List of Amherst College people

This is a list of some notable people affiliated with Amherst College.

Notable alumni

College founders and presidents

• Edward Jones 1826, Principal of forerunner of Fourah Bay College (the predecessor of the University of Sierra Leone) (Africa)
• Patrick Hues Mell 1833, Chancellor of the University of Georgia
• Benjamin M. Palmer ex 1836, founder of predecessor of Rhodes College
• Edward Duffield Neill 1842, first Chancellor, University of Minnesota, 1858-1861; founder, first president, and professor, Macalester College
• Edward Joseph Cornish 1845, president of Jefferson College (Mississippi)
• William S. Clark 1848, second president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst), co-founder of Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) in Japan
• Julius Hawley Seelye 1849, fifth president of Amherst College (creator of system of latin honors)
• Reverend Daniel Bliss 1852, founder and president of American University of Beirut (1866-1902)
• Reverend George Dana Pepper 1857, president of Colby College
• Henry Martin Tupper 1859, founder of Shaw University
• Francis Amasa Walker 1860, third president of MIT (1881-1897)
• George Harris 1866, seventh president of Amherst College
• James Griswold Merrill 1863, acting president (1890-1892) and president of Fisk University (1892-1908)
• William Jacob Holland 1869, fifth Chancellor, University of Pittsburgh
• Joseph Hardy Neesima 1870, founder of Doshisha University in Japan
• William F. Slocum 1874, third president of Colorado College
• Frank Johnson Goodnow 1879, third president of Johns Hopkins University
• Howard Sweetser Bliss 1882, second president of American University of Beirut
• Edward Smith Parsons 1883, president of Marietta College
• Benjamin Rush Rhees 1883, third president of the University of Rochester (1900-1935)
• James Hayden Tufts 1884, acting president, vice-president, dean, and professor, University of Chicago
• Frederic B. Pratt 1887, president of Pratt Institute (1893-1937)
• William Foster Pierce 1888, twelfth and longest serving president of Kenyon College (1896-1937)
• Bertrand Snell 1894, president of Clarkson University (1920-1945)
• Ernest Hatch Wilkins 1900, president of Oberlin College (1927-1946)
• Stanley King 1903, eleventh president of Amherst College
• Joseph Daniel Brownell 1910, president of Northland College (Wisconsin) (1914-1942)
• Lewis Williams Douglas 1916, ninth Principal of McGill University
• Harold F. Johnson 1918, one of co-founders of Hampshire College
• Dexter Keezer 1918, president of Reed College
• Charles Woolsey Cole 1927, twelfth president of Amherst College
• Richard Glenn Gettell 1933, thirteenth president of Mount Holyoke College
• Paul L. Ward 1933, president of Sarah Lawrence College
• Duncan Ballantine 1934, president of Reed College
• David Truman 1935, fifthteenth president of Mount Holyoke College
• John W. Atherton 1939, founding president of Pitzer College
• Calvin Plimpton 1939, thirteenth president of Amherst College; president of Downstate Medical Center and American University of Beirut
• Julian Gibbs 1947, fifteenth president of Amherst College
• Paul Bragdon 1950, president of Reed College and Oregon Graduate Institute; subsequently interim president of Lewis & Clark College
• Charles R. Longsworth 1951, president of Hampshire College, founding vice-president
• Ulric Haynes, Jr. 1952, president of State University of New York at Old Westbury
• Charles H. Trout 1953, president of Harcum College, president of Washington College (1990-1995)
• Ralph Z. Sorenson 1955, seventh president of Babson College (1974-1981), one of co-founders of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in the Philippines
• Peter Berek 1961, interim president, dean of faculty and provost, professor, Mount Holyoke College
• Richard M. Freeland 1963, president of Northeastern University (1996-2006)
• David K. Lewis 1964, interim president, provost and dean of faculty, professor, Connecticut College
• David L. Potter 1964, current president of North Georgia College & State University
• Colin Diver 1965, current president of Reed College
• Harold R. Wilde 1967, current president of North Central College
• Richard L. McCormick 1969, current president of Rutgers University; former president of the University of Washington, 1995-2002; vice-chancellor and provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• William S. Pfeiffer 1969, current president of Warren Wilson College
• George R. Johnson 1973, ninth president of LeMoyne-Owen College

