List of Oberlin College and Conservatory people

Award winners

Nobel laureates

Joshua Angrist (B.A. Economics 1982), Nobel laureate (Economic Sciences 2021), shared with David Card and Guido W. Imbens "for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships"^[1]
Stanley Cohen (M.A. zoology, 1945), Nobel (Physiology and Medicine, 1986), for "discoveries of growth factors"^[2]
Robert Millikan (B.A. 1891), Nobel laureate (Physics, 1923) "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect"^[3]
Roger Wolcott Sperry (B.A. English 1935, M.A. psychology 1937), neurobiologist who studied split-brain research, Nobel laureate (Medicine, 1981), "for his discoveries concerning the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres"^[4]

Pulitzer Prize

Carl Dennis (transferred to University of Chicago, University of Minnesota), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet of Practical Gods; Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize^[5]
Michael Dirda (BA 1970^[6]), Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reviewer, author
Du Yun (BM 2001), composer, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music for opera Angel's Bone
Emily Nussbaum (BA 1988), winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism^[7]
Christopher Rouse (BM 1971^[8]), winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Trombone Concerto
Vijay Seshadri (BA 1974), winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for 3 Sections
George Walker (1941, honorary degree 1983), composer, first African-American^[9] to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1996, for Lilacs)
Thornton Wilder (transferred to Yale), playwright and novelist; three Pulitzer Prizes: for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth; U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day^[10]
Franz Wright (BA^[11] 1977),^[10] recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Walking to Martha's Vineyard^[12]

French Legion of Honor

Katharine Wright (1893), Legion d'Honneur business owner, financier; sister of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright

Academy, Grammy, Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards

Montana Levi Blanco (2006), costume designer, recipient of a Tony Award for The Skin of Our Teeth (2022)^[13]
Mark Boal (1995), screenwriter, recipient of two Academy Awards (Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for The Hurt Locker, 2009)
James Burrows (1962),^[14] producer and creator of Cheers and Emmy award-winning director of Will & Grace, Wings, News Radio
Francois S. Clemmons (1976), sang the role of Sportin' Life in Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, recipient of a company Grammy Award Best Opera Recording
Marc Cohn (1981), singer-songwriter, recipient of a Grammy Award (1991, Best New Artist)
Lena Dunham (2008), recipient of the 2013 Golden Globe Awards for Best TV Series - Music or Comedy, and Best Actress in a TV Series, the HBO series Girls
Chris Eldridge (2004), guitarist in Punch Brothers,^[15] formerly in the Infamous Stringdusters
Rhiannon Giddens (2000), member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops; Grammy winner (2010, Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album)^[16]
William Goldman (1952^[14]), novelist (The Princess Bride) and recipient of Academy Awards for the screenplays of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and All the President's Men (1976)^[17]
Charles Harbutt (1983), classical recording engineer, Grammy recipient (2000 and 2003)^[18]^{[failed verification]}
Bill Irwin (1973^[14]), actor and clown, 1984 MacArthur Fellow, recipient of a Tony Award for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2005)^[19]
Natasha Katz (1981), lighting designer, recipient of seven Tony Awards for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2023), MJ the Musical (2022), Long Day's Journey into Night (2016), The Glass Menagerie (2014), Once (2012), The Coast of Utopia (2007), and Aida (2000)^[20]
Alex Klein (1987), oboist, recipient of a Grammy Award (2002, Best Solo Instrumentalist with Orchestra)^[21]
Michael Maguire (1977, 1987), recipient of Tony Awards for Les Misérables, A Little Night Music (New York City Opera), Kismet (Royal Canadian Opera), Annie Get Your Gun (Miami Opera), currently prominent Beverly Hills divorce attorney; voted Super Lawyer/Rising Star (2011–13)
John McClure, record producer, received four Grammy Awards for Stravinsky Conducts Columbia Symphony Orchestra – Le Sacre Du Printemps (1962), Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic – Symphony No. 3 Kaddish (1965), Mahler, Symphony of a Thousand (1968), and Bernstein's West Side Story with Te Kanawa, Carreras, Troyanos, Ollmann, Horne (1986)^[22]
Gregory Mosher (1971), director, recipient of Tony Award for revivals of Anything Goes (1984) and Our Town (1989)^{[citation needed]}
Christopher Rouse (BM 1971^[8]), Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for Concert de Gaudí (2002)
Jeannette Sorrell (1990), founder and artistic director of the Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra; Grammy winner Songs of Orpheus (2018)^[23]
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Imani Winds, Best Classical Compendium, Passion For Bach And Coltrane, 66th Anual Grammy Awards^[24]
Julie Taymor (1974^[14]), director, filmmaker, screenwriter, recipient of Emmy and Tony awards (Frida, Titus, Broadway's The Lion King, Across the Universe)^[25]

MacArthur Fellows

The following alumni are fellows of the MacArthur Fellows Program from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. As this is an interdisciplinary award, they are listed here in addition to their listing in their field of accomplishment.

