)[72] [83] [88]
Bishop John W. Gowdy (1897) – president, Anglo-Chinese College, in Fuzhou , China (1904–23); president, Fukien Christian University (1923–27)
A. LeRoy Greason (1944) – 12th president, Bowdoin College (1981–90)
William R. Greiner (1955) – 13th president, University at Buffalo (1991–03); also professor, dean, and provost of the University at Buffalo Law School [89] [90]
Burton Crosby Hallowell – 9th president, Tufts University (1967–76)
Abram W. Harris – 14th president, Northwestern University (1906–16); 1st president, University of Maine (1896–06); president, Maine State College (1893–96)
Bishop Erastus Otis Haven (1842) – 2nd president, University of Michigan (1863–69); 6th president, Northwestern University ; 2nd Chancellor, Syracuse University ; overseer, Harvard University
Clark T. Hinman – 1st president, Northwestern University (1853–54 (death)); president, Albion College (1846–53)
Francis S. Hoyt (1844) – 1st president, Willamette University (1853–60)
Harry Burns Hutchins (1870) – 4th president, University of Michigan (1910–20), twice acting president; dean, University of Michigan Law School ; organized law department, Cornell University
Isaac J. Lansing (B.A. 1872, graduate student 1872–73, M.A. 1875) – president, predecessor, Clark Atlanta University (HBCU ) (1874–76)
Gregory Mandel – Dean at Temple University Beasley School of Law
Oliver Marcy (1846) – twice acting president, Northwestern University (1876–81, 1890); established the Northwestern University Museum of Natural History, served as its curator[91]
Anthony Marx (1981, attended 1977–79) – 18th president, Amherst College (2003–11); president, New York Public Library (2011–)
Russell Zelotes Mason (B.A. 1844, M.A. 1847) – 2nd president, Lawrence University (1861–65); acting president (1859–61); mayor, Appleton, Wisconsin [72] [92] [93]
William Williams Mather (A.M. 1834) – acting president, Ohio University (1845)
John McClintock (1834) – 1st president, Drew Theological Seminary (later, Drew University )
Frank L. McVey (B.A.) – 4th president, University of North Dakota (1909–17); 3rd president, University of Kentucky (1917–40); economist
Bishop Samuel Sobieski Nelles (1846) – 1st chancellor, president, Victoria University in the University of Toronto , Ontario, Canada (1884–87); president, Victoria College
John W. North – co-founder, University of Minnesota ; founding member of its board of regents (1851–60); wrote university's charter
Henry S. Noyes (1848) – twice interim president, Northwestern University (1854–56, 1860–67)
Kennedy Odede (2012); founder of Shining Hope for Communities , Nairobi, Kenya[94]
Brother John R. Paige (M.A.) – president, Holy Cross College (2010–); prior vicar general, the Congregation of Holy Cross in Rome[95] [96]
Bishop Charles Henry Payne (A.B. 1856, A.M. 1859) – 3rd president, Ohio Wesleyan University (1876–88)
Humphrey Pickard (B.A. 1839) – 1st president, Mount Allison Wesleyan College, Canada (later known as Mount Allison University ) (1862–1869)
Matias Perez y Ponce (B.A.) – founder and first president, Cagayan Teachers College (Philippine Islands) (1948–1968)[97]
John A. Randall (1881) – 4th president, Rochester Institute of Technology (1922–36)
George Edward Reed (1869) – 15th president, Dickinson College (1889–1911); with William Tickett, re-established Dickinson School of Law in 1890[98]
David Rhodes (1968) – 2nd president, School of Visual Arts (incumbent as of 2010)[99] [100]
Edward Loranus Rice (A.B. 1892, Sc.D. 1927) – acting president, Ohio Wesleyan University (1938–39); biologist; scientific consultant to Clarence Darrow before Scopes Trial
William North Rice (1865) – three-time acting president, Wesleyan University (1907, 1908–09, 1918); geologist, earned first PhD. in geology granted by Yale University
B. T. Roberts – founder, predecessor of Roberts Wesleyan College (named in his honor)
Michael S. Roth (1978) – 16th president, Wesleyan University (since 2007); 8th president, California College of the Arts (2000–07)[101]
Richard S. Rust (1841) – co-founder, 1st president, Wilberforce University (HBCU ); co-founder, Rust College (HBCU) (named in his honor)[102] [103]
Richard W. Schneider (M.A. 1973) – 23rd president, Norwich University (since 1992)[104] [105]
Edwin O. Smith (1893) – acting president, Connecticut Agricultural College (now the University of Connecticut ) (1908)
George Mckendree Steele (B.A. 1850, M.A. 1853) – 3rd president Lawrence University (1865–79)[72] [92] [93]
Samuel Nowell Stevens (1921) – 9th president, Grinnell College (1940–54)[106] [107]
Harold Syrett (1935) – President of Brooklyn College
Beverly Daniel Tatum (1975) – 9th president, Spelman College (HBCU ) (2002–); acting president, Mount Holyoke College (2002)
John Hanson Twombly (1843) – 5th president, University of Wisconsin–Madison (1871–74); co-founder, Boston University ; overseer, Harvard University [108]
Joseph Urgo (M.A.) – president, St. Mary's College of Maryland (since 2010); former acting president, Hamilton College (2009)[109]
Daniel C. Van Norman (1838) – educator, clergyman, and school founder
John Monroe Van Vleck (1850) – twice acting president, Wesleyan (1872–73, 1887–89); astronomer, mathematician
Francis Voigt (1962) – co-founder, president, New England Culinary Institute (incumbent as of 2010)[110] [111] [112]
Clarence Abiathar Waldo (A.B. 1875, A.M. 1878) – twice acting president, Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology (1885–86, 1888–89); mathematician
Henry White Warren (1853) – co-founder, Iliff School of Theology
William Fairfield Warren (1853) – co-founder, Wellesley College in 1870; 1st President, Boston University (1873–03); acting president, Boston University School of Theology (1866–73)
Robert Weisbuch (1968) – 11th president, Drew University (since 2005); former president, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation [113]
Herbert George Welch (B.A. 1887, M.A. 1890) – 5th president, Ohio Wesleyan University (1905–16)
Bishop Erastus Wentworth (B.A. 1837) – 7th president, McKendree College (1846–50)
Georg Whitaker (1861) – 4th president, Wiley College (1888–91) (HBCU ); 7th president, Willamette University (1891–93); president, Portland University
Alexander Winchell (B.A. 1847, M.A. 1850) – 1st chancellor, Syracuse University (1872–74)[114] [115] [116]
Elizabeth C. Wright (1897) – principal co-counder and secretary, registrar, and later 1st bursar, Connecticut College [117] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122]
Henry Merritt Wriston (B.A. 1911, M.A.) – 11th president, Brown University (1937–55); 8th president, Lawrence University (1925–37); father of Walter B. Wriston (see below)
Professors and scholars
David Abram (1980) – philosopher, cultural ecologist
Kenneth R. Andrews (M.A. 1932) – academic credited with foundational role (at Harvard Business School ) in introducing, popularizing concept of business strategy
Elliot Aronson (M.A. 1956) – among 100 most eminent psychologist of 20th century
John William Atkinson (1947) – psychologist, pioneered the scientific study of human motivation , achievement, and behavior
Wilbur Olin Atwater (1865) – chemist, leader in development of agricultural chemistry
Adam J. Berinsky (1992) – professor of political science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Albert Francis Blakeslee (1896) – botanist, director of the Carnegie Institution for Science ; professor, Smith College
George Hubbard Blakeslee (A.B. 1893, A.M. 1897) – professor of history, Clark University ; founded the first American journal devoted to international relations
Jennifer Finney Boylan (1980) – author, professor of English, Colby College (1988–)
Lael Brainard – former professor of applied economics, MIT Sloan School of Management
Kenneth Bruffee – emeritus professor of English; wrote first peer tutoring handbook
Leonard Burman (1975) – economist, tax-policy expert; Professor of public affairs , Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs , Syracuse University
Leslie Cannold (1987) – academic ethicist; Australian public intellectual
John Bissell Carroll (1937) – psychologist; known for his contributions to psychology, educational linguistics and psychometrics
John C. Cavadini (B.A. 1975) – professor and chair, Theology Department, University of Notre Dame ; Vatican adviser; Order of St. Gregory the Great [123] [124] [125]
KC Chan – former professor of finance and dean, business management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ; Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (since 2007);
Arthur W. Chickering (1950) – educational researcher; known for contributions to student development theories
John H. Coatsworth (1963) – historian of Latin America; provost , Columbia University ; dean, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (2007–12)
Marion Cohen (PhD in mathematics (distribution theory )) – mathematician and poet
Kate Cooper – Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester , England
Jeffrey N. Cox (1975) – professor of English literature; leading scholar of late-18th to early-19th-century theater and drama
Norman Daniels (1964) – philosopher, ethicist, and bioethicist, Harvard University
Ram Dass (M.A.) – former professor of psychology, Harvard University ; spiritual teacher; wrote book Be Here Now [126] [127]
Marc Davis (1989) – founding director, Yahoo! Research Berkeley
Walter Dearborn (B.A. 1900, M.A.) – pioneering educator, experimental psychologist; helped establish field of reading education ; longtime professor, Harvard University
Daniel Dennett (attended) – professor of philosophy, Tufts University ; Jean Nicod Prize
Henrik Dohlman (1982) – professor and chair of pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Stephen M. Engel – political scientist, professor at Bates College (1998–)
Raymond D. Fogelson – anthropologist ; a founder of the subdiscipline of ethnohistory ; professor, University of Chicago
Virginia Page Fortna (1990) – professor of political science at Columbia University
Michael Foster – professor of Japanese literature, culture, and folklore; author
Daniel Z. Freedman – physicist, professor of physics and applied mathematics , Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; co-discovered supergravity
David Garrow (1975) – Pulitzer Prize for Biography ; fellow, Homerton College , Cambridge University
Mark H. Gelber (1972) – American-Israeli scholar of comparative literature and German-Jewish literature and culture
Gayatri Gopinath (1994) – scholar of social and cultural analysis; director, Asian /Pacific /American Studies , New York University