Academics

• Philologist and lexicographer Francis Andrew March 1845, considered the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Anglo-Saxon; prof. of English language and comparative philology; also taught French, German, Greek, Latin, political economy, the Constitution, law, and botany
• Geologist Benjamin Kendall Emerson 1865, prominent geologist, author, and professor
• Political Scientist John Burgess 1867, one of the founders of modern political science
• Historian Herbert Baxter Adams 1872, prominent and influential historian
• Librarian Melvil Dewey 1874, of the Dewey Decimal System, founder of American Library Association
• Economist John Bates Clark 1875, namesake of the John Bates Clark Medal
• Astronomer David Peck Todd 1875, noted astronomer, leader of significant astronomical expeditions
• Political Scientist Frank Johnson Goodnow 1879, early scholar of public administration and administrative law, expert in government, advisor in drafting Chinese constitution in 1913-14 (appears above)
• Historian, author, librarian Frederic Bancroft 1882, namesake of the Bancroft Prize
• Philosopher James Hayden Tufts 1884, co-founder of University of Chicago School of Pragmatism
• Psychologist Edmund B. Delabarre 1886, leading pioneer in, among others fields, shape perception
• Astronomer Raymond Smith Dugan 1899, discovered 16 Asteroids, wrote standard two volume textbook
• Historian Preserved Smith 1901, historian of Protestant Reformation; prof. at Amherst, Harvard
• Economist John Maurice Clark 1905, best known forerunner of American school of pragmatic economics
• Educator and philosopher Scott Buchanan 1916, founder of Great Books program at St. John's College
• Sociologist Talcott Parsons 1924, one of most influential sociologist during much of the 20th century
• Chemist Paul D. Bartlett 1928, revolutionized the way organic chemistry is taught and practiced in the world
• Mathematician Stephen Cole Kleene 1930, helped lay foundations for theoretical computer science
• Chemist William Summer Johnson 1936, among the world's leading synthetic organic chemists
• American historian, professor, and activist H. Stuart Hughes 1937
• Historian John Whitney Hall 1939, leading pioneer in field of Japanese studies, authority on pre-war Japan
• Poet and professor Richard P. Wilbur 1942, the second poet to be named U.S. Poet Laureate; Amherst College professor Robert Frost was Wilbur's teacher and mentor
• Poet and translator David Ferry 1946, recipient of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry
• Chemist Julian Howard Gibbs 1947, former chairman of the Chemistry Department at Brown University and President of Amherst College (won the High Polymer Prize of the American Physical Society, 1967)
• Neuroscientist James Olds 1947, one of the foremost psychologist of the twentieth century
• Political Scientist Richard Fenno 1948, namesake of Fenno's Paradox and Richard F. Fenno Jr. Prize
• Physicist Henry Way Kendall 1950, experimental work provided first evidence of quarks and quark model
• Microbiologist Carl R. Woese 1950, redrew taxonomic tree, originator of RNA world hypothesis
• Political Scientist Andrew Hacker 1951, novel interdisciplinary work on questions of race, class, and gender
• Physical Chemist Peter Toennies 1952, former director of the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research; recipient, inter alia, of Physics Award of the Gottingen Academy of Sciences, Stern-Geriach Gold Medal (experimental physics), Kolos Medal (chemistry) (2005), and Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (2006)
• Translator and poet Robert Fagles 1955, best known for translations of ancient Greek classics, particularly acclaimed translations of epic poems of Homer
• Economist Edmund Phelps 1955, seminal work, natural rate of unemployment, Golden Rule savings rate
• Political Scientist Alan Schechter 1957, award-winning political scientist
• Scientist David Suzuki 1958, internationally honoured Canadian environmental scientist and activist
• Historian John W. Dower 1959, eminent scholar of modern Japanese history, Bancroft Prize
• Economist David Bradford 1960, prominent economist, professor at Princeton University
• Planetary scientist Andrew Ingersoll 1960, recipient of Kuiper Prize (2007)
• Philosopher and law professor James Boyd White 1960, founder of "Law and Literature" movement
• MIT Institute Professor John M. Deutch 1961, chairman of Chemistry Dept., Dean of Science, Provost
• Musicologist and musician Philip Gossett 1963, one of the world's leading authorities on 19th century Italian music; prof., Univ. of Chicago and Univ. of Rome; Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award
• Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz 1964, John Bates Clark Medal; former professor at Oxford, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton; seminal work in the theory of markets with asymmetric information and efficiency wages
• Sterling Professor of French R. Howard Bloch 1965, Bibliotheque National, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Physical Chemist Robert W. Field 1965, recipient, inter alia, of the Broida Prize, Plyler Prize, Lippincott Award, and Nobel Laureate Signature Award
• Philosopher William Lycan 1966, contributions to philosophy of language, mind, epistemology, linguistics
• Historian Theodore Rosengarten 1966, eminent scholar of U.S. Southern history
• Computer scientist David S. Johnson 1967, leading computer scientist, head of Algorithms and Optimization Department (research) at AT&T Labs (former Bell Labs)
• Anthropologist Loring Danforth 1971, award-winning scholar; preeminent expert, Macedonia naming dispute
• Environmental biologist Peter M. Vitousek 1971, named America's best ecologist by Time Magazine and CNN, recipient of the Princeton Environmental Prize (2002)
• Astronomer David Helfand 1973, chair of the department of Astronomy at Columbia University, co-director of Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, professor in physics department
• Ethnomusicologist Theodore Levin 1973
• Geophysicist, earth and planetary scientist, and astronomer Raymond Jeanloz 1975
• Mathematician and political scientist Joshua M. Epstein 1976, pioneer in agent based models; computational and mathematical modeling of complex social, economic, and biological systems; groundbreaking work on epidemics and bioterrorism
• Historian Andrew R. Heinze 1977
• Bioethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel 1979, leading medical ethicist
• Chemist Amy Rosenzweig 1988, leader in advancing synchrotron-based protein crystallography
• Political Scientist Sumantra Bose 1992, professor of Internatl. & Comp. Pol., London School of Economics
• Statistician Richmond Mayo-Smith 18_(?), at the time, one of the foremost authorities on the subject

Professional athletes

• Howard Groskloss 1930, infielder, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1930-1932
• Doug Swift 1970, Linebacker, Miami Dolphins, 1970-1975, anesthesiologist
• Jean Fugett 1972, Tight End, Dallas Cowboys 1972-1975, and Washington Redskins, 1976-1979
• Freddie Scott 1974, Wide Receiver, Baltimore Colts, 1974-77, and Detroit Lions 1978-1983
• Richard N. Thompson 1980, pitcher, Cleveland Indians, 1985, and Montreal Expos, 1989-1990
• John J. Cerutti 1982, pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays, 1985-1990, and Detroit Tigers, 1991

Clergy and biblical scholars

• Missionary and linguist David Oliver Allen 1823, first American Protestant missionary appointed to Bombay, India; first translation of the Bible in the Mahratta language
• Biblical scholar Bela Bates Edwards 1824, also editor-in-chief of Bibliotheca Sacra, the oldest continuous theological journal in the United States
• Missionary and scholar Elijah Coleman Bridgman 1826, the first American Protestant missionary appointed to China, America's first "China expert"
• Missionary and linguist Justin Perkins 1829, first American Protestant missionary appointed to Iran
• Biblical scholar Horatio Balch Hackett 1830
• Preacher Henry Ward Beecher 1834
• Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley ex 1835, eighth Archbishop of Baltimore
• Roswell Dwight Hitchcock 1836, president of Union Theological Seminary (1880-87)
• Preacher Benjamin M. Palmer ex 1836, acclaimed orator, Bible-based theologian; confederate preacher
• Bishop Frederic Dan Huntington 1839, first Episcopal bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Central New York
• Biblical scholar Henry Preserved Smith 1869, professor at Amherst College (1897-1906)
• Christian thinker Uchimura Kanzo 1887, founder of Nonchurch Movement of Christianity in Japan
• Theologian Robert McAfee Brown 1943, int. leader in social justice, civil rights, and ecumenical causes
• Canadian Anglican priest Roland de Corneille 1948(?), human rights activist
• Farzam Arbab 1964, member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith (doctorate in elementary particle physics)
• Buddist scholar, teacher, and practitioner B. Alan Wallace 1987, translator for dozens of Tibetan lamas in India, Europe, and North America, including HH the Dali Lama (Amherst B.A. in physics and phil. of science)

Presidents and heads of state

• Thirtieth President of the United States Calvin Coolidge 1895 (1923-1929)
• Albert II of Monaco 1981
• Francisco G. Flores 1981, former President of El Salvador