Jad Abumrad (1995), radio producer, known for the NPR-distributed Radiolab^[26]
Alison Bechdel (1981), pioneering LGBT cartoonist, author of Dykes to Watch Out For and Fun Home^[27]
Courtney Bryan (2004)^[28]
Claire Chase (2001), flautist and arts entrepreneur^[29]
Jeremy Denk (1990), pianist and writer^[30]
Rhiannon Giddens (2000), musician, MacArthur Fellowship awarded 2017
Ralf Hotchkiss (1969), engineer and businessman^{[citation needed]}
Bill Irwin (1973), actor
Kiese Laymon (1998), writer^[31]
Richard Lenski (1977), biologist^{[citation needed]}
Diane E. Meier (1973), doctor, MacArthur Fellowship awarded 2008
Thylias Moss (1981), poet and playwright^[32]
Julie Taymor (1974), director, MacArthur Fellowship awarded 1991
Paul Wennberg (1985), chemist

Rome Prize

^[33]

Academia

Louisa Lydia Alexander (1856), schoolteacher
Joshua Angrist (1982), labour market economist
Lauren Berlant (1979), feminist, queer cultural studies scholar
Helen E. Blackwell (1994), organic chemist and chemical biologist, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Richard D. Brown (1961), historian of colonial and revolutionary America, now emeritus professor at the University of Connecticut
Christopher Browning (1968), historian of the Holocaust
Miriam Eliza Carey (1858–1937), librarian who helped put the first libraries in American institutions
Samuel Charache (1951),^[34] hematologist, discoverer of the first effective treatment for sickle cell disease
Mabel Augusta Chase (1888), physicist and professor
Dr. Francois S. Clemmons (1997–2013), Alexander Twilight Artist in Residence, now Emeritus Professor at Middlebury College
Johnnetta B. Cole (1957), first female African-American president of Spelman College, president of Bennett College 2002–07
John R. Commons (1888), institutional economist and labor historian
Carol Blanche Cotton (1904), African-American psychologist who worked on spastic paralysis in children
Ethel McGhee Davis (1923), educator, social worker, and college administrator
Shawn L. Decker, sound artist and academic
Walter B. Denny (1964), art historian
Jon Michael Dunn, philosopher (logician)
John Millott Ellis (1851), acting president of Oberlin College and abolitionist
George Fairchild (1862), third president of Kansas State University
Peter Tyrrell Flawn (1947), geologist and former president of the University of Texas at Austin
Jeffrey I. Gordon (1969), biologist and professor
Daniel McBride Graham (1843), inventor, Free Will Baptist pastor, first president of Hillsdale College^[35]
Joseph L. Graves, Jr. (1977), Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Biological Studies
Matthew D. Green (1999), Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Johns Hopkins University
James Monroe Gregory (transferred to Howard University), dean of Collegiate Department at Howard University
Erwin Griswold (1925), lawyer, Solicitor General of the United States and dean of Harvard Law School
Dennis Hale, 1966, Professor of Political Science, Boston College
Walter Heller, 1935, economist and educator
Robert Hutchins, educational philosopher, president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago
Lawrence R. Jacobs, political scientist and founder and director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota
Dale Jacquette, 1975, analytic philosopher
Charlene Drew Jarvis, 1962, president of Southeastern University
Robert Jervis (1962), International Relations professor
Barbara Johnson (1969), literary critic, professor
Amy Kelly, educator, historian, best-selling author
Anne Osborn Krueger (1953), economist, World Bank Chief Economist (1982–1986)
Edward O. Laumann (1960), George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and the college; editor of the American Journal of Sociology (1978–1984, 1995–1997); chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago; dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago; provost of the University of Chicago; director of the Ogburn Stouffer Center for Population and Social Organization at the University of Chicago
Susie Linfield, critic, editor, journalist, author and NYU professor
Sarah Cowles Little (1838–1912), educator
Maud Mandel (1989), historian, dean of the College of Brown University; 18th president, Williams College^[36]
Alec Marantz, linguist/morphologist
John Jay McKelvey, Sr. (1884), attorney, founder of Harvard Law Review
Alan Wilfrid Cranbrook Menzies FRSE (1877–1966), Scottish-born professor, chemist who taught at Princeton University
Steven Mintz (1973), Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin
Peter Molnar (1965), Professor of Geophysics, University of Colorado Boulder^[37]
Roger Montgomery (1949), Dean of Architecture, City Planning, and Landscape Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
Edward F. Mooney (1962), Professor of Religion, Syracuse University
Anne Eugenia Felicia Morgan (1845–1909), professor, philosopher, writer, and game inventor
David Novak (1977), Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Tom Novak (1977), Denit Trust Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Marketing, The George Washington University
L. L. Nunn, founder of Telluride Association and Deep Springs College
Daniel Orr (1954), professor, writer and chair of economics at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Mary Jane Patterson (1862), educator and first African-American woman to receive a B.A (A.B.) degree
Hugh V. Perkins (1941), author and former professor of education, Institute for Child Study, Department of Human Development, University of Maryland, College Park
Laurence Perrine, author and professor
Paul Pierson (1981), professor of political science
Willard V. O. Quine (1930), philosopher and logician
Albert Rees, former University of Chicago and Princeton economics professor, former Provost at Princeton, advisor to President Gerald Ford^[38]
Charles A. Reich (1949), legal and social scholar
Thomas L. Riis (1950), musicologist, specialist in American music
William Sanders Scarborough (1875), classical scholar
John E. Schwarz (1961), political scientist and author
Robert E. Scott (1965), law professor
Donald S. Strong (1912–1995), political scientist^[39]
Meredeth Turshen, political science professor
Kenneth Waltz (1948), political science professor
Barbara Wertheimer (1946), historian and labor organizer
Edwina Whitney (1894), librarian and educator
C. Martin Wilbur (1931), historian, Sinologist
Garnet C. Wilkinson (1902), educator and administrator
Robert Shaw Wilkinson (1891), second president of South Carolina State University
Warren Hugh Wilson, namesake of Warren Wilson College in North Carolina
Sheldon S. Wolin (1944), political theorist

