List of Grinnell College alumni

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

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

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]
Chai, May-lee	1989	Author, professor and American Book Award winner
Coleman, Mary Sue	1965	President of the University of Iowa (1995–2002) and the first female president of the University of Michigan (2002–2014)	[5]
Evrigenis, Ioannis D.	1993	Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Classics at Tufts University	[6]
Golbeck, Amanda L.	1974	Lead editor of Leadership and Women in Statistics, winner of 2016 Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Elizabeth L. Scott Award	[7][8]
Grinker, Roy Richard	1983	Anthropologist, editor of Anthropological Quarterly	[9]
Harshbarger, Frances	1923	One of the first female American mathematicians to receive a doctorate	[10]
Herriott, Frank Irving	1890 (BS) 1893 (MS)	Acting professor of political science (1895–1898)
Hughes-Schrader, Sally	1917	Professor of Zoology at Duke University, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences	[11]
Koenker, Roger	1969	Professor of Economics at University College London	[12]
Manlove, Jennifer		Sociological research scientist at Child Trends	[13]
Maxwell, David	1966	President of Drake University	[14]
Merrill, Thomas W.	1971	Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
Myers-Scotton, Carol	1955	Linguist	[15]
Noyes, William	1879	Analytical and organic chemist; determined atomic weights	[16]
Patterson, Clair	1943	Geochemist, first person to accurately date the age of the Earth, responsible for the removal of lead from gasoline	[17][18]
Risser, Paul	1961	President of Miami University and Oregon State University	[19]

Arts

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Cannon, Kevin	2002	Comics writer and artist	[20]
Cannon, Zander	1995	Comics writer and artist	[21]
Clarke, Cornelia	1909	Nature photographer	[22]
Cooper, Martha	1963	Icon of the Street art movement and author of Subway Art	[23]
Hancock, Herbie	1960	Jazz musician and composer	[24]
Irwin, Pat	1977	Composer, musician, and guitarist	[25]
Macy, Jesse	1870	Political scientist and historian	[26]
Manuel, Philip	1913	Pianist, harpsichordist, teacher	[27]
Meglioranza, Thomas	1992	Operatic baritone
Mura, David	1974	Writer, memoirist and poet
Wills, Edwina Florence	1937	Artist and composer	[28]

Business and finance

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Brue, Nordahl	1967	Founder of Bruegger's Bagels	[29]
Chambers, John B.	1977	Chairman of the Sovereign Debt Committee at Standard and Poor's	[30]
Little, Caroline	1981	North America CEO of Guardian News & Media	[31]
McCulley, Paul	1979	Economist, managing director at PIMCO	[32]
Moujaled, Maijid	2014	Co-founder (with Ham Serunjogi '16) of Chipper Cash, one of the most successful fintech companies in Africa	[33][34]
Rosenfield, Joseph	1925	Businessman, made initial contribution to Intel and donated it to Grinnell College; called the "Patriarch of Iowa Business" by Des Moines Register	[35]
Schulhof, Mickey	1964	Former president of Sony America, first American asked to serve on the board of directors for Sony, patent holder	[36]
Serunjogi, Ham	2016	Co-founder (with Maijid Moujaled '14) of Chipper Cash, one of the most successful fintech companies in Africa	[37][38]
Vanderpoel, Waid	1943	Economist and former chief investment officer of the First National Bank of Chicago	[39]

Entertainment

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Atherton, Matthew	1995	Winner of the reality show Who Wants to Be a Superhero?	[40]
Bergl, Emily	1997	Actress, best known for Men in Trees	[41]
Cooper, Gary	1926 (did not graduate)	Actor, best known for High Noon, received five Oscar nominations for Best Actor	[42]
Coyote, Peter	1964	Actor, author, narrated the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Oscar telecasts	[43]
Koenig, Walter	1958 (transferred)	Actor, best known as Chekov in Star Trek	[44]
McCallie, Ellen	1992	Scientist on BBC's Rough Science series	[45]
Nanjiani, Kumail	2001	Stand-up comedian, Academy Award-nominated writer, actor and comedian, best known for role on TV series Silicon Valley and co-authorship and performance in film The Big Sick	[46]
Rissien, Edward L.	1949	Film producer	[47]
Roberts, Ian	1987	Actor, founder of Upright Citizens Brigade	[48]
Rosenfeld, Win	2000	Screenwriter and producer, president of Monkeypaw Productions	[49]