Cabinet members, cabinet level and sub-cabinet officials

• Horace Maynard 1838, Postmaster General, cabinet of Rutherford Hayes (prior to 1972, a cabinet office)
• Charles H. Allen 1869, Assistant Secretary of the Navy replacing Theodore Roosevelt in Wilson administration
• Robert Lansing 1886, United States Secretary of State 1915-1920; Acting Secretary of State (1914-1915); nominal head, United States Commission to the Paris Peace Conference
• William Henry Lewis 1892, first African-American appointed to a sub-cabinet position, Assistant United States Attorney General
• Harlan Fiske Stone 1894, United States Attorney General
• Calvin Coolidge 1895, twenty-ninth Vice-President of the United States (1921-1923) (appears above)
• Lewis W. Douglas 1916, Director of the Budget, now Office of Management and Budget
• John J. McCloy 1919, Assistant United States Secretary of War (1941-1945)
• Dr. Amon Nikoi 1953, Senior Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance; Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (Ghana)
• David Bradford 1960, former member of President's Council of Economic Advisors
• John M. Deutch 1960, U.S. Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) and of the Central Intelligence Agency (cabinet rank in Bill Clinton administration); United States Deputy Secretary of Defense; U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; US Department of Energy, Under Secretary
• Joseph E. Stiglitz 1964, former member and Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors
• Sang Mok Suh 1969, Minister of Health and Welfare, South Korea (1993-1995)
• Antonis Samaras 1974, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989-92); Min. of Econ. Affairs (1989)
• George Papandreou 1975, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999-04); (twice) Minister of Education; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1993-94); Foreign Minister of Greece
• Francisco G. Flores 1981, former Secretary of Information; President of Congress (El Salvador) (appears above)
• Dr. Mian Asad Hayaud Din 1985, former Deputy Secretary (Economic & Finance-II) (Pakistan)
• Uhuru Kenyatta 1985, minister in cabinet of President Daniel arap Moi (Kenya)

United States Supreme Court

• Harlan Fiske Stone 1894, Associate Justice (1925-1941) and twelfth Chief Justice (1941-1946); the only justice physically to have filled all nine seats on the bench of the United States Supreme Court, having moved by seniority from the most junior Associate Justice to the most senior Associate Justice to the Chief Justice; principal role in upholding President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs; wrote majority opinions in, among other decisions, the landmark cases of International Shoe Co. v. Washington (1945) (personal jurisdiction) and Ex parte Quirin (1942) (mil. jurisd.)

Diplomats and government officials

• John Elliot Ward ex 1835, U.S. Minister to China, elected acting Lieut. Gov. of Georgia, U.S. Attorney (GA)
• Horace Maynard 1838, Minister to Turkey in Administration of Ulysses S. Grant (appears above)
• Edward Duffield Neill 1842, consul to Dublin (appears above)
• John C. Caldwell 1855, Min. to Uruguay and Paraguay; con. to Valparaiso, Chile, and San Jose, Costa Rica
• Francis Amasa Walker 1860, Chief of U.S. Bureau of Statistics, Director of both 9th and 10th U.S. census
• Arthur Sherburne Hardy ex 1869, Minister Plenipotenciary (Ambassador) to Persia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, and Spain
• Walter Wyman 1870, third Surgeon General of the United States
• Frank C. Partridge 1882, Solicitor of the Department of State; Min. to Venezula; con. general to Tangier, Morocco
• Sir Herbert Ames 1885, financial director, Secretariat of the League of Nations (Member of Parliament, Canada)
• Sir Chentung Liang-Cheng 1885, Ambassador of China to the United States
• Robert Lansing 1886, Counselor of the Department of State (appears above)
• Dwight Morrow 1895, Ambassador to Mexico, chairman of the Morrow Board
• Joseph Bartlett Eastman 1904, Interstate Commerce Commissioner (1919-1944); Federal Coordinator of Railroads; Director of Office of Defense Transportation
• Leland Olds 1912, Chairman of the Federal Power Commission under President Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Lewis W. Douglas 1916, head, War Shipping Administration; Ambassador to the United Kingdom
• John J. McCloy 1919, second president of the World Bank, member of the Warren Commission and Draper Committee (appears above)
• Robert H. Thayer 1922, Minister to Romania, Asst. Secretary of State for Ed. and Cultural Affairs
• Charles Woolsey Cole 1927, Ambassador to Chile; director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (president of Amherst College, 1946-1960)
• Toshikazu Kase 1927, Japan's first Ambassador to the United Nations
• Walter Henry Rozell Jr. 1932, Governor of the State Bank of Ethiopia; awarded Star of Ethiopia by Emperor Haile Selassie (consultant to the central banks of Thailand, Nigeria, and South Vietnam)
• Philip Hall Coombs 1937, first Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs
• Robert G. Neumann 1940 MA, Ambassador to Afghanistan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia
• David P. Eastburn 1942, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
• Talcott Williams Seelye 1944, Ambassador to Syria, Tunisia, Saudia Arabia; U.S. Presidential Envoy to Lebanon
• Edward Ney 1946, Ambassador to Canada
• Harry Barnes 1949, Ambassador to Chile, India, and Romania
• Ulric Haynes, Jr. 1952, Ambassador to Algeria, staff member of the National Security Council
• Dr. Amon Nikoi 1953, permanent representative of Ghana to the UN; Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund; chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Ghana; Governor of the Bank of Ghana
• Mizoguchi Michio 1955, Ambassador of Japan for Asia Pacific Cooperation
• Ralph Z. Sorenson 1955, director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (appears above)
• Takekazu Kuriyama 1956, Ambassador of Japan to the United States
• Hiroaki Fujii 1958, Ambassador of Japan to Thailand, Great Britain (current president of the Japan Foundation)
• John F. Wieland 1958, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• David Bradford 1960, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury (appears above)
• Harold E. Varmus 1961, Director of the National Institutes of Health (1993-2000)
• Asomura Kuniaki 1962, Ambassador of Japan to Czech Republic
• Joseph E. Stiglitz 1964, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist of the World Bank (appears above)
• Kazuo Asakai 1967, Ambassador of Japan to the European Union, former Ambassador to Myanmar
• Nobuyasu Abe 1969, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations, former Ambassador of Japan to Saudi Arabia, consul-general of Japan in US
• David Kessler 1973, head of Food and Drug Administration (1990-1997)
• Stavros Lambrinidis 1984, Ambassador at Large of the Hellenic Republic (Greece)
• Mian Asad Hayaud Din 1985, Director, Office of the Chief Commissioner (Pakistan) (appears above)
• Gerald F. Masoudi 1990, Chief Counsel of the Food and Drug Administration
• Gregory F. Jacob 1996, Solicitor of the Department of Labor; former special assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
• Thomas F. Daughton _(?), deputy chief of mission, Algeria; charge d'affaires ad interim (acting Ambassador), Gabon, Africa; consul to Thessaloniki, Greece
• Ambassador Craig Dunkerley _(?), Secretary of State Special Envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
• Nobina Robinson _(?), former Canadian diplomat, Coordinator for Canada's Relations with the Organization of American States (currently executive director of Canadian Foundation for the Americas)