Adolf Grünbaum (1943) – philosopher of science and critic of psychoanalysis and Karl Popper
Saidiya Hartman – professor of African-American literature and history, Columbia University (as of 2010)
Robert H. Hayes (1958) – Philip Caldwell Professor of Business Administration (1966–2000), Emeritus (since 2001), Harvard Business School [128] [129] [130] [131]
Ole Holsti (MAT 1956) – political scientist, Duke University (1974–1998), emeritus chair (since 1998); creator, inherent bad faith model
Gerald Holton (1941) – emeritus professor of physics and professor of the History of Physics , Harvard University
William G. Howell (1993) – Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics at Chicago Harris and a professor in the Department of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago [132]
Shelly Kagan – Clark Professor of Philosophy, Yale University ; former Henry R. Luce Professor of Social Thought and Ethics, Yale University
Douglas Kahn (M.A. 1987) – Professor of Media and Innovation, National Institute for Experimental Arts, University of New South Wales ; Professor Emeritus in Science and Technology Studies, University of California, Davis ; 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship
Edwin W. Kemmerer – economist; economic adviser to foreign governments worldwide; professor, Princeton University
William L. Lane – New Testament theologian and professor of biblical studies
Seth Lerer (1976) – professor of English and comparative literature, Stanford University
Peter Lipton (1976) – Hans Rausing professor and head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science , University of Cambridge
Richard M. Locke (1981) – Provost, Schreiber Family Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University ; former deputy dean, MIT Sloan School of Management
Silas Laurence Loomis (1844) – professor of chemistry, physiology, and toxicology, Georgetown University
Delmar R. Lowell – historian and genealogist
Saree Makdisi (1987) – professor of English and comparative literature, University of California, Los Angeles ; also literary critic
Harold Marcuse (physics, 1979) – professor of modern and contemporary German history
Harold Marks – British educator
David McClelland (1938) – noted for his work on achievement motivation ; co-creator of scoring system for Thematic Apperception Test ; professor, Harvard University
Lee C. McIntyre – philosopher of science
Elmer Truesdell Merrill (1881) – Latin scholar; professor of Latin, University of Chicago
Joseph C. Miller (1961) – professor of history, University of Virginia (since 1972)
Indiana Neidell (1989) – historian, host and lead writer of The Great War YouTube channel
Eugene Allen Noble (1891) – president of Centenary University 1902–1908, 3rd president of Goucher College from 1908–1911, 16th president of Dickinson College from 1911–1914
Tavia Nyong'o (B.A.) – historian, Kenyan -American cultural critic; professor, New York University ; Marshall Scholarship
Thomas Pickard – Canadian professor of mathematics, Mount Allison University (1848–1869)
Horace Jacobs Rice (1905) – lawyer, Associate Dean, Northeastern University School of Law , Dean of the College of Western New England School of Law from
Paul North Rice (1910) – librarian, Director of Reference at the New York Public Library , Director of NYU libraries, Director of the Wesleyan University Library 1953-56
Edward Bennett Rosa (1886) – Elliott Cresson Medal , Franklin Institute ; professor of physics (1891–1901)
Juliet Schor – professor, sociology, Boston College ; professor, economics (for 17 years), Harvard University [133]
Sanford L. Segal (1958) – mathematician, professor of mathematics, historian of science and mathematics
Ira Sharkansky (1960) – professor emeritus, political science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; fellow National Academy of Public Administration
Steven M. Sheffrin (1972) – economist and expert on property tax limitations in the U.S.
Horst Siebert – German economist ; chair, economic theory , University of Kiel (1989–2003), University of Konstanz (1984–89), University of Mannheim (1969–84)
Neil Asher Silberman – archaeologist and historian
Richard Slotkin (MAEE) – professor of American studies (appears above), published by Wesleyan University Press
Charles H. Smith (1972) – historian of science
Robert Stalnaker – Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; delivered the 2006–2007 John Locke Lectures at Oxford University
H. Eugene Stanley (1962) – recipient, 2004 Boltzmann Medal ; professor of physics, Boston University [134]
John Stauffer (MALS 1991) – historian, 2002 Frederick Douglass Prize ; chair, History of American Civilization and professor of English, Harvard [135] [136] [137]
Leland Stowe (1921) – 1930 Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence ; recipient, Légion d'honneur ; professor and journalist, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1955–1970), emeritus (1970)
Mark C. Taylor (1968) – philosopher of religion, professor and chair of religion, Columbia University
Lawrence Rogers Thompson (B.A.) – 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Biography ; professor of English, Princeton University [23] [24]
Edward Thorndike (1895) – psychologist; work led to theory of connectionism in artificial intelligence , neuroscience , philosophy of mind
Lynn Thorndike (1902) – George Sarton Medal ; historian; former professor, Columbia University
Robert L. Thorndike (1941) – psychometrician and educational psychologist
Robert M. Thorndike (1965) – professor of psychology known for several definitive textbooks on research procedures and psychometrics
Charles Tiebout (1950) – economist; known for his development of Tiebout model ; free rider problem ; feet voting
Aaron Louis Treadwell (B.S. 1888, M.S. 1890) – professor, biology and zoology, Vassar College
Albert E. Van Dusen (MA, PhD) – historian, professor of history, University of Connecticut (1949–1983); Connecticut State Historian (1952–1985)
Edward Burr Van Vleck (1884) – mathematician; professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Christian K. Wedemeyer (1991) – history of religions faculty, University of Chicago Divinity School
William Stone Weedon (M.S.) – University Professor, University of Virginia (philosophy, mathematics, logic, linguistic analysis)
Kenneth D. West (1973) – professor of economics, University of Wisconsin–Madison ; developed (with Whitney K. Newey ) the Newey-West estimator
Alexander Winchell (1847) – professor of physics and civil engineering, professor of geology and paleontology at University of Michigan
Caleb Thomas Winchester (1869) – scholar of English literature
Art and architecture
Natalia Alonso (economics 2000) – professional dancer, Complexions Contemporary Ballet ; former dancer, Ballet Hispanico
Steven Badanes (1967) – architect; known for his practice, teaching of design/build
I Made Bandem (PhD, ethnomusicology ) – Balinese dancer, author; rector, Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta
Meredith Bergmann (1976) – sculptor, Women's Memorial (Boston)
Lisa Brown (1993) – illustrator, author
Momodou Ceesay (1970) – African fine artist and writer
George Fisk Comfort – founder, Metropolitan Museum of Art , Everson Museum of Art
Bradshaw Crandell – artist and illustrator; known as the "artist of the stars"
Jeffrey Deitch (1974) – art dealer , curator , and, since 2010, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Vincent Fecteau (1992) – sculptor; work in permanent collections, Museum of Modern Art , San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Ralph Carlin Flewelling – architect
Ellen Forney (1989) – cartoonist ; nomination, 2007 Eisner Award ; illustrated winner, 2007 National Book Award
Danny Forster (1999) – architect; host, Extreme Engineering and Build It Bigger
Renée Green – artist, sculptor; professor, MIT School of Architecture and Planning
Lyle Ashton Harris (1988) – artist; collage , installation art , performance art
Rachel Harrison (1989) – contemporary sculptor; multimedia artist; Calder Prize
Morrison Heckscher (1962) – art historian and retired curator of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Dana Hoey (1989) – visual artist working with photography
Jonathan Horowitz (1987) – multimedia artist; sculptor, sound installations
Wayne Howard (1971) – graphic artist ; created Midnight Tales
Bruce Eric Kaplan – cartoonist (The New Yorker ); television writer (Six Feet Under ; Seinfeld )
Stephan Koplowitz (1979) – choreographer, director; 2004 Alpert Award in the Arts
Abigail Levine – choreographer, dancer
C. Stanley Lewis – artist, professor of art
Paul Lewis 1998 – Rome Prize ; director, Graduate Studies, Princeton University School of Architecture; principal, LTL Architects
Glenn Ligon – contemporary conceptual artist; work in collection of the White House
Nava Lubelski (1990) – contemporary artist
Thomas McKnight – artist; work commissioned by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton and in the permanent collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smithsonian Institution
Alix Olson (1997) – performance artist, award-winning slam poet
Jill Snyder (1979) – executive director, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland [138] [139]
John Spike (1973) – art historian of Italian Renaissance ; contemporary art critic
Jim Sugar – photographer
Thomas Bangs Thorpe (1834–1837) – antebellum humorist, painter, illustrator, author
Lori Verderame (MLS ) – best known as "Dr. Lor"; appraiser, TV show Auction Kings
Robert Vickrey – artist and author; collections in Metropolitan Museum of Art , Whitney Museum of American Art , Brooklyn Museum , Corcoran Gallery of Art
Ben Weiner (2003) – contemporary artist; oil painting, video
Chris Wink – co-founder, Blue Man Group and Blue Man Creativity Center
Business
Robert Allbritton (1992) – chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), Allbritton Communications ; publisher, Politico [140]
Kenneth R. Andrews (M.A. 1932) – credited with foundational role (at Harvard Business School ) in introducing, popularizing concept of business strategy
Douglas J. Bennet – former CEO, National Public Radio (1983–93)
William Bissell – sole managing director, Fabindia (1993–)[141] [142] [143]
Jonathan S. Bush – co-founder, president, CEO, athenahealth (as of 2012)
KC Chan – ex-officio chairman, Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (2007–11); former director, Hong Kong Futures Exchange
Tos Chirathivat (1985) – CEO, Central Retail [144] [145] [146] [147]