Business

Joani Blank (1959), founder of Good Vibrations
Marc Canter (1980), co-founder of MacroMind (predecessor company of Macromedia)
Jerry Greenfield (1973), co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
John Gutfreund (1951), executive, former CEO of Salomon Brothers Inc.; Business Week named him "King of Wall Street" in the 1980s
Charles Martin Hall (1885), co-discoverer of the electrolytic process for producing aluminium
Ralf Hotchkiss (1969), co-founder of Whirlwind Wheelchair International; 1989 MacArthur Foundation Fellow
Levancia Holcomb Plumb (1861, BA; 1865, MA), president and chief stockholder of the Union National Bank of Streator, Illinois
Kamal Quadir (1996), founder and CEO of bKash, which provides financial services to over 40 million customers
David Shapira (1963), Executive Chairman Giant Eagle
Nova Spivack (1991), entrepreneur

Politics, government

Vice Presidents

Hsiao Bi-khim (1993), incumbent Vice President of Taiwan; former Taiwan Representative to the United States; former member of the Legislative Yuan (Parliament) of Taiwan, representing the Democratic Progressive Party

Premiers

H. H. Kung (1906), banker and Premier of the Republic of China (1938–39)

Legislators

Blanche Bruce, second African-American Senator from Mississippi, serving 1874–1881
Yvette Clarke (transferred from Medgar Evers College), Democratic representative for New York's 11th congressional district, 2007–present
Jacob Dolson Cox, politician and author, governor of Ohio (1866–1888), US Secretary of the Interior (1869–1870)
Paul Drennan Cravath (1882), lawyer, partner of Cravath, Swaine & Moore; creator of the "Cravath System"; founding vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations
Richard A. Dawson, lawyer and state legislator in Arkansas
Heather Deal (BA, 1983), City Councillor 2005–present, Vancouver City Council
John Langalibalele Dube, first (founding) president of the African National Congress
Ruth Hardy (BA, 1992), member, Vermont Senate^[40]
Myron T. Herrick, 42nd governor of Ohio^[41]
Richard Hodges (1986), member of the Ohio House of Representatives, 1993–1999
Alfred A. Laun Jr., Wisconsin State Senator
Jen Metzger (1987), County Executive for Ulster County, Former New York State Senator
Eduardo Mondlane (1953), Mozambican political leader
Edward Schwartz (BA, 1965), at-large City Councilman 1984–87, Philadelphia City Council; first Councilman with a Pd.D^{[citation needed]} (doctorate in political theory, Rutgers University); first Philadelphia Councilman to computerize his constituent services
Delazon Smith, senator from Oregon; was expelled from Oberlin
Harrison A. Williams (1941), U.S. senator and congressman from New Jersey

Mayors

Stephanie Rawlings Blake (1992), former Mayor of Baltimore
Adrian Fenty (1992), former Mayor of Washington, D.C.