Senators, Congresspersons, and other politicians

• Representative Edward Dickinson 1823, father of Emily
• Representative Lincoln Clark 1825 (Iowa) (Attorney General of Alabama and circuit judge)
• Representative James Humphrey 1831 (New York)
• Robert Purvis 1831(?), antebellum African-American abolitionist, supporter of Underground Railroad
• Representative Nathan Belcher 1832 (Connecticut) (state legislator and lawyer)
• Representative Lucien Barbour 1837 (Indiana) (U.S. Attorney)
• Representative David Stuart 1838 (Michigan) (President Abraham Lincoln appointed him brigadier general in Civil War)
• Representative Horace Maynard (Tennessee) 1838 (Attorney General of Tennessee) (appears above)
• Senator Samuel Clarke Pomeroy ex (1836-38) (Kansas) (mayor; railroad president)
• John P. Sanderson 1839, member of Provisional Confederate Congress (Florida)
• Representative Martin R. Thayer ex 1840 (Pennsylvania) (state judge)
• Representative Charles Delano 1840 (Massachusetts)
• Representative Waldo Hutchins 1842 (New York)
• "Speaker of the House" Galusha A. Grow 1844 (Pennsylvania) (24th Speaker) (railroad president)
• Representative Julius H. Seelye 1849 (Massachusetts) (president of Amherst College) (appears above)
• Representative Charles P. Thompson 1846 (Massachusetts) (U.S. Assistant D. A. and judge)
• Representative Samuel M. Arnell 1844(?) (Tennessee)
• Representative William Whiting II 1862 (Massachusetts) (state legislator and mayor)
• Representative William Shadrach Knox 1865 (Massachusetts)
• Representative Francis W. Rockwell 1868 (Massachusetts) (state legislator and judge)
• Representative Charles H. Allen 1869 (Massachusetts) (appears above)
• Representative Caleb R. Layton 1873 (Delaware) (Delaware Secretary of State and physician)
• Representative Lewis Sperry 1873 (Connecticut) (state legislator and lawyer)
• Senator and "Speaker of the House" Frederick H. Gillett 1874 (Massachusetts) (37th Speaker)
• Representative Henry Stockbridge, Jr. 1877 (Maryland) (Regent of the University of Maryland)
• Representative George H. Utter 1877 (Rhode Island)
• Representative George P. Lawrence 1880 (Massachusetts) (state legislator and judge)
• Senator Frank C. Partridge 1882 (Vermont) (appears above)
• "Speaker of the House" Henry T. Rainey 1883 (Illinois) (40th Speaker)
• Representative Edward Bassett 1884 (New York) (a founding father of modern day urban planning)
• Member of Parliament in Canada Sir Herbert Ames 1885 (appears above)
• Representative Allen T. Treadway 1886 (Massachusetts) (in office sixteen consecutive terms)
• William Estabrook Chancellor 1889, nemesis of Warren G. Harding
• Representative George B. Churchill 1889 (Massachusetts) (professor at Amherst College)
• Representative and "House minority leader" Bertrand Snell 1894 (New York) (appears above)
• Representative Charles B. Law 1895 (New York)
• Senator Dwight Morrow 1895 (New Jersey) (appears above)
• Representative Albert E. Austin 1899 (Connecticut) (physician and stepfather of Clare Booth Luce)
• Representative Foster Waterman Stearns 1903 (New Hampshire) (regent of the Smithsonian Institution)
• Representative Bruce Fairchild Barton 1907 (New York)
• Representative Lewis W. Douglas 1916 (Arizona) (appears above) (Council on Foreign Relations)
• Representative Augustus W. Bennet 1918 (New York)
• Senator Kingsley A. Taft 1925 (Ohio) (judge and chief justice of Ohio Supreme Court)
• Representative John Michael Murphy ex 1943 (New York)
• Representative Thomas Ballenger 1948 (Ohio) (served consecutive terms, 1986-2005)
• Member of Parliament in Canada Roland de Corneille 1948(?) (appears above)
• Senator Thomas F. Eagleton 1950 (Missouri) (1969-1987), one-time running mate of George McGovern (Missouri Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor)
• Richard W. DeKorte 1957 New Jersey, Energy Czar and former member and majority leader of the New Jersey General Assembly
• Representative Robert H. Steele 1960 (Connecticut, 1970-1975)
• Ngengi Muigai 1969, member of Parliament of Kenya
• Sang Mok Suh 1969, member of South Korean National Assembly (1988-2000)
• Representative Thomas M. Davis III 1971 (Virginia)
• Eric Kriss 1971, former Massachusetts Secretary for Finance and Administration
• Samuel I. Rosenberg 1972, member, Maryland House of Delegates and law professor
• Peter Franchot 1973, Maryland Comptroller and former member of the Maryland House of Delegates
• Representative Martin Hoke 1973 (Ohio) (1993-1997)
• Antonis Samaras 1974, member of the European Parliament; former member of the Greek Parliament (appears above)
• George Papandreou 1975, member of the Greek Parliament; leader of PASOK, opposition party (appears above)
• Eric T. Schneiderman 1977, New York State Senator, former deputy minority leader
• Bradley Campbell 1983, New Jersey Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection
• Uhuru Kenyatta 1985, opposition leader in Kenya, member of Parliament of Kenya (appears above)
• Stavros Lambrinidis 1984, member of European Parliament from Greece (appears above)
• Paul Rieckhoff 1998, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Governors, elected and appointed

• Alexander H. Bullock 1836, Governor of Massachusetts (state legislator, judge, and mayor)
• Charles L. Robinson 1839(?), first Governor of Kansas (1861-1863), first elected "territorial Governor" of Kansas (physician, abolitionist, and regent of the University of Kansas)
• Charles Bartlett Andrews 1858, Governor of Connecticut
• Charles H. Allen 1869, first civil Governor of Puerto Rico (appears above)
• George H. Utter 1877, Rhode Island Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State
• Calvin Coolidge 1895, Governor, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (mayor) (appears above)
• John J. McCloy 1919, U.S. military Governor and High Commissioner of Germany (appears above)
• William Henry Hastie 1925, first African-American civil Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands
• David D. Freudenthal 1973, Governor of Wyoming (former U.S. Attorney)
• Lucius F. C. Garvin (?), twice Governor of Rhode Island