Robert Crispin (1968) – former president, CEO, ING Group Investment Management Americas (2001–07)[148] [149]
D. Ronald Daniel (1952) – managing partner (1976–88), McKinsey & Company ; developed concept, critical success factors [150] [151]
Charles E. Exley, Jr. (1951) – president (1976–91), chairman (1984–91), CEO (1983–91), NCR Corporation [152] [153] [154]
Mallory Factor – merchant banker
John B. Frank (B.A.) – managing principal (since 2007), general counsel (2001–06), Oaktree Capital Management
Mansfield Freeman (1916) – one of original founders, AIG ; philanthropist
Jim Friedlich – media executive, Dow Jones & Company (1990–00); founding partner, ZelnickMedia (2001–11); founding partner, Empirical Media Advisors (since 2011)
Pete Ganbarg (1988) – President of A&R, Atlantic Records (as of 2017)[155]
John Hagel III (1972) – co-chairman, Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation (as of 2012); coined the term "infomediary "
Henry I. Harriman – co-founder, New England Power Company
Charles James (1976) – vice president and general counsel, ChevronTexaco
Herb Kelleher (1953) – founder, chairman, president, CEO, Southwest Airlines ; chair, board of governors, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (2011–13)
Edward M. Kennedy, Jr. (1983) – co-founder, president (as of 2012), Marwood Group (Wall Street investment firm);[156] attorney (disability law)
George M. La Monte (1884) – chairman, Prudential Insurance Company
Gary Loveman (1982) – president of the Aetna Inc. subsidiary Healthagen (since 2015); former chairman and former CEO of Caesars Entertainment Corporation ; former professor, Harvard School of Business
John Macy – president, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1969–72); ran the Council of Better Business Bureau (1972–1979)
Tom Matlack (1986) – entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author
Nick Meyer – president, Paramount Vantage (until December 2008); former president, Lionsgate International, a division of Lionsgate Studios
Candace Nelson – founder, Sprinkles Cupcakes (2005); pastry chef; judge, television series Cupcake Wars (since 2010)
Chuck Pagano (MALS ) – chief technology officer , executive vice president of technology, ESPN ; Sporting News "Power 100" list (2003 and 2006)[157] [158]
Tom Rogers (1976) – president, CEO, TiVo (since 2005); former chairman, CEO, Primedia ; former president, NBC Cable ; founded CNBC ,[159] established MSNBC
Jonathan I. Schwartz (1987) – president (2004–10), CEO (2006–10), Sun Microsystems ; founder, CEO, Lighthouse Design (1989–96)
Marc Shmuger (1980) – chairman, Universal Pictures (until October 2009)[160] [161] [162]
Jonathan Soros (1992) – hedge fund manager and political donor; son of George Soros [163] [164] [165] [166]
Steve Spinner – business executive, known for his work as an angel investor and advisor to Silicon Valley startups
Gideon Stein – founder, former CEO, Omnipod, Inc. (now a division of Symantec )
Gerald Tsai (1947–48) – founder, CEO, Primerica ; pioneered use of performance funds
Laura Ruth Walker (1979) – president, CEO, WNYC Public Radio Station , largest public-radio station in nation; named one of NYC's Most Powerful Women by Crain's New York Business (2009)
Dan Wolf (1979) – founder, president, CEO, Cape Air (since 1988)
Luke Wood (1991) – president, chief operating officer, Beats Electronics
Walter B. Wriston (1941) – commercial banker ; former chairman (1979–84), CEO (1967–84), Citibank and Citicorp
Strauss Zelnick (1979) – CEO (2011–), chairman (2007–), Take-Two Interactive ; founder, managing partner, ZelnickMedia (2001–); president, chief operating officer (1989–93), 20th Century Fox ; CEO, BMG Entertainment (1998–2000)[167] [168] [169]
Film, television, acting
Writers
Carter Bays (1997) – writer, creator, executive producer, How I Met Your Mother
Mark Bomback – screenwriter
Jennifer Crittenden (1992) – writer, producer; two Humanitas Prizes , Seinfeld , Everybody Loves Raymond , The New Adventures of Old Christine
Ed Decter (1979) – screenwriter, There's Something About Mary , The Santa Clause 2 , The Santa Clause 3
Jennifer Flackett (1986) – screen/television writer, film director; Madeline , Wimbledon , Little Manhattan , Nim's Island and Journey to the Center of the Earth
Liz Friedman – writer, producer; Xena: Warrior Princess , Hack , The O.C. , Numb3rs , House ; co-creator, writer, executive producer, Young Hercules
Liz W. Garcia (1999) – writer and producer; Dawson's Creek , Wonderfalls , Cold Case ; co-created TNT series Memphis Beat
David H. Goodman (1995) – television writer and producer, Fringe , Without a Trace
Katie Halper (born July 11, 1980/1981), activist , comedian, writer, filmmaker, podcaster, political commentator; host of The Katie Halper Show ; co-host of Useful Idiots with Aaron Maté .
Willy Holtzman – screenwriter, playwright; Humanitas Prize , Writers Guild Award , Peabody Award
Alex Kurtzman – film, television screenwriter, producer; film: The Legend of Zorro , Mission: Impossible III , Transformers , Cowboys & Aliens , Star Trek , Star Trek Into Darkness ; television: Fringe
Catie Lazarus – writer, storyteller and talk show host
Brett Matthews (1999) – writer, TV shows and comics
Kate Purdy (2001) – Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation ; writer, producer, Cougar Town , Enlisted , The McCarthys , Bojack Horseman ; co-creator, writer, executive producer, Undone
Craig Thomas (1997) – writer, creator, executive producer How I Met Your Mother
Joss Whedon (1987) – creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Firefly and screenwriter & director The Avengers
Zack Whedon (2002) – screenwriter
Mike White (1992) – two Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Awards ; co-creator, screenwriter, Enlightened ; The Good Girl , Orange County , Chuck & Buck , and the HBO satire comedy miniseries The White Lotus
Directors
Phil Abraham – television director, cinematographer (The Sopranos , Mad Men , Orange is the New Black )
Michael Arias (attended from age 16 to 18) – film director, producer, visual effects artist; filmmaker active primarily in Japan
Miguel Arteta (1989) – film director (The Good Girl , Cedar Rapids )
Michael Bay (1986) – film director (The Rock , Armageddon , Pearl Harbor , Bad Boys Series , Transformers film series)
Eric Byler (1994) – film director (Charlotte Sometimes , My Life Disoriented , Americanese , TRE )
Jan Eliasberg (1974) – director (television, theatre, and film)
Michael Fields – director
Ruben Fleischer (1997) – director; Zombieland , 30 Minutes or Less [170] [171] [172]
Thomas Kail (1999) – film and theatre director
David Kendall – television and film director, producer, and writer; Growing Pains , Boy Meets World , Smart Guy , Hannah Montana , Dirty Deeds , The New Guy
Daisy von Scherler Mayer (1988) – film director (Party Girl , Madeline , The Guru , Woo )
Matthew Penn (1980) – director and producer of television and theatre; NYPD Blue , Law & Order , The Sopranos , House , Damages , The Closer , and Royal Pains
Ray Tintori (2006) – director (film and music videos)
Jon Turteltaub (1985) – film director (Cool Runnings , Phenomenon , While You Were Sleeping , National Treasure , 3 Ninjas )
Matt Tyrnauer – director and journalist; Valentino: The Last Emperor (2009), short listed for an Academy Award nomination (2010)
Benh Zeitlin (2004) – film director (Beasts of the Southern Wild )
Actors and others
Edoardo Ballerini – actor, writer, director
Jordan Belfi (2000) – actor
Rob Belushi (2004) – actor, comedian and host of Get a Clue on Game Show Network
Amy Bloom (1975) – creator, State of Mind
Peter Cambor (2001) – film and television actor; NCIS: Los Angeles
Rob Campbell – actor (film, television, and stage)
Hunter Carson (1998) – actor, screenwriter, producer, director
Philip Casnoff (1971) – Golden Globe-nominated Broadway, television, and film actor (Chess , Shogun: The Musical , North and South , Sinatra )
Lynn Chen (1998) – actress, Saving Face
William Christopher (1954) – actor, Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy , M*A*S*H
Jem Cohen (1984) – Independent Spirit Award , feature filmmaker and video artist
Sarah Elmaleh (2007) – voice actor
Toby Emmerich – producer, film executive, screenwriter; head, New Line Cinema (as of 2008)
Halley Feiffer (2007) – actress, playwright
Beanie Feldstein (2015) – actress
Jo Firestone (2009) actress and comedian
Sam Fleischner (2006) – filmmaker
Bradley Fuller – producer, co-owner of Platinum Dunes
Bobbito García (1988) – hip hop DJ, writer
William "Willie" Garson – actor, White Collar ; most known for his portrayal of Stanford on Sex and the City
Max Goldblatt (2005) – actor, writer, director
Matthew Greenfield – Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award , producer of independent films
Adam Hann-Byrd (2004) – actor, Little Man Tate , The Ice Storm , Jumanji
Elisabeth Harnois (2001) – actress, Young Artist Award (1993); Adventures in Wonderland , Pretty Persuasion
Jack Johnson (2009) – actor, best known for performance in Lost in Space
Warren Keith – stage and film actor, director
Chrishaunda Lee – television host, actress
Jieho Lee (1995) – filmmaker
Tembi Locke – actress, has appeared on more than 40 television shows
Lauren LoGiudice – actress and writer
Monica Louwerens (1995) – actress, beauty queen from Canada, competed in 1996 Miss America Pageant
Barton MacLane – actor, playwright, screenwriter; appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s
Lin-Manuel Miranda (2002)-Tony-Award-winning Broadway actor, librettist, and composer
Becky Mode – playwright, actress, television producer
William R. Moses (attended) – television and film actor
Indy Neidell – documentarian, historian, and actor
Julius Onah – filmmaker of Nigerian descent
Amanda Palmer (1998) – director Hotel Blanc (2002); playwright, actress, The Onion Cellar (2006); producer, actress in ART 's Cabaret (2010)
Benjamin Parrillo (1992) – actor, Cold Case , 24 , NCIS , Boston Legal
Leszek Pawlowicz (1979) – Ultimate Tournament of Champions , 2005; won Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions , 1992; won Ben Stein's Money , 1999[173] [174] [175]
Zak Penn (1990) – screenwriter (Fantastic Four , X-Men: The Last Stand , PCU , The Incredible Hulk ); director (Incident at Loch Ness , The Grand ); co-creator, Alphas
John Rothman (1971) – film, stage, and television actor
Stefan Schaefer (1994) – director, screenwriter, producer, independent films ; Confess and Arranged ; Fulbright Scholar
Sarah Schaub (2006) – two Young Artist Awards , actress (Promised Land )