Executive council

Bruce Cole (1964), chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under George W. Bush
Erwin Griswold (1925), solicitor general under presidents Johnson and Nixon
Richard N. Haass (1973), president of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Department of State
Cynthia Hogan (1979), Counsel to the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, under President Obama
Martha N. Johnson (1974), former official in the Clinton administration; Administrator of the United States General Services Administration
Anne O. Krueger (1953), award-winning economist; deputy director of the International Monetary Fund; Oberlin trustee (1987–95)
Robert Kuttner (1965), co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect; one of five co-founders of the Economic Policy Institute
Charles Sawyer (1908), Secretary of Commerce to Harry S. Truman

Diplomats

John Mercer Langston (1849), U.S. Congressman representing Virginia's 4th Congressional District; US minister to Haiti under president Rutherford B. Hayes
Christopher LaFleur (1972) U.S. Ambassador, Malaysia (2004-2007).
Edwin O. Reischauer (1931), U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 1961–1966
Marcie Berman Ries (1972), U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria (October 1, 2012–present)
Carl Rowan (1947), U.S. ambassador to Finland (1963); deputy assistant Secretary of State under President Kennedy; director of U.S. Information Agency under President Johnson
John S. Service (1931), foreign service officer, China Hand
Durham Stevens (1871), assassinated diplomat to Japan
Tsiang Tingfu (1918), ambassador from Republic of China to Russia (1936–1938), United Nations (1947–1962), and USA (1962–1965)

Other

Tom Balmer (1974), Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court
Alonzo Barnard (1843), Presbyterian missionary and abolitionist with his wife Sarah Philena Babcock Barnard (1843)^[42]^[43]
Lee Fisher (1973), former Lieutenant Governor and former Attorney General of Ohio
Erwin Griswold (1925), lawyer, Solicitor General of the United States and dean of Harvard Law School
Kan En Vong (1922), Chinese educator
Ruth A. Parmelee (1907), Christian missionary
Todd Portune (1980), former member of Cincinnati City Council (1993–2000); Hamilton County Commissioner (2001–2019)
Albert Rees (1943), advisor to President Gerald Ford, former University of Chicago and Princeton economics professor, former Provost at Princeton^[38]
Moses Fleetwood Walker, first African-American Major League Baseball player
Sylvia Williams (1957), former museum director for National Museum of African Art at Smithsonian Institution; pioneer in African art history

Activists

Nan Aron (1970), founder and president of Alliance for Justice
Josephine Penfield Cushman Bateham (1829–1901), social reformer, editor, writer
Kathleen Neal Cleaver (transferred to Barnard College), Senior Research Associate at Yale Law School known for her involvement in the Black Panther Party
Henry Roe Cloud, Native American political leader
Rennie Davis, anti-Vietnam War activist and one of the Chicago Seven
Ernie Dickerman (1931), wilderness preservationist, focused in the eastern United States, The Wilderness Society (United States) staff 1956–1976, Virginia Wilderness Committee president 1976–1979, "Grandfather of Eastern Wilderness"
Matilda Evans (1891), first African-American woman to practice medicine in South Carolina; community health advocate
Ida Gibbs (1884), educator, civil rights and women's suffrage advocate
John Mercer Langston (1849), early civil rights activist
James Lawson (Graduate School of Theology, 1950s), theoretician and tactician of nonviolence in US civil rights movement
Caroline F. Putnam (1848), abolitionist and educator
Jerry Rubin, anti-Vietnam war activist and one of the Chicago Seven
William F. Schulz (1971), former executive director of Amnesty International USA
Barbara Seaman (1956), principal member of the women's health feminism movement
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Imani Winds, diversifying the classical music space^[44]
Peter Staley (1983), AIDS activist, founding director of the Treatment Action Group
Lucy Stone (1847), feminist and abolitionist
Anna Louise Strong (1905), activist and author
Mary Church Terrell (1884/1888), author, activist
John Todd (1841), abolitionist, conspirator with John Brown, founder of Tabor College
Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (1894), attorney, prohibitionist
Mary Evans Wilson (ca. 1897), civil rights activist

Journalism

Broadcast media

Jad Abumrad, radio journalist, host and producer of Radiolab
Michael Barone (1968), host, Pipedreams
Alex Blumberg (1989), producer, This American Life
Chris Broussard (1990), Fox Sports sports analyst
Ben Calhoun (2001), radio journalist, producer for This American Life
Jon Hamilton (1983), NPR science correspondent
Aleks Krotoski, television and radio presenter ("Digital Human" on BBC Radio 4)
Robert Krulwich (1969), television and radio journalist (RadioLab on WNYC)
Roman Mars, radio producer and host, 99% Invisible on 91.7 KALW in San Francisco
Seth Rudetsky (1988), radio host, Broadway actor, pianist, writer
Alix Spiegel (1994), co-host of NPR's Invisibilia; producer for This American Life^[45]