Lawyers and judges

• Addison Brown ex 1852, U.S. District Court judge (New York) (one of founders of N.Y. Botanical Gardens)
• Charles Bartlett Andrews 1858, Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court (appears above)
• Henry Stockbridge, Jr. 1877, Judge, Maryland Court of Appeals (1911-1926) (appears above)
• Luther Ely Smith, 1894, lawyer and founder of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
• Harlan Fiske Stone 1894, Professor and Dean of Columbia Law School (appears above)
• Charles Hamilton Houston 1915, legal architect of school desegregation strategy culminating in Brown v. Board; first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review and first to receive SJD; Spingarn Medal
• John J. McCloy 1919, name partner in Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; adviser of nine Presidents
• James Mclure, Jr. 1913, U.S. District Court Judge (Pennsylvania)
• Leonard Page Moore 1919(?), Federal appellate judge (Second Circuit), 1957-1971; senior status, 1971; U.S. Attorney, 1953-1957
• William Henry Hastie 1925, first African-American U.S. District Court judge (Virgin Islands); first African-American Federal appellate judge and Chief Judge (Third Circuit); dean of Howard University Law School; second African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review; Spingarn Medal (appears above)
• Kingsley A. Taft 1925, Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court (appears above)
• Donald G. Murray 1934, plaintiff in Murray v. Pearson
• Nauman Scott 1934, U.S. District Court judge (Louisiana) (1970-2001)
• Robert M. Morgenthau 1941, District Attorney of New York County and former U.S. Attorney
• William H. Webster 1947, U.S. District Court judge (Missouri) and Federal Appellate judge (Eighth Circuit) (also U.S. Attorney, 1960-1961; awarded National Security Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom)
• Alexander M. Keith 1950, former Justice and Chief Justice of the Minnesota State Supreme Court (also Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota)
• James J. White 1956, leading scholar of commercial law, Professor of Law at Michigan University
• Philip H. Lilienthal 1962, humanitarian and AIDS activist; founder of WorldCamps
• Alvin Klevorick 1963, Professor of Law and Professor of Economics, Yale Law School
• Peter Messitte 1963, U.S. District Court judge (Maryland)
• James T. Giles 1964, U.S. District Court judge (Pennsylvania), Chief Judge (1999-2006)
• Colin Diver 1965, former Professor and Dean, University of Pennsylvania Law School (appears above)
• John C. Coffee 1966, Professor, Columbia Law School
• Robert Harrison 1968, Professor, Yale Law School
• William P. Alford 1970, Professor and Director of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School
• Samuel H. Mays 1970, U.S. District Court judge (Tennessee)
• Joseph H. Hartzler 1972, U.S. Attorney, lead U.S. Attorney in the Oklahoma City Bombing trial
• William W. Fisher 1976, Professor, Harvard Law School
• Paul M. Smith 1976, winning attorney of Lawrence v. Texas (renowned Supreme Court practitioner)
• Patrick Fitzgerald 1982, U.S. Attorney; U.S. Dept. of Justice Special Counsel in charge of investigating the Valerie Plame scandal; prosecutor of Conrad Black, Scooter Libby, John Gotti, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and others in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing trial, and former Ill. gov. George Ryan; chief counsel in prosecutions related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania
• Karin Immergut 1982, U.S. Attorney

Businesspeople

• Daniel Willis James 1863, head of Phelps, Dodge, and Company, philanthropist
• Daniel Collamore Heath 1868, publisher, founder of D.C. Heath and Company, now part of Houghton Mifflin
• Frank Lusk Babbott 1878, jute merchant, art collector, patron, and philanthropist
• Henry Clay Folger 1879, Standard Oil president, Folger Shakespeare Library founder
• Charles Millard Pratt 1879, company secretary of Standard Oil.
• Arthur Vining Davis 1888, president and chairman of Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), 1910-1953; founder of Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
• Dwight Morrow 1895, partner at J.P. Morgan & Co.
• Herbert L. Pratt 1895, head of Standard Oil
• Bruce Fairchild Barton 1907, co-founder of precursor to BBDO, head of BBDO until 1961 (appears above)
• Charles E. Merrill ex 1908, the founder of Merrill Lynch & Co.
• Clarence Birdseye ex 1910, food preservationist, founder of Birds Eye Foods, National Inventors Hall of Fame
• John J. McCloy 1919, chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, Council on Foreign Relations, and Ford Foundation
• Harry Dalton 1950, executive in front office of American Major League baseball; served as general manager of three major league baseball teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers
• Lloyd Schermer 1950, CEO of Lee Enterprises, a national media company; chairman of predecessor of the Newspaper Association of America
• Amos Hostetter, Jr. 1958, former chief executive officer of MediaOne
• John Abele 1959, founder and director of Boston Scientific
• Hugh B. Price 1963, former President of the National Urban League
• Martin S. Schwartz 1967, wall street trader, author, profiled in national bestseller "Market Wizards"
• Glen Lewy 1971, member, Council on Foreign Relations; National Chair of the Anti-Defamation League; New York State lawyer, investment banker, and venture capitalist
• Eric Kriss 1971, co-founder of Bain Capital, former CEO of MediQual Systems (appears above)
• Winthrop H. Smith, Jr. 1971, entrepreneur; CEO of Summit Ventures; former executive vice president of Merrill Lynch & Co., chairman of Merrill International; member, Council on Foreign Relations
• John Tarnoff 1973, senior executive at DreamWorks Animation, head of Show Development
• Daniel F. Duquette 1980, former executive in front office of American Major League baseball; served as general manager of two major league baseball teams, including the Boston Red Sox
• Charles Brewer 1981, entrepreneur and founder of Mindspring Enterprises, an internet service provider
• Neal Huntington 1991, general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Benjamin P. Cherington 1996, vice president of player personnel for the Boston Red Sox
• George N. Gillett, Jr. ex, chairman of Booth Creek Management Corp., Booth Ski Creek Holdings, Inc.; owns various interests in food industry and sports teams, including the NHL Montreal Canadiens

Directors of Central Intelligence (DCI), CIA, and the FBI

• Stansfield Turner ex 1945 (1977-81) (president of U.S. Naval War College, 1972-74)
• William H. Webster 1947 (1987-91) (FBI Director, 1978-87)
• John M. Deutch 1960 (1995-96)

Nobel Prize winners

• Henry W. Kendall 1950 (1990, Physics)
• Edmund Phelps 1955 (2006, Economics)
• Harold E. Varmus 1961 (1989, Physiology or Medicine)
• Joseph E. Stiglitz 1964 (2001, Economics)