Paul Schiff (1981) – film producer (My Cousin Vinny , Rushmore , Mona Lisa Smile , Solitary Man )
Lawrence Sher (1992) – cinematographer and producer, The Dukes of Hazzard , Garden State [176] [177] [178]
Wendy Spero – actress, comedian, writer
Kim Stolz (2005) – America's Next Top Model Cycle 5 finalist
Stephen Talbot (1970) – former TV child actor of the 1950s, 1960s; portrayed Gilbert Bates on Leave it to Beaver
Kim Wayans – actress; member of the Wayans family
Bradley Whitford (1981) – actor, The West Wing , Get Out
Henry Willson – Hollywood talent agent ; clients included Rock Hudson , Tab Hunter , Robert Wagner , Clint Walker ; discovered Lana Turner ; a large role in popularizing the beefcake craze of the 1950s
Scott Wiper (1992) – director, screenwriter, actor
Angela Yee (1997) – radio personality
Alexander Yellen (2003) – cinematographer
Law
Non-U.S. government judicial figures
Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Federal appellate and trial courts
Frank R. Alley, III – judge, United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Oregon (as of 2011)[179] [180] [181]
John Baker (A.M. 1879) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Indiana
John D. Bates (1968) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia (2001–); judge, United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (2006–)[182]
Edward G. Biester, Jr. (1952) – judge, United States Court of Military Commission Review (2004–07); Attorney General for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1979–80)
Denise Jefferson Casper (B.A. 1990) – judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (2010–); 1st black, female judge to serve on federal bench in Massachusetts
Alonzo J. Edgerton (1850) – judge, United States District Court for the District of South Dakota (1889–96); Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Dakota Territory
Katherine B. Forrest (1986) – judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2011–)[183] [184]
Frederick E. Fuller – federal judge for interior Alaska ; appointed in 1912; early champion for the credibility of Alaska natives as witnesses in federal court[185] [186]
Steven Gold (1977) – chief United States magistrate judge , United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1993–)[187]
Terry J. Hatter (1954) – judge, United States District Court for the Central District of California , Los Angeles (as of 2011); chief judge, 1998; senior status , 2005
Andrew Kleinfeld (1966) – judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1991–); judge, United States District Court for the District of Alaska (1986–91)
Martin A. Knapp (1868) – judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (1916–23); judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1910–16); judge, United States Commerce Court (1910–13)
Mark R. Kravitz (1972) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (2003–2012)
Arthur MacArthur Sr. – judge, predecessor, United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1870–87)
James Rogers Miller Jr. (1953) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Maryland (1970–86)
Patricia Head Minaldi (1980) – judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (2003–2018)
J. Frederick Motz (1964) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Maryland (1985–), chief judge (1994–01); United States Attorney for the District of Maryland
Michael S. Nachmanoff – Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (2021–present), magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (2015–2021)[188]
John Wesley North – judge, by Presidential appointment, predecessor, United States District Court for the District of Nevada ; founder, Northfield, Minnesota and Riverside, California
Lyle L. Richmond (1952) – associate justice, High Court of American Samoa (in American Samoa, the highest appellate court below U.S. Supreme Court) (1991–); attorney general , American Samoa[189] [190]
Rachel A. Ruane (1997) – judge, United States Los Angeles Immigration Court (2010–)[191]
Anthony Scirica (1962) – chief judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Philadelphia) (1987–); judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1984–87)
Dominic J. Squatrito (1961) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (1994–2021); Fulbright scholar
Stephen S. Trott (1962) – judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1988–); United States Attorney for the Central District of California
Ronald M. Whyte (mathematics 1964) – judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of California (1992–)
John Simson Woolson (A.B. 1860, A.M. 1863) – judge, United States District Court for the District of Iowa
U.S. State courts
Raymond E. Baldwin – Chief Justice (1959–63), associate justice (1949–59), Connecticut Supreme Court
Richard C. Bosson (1966) – Chief Justice (2002–06), associate justice (2002–), New Mexico Supreme Court ; chief judge , New Mexico Court of Appeals (01–02)[192] [193]
John Moore Currey – eighth Chief Justice (1866–68), associate justice (1864–66), Supreme Court of California
Charles Douglas III (1960–62) – associate justice, New Hampshire Supreme Court (1977–85)
Miles T. Granger (1842) – associate justice, Connecticut Supreme Court
Ernest A. Inglis (1908) – Chief Justice (1853–57), associate justice (1850–53), Connecticut Supreme Court (1950–57)
Fred C. Norton (1950) – associate judge, Minnesota Court of Appeals
James McMillan Shafter – judge, California Superior Court and state legislator in California, Vermont, and Wisconsin[194]
Oscar L. Shafter (1834) – associate justice, Supreme Court of California (1864–1867)[195] [196] [197]
David M. Shea (1944) – associate justice, Connecticut Supreme Court (1981–1992)[198] [199] [200] [201] [202]
David K. Thomson – Associate Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court (2019–present)
Arthur T. Vanderbilt – Chief Justice, New Jersey Supreme Court ; twice declined nomination, United States Supreme Court
Josiah O. Wolcott – Chancellor , Delaware Court of Chancery ; Attorney General of Delaware
Government and other lawyers
Gerald L. Baliles (1963) – Attorney General of Virginia (1982–1985) and Governor of Virginia (1986–1990)
Tristram Coffin (1985) – U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont (2009–2015)[203] [204] [205] [206]
George C. Conway (1923) – Connecticut Attorney General (1951–1953)[207]
Edmund Pearson Dole (1874) – first Attorney General of Hawaii , Territory of Hawaii
Brian E. Frosh (1968) – Attorney General of Maryland (2015-present) Maryland State Senator (1995–2015); Maryland House of Delegates (1987–1995)
Theodore E. Hancock (1871) – New York State Attorney General (1894–1898)
Rusty Hardin (1965) – trial attorney, efforts resulted in U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturning Arthur Andersen's conviction of obstruction of justice
Eddie Jordan (1974) – United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana (1994–2001); District Attorney of Orléans Parish (2003–2007)
Edward J. C. Kewen (1843) – first Attorney General of California ; also Los Angeles County District Attorney (1859–1861)
Theodore I. Koskoff (1913–89) A.B. – trial lawyer
John Gage Marvin (1815–55) A.B. – lawyer; legal bibliographer (Marvin's Legal Bibliography, or A thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch law books ); figure in history of California; first California State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Charles Phelps (B.A. 1875, M.A.) – first Connecticut Attorney General (1899–1903); Secretary of the State of Connecticut (1897–1899)[207] [208] [209]
Michele A. Roberts (1977) – trial lawyer;[210] named "one of Washington's 100 Most Powerful Women";[211] partner, Skadden, Arps (2011–)
Abner W. Sibal (1943) – General Counsel , United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (1975–1978)
Legal academia
Gabriel J. Chin (1985) – UC Davis School of Law (2011–); "Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty, 00–07", "50 Most Cited Law Profs Who entered Teaching Since 92"
Hiram Chodosh (1985) – dean, S.J. Quinney College of Law (2006–)[212]
Ward Farnsworth (1989) – dean, University of Texas School of Law at Austin (2012–); former law clerk , Anthony Kennedy , Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court [213]
Shad Saleem Faruqi (B.A., age 19) – Professor of Law, Universiti Teknologi MARA (1971–); constitutional consultant to Maldives , Fiji , Timor Leste , Afghanistan , Iraq
Stephen C. Ferruolo (CSS 1971) – dean, University of San Diego School of Law (2011–); Rhodes Scholar ; former faculty, Stanford University [214] [215] [216] [217]
John C.P. Goldberg (CSS 1983) – Eli Goldston Professorship, Harvard Law School (2008–); former law clerk , Byron White , Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court ; expert in tort law and theory, political theory, jurisprudence[218] [219]
Robert J. Harris – attorney and professor, University of Michigan Law School (1959–1974; adjunct faculty member, 1974–2005); Rhodes Scholar
Naomi Mezey (1987) – professor, Georgetown University Law Center (civil procedure, legislation, nationalism and cultural identity) (1997–); Watson Fellow
William Callyhan Robinson (1850–1852) – academician, jurist; professor, Yale Law (1869–95); dean, Columbus School of Law (1898–1911)
Theodore Shaw (1979) – professor, Columbia Law (2011–); 5th President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (2004–08)[220] [221] [222] [223] [224]
Raymond L. Solomon (1968) – dean, Rutgers Law School-Camden (since 1998); professor, University of Chicago Law School , Northwestern University Law School [225] [226]
Barbara A. Spellman (1979) – professor, University of Virginia Law School (2008–); professor of psychology, University of Virginia (since 2007); editor-in-chief of Perspectives on Psychological Science [227]
Arthur T. Vanderbilt (1910) – dean, New York University Law School (1943–48); professor, NYU Law (1914–43)
Charles Alan Wright (1947) – long-time professor, University of Texas School of Law at Austin ; was foremost authority in U.S. on constitutional law and federal procedure
Literature
Becky Albertalli (2004) – writer, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and other best-selling works
Steve Almond (1988) – writer, The Best American Short Stories 2010
Stephen Alter – author
Suzanne Berne – novelist, winner of Great Britain's prestigious Orange Prize ; professor of English
Kate Bernheimer – author, scholar, editor
Nicholas Birns (1987, attended but did not graduate); literary critic and editor.