Print and online

Peter Baker (1988), New York Times senior White House correspondent and author
John K. Byrne (2003), founder of news website Raw Story
Wendell Dabney, influential civil rights activist
Michael Duffy (1980), writer, Washington Bureau Chief and editor of Time magazine
Kim France (1987), founding editor of Lucky magazine
Lisa Jervis (1993), creator and editor of Bitch magazine
Fred Kaplan (1976), journalist and Slate columnist
James Kim (1992), senior CNET editor and technology analyst
Michelle Malkin (1992), writer (Los Angeles Daily News, The Seattle Times), author (In Defense of Internment), political commentator
James McBride (1979), journalist (Boston Globe, The Washington Post), author (The Color of Water), musician
Willis E. Mollison (1883), newspaper publisher and editor in Vicksburg, Mississippi^[46]^[47]
Adam Moss (1979), editor of New York magazine
Emily Nussbaum (1988), television critic for The New Yorker magazine
Jane Pratt (1984), creator of Sassy and Jane magazines
Tim Riley (1983), NPR critic; author (Tell Me Why, Lennon: Man, Myth, Music); Emerson College journalism professor (aka Tim Mikesell)
Carl T. Rowan (1947), journalist
David Schlesinger (1982), editor-in-chief, Reuters news, Thomson Reuters
Sonia Shah (1990), investigative journalist
Steve Silberman (1982), science writer for Wired
Sophia Yan (2009), reporter for Bloomberg News

Literature

Rumaan Alam, author of Leave The World Behind
Paolo Bacigalupi, author of The Windup Girl
Ishmael Beah (2004), author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Alison Bechdel (1981), cartoonist (Dykes To Watch Out For) and graphic novelist (Fun Home)
Bill Beverly (1987), novelist, author of Dodgers
Geoffrey Blodgett (1953), historian and author of Cass Gilbert: The Early Years
Wendy Brenner (1987), author of Phone Calls From the Dead
Alice Rowe Burks (1942), author of Who Invented the Computer?: The Legal Battle that Changed Computing History
Michael Byers (1991), novelist and author of The Coast of Good Intentions, Long for This World, and Percival's Planet
Gail Carriger (1998), fantasy novelist of Soulless
Tracy Chevalier (1984), novelist and author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels, and The Lady and the Unicorn
Anna J. Cooper (1884), author and teacher, fourth African-American woman to receive a PhD
Alev Lytle Croutier, Turkish-American author
Charles D'Ambrosio (1982), essayist, short story writer
Josh Emmons (1995), novelist (The Loss of Leon Meed, Prescription for a Superior Existence)
Jim Fixx (1957), columnist and editor (Saturday Review, McCalls, Life), author (The Complete Book of Running)
Darcy Frey (1983), non-fiction writer
Alan Furst (1962), novelist, author of Blood of Victory
Rosetta Luce Gilchrist (1870), physician, writer^[48]
Myla Goldberg (1993), novelist (Bee Season, Wickett's Remedy)
Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey (1819-1901), educator, author, editor, and publisher
Melissa Fay Greene (1975), author (There Is No Me Without You)
Linda Gregerson (1971), award-winning poet (Waterborne, Magnetic North)
David Halperin (1973), author (One Hundred Years of Homosexuality)
Bill Henderson (1965), author of Stark Raving Elvis, I Killed Hemingway, I, Elvis: Confessions of a Counterfeit King
Joe Hickerson (1957), folklorist
Donovan Hohn (1972), author of Moby-Duck
Jonathan Holden (1963), poet (Knowing: New and Selected Poems)
Michael Hollinger (1984), playwright (Red Herring)
Cathy Park Hong (1998), poet (Translating Mo'um)
Tim Hurson (1967), speaker, writer, creativity theorist, author of Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking
Myung Mi Kim (1979), poet
Kiese Laymon (1997), professor and author of Long Division, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and Heavy, the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Jason Little (1993), cartoonist and author of Shutterbug Follies and Motel Art Improvement Service
David Maine (1985), novelist (The Preservationist)
Megan McDonald (1981), writer of children's literature (Judy Moody, The Great Pumpkin Switch)
J. Hillis Miller (1948), literary critic (The Ethics of Reading, On Literature)
Wayne Miller, poet
Naeem Mohaiemen (1993), writer and artist whose projects research histories of the 1970s international left
Martha Moody (1977), author of Best Friends, Office of Desire, and Sometimes Mine
Thylias Moss (1981), poet, playwright, and 1996 MacArthur Fellow
Josh Neufeld (1989), cartoonist (A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, A Few Perfect Hours, The Influencing Machine)
Thisbe Nissen (1994), novelist (Out of the Girls' Room and Into the Night, Osprey Island)
Peggy Orenstein (1983), author (Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture)
Rich Orloff (1973), playwright (Big Boys)
Dzvinia Orlowsky (1975), poet (Except for One Obscene Brush Stroke)
Jena Osman (1985), poet (The Character)
Suzanne Paola (1980), memoirist and poet (Lives of the Saints)
Lia Purpura (1986), poet (Stone Sky Lifting), essayist (Increase, On Looking)
David Rees (1994), cartoonist (My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable, Get Your War On)
S. J. Rozan (1972), novelist (Reflecting the Sky), Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Award Winner, 2003
John C. Russell (1985), playwright (Stupid Kids)
Kathy Lou Schultz (1990), poet (Some Vague Wife)
Elizabeth Searle (1983), novelist (Celebrities in Disgrace^[49])
Stephen W. Sears (1954), author (Gettysburg)
Vijay Seshadri (1974), poet (The Long Meadow)
Matthew Sharpe (1984), novelist (Nothing is Terrible, The Sleeping Father, Jamestown)
Gary Shteyngart (1995), novelist (The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story)
Donald J. Sobol (1948), author of the Encyclopedia Brown series
Matthew Stadler (1981), novelist (Allan Stein)
Jon Swan (1950), playwright, poet, librettist, and journalist
Marcia Talley (1965), novelist, Agatha and Anthony Award winner, 2002, 2003, 2005^[50]^[51]^[52]
Michael Teig (1990), poet (Big Back Yard)
Joseph Jeffrey Walters (1893), author of Guanya Pau, the earliest surviving novel written in English by an African
Geoffrey Ward (1962), author (The West: An Illustrated History and The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945)
Bruce Weigl (1973), poet (Archeology of the Circle: New and Selected Poems)
William Drake Westervelt (1871 and 1874; honorary degree 1926), Hawaiian historical writer
Christopher Robin "Kit" Woolsey (1964), writer (Matchpoints), bridge internationalist and backgammon expert
John Wray (1993), novelist (The Right Hand of Sleep, Lowboy)
Franz Wright (1977), poet, Pulitzer Prize winner (Walking to Martha's Vineyard)

