List of Valparaiso University alumni

Valparaiso University is a Lutheran college located in Valparaiso, Indiana. Following is a list of Valparaiso University alumni.

Academia

• R. J. Q. Adams (born 1943; M.A. 1969), professor of European and British history at Texas A&M University
• Patrick Roger Cleary, founder of Cleary University^[1]
• William P. Richardson (1864–1945), co-founder and first dean of Brooklyn Law School
• Henry P. Rusk (1884–1954), dean of the department of agriculture at the University of Illinois
• Thomas F. Schutte (1935–2025; B.A. degree 1957), president of Pratt Institute (1993–2017) and Rhode Island School of Design (1983 – 1992)^[2]
• James Monroe Smith, president of Louisiana State University (1930–1939)

Business

• Jay Christopher, cofounder of Pampered Chef
• Don Fites, chairman and CEO (retired) of Caterpillar Inc.
• Paul Schrage, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer of McDonald's Corporation; designed the "Golden Arches" logo
• Kathi Seifert, executive vice president of Kimberly-Clark 1991–2004
• Lowell Yerex, founder of Transportes Aéreos Centro Americanos (TACA), British West Indian Airways in Trinidad and Tobago, and Aerovias Brasil in Rio de Janeiro

Entertainment

• Adam Amin, ESPN play-by-play broadcaster
• Chris Bauman, entertainment entrepreneur and independent music activist^[3]
• Beulah Bondi, actress
• Alys McKey Bryant, record-setting aviation pioneer and exhibition pilot
• JoBe Cerny, character actor and voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy
• Paul Chambers, CNN anchor and film critic
• Andre "Add-2" Daniels, rapper
• Michael Essany, television talk show host
• John Lutz, actor known for 30 Rock and writer for Saturday Night Live
• Jacki Lyden, senior correspondent at NPR^[4]
• David Ruprecht, host of Supermarket Sweep and Real People
• Judith Sherman, multi-Grammy Award-winning record producer
• Ginger Zee, meteorologist for Good Morning America and ABC News
• Josh Langhoff, Wrigley Field organist^[5]

Law

• David W. Dugan, United States Federal District Court Judge in the Southern District of Illinois
• Omer Stokes Jackson, 28th Indiana Attorney General^[6]
• Keith Kizer, Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General and former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission^[7]
• Moses Lairy, Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court
• Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, United States federal judge
• Eugene E. Parker, sports attorney and agent to Larry Fitzgerald, Deion Sanders, Hines Ward, Greg Jennings, Ndamukong Suh, and Michael Crabtree
• Shelice Tolbert, attorney in Indiana

Literature and journalism

• Fredrick Barton, novelist and film critic^[8]
• Anthony Bimba (1894–1982), newspaper editor, historian, and radical political activist^[9]
• Barbara Ann Kipfer, linguist, lexicographer, author, and editor
• Idael Makeever, poet
• William March, novelist, known for Company K and The Bad Seed
• Rene Steinke, novelist known for The Fires and Holy Skirts
• Lowell Thomas, author, war correspondent during World War I who made T. E. Lawrence internationally famous, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Politics

• Roy E. Ayers, United States House of Representatives and 11th Governor of Montana^[10]
• Frederick M. Bernthal, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (1988–1990)
• Mikhail Borodin, Soviet and Comintern representative to China
• LeRoy Earl Brophey Sr., Minnesota House of Representatives
• John E. Cashman, Wisconsin Senator
• Stoyan Christowe, Vermont Senate (1959–1972)
• Thurman C. Crook, a United States House of Representatives from Indiana^[11]
• Marcellus Dorwin, Wisconsin State Assembly
• Edward Grassman, Wisconsin State Assembly
• Margaret Keenan Harrais, United States Commissioner at Valdez, Alaska and a deputy magistrate
• Walter Hunt, Wisconsin Senate
• Samuel B. Huston, Oregon Legislative Assembly
• Andrieus A. Jones, United States Senate, supported New Mexico statehood
• Edgar E. Lien, Wisconsin State Assembly
• James F. McDowell, Wisconsin State Assembly
• H. Lane Mitchell (Engineering), public works commissioner in Shreveport, Louisiana (1934–1968)^[12]
• George William Norris, United States Senate from Nebraska and the father of the Tennessee Valley Authority^[13]
• William Edmunds Plummer, Wisconsin State Assembly
• Caleb Powers, United States House of Representatives from Kentucky; Secretary of State of Kentucky; convicted as an accessory to murder of the state governor^[14]
• Benjamin Shively, United States Senate from Indiana (1909–1916)^[15]
• Len Small, 26th Governor of Illinois^[16]
• Donald Edgar Tewes, United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin^[17]
• Jill Long Thompson, United States House of Representatives from Indiana 1989–1995 and Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development 1995–2001^[18]
• Otis Wingo, United States House of Representatives from Arkansas's 4th congressional district (1913–1930)^[19]

Science and medicine

• Blanche Evans Dean, naturalist, conservationist, and author
• Reuben Kahn, immunologist and inventor of a test for syphilis^[20]
• Carl Glennis Roberts (1886–1950), surgeon, gynecologist, and civil rights activist^[21]
• Edward Thomas Abrams, doctor and legislator

Sports

• Ryan Broekhoff, former NBA player
• Bryce Drew, college basketball coach and former NBA player^[22]
• Scott Drew, college basketball coach and NCAA National Champion
• Keith Kizer, former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General^[7]
• Cal Luther, college basketball coach
• Lloyd McClendon, Major League Baseball player and manager
• Frederick "Fuzzy" Thurston, professional football player with the Green Bay Packers (1959–67)
• Jim Wacker, former football coach at the University of Minnesota
• Austin Walton, NBA agent and owner of Walton Sports Management Group
• Jon Steinbrecher, Commissioner of the Mid America Conference

Technology

• Nicholas Skytland, NASA, Chief Technologist and Director of Business Development, NASA Johnson Space Center