Peter Blauner – novelist; Edgar Award , The New York Times Best Seller list
Amy Bloom (1975) – author, Away (The New York Times Best Seller list, 2007); National Magazine Award , The Best American Short Stories , O. Henry Prize Stories
Andrew Bridge – author, Hope's Boy , New York Times bestseller, Washington Post Best Book of the Year
John Briggs (1968) – author, scholar, editor
Ethan Bronner – his novel Battle for Justice was selected by New York Public Library as one of the "Best Books of 1989"
Alexander Chee – writer, 2003 Whiting Writers' Award ; former Visiting Writer at Amherst College
James Wm. Chichetto – poet, novelist, critic, lecturer, Catholic priest
Mei Chin – fiction writer, food critic
Kate Colby (1996) – poet, editor, Norma Farber First Book Award
Robin Cook , MD (1962) – medical mystery writer; books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list, including Coma , Critical , Outbreak , and 29 others
Amanda Davis (1993) – writer; author of "Wonder When You'll Miss Me"
Michelle Regalado Deatrick – author, poet
Anna Dewdney (1987) – children’s author and illustrator
Paul Dickson (1961) – writer, American English language and popular culture
Melvin Dixon (1971) – author, poet, translator
Beverly Donofrio (1978) – author, Riding in Cars with Boys
Steve Englehart (1969) – comic book writer
Edward B. Fiske (1959) – educational writer; creator of The Fiske Guide to Colleges ; former education editor for The New York Times [228] [229]
Laura Jane Fraser (1982) – journalist, essayist, memoirist, and travel writer
Glen David Gold (1966) – author of Carter Beats the Devil , Sunnyside
Elizabeth Graver (1986) – writer; Drue Heinz Literature Prize , O. Henry Award , Pushcart Prize (2001), Best American Essays , Cohen Awards
Daniel Handler (1992) – author (under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket ) of A Series of Unfortunate Events (children's book series)
Rust Hills (B.A. 1948, M.A. 1949) – author and fiction editor
Adina Hoffman (B.A. 1989) – essayist, critic, literary biographer ; 2013 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize ; 2010 Wingate Prize
Albert Harrison Hoyt (1850) – editor and author
Christianne Meneses Jacobs – writer, editor, and teacher
Kaylie Jones – novelist
Sebastian Junger (1984) – author of The Perfect Storm , War ; DuPont-Columbia Award ; Time magazine Top Ten Non-fiction Books of 2010; National Magazine Award
James Kaplan – novelist, biographer, journalist; 1999 The New York Times Notable Book of the Year; NYT Top 10 Books of 2010; Best American Short Stories
Pagan Kennedy (1984) – author, short listed for Orange Prize ; pioneer of the 1990s Zine Movement
Brad Kessler (1986) – novelist, Whiting Writers' Award (fiction, 2007), Dayton Literary Peace Prize ; 2008 Rome Prize
Gerard Koeppel (1979) – writer, historian
Christopher Krovatin (2007) – author, musician
Alisa Kwitney – novelist, Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
Brett Laidlaw (1983) – author, Trout Caviar and Blue Bel Air
Seth Lerer (1976) – medievalist and literary critic; 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award (for criticism); 2010 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism
Ariel Levy – author of Female Chauvinist Pigs , anthologized in The Best American Essays of 2008 and New York Stories
James Lord – author, including biographies of Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso
Robert Ludlum (1951) – The Bourne Identity , The Osterman Weekend , The Holcroft Covenant , 24 others; 9 of his books have made The New York Times Best Seller list; 290–500 million copies of his books in print
Joanie Mackowski – 2009, 2007 Best American Poetry , 2008 Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award , 2003 Kate Tufts Discovery Award
John Buffalo Mailer – author, playwright, and journalist
William J. Mann (M.A.) – novelist, biographer; Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn , named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2006 by The New York Times
Lew McCreary – editor, author, Senior Editor of the Harvard Business Review
Jack McDevitt – science fiction author; 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel (fifteen-time nominee), 2004 Campbell Award
Leslie McGrath (M.A.) – poet
John P. McKay (1961) – author, Herbert Baxter Adams Prize , professor of history
Scott Mebus – novelist, playwright, composer
Melody Moezzi (2001) – author of War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims
Gorham Munson (1917) – literary critic
Blake Nelson (1984) – author; Grinzane Cavour Prize ; novels Girl , Paranoid Park
Charles Olson (B.A. 1932, M.A.) – modernist poet, crucial link between such poets as Ezra Pound and the New American poets , one of thinkers who coined the term postmodernism
Michael Palmer , MD (1964) – medical mystery writer, Side Effects , Extreme Measures ; all of his 16 books have made the New York Times Best Seller list
Carolyn Parkhurst (1992) – author of The Dogs of Babel (a New York Times Notable Book) and Lost and Found (both on the New York Times Best Seller list )
Peter Pezzelli – author, including Francesca's Kitchen , Italian Lessons
Daniel Pinchbeck – author
Jason Pinter – novelist and thriller writer
Craig Pospisil – playwright[230]
Michael Prescott (1981) – crime writer, many of whose novels have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list
Kevin Prufer (1992) – poet, essayist, editor; winner of four Pushcart Prizes , Best American Poetry 2003, 2010
Delphine Red Shirt (MALS) – Oglala Lakota writer, adjunct professor at Yale University and Connecticut College
Spencer Reece – writer and poet, 2009 Pushcart Prize , 2005 Whiting Writers' Award for poetry
Jean Rikhoff – writer and editor
Mary Roach – New York Times Best Selling author; New York Times Notable Books pick (2005); New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice (2008)
Carlo Rotella (1986) – writer, Whiting Writers' Award (nonfiction, 2007), L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award [231]
Ruth L. Schwartz – poet
Sadia Shepard – author, Fulbright Scholar (2001)
Joyce Sidman (B.A. German) – children's writer ; 2011 Newbery Honor Award
Maya Sonenberg (1982) – short story writer, 1989 Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Tristan Taormino (1993) – author and sex educator
Jonathan Thirkield – poet, 2008 Walt Whitman Award
Wells Tower (1996) – writer, two Pushcart Prizes , Best American Short Stories 2010
Ayelet Waldman (1986) – author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits , Daughter's Keeper , and the Mommy-Track Mysteries
David Rains Wallace – author of The Monkey's Bridge (a 1997 New York Times Notable Book) and The Klamath Knot (1984 John Burroughs Medal )
Austin Warren (1929) – literary critic , author, and professor of English
Sam Wasson (2003) – author, film historian, publisher
D.B. Weiss – author and screenwriter
Michael Wolfe – author, poet
Paul Yoon (2002) – writer; 2009 John C. Zacharis First Book Award ; O. Henry Award ; Best American Short Stories 2006
Lizabeth Zindel – author, working primarily in the young adult (teen) genre
Medicine
Malcolm Bagshaw, MD (B.A. 1946) – 1996 Kettering Prize ; "one of the world's foremost experts in radiation therapy"[232] [233] [234] [235] [236] [237]
Andrea Barthwell , MD (B.A.) – named one of "Best Doctors in America" in 1997; Betty Ford Award in 2003
Herbert Benson , MD (1957) – cardiologist ; founding president, Mind-Body Medical Institute; professor, Harvard Medical School (as of 2012)
John Benson, Jr., MD (B.A.) – fellow, Institute of Medicine , National Academy of Sciences (1991); IOM named Fellowship in his honor ('10); Abraham Flexner Award ('10)[238] [239]
Charles Brenner (B.A. 1983) – professor, head of biochemistry , University of Iowa (as of 2012); leader, fields of tumor suppressor gene function and metabolism [240]
Thomas Broker (B.A. 1966) – expert, human papilloma viruses ; professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham (as of 2012); played central role, discovery of RNA splicing[241]
William H. Dietz, MD (B.A. 1996) – Director, Division of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1997–); fellow, Institute of Medicine , National Academy of Sciences [242] [243] [244]
Joseph Fins , MD (B.A. 1982) – chief, Division of Medical Ethics , Weill Cornell Medical College (as of 2012); fellow, Institute of Medicine , National Academy of Sciences
Michael Fossel , MD (B.A., M.A.) – professor, clinical medicine (as of 2012), known for his views on telomerase therapy
Scott Gottlieb , MD (1994) – Commissioner of Foods and Drugs (2017–2019), Food and Drug Administration , United States Department of Health and Human Services
Laman Gray, Jr., MD (1963) – cardiologist ; leader, field of cardiovascular surgery ; redesigned, implanted world's 1st self-contained AbioCor artificial heart [245] [246] [247] [248] [249]
Michael E. Greenberg (B.A. 1976) – neuroscientist ; National Academy of Sciences ; chair of the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (2008–2012)
Allan Hobson , MD (B.A. 1955) – psychiatrist , dream researcher; professor, psychiatry, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School (as of 2012)
Alex L. Kolodkin (B.A. 1980) – neuroscientist ; professor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (2005–)[250]
Jay A. Levy, MD (B.A. 1960) – co-discoverer, AIDS virus (1983);[251] [252] professor, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (as of 2012); editor-in-chief, AIDS journal[253]
Joseph L. Melnick (B.A.) – epidemiologist , known as "a founder of modern virology "; Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal
Anne L. Peters , MD (B.A. 1979) – physician, diabetes expert, and professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC
Ralph Pomeroy , MD (B.A.) – gynecologist , famous for creation of "Pomeroy" tubal ligation; co-founder, the Williamsburg Hospital in Brooklyn , New York
David J. Sencer , MD (B.A. 1946) – Director, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1966–77); Head, New York City Department of Health ('81–85)[254] [255] [256] [257] [258] [259]
Theodore Shapiro , MD (B.A. 1936) – psychiatrist
Harry Tiebout , MD (B.A. 1917) – psychiatrist, promoted Alcoholics Anonymous approach to patients, fellow professionals, and the public
Peter Tontonoz, MD (B.A. 1989) – professor of pathology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (2000–)[260] [261]
Military
Brigadier General Allen Fraser Clark, Jr. (1910–90) (B.A.) – United States Army (in the 1960s)[262] [263]
Admiral Thomas H. Collins (four-star rank ) (M.A.) – retired 22nd Commandant , United States Coast Guard (2002–08) (guided Coast Guard after 9/11 )
Major General Myron C. Cramer (two-star rank ) (B.A. 1904) – 20th Judge Advocate General of the United States Army (1941–45); judge, The International Military Tribunal for the Far East , Tokyo, Japan (1946–49)[264] [265] [266] [267] [268]
Rear Admiral Marshall E. Cusic Jr. MD (two-star rank ) (B.A. 1965) – Medical Corps U.S. Naval Reserve ; Chief, Medical Reserve Corps, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Brigadier General Alonzo Jay Edgerton (B.A. 1850) – American Civil War , Union Army , 67th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops (Bvt. March 13, 1865)
Lieutenant General William H. Ginn Jr. (three-star rank ) (1946–48) – United States Air Force ; Commander, U.S. Forces Japan and U.S. Fifth Air Force
Brigadier General John E. Hutton MD (B.A. 1953) – U.S. Army ; Director, White House Medical Unit ; Physician to President Ronald Reagan [269] [270] [271] [272] [273] [274]
Brigadier General Levin Major Lewis (class of 1852) – Confederate States Army , American Civil War ; assigned to duty as Brig. General ; president of several colleges
Admiral James Loy (four-star rank ) (M.A.) – retired 21st Commandant , U.S. Coast Guard (1998–2002); Acting United States Secretary of Homeland Security (2005)
Brigadier General Robert Shuter Macrum (B.A. 1927) – U.S. Air Force [275] [276]
Brigadier General Samuel Mather Mansfield (1858–60, B.A. 1911) – U.S. Army ; engineer[277] [278]
Rear Admiral (Ret.) Dr. Richard W. Schneider (two-star rank ) (M.A. 1973) – U.S. Coast Guard ; significant role in the transformation of the Coast Guard[105] [279] [280] [281]
Lieutenant General Adolph G. Schwenk (three-star rank ) (B.A. 1963) – United States Marine Corps ; Commanding Gen., U.S.FMF (Atl.) and U.S. FMF (Eur.)[282] [283]
Rear Admiral (Ret.) R. Dennis Sirois (two-star rank ) (M.A. physics) – U.S. Coast Guard ; Assistant Commander for Operations[284] [285] [286]
Rear Admiral (Ret.) Patrick M. Stillman (two-star rank ) (M.A.) – U.S. Coast Guard , founding father of the Integrated Deepwater System Program
Tuskegee Airman Chuck Stone (B.A. 1948) – Congressional Gold Medal (March 29, 2007); United States Army Air Forces
Brigadier General John B. Van Petten (B.A. 1850, M.A. '53) – Union Army ; his Civil War reminiscences became basis for The Red Badge of Courage [287] [288]
Music
Adolovni Acosta – graduate student; classical and concert pianist
Bill Anschell (1982) – pianist, composer; recorded with Lionel Hampton , Ron Carter
John Perry Barlow (1969) – lyricist for the Grateful Dead
Robert Becker – composer and percussionist
Paul Berliner (PhD) – professor of music, Duke University
Marion Brown (M.A. ethnomusicology ) – alto saxophonist, composer
Darius Brubeck (1969) – pianist, composer, band leader, professor of music
Kit Clayton – musician and programmer
Tim Cohen (B.A.) – San Francisco-based musician and visual artist
Bill Cole (PhD) – musician; professor of music, Dartmouth College , Amherst College , professor of African-American Studies, Syracuse University
Nicolas Collins (B.A., M.A.) – composer, mostly electronic music ; Watson Fellow
Amy Crawford (B.A. 2005) – songwriter, vocalist, keyboardist and producer
Douglas J. Cuomo (attended) – composer
Nathan Davis (PhD) – musician; professor of music, University of Pittsburgh
Stanton Davis (M.A.) – trumpeter, educator
Santi Debriano (M.A.) – double bassist , bandleader
Frank Denyer (PhD) – professor of composition, Dartington College of Arts , South West England
Khalif "Le1f" Diouf (2011) – musician; rapper
Arnold Dreyblatt (M.A. 1982) – composer, based in Berlin, Germany; elected to German Academy of Art
Judy Dunaway (M.A.) – avant-garde composer; creator, sound installations
S. A. K. Durga (PhD) – musicologist , ethnomusicologist, professor of music
Tim Eriksen (M.A. 1993, PhD) – multi-instrumentalist; musicologist ; performer, consultant for soundtrack of film Cold Mountain
James Fei (M.A. 1999) – composer and performer, contemporary classical music
Dave Fisher (1962) – lead singer, arranger, The Highwaymen ; composer
William Galison – multi-instrumentalist, most famous as harmonica player, composer
Kiff Gallagher (1991) – musician, songwriter, helped create AmeriCorps
Alexis Gideon – composer, multi-media artist
Ben Goldwasser – founding member of Grammy Award -nominated MGMT
Adam Goren (1996) – sole member of synth-punk band Atom and His Package
Mary Halvorson (2002) – guitarist
Jon B. Higgins (B.A., M.A., PhD) – musician; scholar, Carnatic music
Jay Hoggard (1976) – current faculty, Wesleyan; vibraphonist; recorded often
Ashenafi Kebede (1969 M.A., 1971 PhD) – Ethiopian ethnomusicologist
Ron Kuivila (1977) – current faculty, Wesleyan; co-creator, software language Formula
Steve Lehman (2000 B.A.; 2002 M.A.) – composer, saxophonist; Fulbright scholar
David Leisner – classical guitarist, composer; teacher, Manhattan School of Music
Charlie Looker (2003) – musician
MC Frontalot (Damian Hess) (1996) – rapper; innovator of phrase nerdcore
Mladen Milicevic (M.A. 1988) – composer, experimental music , film music
Justin Moyer (1998) – musician and journalist
Dennis Murphy (PhD) – composer, one of the fathers of the American gamelan
Hankus Netsky (PhD) – Klezmer musician, composer
Amanda Palmer (1998) – composer/singer/pianist, The Dresden Dolls
Hewitt Pantaleoni (PhD) – 20th-century ethnomusicologist; known for work in African music
Sriram Parasuram (PhD) – Hindustani classical vocalist; also a violinist
Brandon Patton (1995) – songwriter, bassplayer
Andrew Pergiovanni (B.A.) – composer of "modern classical" and "popular" idioms
Chris Pureka – singer-songwriter
John Rapson (PhD) – jazz trombonist and music educator
Gregory Rogove (2002) – songwriter, indie-music drummer
Steve Roslonek – children's music performer and composer
Santigold (Santi White) – electropop/hip-hop artist
Sarah Kirkland Snider – composer of instrumental music and art songs; co-founder, co-director, New Amsterdam Records
Tyshawn Sorey (M.A. 2011; faculty 2017-2020) – composer, musician, contemporary classical music , MacArthur Fellow , Pulitzer Prize finalist; professor at University of Pennsylvania
Anuradha Sriram (M.A.) – Indian carnatic singer; also, as playback singer, in more than 90 Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , Kannada , and Hindi films
Carl Sturken (1978 B.A.) – musician, Rhythm Syndicate ; songwriter and record producer with Evan Rogers, Syndicated Rhythm Productions
Karaikudi S. Subramanian (1985, M.A., PhD) – musician; educationist, Carnatic music
Sumarsam (1976 M.A.) – current faculty, Wesleyan; Javanese musician; virtuoso and scholar of Gamelan
Himanshu Suri (2007 B.A.) – rapper; writer; alternative hip hop group Das Racist
Tierney Sutton (1986) – three-time Grammy Award nominated jazz singer; Jazzweek 2005 Vocalist of the Year
Laxmi Ganesh Tewari (PhD) – Hindustani virtuoso vocalist, professor of music
Stephen Trask (1989) – composer (stage, screen); Obie Award ; Grammy nomination
Stephen S. Trott (1962) – early member, The Highwaymen , which originated at Wesleyan;[289] #1 single ("Michael Row the Boat Ashore " 1961)
Andrew VanWyngarden – founding member of Grammy Award nominated MGMT
Victor Vazquez (2006) – musician; rapper; alternative hip hop group Das Racist
T. Viswanathan (1975 PhD) – Carnatic flute virtuoso, professor of music
Dennis Waring (1982 PhD) – ethnomusicologist and Estay Organ historian
Dar Williams (1989) – folksinger
Daniel James Wolf (M.A., PhD) – composer of modern classical music
Peter Zummo (1970, B.A.; 1975, M.A., PhD) – composer, musician (postminimalist )
News
Eric Asimov (1979) – restaurant columnist, editor, The New York Times (nephew of Isaac Asimov )
Doug Berman (1984) – Peabody Award -winning producer, launched NPR 's Car Talk ; creator, other news radio shows[290]
Robert A. Bertsche – two-time winner, National Magazine Award ; journalist, editor, media lawyer[291]
William Blakemore (1965) – correspondent, ABC News , DuPont-Columbia Award [292] [293] [294]
Dominique Browning (1977) – former editor-in-chief, House & Garden [295] [296]
Katy Butler (1971) – journalist, Best American Essays , Best American Science Writing , finalist for 2004 National Magazine Award
Marysol Castro (1996) – weather forecaster, CBS The Early Show (2011); weather anchor, contributing writer, ABC Good Morning America Weekend Edition (2004–10)
Hannah Dreier – New York Times reporter and winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing and the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
Jonathan Dube – pioneer, online journalism; print journalist
E.V. Durling – nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and one of the first Hollywood reporters