Religion

William Ament, controversial missionary to China
Juanita Breckenridge Bates, Congregationalist minister, her application being the test case to determine the policy of the denomination; also first woman to be awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Oberlin (1891)
Hobart Baumann Amstutz, bishop in The Methodist Church
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, abbot of a Buddhist monastery in California
Antoinette Brown (1847), first ordained female minister in the U.S.
John M. Brown, bishop of the AME Church
Lewis Sperry Chafer (1891), theologian; one of the prominent proponents of Christian Dispensationalism; founder and first president of Dallas Theological Seminary
Fanny Jackson Coppin (1865), influential educator and missionary
Marcus Dale, Early African-American preacher in New Orleans
Susan Topliff Davis (1862-1931), President, Georgia Synodical Auxilliary Presbyterian Church; President, Presbyterian Hospital Association of Georgia
Vernon Johns (1919), African-American preacher, widely hailed as the father of the civil rights movement
William Weston Patton, African-American pastor, president of Howard University
Martha Root (1890s), Hand of the Cause in the Bahá'í Faith
Lorenzo Snow, fifth president and a prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
John Todd, founder of Tabor College (Iowa)
Henry Benjamin Whipple, Episcopal Bishop and advocate for the Native Americans, First Bishop of the Diocese of Minnesota

Science

See also: Nobel laureates

Arthur L. Benton (1931), neuropsychologist
Mary Ann Bickerdyke, Civil War nurse and hospital administrator, post-war veteran advocate
Helen E. Blackwell (1994), organic chemist and chemical biologist, explorer of chemical signaling in bacteria
Thaddeus Cahill (1889), physicist; inventor of the teleharmonium, the first electromechanical musical instrument
Stuart Card (1966), pioneer in human-computer interaction
Patricia Charache, Microbiologist and infectious disease specialist
Kenneth Stewart Cole (1922), biophysicist, best known for creating the concept of the voltage clamp
Thomas Ebbesen (1966), physical chemist, pioneer in the field of nanoscience for which he received the Kavli Prize
Joan Feynman (1948), solar astrophysicist at JPL in Pasadena, California;^[53]^[54] sister of Richard Feynman
Jim Fixx (1957), author of The Complete Book of Running
Thomas Frieden (1982), director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Robert Galambos (1914–2010), researcher on bat echolocation^[55]
John Gofman (1939), scientist in the Manhattan Project; activist on issues with nuclear power and radiation danger
Elisha Gray, inventor of the telephone beaten to the patent office by Alexander Graham Bell; credited with invention of the electromechanical oscillator
Mary E. Green, physician^[56]
Matthew D. Green (1999), co-inventor of ZCash, cryptocurrency
Philip Hanawalt (1954), scientist, co-discoverer of DNA excision repair
Robert Aimer Harper (1886), botanist, president of the Botanical Society of America
Edward Haskell (1929), scientist and educator
Ellen Hayes (1878), astronomer and mathematician
Donald Henderson (1928–2016), epidemiologist^[57]
Ralph F. Hirschmann (1922–2009), biochemist who led synthesis of the first enzyme^[58]
James E. Humphreys, mathematician and LGBTQ activist^[59]
Ernest Ingersoll, naturalist
Richard Lenski (1977), biologist and 1996 MacArthur Fellow
John E. Mack (1951), psychologist, author (A Prince of Our Disorder)
Rollo May (1930), psychologist, author
Catherine McBride-Chang (1989), psychologist, researcher in cross-cultural development of early literacy skills
George Herbert Mead (1883), philosopher, leading figure of American pragmatism
Ira Mellman (1973), cell biologist, discoverer of endosomes
Maynard Mayo Metcalf (1889), biologist and zoologist
John Wesley Powell (1858), geologist and explorer^[60]
Anita Roberts (1964), molecular biologist who made pioneering observations of TGF beta
Larry Squire (1963), Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at University of California, San Diego
Lynne Talley (1976), Professor of Physical Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Paul Wennberg (1985), chemist and 2002 MacArthur Fellow
Felisa Wolfe-Simon, geomicrobiologist at the U.S. Geological Survey; Fellow of the NASA Astrobiology Institute
Lauren V. Wood, allergist, immunologist, and captain in the US Public Health Service^[61]