Crafoord Prize winner

• Carl R. Woese 1950 (2003, Microbiology)

Pulitzer Prize winners

• Alfred Friendly 1933 (1968, International Reporting)
• Richard P. Wilbur 1942 (1957, Poetry; 1989, Poetry) (U.S. Poet Laureate; National Book Award; Bollingen Prize; Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize; Edna St. Vincent Millay award; Frost Medal) (appears above)
• James I. Merrill 1947 (1977, Poetry) (twice named recipient of National Book Award, 1967 and 1979; National Book Critics Circle Award; Bollingen Prize; Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry)
• Tad Mosel 1947 (1961, Drama)
• William S. McFeely 1952 (1982, Biography) (Lincoln Prize)
• John W. Dower 1959 (2000, General Non-Fiction) (National Book Award) (appears above)
• Nils Bruzelius 1968 (1980, Investigative Reporting (team) )
• Walter Allen McDougall 1968 (1986, General Non-Fiction)
• Blair Kamin 1979 (1999, Criticism)
• Betsy Mckay 1980(?) (1999, International Reporting (team) )
• Richard Read 1980 (1999, Explanatory; 2001, Public Service (team) )
• Debby Applegate 1989 (2007, Biography)

MacArthur Fellowship winners

• Carl R. Woese 1950, microbiologist
• Theodore Rosengarten 1966, historian; National Book Award; National Book Critics Circle Award
• Raymond Jeanloz 1975, geophysicist, earth and planetary scientist, and astronomer
• Rosanne Haggerty 1982, leading creator of solutions to homelessness
• David Foster Wallace 1985, novelist
• Amy Rosenzweig 1988, chemist

National Medal of Science winners

• Paul Doughty Bartlett 1928, chemist
• Stephen Cole Kleene 1930, mathematician
• William Summer Johnson 1936, chemist
• Carl R. Woese 1950, microbiologist
• Harold E. Varmus 1961, physician

Astronauts

• Lawrence R. Young 1956, Apollo Program Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT; mem., National Academy of Engineering
• Robert A. R. Parker 1958 (B.A.,astronomy and physics; PhD, Cal Tech (Astronomy)); physicist
• Jeffrey A. Hoffman 1966 (B.A.,astronomy; PhD, Harvard University (Astrophysics)); astrophysicist; mem. Spanish Academy of Engineering

Engineers, inventors, and scientists

• Alvan Wentworth Chapman 1830, botanist and physician, wrote the first comprehensive description of U.S flora in any region beyond the northeastern states
• Amiel Weeks Whipple ex 1840, military engineer, surveyor of the First Transcontinental Railroad
• William Rutherford Mead 1867, engineer
• Arthur Sherburne Hardy ex 1869, engineer, professor of civil engineering and mathematics
• L. Hamilton McCormick 1881, inventor, scientist, and author
• Hubert Lyman Clark 1892, zoologist, curator of echinoderms at Harvard, awarded Clark Medal
• Robert Stanley Breed 1898, biologist
• Clarence Birdseye ex 1910, father of frozen food, businessperson, National Inventors Hall of Fame
• Preston Bassett 1913, charter member of NASA; pioneer in instruments for aviation; inventor, engineer
• Alfred Romer 1917, paleontologist, a key figure in evolutionary research, prof. at Chicago and Harvard
• Charles Drew 1926, M.D., developed system of separating liquid blood cells from solid plasma; and freezing, storing, and reconstituting same (appears below)
• Donald Flether Holmes 1931 (B.A., chemistry), co-inventor with Edward Hanford (in 1942) of process for making the multipurpose material polyurethane; patent no. 2,284,896; National Inventors Hall of Fame
• Percy Ling 1933, noted engineer in, among other areas, aerodynamic control of supersonic vehicles; member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Melvin Kranzberg 1938, creator of Kranzberg's laws of technology; established field of history of technology; co-founder of Society for the History of Technology
• Lloyd Conover 1947, chemist and inventor of tetracycline; National Inventors Hall of Fame
• Lewis Joel Greene 1955, American-Brazilian biochemist, Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit
• Paul Penfield 1955, member of the National Academy of Engineering, former head of the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
• Steve Baer ex 1960 (studied physics and mathematics at Amherst), inventor of the postgeodesic system called the zome, among other inventions
• Robert Tendler 1964, lawyer, inventor; in 2007 the Smithsonian Institution recognized his ground-breaking work in global positioning technology and will make his prototypes available to scholars and the public
• Curt I Civin 1966, M.D., National Inventors Hall of Fame (appears below)
• Paul Yock 1973, M.D., holds more than forty patents (appears below)
• Kevin H. Baines 1976, principal scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Jonathan Borden 1984, scientific work has invovled the application of computer science to neurobiology; professor of neurosurgery; neurosurgeon

Physicians

• Dr. Walter Wyman 1870, Surgeon General of the United States from 1891-1911 (appears above)
• Dr. James Ewing 1888, namesake of Ewing's Sarcoma; eminent experimental oncologist; helped found progenitor of the American Cancer Society; responsible for the creation of present-day Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City
• Dr. Charles R. Drew 1926, inventor of blood plasma preservation system, established first Red Cross blood bank, Spingarn Medal
• Dr. Barry R. Bloom 1958, (Robert Koch Prize); internationally recognized expert in infectious diseases; dean of Harvard School of Public Health, professor of Public Health
• Dr John L. Ziegler 1960, Lasker Award (1972, for Clinical Medical Research) for his work in the cure of Burkitt's lymphoma
• Dr. Harold E. Varmus 1961, Lasker Award (1982, for Basic Medical Research) for his studies of the nature and control of oncogenes; president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; former Director of the National Institutes of Health (appears above)
• Dr. David Lawrence 1962, former chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Peace Corps physician
• Dr. David D. Burns 1964, influential psychotherapist, central role in the developmemt of Cognitive Therapy
• Dr. John P. Howe, III 1965, president & CEO, Project HOPE (USA)
• Dr. Curt I. Civin 1966, inventor of the biomedical process for stem cell transplantation; discoverer of the CD34 lympho-hematopoeitic stem cell antigen and monoclonal antibody; Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University; Inventors Hall of Fame
• Dr. Robert Yarchoan 1971, played a significant role in discovering and developing the first effective drugs for the treatment of AIDS
• Dr. David Kessler 1973 (M.D. & J.D.), head of the Food and Drug Administration, former dean of Yale School of Medicine and director of Hospital at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Professor at Columbia Law School and Albert Einstein College of Medicine (appears above)
• Dr. Paul Yock 1973, known internationally for work in inventing, developing, and testing new medical devices; Prof. of Med. and Prof. of Mech. Eng. at Stanford University; holds more than 40 patents
• Dr. Andrew R. Marks 1976, cardiologist, leading pioneer in the development of drug eluting stents; professor, chair, and research scientist at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
• Dr. Bruce D. Perry 1977, psychiatrist, internationally-recognized authority on children in crisis
• Talk show host Dr. D. Drew Pinsky 1980
• Dr. James Kocsis (?), professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic

Entertainers

• Playwright Clyde Fitch 1886, distinguished dramatist, wrote over 60 plays
• Actor Emery B. Pottle 1899 (actor in 88 silent films and motion pictures)
• Actor Burgess Meredith 1931, Academy Award nominated
• Actor Douglas Kennedy 1936, television and film actor
• Playwright Tad Mosel 1947 (New York Drama Critics Award) (appears above)
• Theater critic, director, playwright, author Robert Brustein 1948(?), founding director of Yale Repertory Theatre and American Repertory Theatre; New Republic, drama critic; Polk Award (1964)
• Actor Ken Howard 1966, a Tony Award- and Emmy Award-winning actor
• Actor Stephen Collins 1969, award-winning theater, television, and film actor
• Composer James R. Steinman 1969
• Magician Raymond J. Teller 1969, of Penn and Teller
• Writer and director Henry Bromell 1970, work appeared in two O. Henry Award collections; wrote, directed F. Scott Fitzgerald's biopic Last Call; wrote, produced Chicago Hope, Northern Exposure, etc.
• Composer Mason Daring 1971
• Comedian and actor Lawrence J. Miller 1975
• Director David O. Russell 1981E
• John Cerutti 1982, major-league baseball pitcher and broadcaster
• Writer and director Susannah Grant 1984, screenplays, Pocahontas, Ever After, Erin Brockovich, etc.
• Actor John Michael Higgins 1985
• Musician Jonatha Brooke Mallet 1985, singer-songwriter
• Musician Jennifer Kimball 1986, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
• Composer Harold Meltzer 1987(?), 2004 Rome Prize, 2004 Charles Ives Fellowship
• Actor Jeffrey C. Wright 1987, Tony Award-, Emmy Award-, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor
• Actor John Cariani 1991, on Law & Order, etc.
• Actress Sarah Goldberg 1996, on 7th Heaven and Judging Amy
• Actor Hamish Linklater 1998, on The New Adventures of Old Christine and American Dreams
• Actor Rob Brown 2006, on Coach Carter and Finding Forrester; lead role of Ernie Davis in The Express
• Writer and director Caroline Thompson _(?), screenplays for Edward Scissorhands, The Addams Family, The Secret Garden, The Nightmare Before Christmas; director and writer, Snow White and Buddy, etc.
• Oscar and Emmy Award-winning composer Fred Karlin 1958

Authors and artists

• Author Jerome Allen (author) 1851
• Author Charles Hallock 1854
• Editor and author William Hayes Ward 1856, editor-in-chief of the New York Independent
• Architect William Mead 1867, of McKim, Mead, and White (appears above)
• Editor Benjamin Eli Smith 1877
• Sculptor Edward C. Potter ex 1882, of the New York Public Library lions
• Author Herbert Dickinson Ward 1884, also wrote extensively for newspapers and periodicals
• Journalist Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor 1897, father of photojournalism; first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine (1899-1954); credited with having built the magazine into today's iconic publication; president of National Geographic Society (1920-1954)
• Writer Walter Alden Dyer 1900, author and journalist
• Poet and essayist Joseph Moncure March 1921(?), The Wild Party and The Set-Up, etc.
• Painter Jared French 1925, master of Magic Realism
• Children's author Philip D. Eastman 1933
• Journalist Alfred Friendly 1933, managing editor of the Washington Post (appears above)
• French poet Andre du Bouchet ex 1945, won "Prix national de poesie" (National Poetry Prize-France)
• Writer Thomas Flanagan 1945, National Book Critics Circle Award (1979)
• Journalist Warren Olney IV 1959, host, executive producer of PRI program To the Point; Emmy Award
• Poet and painter Stephen Rodefer 1963, one of founders of the "Language Poetry Movement"
• Translator, anthologist, poet, and author Stephen Mitchell 1964(?)
• Sports columnist Thomas Boswell 1969
• Journalist Andrew Nagorski 1969, senior editor at Newsweek magazine
• Painter Terry Rodgers 1969
• Novelist Scott F. Turow 1970, "The Burden of Proof", "Presumed Innocent", etc.; also a practising lawyer
• Literary critic and novelist Fred Pfeil 1971, O. Henry Award, New York Times "Notable Book of the Year"
• Journalist Jonathan Landman 1974, deputy managing editor of the New York Times
• Cullen Murphy 1974, editor of the Atlantic Monthly and writer, "Prince Valiant" comic strip
• Journalist Robert McCartney 1975, managing editor, in Paris, of the International Herald Tribune
• Novelist J. G. Sandom 1978, writer of thrillers, mysteries; also founded first interactive advertising agency
• Novelist Chris Bohjalian 1982, his novel Midwives was a Publishers Weekly best book and an Oprah Winfrey book club selection; Midwives and Past the Bleachers became acclaimed movies
• Author and journalist Ted Conover 1983, National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction (2000)
• FoxTrot cartoonist William J. C. Amend III 1984
• Novelist Harlan F. Coben 1984, first writer to receive an Edgar, a Shamus, and an Anthony Award
• Novelist Mark Costello 1984, Publishers Weekly Best Fiction 2002, National Book Award finalist
• Journalist Kate Seelye 1984
• Novelist David Foster Wallace 1985 (appears above)
• Novelist Dan Brown 1986, author of The Da Vinci Code
• Poet Rafael Campo 1987, also a practising physician; professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Poet Dan Chiasson 1993, recipient of the Pushcart Prize and a Whiting Writer's Award (DanChiasson)
• Novelist Calvin Baker 1994, author of Naming the New World, Once Two Heroes, and Dominion
• Get Fuzzy cartoonist Darby N. Conley 1994
• Architect John S. Hagmann (?)