Jane Eisner (1977) – editor, The Forward , paper's first female editor; former editor, reporter, columnist, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Smokey Fontaine (1993) – editor-in-chief, writer, music critic, Giant (2006–); Chief Content Officer , Interactive One (2007–)
Steven Greenhouse (1973) – reporter, The New York Times ; 2010 New York Press Club Awards For Journalism; 2009 Hillman Prize [297] [298]
Ferris Greenslet (1897) – editor, writer; associate editor, Atlantic Monthly ; director, literary adviser, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Vanessa Grigoriadis (1995) – National Magazine Award ; writer
Peter Gutmann (1971) – journalist, attorney
William Henry Huntington – journalist
Alberto Ibargüen (1966) – CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation ; former publisher, The Miami Herald
David Karp – pomologist , culinary journalist
Alex Kotlowitz (1977) – George Polk Award ; Peabody Award , There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America
Dave Lindorff (1972) – Project Censored Award (2004); investigative reporter, columnist
Stephen Metcalf – critic-at-large and columnist, Slate magazine
Kyrie O'Connor (1976) – journalist, writer, editor
Gail O'Neill – television journalist; former elite African-American fashion model
Charles Bennett Ray – journalist; owner, editor, The Colored American , first black student at Wesleyan in 1832[299]
Jake Silverstein – 4th editor-in-chief (2008–), Texas Monthly , ten-time winner, National Magazine Award ; 2007 Pen/Journalism Award; Fulbright Scholar [300] [301]
Chuck Stone (1948) – journalist; professor of journalism, University of North Carolina ; former editor, Philadelphia Daily News
Laura Ruth Walker (1979) – 2008 Edward R. Murrow Award ; Peabody Award [302] [303]
Ulrich Wickert (Fulbright Scholar at Wesleyan in 1962) – broadcast journalist in Germany
Michael Yamashita (1971) – award-winning photographer, photojournalist, National Geographic [304] [305]
John Yang (1980) – Peabody Award -winning journalist; two-time winner, DuPont-Columbia Award ; NBC News correspondent, commentator (2007–)
Politics and government
Religion
Edward Gayer Andrews (BA 1847) – president, Cazenovia Seminary ; later bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church
Osman Cleander Baker (1830–33) – bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church ; biblical scholar; namesake of Baker University , Baldwin City , Kansas
Lawrence Aloysius Burke (MALS 1970) – 4th archbishop , Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston in Jamaica ; 1st archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nassau
James Wm. Chichetto – Catholic priest , Congregation of Holy Cross , poet, critic
Davis Wasgatt Clark (1836) – 1st president, Freedman's Aid Society ; predecessor, namesake of Clark Atlanta University , Atlanta , Georgia; bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church
Shira Koch Epstein (1998) – rabbi, Congregation Beth Elohim , Brooklyn , New York[306] [307]
James Midwinter Freeman – clergyman, writer
William Henry Giler – founder of a seminary and a college; chaplain during the American Civil War
Debra W. Haffner (1985) – Unitarian Universalist minister; director, The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing
Gilbert Haven (1846) – 2nd president, Freedman's Aid Society ; early proponent of equality of the sexes; bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church
Robert T. Hoshibata (1973) – Hawaiian bishop, United Methodist Church
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut (1864) – clergyman, author
John Christian Keener (1835) – bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church
Daniel Parish Kidder (1836) – theologian, missionary to Brazil
Isaac J. Lansing (B.A. 1872, M.A. 1875) – Methodist Episcopal minister of Park Street Church ; college president, author
Delmar R. Lowell (1873) – minister, American Civil War veteran, historian, genealogist
Willard Francis Mallalieu – bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church
James Mudge (1865) – clergyman, author, missionary to India
Thomas H. Mudge (1840) – clergyman
Zachariah Atwell Mudge (1813–88) – pastor, author
Frederick Buckley Newell (AB 1913) – bishop, The Methodist Church (elected 1952)
William Xavier Ninde (A.B. 1855, D.D. 1874) – bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church (now the United Methodist Church ); president, Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary , Evanston , Illinois
Spencer Reece (1985) – Episcopal priest; chaplain to the Bishop of Spain for the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal)
Charles Francis Rice (B.A. 1872, M.A. 1875, D.D. 1893) – Methodist minister
William Rice (M.A. 1853, D.D. 1876) – Methodist Minister and librarian
Matthew Richey (M.A. 1836, D.D. 1847) – Canadian minister, educator, and leader in Nova Scotia , Canada
B. T. Roberts (university honors) – co-founder, Free Methodist Church of North America
A. James Rudin (1955) – rabbi, Senior Interreligious Adviser, The American Jewish Committee
James Strong (A.B. 1844, D.D. 1856, LL.D 1881) – creator of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890); acting president Troy University , Troy , New York; mayor
Conrad Tillard (born 1964) – politician, Baptist minister, radio host, author, and civil rights activist
Moses Clark White (1845) – pioneering missionary in China and physician; first linguistic study of Fuzhou dialect
Royalty
Science, technology, engineering, mathematics
David P. Anderson (1977) – mathematician, computer scientist (as of 2012); Space Sciences Laboratory ; Presidential Young Investigator Award
Taft Armandroff (1982) – astronomer ; director, W. M. Keck Observatory , Mauna Kea (July 1, 2006–)[308] [309]
Harold DeForest Arnold (Ph.B. 1906, M.S. 1907) – physicist ; research led to development of transcontinental telephony[310]
Wilbur Olin Atwater (1865) – chemist , agricultural chemistry ; known for his studies of human nutrition and metabolism
Oliver L. Austin – ornithologist ; wrote the definitive study Birds of the World
Susan R. Barry (1976) – neurobiologist , specializing in neuronal plasticity (as of 2012)
Albert Francis Blakeslee (1896) – botanist ; leading figure in the genetics ; known for research on jimsonweed and fungi
Everitt P. Blizard (1938) – Canadian-born American nuclear physicist , nuclear engineer ; known for his work on nuclear reactor physics and shielding; 1966 Elliott Cresson Medal
Byron Alden Brooks (1871) – inventor;[311] [312] [313] author of Earth Revisited
Samuel Botsford Buckley (1836) – botanist, geologist, naturalist
Henry Smith Carhart (1869) – physicist , specializing in electricity; devised a voltaic cell , the Carhart-Clark cell, among other inventions
Kenneth G. Carpenter (1976, M.A. 1977) – astrophysicist (as of 2012); Project Scientist and Principal Investigator, NASA , Hubble Space Telescope Operations[314] [315]
David Carroll (PhD 1993) – physicist, nanotechnologist (as of 2012); director, Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, Wake Forest University
Jennifer Tour Chayes (1979) – mathematician, mathematical physicist (as of 2012); National Academy of Sciences ; Head, Microsoft Research New England[316]
Charles Manning Child (A.B. 1890, M.S. 1892) – zoologist ; National Academy of Sciences ; noted for his work on regeneration at the University of Chicago
John M. Coffin (1966) – virologist , geneticist , molecular microbiologist (as of 2012); National Academy of Sciences ; Director, HIV Program, National Cancer Institute [317]
Richard Dansky – software developer of computer games and designer of role-playing games (as of 2012)
Henrik Dohlman (1982) – pharmacologist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Russell Doolittle (1951) – biochemist (as of 2012); co-developed the hydropathy index ; National Academy of Sciences ; 2006 John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science ; 1989 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
Clay Dreslough (1993) – software developer (as of 2012); creator, Baseball Mogul and Football Mogul computer sports games ; co-founder, president, Sports Mogul
Gordon P. Eaton (1951) – geologist (as of 2012); 12th Director, United States Geological Service ; Director, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory , Columbia University (1990–94)
Charles Alton Ellis – mathematician, structural engineer ; chiefly responsible for the design of the Golden Gate Bridge
John Wells Foster (1834) – geologist, paleontologist
Daniel Z. Freedman – physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (as of 2012); co-discovered supergravity ; (2006) Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics ; 1993 Dirac Prize
George Brown Goode – ichthyologist ; National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Lee Graham (postdoc study, research) – artificial intelligence, machine learning, evolutionary computation, artificial life; created 3D Virtual Creature Evolution , an artificial evolution simulation program
Leslie Greengard (B.A. 1979) – physician, mathematician, computer scientist; co-inventor, fast multipole method , one of top-ten algorithms of 20th century; Leroy P. Steele Prize ; Presidential Young Investigator Award ; National Academy of Sciences ; National Academy of Engineering
Frederick Grover (1901) – physicist, National Bureau of Standards , precision measurements; electrical engineer
Henry I. Harriman (B.A. 1898) – inventor, patents for many automatic looms ; builder, hydroelectric dams
Gerald Holton (1941) – physicist, Emeritus, Harvard University (as of 2012); 10th Jefferson Lecture ; George Sarton Medal ; Abraham Pais Prize ; Andrew Gemant Award
Orange Judd (1847) – agricultural chemist
George Kellogg (1837) – inventor, patent expert; improved surgical instruments