Visual and performing arts

Film and television

Kelly AuCoin (1989),^[62] actor (The Americans, Billions)
Sarah-Violet Bliss (2006), screenwriter and director (Search Party)
Eric Bogosian (1976), novelist, playwright (Talk Radio, subUrbia), and actor (Law and Order: Criminal Intent)
Avery Brooks (1970;^[14] honorary degree in 1996), actor in Uncle Tom's Cabin, American History X, Spenser: For Hire, best known as Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Peter Buchman (1989), screenwriter for Jurassic Park III and Che
John Cazale (class of 1954, transferred to Boston University), actor in The Godfather (portrayed Fredo Corleone) and The Deer Hunter
Will Chase (1992), Tony-nominated theater and television actor, Dopesick, Sharp Objects, Nashville
Dr. Francois S. Clemmons (1968–1992), actor/singer best known as Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Lena Dunham (2008), actor, director, writer, best known for Tiny Furniture and the HBO series Girls
Su Friedrich (1975), experimental filmmaker
Nancy Giles (1981), actress in China Beach, commentator on CBS News Sunday Morning^[63]
Sean Gill (2006), writer and film editor
Ed Helms (1996^[14]), actor (The Office, The Hangover), comedian, correspondent on The Daily Show
Edward Everett Horton (1909; left his junior year; honorary degree 1953), actor (The Front Page, Top Hat, Holiday), voice actor (Rocky & Bullwinkle)
Maggie Keenan-Bolger (2006), actress and writer, wrote From the Inside, Out; co-founder of 4th Meal Productions; The Will Rogers Follies and The Music Man national tours
Judy Kuhn (1981), singer, Broadway performer, and singing voice of Disney's Pocahontas
Rex Lee (1990), actor, best known for his role on Entourage
Daniel London (1995), actor (Minority Report, Old Joy, Patch Adams)
Clare McNulty (2007), actress (Search Party)
Chris Morocco (2003), professional chef and YouTube personality
Lloyd Morrisett (1951), co-founder of Children's Television Workshop^[34]
Jim Newman (1955), founder of Dilexi Gallery and Other Minds New Music Festival, San Francisco
Daniel Radosh (1991), journalist, blogger, writing staff of The Daily Show
Oren Rudavsky (1979), filmmaker (Hiding and Seeking, And Baby Makes Two, The Treatment)
Lynn Shelton, filmmaker
Ben Sinclair (2006), actor, writer, director, and producer (High Maintenance)
Corey Stoll (1998), stage and screen actor (Intimate Apparel, Law & Order: LA, Midnight in Paris, House of Cards, Ant-Man)
Nick Wauters, television writer, creator of the NBC series The Event
Alexander Whybrow (2003), professional wrestler under the name Larry Sweeney

Stage theater

John Kander (1951), of the musical theater team Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago)
Romulus Linney (1953, honorary degree 1994), playwright
Albert Marre (1944), Tony Award-winning director and producer
Julie Atlas Muz, burlesque dancer, actress, stage director
Richard Tatum (1988), stage and voice actor; Associate Artistic Director of the ARK Theatre Company, Los Angeles
Mitch Weiss (1974), Broadway manager (A Chorus Line, The Grapes of Wrath, Beauty & the Beast; Disney Theatricals, NY Shakespeare Festival)

