List of Grinnell College alumni

This list of Grinnell College alumni includes graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Grinnell College, Iowa, USA.

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Contents 1 Academia and research 2 Arts 3 Business and finance 4 Entertainment 5 Government, law, and public policy 6 Journalists and media personalities 7 Literature, writing, and translation 8 Medicine and Surgery 9 Social reforms 10 Sports 11 Technology 12 References

Academia and research

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Barber, Benjamin	1960	Political theorist, author of Jihad vs. McWorld	[1]
Buckley, Oliver	1909	President and director of Bell Labs, namesake of the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize.	[2]
Cech, Thomas	1970	Co-winner of 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute	[3][4]
Coleman, Mary Sue	1965	President of the University of Michigan	[5]
Grinker, Roy Richard	1983	Anthropologist, editor of Anthropological Quarterly	[6]
Maxwell, David	1966	President of Drake University	[7]
Myers-Scotton, Carol	1955	Linguist	[8]
Noyes, William	1879	Chemist	[9]
Patterson, Clair	1943	Geochemist, first person to accurately date the age of the earth, responsible for the removal of lead from gasoline	[10][11]

Arts

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Cannon, Kevin	2002	Comics writer and artist	[12]
Cannon, Zander	1995	Comics writer and artist	[13]
Wilhem, Henry	1968	Pioneered techniques on maintaining color in color photographs.	[14]
Hancock, Herbie	1960	Jazz musician and composer	[15]

Gary Cooper, the famous American actor (1901-1961) studied for two years at Grinnell, but did not graduate there.

Business and finance

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
John B. Chambers	1977	Chairman of the Sovereign Debt Committee at Standard and Poor's.	[16]
Brue, Nordahl	1967	Founder of Bruegger's Bagels	[17]
Little, Caroline	1981	North America CEO of Guardian News & Media	[18]
McCulley, Paul	1979	notable economist, managing director at PIMCO.	[19]
Rosenfield, Joseph	1925	Successful businessman, made initial contribution to Intel and donated it to Grinnell College. Called the, "Patriarch of Iowa Business" by Des Moines Register)"	[20]
Vanderpoel, Waid	1943	Notable economist and former Chief Investment Officer of the First National Bank of Chicago	[21]

Entertainment

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Atherton, Matthew	1995	Winner of the reality show Who Wants to Be a Superhero?	[22]
Bergl, Emily	1997	Actress, best known for Men in Trees	[23]
Cooper, Gary	Did not graduate	Actor, best known for High Noon, received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor	[24]
Coyote, Peter	1964	Actor, author, narrated the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Oscar telecasts	[25]
Koenig, Walter	(transferred)	Actor, best known as Chekov in Star Trek	[26]
McCallie, Ellen	1992	Scientist on BBC's Rough Science series	[27]
Nanjiani, Kumail	2001	Stand-up comedian	[28]
Roberts, Ian	1987	Actor, founder of Upright Citizens Brigade	[29]

Government, law, and public policy

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Adams, Henry Carter	1874	U.S. Economist, Promoter of the American Economic Association, Led Movement to Regulate "Natural Monopolies" in Economic Life	[30]
Adelman, Kenneth	1967	Deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, National Editor of Washingtonian magazine	[31][32]
Cole, Tom	1971	Representative from Oklahoma, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee	[33]
Flanagan, Hallie	1911	Director of the Federal Theater Project	[34]
Garang, John	1969	Vice president of Sudan, leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army	[35]
Hopkins, Harry	1912	WPA administrator and architect of the New Deal	[36]
Kenyon, William	1890	Senator from Iowa	[37]
Moose, George	1966	Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador to Benin and Senegal	[38]
Moss, Dennis C.	1974	Chairman, Board of County Commissioners, Miami-Dade County, Florida	[39]
Railsback, Tom	1954	Representative from Illinois	[40]
Rawson, Charles		Senator from Iowa	[41]
Katayama, Sen	1892	Co-founder of the Japan Communist Party	[42][43]
Wearin, Otha	1924	Representative from Iowa	[44]
Welch, Joseph	1914	Head attorney for the United States Army during the Army-McCarthy Hearings	[45]
Wheat, Alan	1972	Representative from Missouri	[46]
Wilson, George	1904	Senator from Iowa, Governor of Iowa	[47]
Wingate, Henry	1969	Chief Judge, U. S. District Court, Southern District of Mississippi	[48]
Wu, K. C.	1923	Governor of Taiwan Province, Mayor of Shanghai	[49]

Journalists and media personalities

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Giddins, Gary	1970	Jazz columnist for The Village Voice	[50]
Hodierne, Robert	1968	Editor of the Army Times and Pulitzer Prize winner	[51]
Jacobson, Walter	1959	Chicago news personality	[52]
Kempenaar, Adam	1997	Host of podcast and public radio show Filmspotting	[53]
Rosenfeld, Win	2000	National PBS correspondent for Need to Know (PBS)	[54]
Shaw, Albert	1879	Co-owner of the Grinnell Herald, journalist, and editor of the American edition of The Review of Reviews	[55]
Smith, Roberta	1969	Art critic for The New York Times	[56]

Literature, writing, and translation

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Clampitt, Amy	1941	Poet and author	[57]
Feldman, David	1971	Author of the Imponderables series of books	[58]
Hall, James Norman	1910	Author, best known for Mutiny on the Bounty	[59]
Hirsch, Edward	1972	Poet, president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation	[60]
Poe, Marshall	1984	Historian, author, founder of MemoryArchive	[61]
Norman, Liane Ellison	1959	Author and recipient of Grinnell's Distinguished Alumni Award	[62]

Medicine and Surgery

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Rubin, J. Peter	1988	Academic plastic surgeon, University of Pittsburgh; tissue engineering researcher	[63][64]
Whitaker, Eric E.	1987	Executive Vice President, Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean, Community-Based Research, University of Chicago; internal medicine physician	[65][66]
Wolf, James S.	1957	Kidney transplantation pioneer; academic organ transplant surgeon; Associate Dean of Medical Education, Northwestern University Medical School; President (1990-91) and Co-founder United Network for Organ Sharing	[67][68]
Bower, Robert H.	ca. 1971	University General Surgeon, expert in surgical nutrition, surgical education, program director for General Surgery Residency University of Cincinnati Medical School Department of Surgery	[69]

Social reforms

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Bartlett, Dana	1882	Congregationalist minister, author	[70]
Friedrich, Bruce	1996	Director of Vegan Campaigns for PETA	[71]

Sports

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Coggeshall, Harris	1929	Tennis player, runner-up in doubles in the 1930 National Clay Court Championships and the 1929 National Indoor Championship, runner-up in the 1928 Cincinnati Masters	[72]
Moran, Hap	1926	All-Pro Football halfback for the New York Giants	[73]
Taylor, Morgan	1926	Track and field hurdler, gold medalist for the U.S. in the 1924 Summer Olympics	[74]
Thorburn, Christine	1992	Cyclist, two-time Olympian for the U.S.	[75]

Technology

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Borenstein, Nathaniel	1980	Designer of the MIME protocol for sending multimedia e-mail	[76]
Noyce, Robert	1949	Co-founder of Intel, co-inventor of integrated circuit, recipient of National Medal of Science.	[77]
Ulery, Dana	1959	Chief Scientist for the Army Research Laboratory computing sciences	[78]

References