Jim Kurose – computer scientist (as of 2012); 2001 Taylor L. Booth Education Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Oscar Lanford (B.S.) – mathematician, mathematical physicist , dynamical systems theory (as of 2012); Dobrushin-Lanford-Ruelle equations
Albert L. Lehninger (B.A. 1939) – pioneering research in bioenergetics ;[318] National Academy of Sciences
Silas Laurence Loomis , MD (1844) – mathematician, physiologist , inventor; astronomer, United States Coast Survey (1857); dean, Howard University
Emilie Marcus (1982) – Executive Editor, Cell Press ;[319] editor-in-chief, the scientific journal Cell ;[320] CEO, Neuron [321] (each as of 2012)
Julia L. Marcus (A.M. 2003) – epidemiologist, science communicator, Harvard Medical School
William Williams Mather (A.M. 1834) – geologist, inventor; acting president, Ohio University (1845)
Jerry M. Melillo (B.A. 1965, M.A.T. 1968) – biogeochemist ; Associate Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy (1996–2000)[322] [323] [324]
George Perkins Merrill (post-graduate study and research) – geologist; National Academy of Sciences (1922)
Benjamin Franklin Mudge (1840) – geologist, paleontologist; discovered at least 80 new species of extinct plants and animals
Frank W. Putnam (B.A. 1939, M.A. 1940) – biochemist; National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Sciences [325] [326] [327]
Fremont Rider (M.A. 1937) – inventor, librarian, genealogist; named one of the 100 Most Important Leaders of Library Science and the Library Profession in the twentieth century
William Robinson (B.A. 1865, M.A. 1868) – inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer; invented first track circuit used in railway signaling , among other inventions
Edward Bennett Rosa (1886) – physicist; specialising in measurement science; National Academy of Sciences (1913); Elliott Cresson Medal
Richard Alfred Rossiter (1914) – astronomer, known for the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect
H. Eugene Stanley (1962) – physicist, statistical physics (as of 2012); National Academy of Sciences ; 2008 Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize ; 2004 Boltzmann Medal
Carl Leo Stearns (B.A. 1917) – astronomer; namesake of asteroid (2035) Stearns and crater Stearns (far side of the Moon )
John Stephenson – invented, patented the first street car to run on rails; remembered as the creator of the tramway
Charles Wardell Stiles (attended) – parasitologist ; groundbreaking work, trichinosis , hookworm ; 1921 Public Welfare Medal by National Academy of Sciences
Lewis B. Stillwell (1882–1884) – electrical engineer ; 1933 AIEE Lamme Medal , 1935 IEEE Edison Medal ; IEEE's Electrical Engineering Hall of Fame
Alfred Charles True (1873) – agriculturalist ; director, Office of Agricultural Experiment Station , U. S. Department of Agriculture
George Tucker (PhD) – Puerto Rican physicist (as of 2012); former Olympic luger
Nicholas Turro (1960) – chemist, Columbia University (as of 2012); National Academy of Sciences , American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; 2011 Arthur C. Cope Award ; Willard Gibbs Award
John Monroe Van Vleck (1850) – astronomer, mathematician; namesake of Van Vleck crater on the Moon
Jesse Vincent (1998) – software developer (as of 2012); developed Request Tracker while a student at Wesleyan; author, Request Tracker for Incident Response [328] [329] [330]
Christopher Weaver (dual MAs and CAS) – software developer; founder, Bethesda Softworks ; spearheaded creation, John Madden Football physics engine; visiting scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Henry Seely White (1882) – mathematician; National Academy of Sciences ; geometry of curves and surfaces, algebraic twisted curves
Activists
Mansoor Alam – humanitarian
John Emory Andrus (1862) – founder, SURDNA Foundation (1917)
Cliff Arnebeck – chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Common Cause Ohio ; national co-chair and attorney, Alliance for Democracy
Gerald L. Baliles (1987) – director, Miller Center of Public Affairs (since 2005)
Jeannie Baliles (M.A.T.) – founder and chair, Virginia Literacy Foundation (since 1987); First Lady of Virginia (1986–90)
John Perry Barlow (1969) – co-founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation ; Fellow, Harvard University 's Berkman Center for Internet and Society (since 1998)
Andrew Bridge (1984) – advocate for foster children; New York Times best-selling author ; Fulbright Scholar [331]
Ted Brown (attended) – libertarian politician, speaker
Eric Byler (1994) – political activist; co-founder, Coffee Party USA
Sasha Chanoff (1994) – founder, Executive Director, RefugePoint (2005–)
Jaclyn Friedman (1993) – feminist writer and activist
Jon Grepstad – Norwegian peace activist, photographer and journalist
Amir Alexander Hasson (1998) – social entrepreneur ; 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 's Technology Review ' s TR35 award; founder, United Villages
David Jay – asexual activist and founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network
Marc Kasky – consumer activist ; co-director, Green Center Institute
Matt Kelley (2002) – founder, Mavin Foundation
Harry W. Laidler (1907) – socialist, writer and politician
Melody Moezzi (2001) – founder, Hooping for Peace, a human-rights organization
Sandy Newman (1974) – non-profit executive, founder of three successful non-profit organizations
Robert Carter Pitman (1845) – temperance advocate
Jessica Posner – 2010 Do Something Award ; co-founded Shining Hope to combat gender inequality and poverty in Kibera , Nairobi Area , Kenya [332]
Charles Bennett Ray – first black student, Wesleyan in 1832; abolitionist ; promoter, the Underground Railroad
Richard S. Rust (1841) – abolitionist ; co-founder, Freedman's Aid Society [102] [103]
Juliet Schor – 2005 Leontief Prize (Wassily Leontief ) by the Global Development and Environment Institute
Ted Smith (1967) – environmental activist; founder and former executive director, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Chuck Stone – associated with the civil-rights and Black Power movements; first president, National Association of Black Journalists
Conrad Tillard (born 1964) – politician, Baptist minister, radio host, author, and civil rights activist
Arthur T. Vanderbilt – proponent of U.S. court modernization and reform
Sports
Tobin Anderson (1995) – head coach of the Iona Gaels men's basketball team (2023–present), Fairleigh Dickinson Knights men's basketball team (2022–2023); coached Fairleigh Dickinson when they became the first No. 16 seed out of the First Four to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Everett Bacon (1913) – football quarterback, pioneer of the forward pass, College Football Hall of Fame
Bill Belichick (1975) – head coach of the New England Patriots ; 2004 Time 's "100 Most Influential People in the World";[333] nine-time Super Bowl participant as head coach, won in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, and 2018[334] (lost in Super Bowl XLII (2007), Super Bowl XLVI (2011), and Super Bowl LII (2017)); first NFL coach to win three Super Bowls in four years; NFL Coach of the Year three times (2003, 2007, 2010)
Ambrose Burfoot (1968) – first collegian to win the Boston Marathon ; won Manchester Road Race nine times; executive editor, Runner's World Magazine
Mike Carlson (1972) – National Football League and NFL Europe pundit (for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom)
Eudice Chong (2016) – professional tennis player, reached #366 in the WTA singles rankings and #153 in the WTA singles rankings
Logan Cunningham (1907–09) – football player and coach
Wink Davenport (1964) – former volleyball Olympic player, coach, and official; father, tennis champion Lindsay Davenport
Richard E. Eustis (1914) – football player and coach
Jeff Galloway (1967) – former Olympian, runner and author of Galloway's Book on Running
Frank Hauser (1979) – football coach
Jed Hoyer (1996) – executive vice president and general manager, Chicago Cubs ; former general manager (2009–11), San Diego Padres ; former assistant general manager (2003–09), interim co-manager (2005–06), Boston Red Sox
Kathy Keeler (1978) – Olympic gold medalist, rowing (member of the women's eight ) in the 1984 Olympics; Olympics coach in 1996[335] [336] [337]
Dan Kenan (1915) – football player and coach
Red Lanning – Major League Baseball pitcher and outfielder ; played for Philadelphia Athletics
Amos Magee (1993) – professional soccer player, coach; former head coach, Minnesota Thunder , and is Thunder's all-time scoring leader, United Soccer Leagues Hall of Fame
Jeffrey Maier (2006) – college baseball player; notable for an instance of spectator interference at age 12; Wesleyan's all-time leader in hits
Eric Mangini (1994) – former head coach, Cleveland Browns , New York Jets ; NFL analyst
Vince Pazzetti (1908–10) – elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
Bill Rodgers (1970) – winner, four New York City Marathons , four Boston Marathons , one Fukuoka Marathon ; only runner to hold championship of all three major marathons at same time
Henri Salaun (1949) – squash player; four-time winner, U.S. Squash National Championships (1955, 1957, 1958 and 1961); won, inaugural U.S. Open (1954)
Harry Van Surdam (1905) – elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
James Wendell (1913) – Olympic silver medalist, 110-meter hurdles, 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm; one of teammates, General George S. Patton
Mike Whalen (1983) – athlete and coach
Jeff Wilner (1994) – National Football League player
Bert Wilson (1897) – football player and coach
Field Yates (2009) – sportswriter and analyst for ESPN