Music

Benjamin Bagby (1974), vocalist, harpist, scholar, and founder of early music ensemble Sequentia
MaVynee Betsch, piano and voice
Rafiq Bhatia (2010), guitarist for Son Lux^[64]^[65]
Chris Brokaw (1986), rock drummer for Codeine; guitarist for Come, Consonant
Alyson Cambridge (born 1980), operatic soprano and classical music, jazz, and popular song singer
Brian Chase (2000), drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Claire Chase, flautist
James David Christie, organist and pedagogue
John Austin Clark (2005), music director and harpsichordist
Dr. Francois S. Clemmons (1980–2000), conductor, arranger, and founder/director of the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble
Will Marion Cook, African-American Broadway composer, musical director, violinist
Stanley Cowell, jazz pianist
Theo Croker, jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger
David Daniels, conductor and author
Corey Dargel, composer and electronic musician
Dorothy DeLay, violinist
Jeremy Denk, pianist
R. Nathaniel Dett, conductor, pianist, composer, arranger
Allie Luse Dick (1859–1933), music teacher
Du Yun, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, performance artist
Eighth Blackbird (all members), contemporary music sextet
Peter Evans, trumpeter
James Feddeck, assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra; music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra
John Ferguson, organist and composer
Sullivan Fortner, jazz pianist^[66]
Rhiannon Giddens (2000), founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops
Judith Gordon, pianist
Denyce Graves, opera singer
John Gurney, opera singer
Al Haig, jazz pianist
Megan Marie Hart (2006), opera singer^[67]
Dick Hensold (1981), folk musician, piper
Natalie Hinderas, professor, pianist and composer
Moses Hogan, conductor, composer, and arranger
Paul Horn (1952), jazz flautist
Matt Hubbard, Willie Nelson's producer; member of 7 Walkers
International Contemporary Ensemble, contemporary music ensemble
Amy Ippoliti, yoga teacher, chant and mantra recordings
Steven Isserlis (1980), British cellist, director of the International Musicians' Seminar
John Kander, composer of the musicals Chicago, Cabaret, and Curtains
John Kennedy, composer and conductor
Carla Kihlstedt, violinist, singer
Alex Klein, oboist
Jennifer Koh (1997), violinist, 1994 International Tchaikovsky Competition winner
Judy Kuhn, actress, singer
Scott Lawton, conductor
Sylvia Olden Lee, vocal coach and accompanist
Michael Maguire, actor/singer, best known for playing Enjolras in the original Broadway production of Les Misérables
David Maslanka (1965), composer
James McBride, saxophonist, composer, author of New York Times best-seller The Color of Water
John McEntire (1991), drummer (Tortoise)
John T. "Jack" Melick, Jr., bandleader, pianist, and arranger
David Miller, tenor, member of the multi-platinum operatic pop quartet Il Divo
Jason Molina, singer-songwriter and guitarist
Amy X. Neuburg (1984), classical and pop singer
Farnell Newton, composer and jazz trumpeter
Karen O, singer, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Milt Okun (1948), arranger, producer and musical director for popular 1960s singers such as Peter Paul and Mary, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and John Denver
Bob Ostertag, composer, performer, instrument builder, journalist, activist, historian
Doe Paoro (2006), singer-songwriter
James Paul, conductor
Alexander Perls (1998), songwriter, music producer
Liz Phair (1990), singer/songwriter
William Porter, organist and pedagogue
Nancy Priddy, singer-songwriter, back-up singer on Leonard Cohen's debut album
Derek Lee Ragin, countertenor
Josh Ritter (1999), singer/songwriter
Lucy Wainwright Roche (2003), musician, half-sister of Rufus Wainwright^[68]
Thomas Rosenkranz, pianist
Ned Rothenberg, woodwind multi-instrumentalist, composer
Christopher Rouse, Pulitzer Prize–winning composer
Michael Rudman (1960), award-winning theater director
Greg Saunier (1991), drummer for Deerhoof
Alex Scally, guitarist for indie-pop band Beach House
Jenny Scheinman, jazz violinist
Andrew Shapiro (1998), composer
Arlene Sierra, composer^[69]
Robert Sims (baritone), opera singer, author, producer
Robert Spano (1983), music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Damin Spritzer, organist and academic
William Grant Still, composer
Dick Sudhalter (1960), jazz musician and critic
Jon Theodore, drummer, The Mars Volta
Pyeng Threadgill, blues, soul blues and jazz singer; daughter of Henry Threadgill
Jen Trynin (1986), rock singer/songwriter
David Zinman, conductor

Visual arts

Cory Arcangel (2000), post-conceptual artist
Aisha Cousins (2000), artist, performance art score writer/creator
Flora Crockett (1911), painter
Aria Dean (2015), visual artist
Kalan Sherrard (2010), street performer, puppeteer, and activist
Julia Vogl (2007), sculptor, public art

Notable alumni

Award winners

Nobel laureates

Pulitzer Prize

French Legion of Honor

Academy, Grammy, Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards

MacArthur Fellows

Rome Prize

Academia

Business

Politics, government

Vice Presidents

Premiers

Legislators

Mayors

Executive council

Diplomats

Other

Activists

Journalism

Broadcast media

Print and online

Literature

Religion

Science

Visual and performing arts

Film and television

Stage theater

Music

Visual arts

Notable faculty

Humanities

English and American literature

French

History

Philosophy

Religion

Visual art and performance

Social science

Anthropology

Economics

Sociology

Natural science

Mathematics

Physics

Geology

Environmental science

Zoology

Music

Composition

Performance

Music theory

Voice

Theology

Administration

Presidents

Athletics

References