Military

• Amiel Weeks Whipple ex 1840, brigadier general, brevet major general, Civil War
• Edward Duffield Neill 1842, army and hospital chaplain in Union Army, Civil War; private secretary of presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson
• Francis Amasa Walker 1860, brevet brigadier general (II Corps, Army of the Potomac), Civil War
• Eri Davidson Woodbury ex 1863 (?), U.S. Medal of Honor, Civil War
• Dwight W. Morrow 1895, chief civilian aide to General John J. Pershing, World War I
• Albert E. Austin 1899, regimental surgeon, World War I
• Richmond Mayo-Smith 1909, Legion of Honor (France), World War I
• John J. McCloy 1919, U.S. Distinguished Service Medal; Legion of Honor (France); Sylvanus Thayer Award
• Second Lieutenant John Edmund Dale, Jr. 1940, U.S. Presidential Unit Citation, World War II
• Marine Corps Major Frederic A. Stott 1940, U.S. Navy Cross, World War II; founding trustee of Editorial Projects in Education; instrumental in founding of Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week, and Chronicle of Philanthropy
• John Michael Murphy ex 1943, U.S. Distinguished Service Cross, Korean War
• Robert McAfee Brown 1943, United States Navy chaplain
• Admiral Stansfield Turner (ret) ex 1945, former commander-in-chief Allied Forces Southern Europe within NATO; commander U.S. forces in Japan and Korea; commander of U.S. Second Fleet
• Paul Rieckhoff 1998, served in the U.S. Army in Iraq War, nationally recognized authority on war in Iraq issues pertaining to troops, military families, and veterans

Other notables

• Sylvester Graham ex 1827, American reformer, temperance minister, and father of Graham crackers
• Asa Lovejoy 1830(?), Oregon pioneer; co-founder, city of Portland; member, Provisional Legislature of Oregon; mayor, Oregon City; subsequently "speaker of house" of Oregon Territorial Legislature; general during Cayuse War; delegate, Oregon Constitutional Convention
• Phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler 1834
• John Henry Boalt 1857, engineer, lawyer, and judge; namesake of the school of law (Boalt Hall) at the University of California, Berkeley
• J. Franklin Jameson 1879, received first doctorate in history at Johns Hopkins University, instrumental in founding National Archives, expert in historiography
• Jim Guest 1962, President, Consumers Union
• Eric Britton _(?), political scientist and sustainability activist
• Albert II, Prince of Monaco 1981, five-time olympic bobsledder (appears above)
• Ruth Davidon 1987, Gold and Silver medalist 1994 Goodwill Games
• Edwin Macharia 2001, Director of Rural Initiatives for Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) (Tanzania); candidate in 2007 for parliament in Kenya
• Kimmie Weeks 2005, global activist and humanitarian who founded Youth Action International
• Alexandra Schmidt 2010, a participant in the 2004 ABC special entitled "Fat Like Me", in which she donned a fat suit to investigate what it is like for persons struggling with obesity. Her story inspired the 2006 Lifetime original movie To Be Fat Like Me, starring Kaley Cuoco and Caroline Rhea.
• James Jordan (publicist) (?), best known for his work at BBDO advertising agency
• Theodore Levin (ethnomusicologist) (?)

Fictional characters

• Jonathan Fuerst and his roommate Sandy attend Amherst in the 1971 movie Carnal Knowledge
• Jordan McDeere, a character played by Amanda Peet on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, graduated from Amherst with a degree in American Studies
• Willie Tanner on ALF was a graduate of the college. His daughter Lynn Tanner was accepted but could not go.
• Scangrade, a test-scanning robot from the MTV cartoon Clone High, graduated from Amherst.
• David, a snobbish intellectual character played by Hugh Grant in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks, taught art at Amherst for a short period of time.

Notable faculty

• Wande Abimbola, Scholar in Residence (Comparative Religious Ethics), in the early 1980's and 1990's
• Charles Baker Adams 1834, Prof. of Astronomy, Zoology, and Natural Sciences, 1847-1853
• Hadley Arkes, Prof. of Political Science since 1966
• Clarence Edwin Ayres, Prof. of Economics, 1920-1923, principal thinker of the Texas school of Institutional Economics
• Theodore Baird, Prof. of English, 1927-1969
• Elso Sterrenberg Barghoorn, Prof. of Paleobotany and Paleontology, 1941-1946
• Amrita Basu, Prof. of Political Science (South Asian politics, Women's Studies), 1981-1987, 1989-present
• David W. Blight, Prof. of History, 1990-2003, winner of Bancroft Prize, Lincoln Prize
• George B. Churchill 1889, Prof. of English Literature, 1898-1925
• Henry Steele Commager, Prof. of History, 1956-1992
• Benjamin DeMott, Prof. of Humanities, 1950-1990, 1990-2005 (Emeritus)
• Jamal J. Ellias, Prof. of Religion
• Benjamin Kendall Emerson 1865, Prof. of Geology, 1872-1917 (appears above)
• Robert Frost, Prof. of English, 1916-1938, winner of four Pulitzer Prizes and the Bollingen Prize
• Norton Garfinkle, Prof. of Economics and Economic History, c. 1957-1967
• Alexander George, Prof. of Philosophy since _(?)
• George Kateb, Prof. of Political Science, 1957-1987
• Nicholas Kurti, former Distinguised Visiting Prof. of Physics, a leading experimental physicist in his era
• Anthony Lake, Prof. of International Relations, 1981-1984, former National Security Advisor
• Archibald MacLeish, Prof. of English, 1963-1967, winner of three Pulitzer Prizes; the National Book Award; the Bollingen Prize; an Academy Award (screenplay); Librarian of Congress; Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Hermann J. Muller, Prof. of Biology, 1940-1945, winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Austin Sarat, Prof. of Political Science and Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought since 1974
• Eric Sawyer, Prof. of Music (composition and theory) since 2002, award-winning composer
• Anita Shreve, Prof. of Creative Writing in the 1990's, award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction
• Henry Preserved Smith 1869, Prof. of Religion, 1897-1906
• Lewis Spratlan, Prof. of Music, 1970-2006, 2006 (Emeritus), winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in music
• Ilan Stavans, Prof. of Spanish since 1993
• William Taubman, Prof. of Political Science, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in biography and the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography
• Robert Thurman, Prof. of Religion, 1973-1988, selected by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans
• Ronald Tiersky, Prof. of Political Science since 1973
• David Peck Todd 1875, Prof. of Astronomy, 1881-1917, 1917 (Emeritus) (appears above)
• Stark Young, Prof. of English, 1915-1921, Order of the Crown of Italy
• Colston Warne, Prof. of Economics, 1930-1969, co-founder of Consumers Union in 1936 and president of its board of directors from 1936 to 1979
• Perez Zagorin, Prof. of History, 1947-1949