Government, law, and public policy

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Adams, Henry Carter	1874	Economist, promoter of the American Economic Association, led movement to regulate "natural monopolies" in economic life	[50]
Adelman, Kenneth	1967	Deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, National Editor of Washingtonian magazine	[51][52]
Blake, Charles	2005	Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Little Rock, Arkansas	[53]
Cîțu, Florin	1996	Prime Minister of Romania (2020–2021)	[54]
Cole, Tom	1971	Representative from Oklahoma, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee	[55]
Cyr, Frank W.	1923 (transferred)	Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, "father of the yellow school bus"	[56]
Edwards, Richard		University administrator and professor of economics
Flanagan, Hallie	1911	Director of the Federal Theater Project; first woman to win a Guggenheim	[57]
Garang, John	1969	Vice president of Sudan, leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army	[58]
Grossberg, Daniel	2006	Kentucky state representative	[59]
Hall, Chris	2007	Iowa State Representative	[60]
Hopkins, Harry	1912	WPA administrator and architect of the New Deal	[61]
Katayama, Sen	1892	Co-founder of the Japan Communist Party	[62][63]
Kenyon, William	1890	Senator from Iowa and Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit	[64]
Lucero, Rebecca	2003	Minnesota human rights commissioner, led state civil rights investigation of Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of George Floyd	[65][66]
Moose, George	1966	Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador to Benin and Senegal	[67]
Railsback, Tom	1954	Representative from Illinois	[68]
Rawson, Charles		Senator from Iowa	[69]
Savage, Ezra P.		Twelfth governor of Nebraska and tenth lieutenant governor of Nebraska	[70]
Strangio, Chase	2004	Deputy director for Transgender Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union, included in 2020's Time 100 most influential people in the world	[71]
Thielmann, Greg	1972	Intelligence analyst for the United States Department of State and critic of the 2003 invasion of Iraq	[72]
Wearin, Otha	1924	Representative from Iowa	[73]
Welch, Joseph	1914	Head attorney for the United States Army during the Army-McCarthy Hearings	[74]
Wheat, Alan	1972	Representative from Missouri	[75]
Wilson, George	1904	Senator from Iowa, Governor of Iowa	[76]
Wingate, Henry	1969	Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi	[77]
Wu, K. C.	1923	Governor of Taiwan Province, Mayor of Shanghai	[78]

Journalists and media personalities

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Giddins, Gary	1970	Jazz columnist for The Village Voice	[79]
Ho, Soleil	2009	Food writer and restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle
Hodierne, Robert	1968	Editor of the Army Times and Pulitzer Prize winner	[80]
Jacobs, Ben	2006	Political reporter for The Guardian	[81]
Jacobson, Walter	1959	Chicago news personality	[82]
Kaltenbach, Frederick Wilhelm	c1918 (did not graduate)	English-language Nazi propagandist during World War II	[83]
Kempenaar, Adam	1997	Host of podcast and public radio show Filmspotting	[84]
Mirk, Sarah	2008	Bitch Media, Portland Mercury
Montaño, Armando	2012	Associated Press	[85]
Shaw, Albert	1879	Co-owner of the Grinnell Herald, journalist, and editor of the American edition of The Review of Reviews	[86]
Smith, Roberta	1969	Art critic for The New York Times	[87]
David Bundy	1989	Editor-In-Chief for The Lincoln Journal Star	[88]

Literature, writing, and translation

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Clampitt, Amy	1941	Poet and author	[89]
Feldman, David	1971	Author of the Imponderables series of books	[90]
Hall, James Norman	1910	Author, best known for Mutiny on the Bounty	[91]
Hirsch, Edward	1972	Poet, president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation	[92]
Lord, Sterling	1942	Literary agent, founder of Sterling Lord Literistic
Nagamatsu, Sequoia	2004	Author of How High We Go in the Dark	[93]
Poe, Marshall	1984	Historian, author, founder of MemoryArchive	[94]
Swanson, Harold Norling	1922	First editor of College Humor, well-known Hollywood literary agent	[95]
Tanenhaus, Sam	1977	Historian, journalist and biographer of Whittaker Chambers	[96]
Wade Benjamin, Ali	1992	Author and finalist for the 2015 National Book Award	[97]
Zentner, Alexi	1995	Canadian short story writer and novelist, winner of O. Henry Prize

Medicine and surgery

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Whitaker, Eric E.	1987	Executive vice president, Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean, Community-Based Research, University of Chicago; internal medicine physician	[98][99]
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 of United Network for Organ Sharing	[100][101]

Military

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Bates, Norman	1865	Medal of Honor recipient	[102]
Berg, Russell	1940	U.S. Air Force brigadier general	[103]

Social reforms

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Bartlett, Dana	1882	Congregationalist minister, author	[104]
Friedrich, Bruce	1996	Senior Policy Director for Farm Sanctuary	[105]
Giwa, Latoya	2009	Doula, nurse, lactation consultant, and advocate; co-founder of Birthmark Doula Collective and the New Orleans Breastfeeding Center	[106][107]
King, Bernice	1985	Minister, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. (transferred to Spelman College)	[108]
Noun, Louise	1929	Feminist activist, civil libertarian, author	[109]
White, George Edward	1882	American Congregationalist missionary, president of Anatolia College, witness to the Armenian genocide
White-Means, Shelley	1977	Health economist who works to reduce health disparities in Memphis, Tennessee	[110]

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	[111]
Moran, Hap	1926	All-Pro football halfback for the New York Giants	[112]
Shoemaker, Ian	1996	College football coach
Taylor, Morgan	1926	Track and field hurdler, gold medalist for the U.S. in the 1924 Summer Olympics	[113]
Thorburn, Christine	1992	Cyclist, two-time Olympian for the U.S.	[114]

Technology

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference
Borenstein, Nathaniel	1980	Designer of the MIME protocol for sending multimedia e-mail	[115]
Noyce, Robert	1949	Co-founder of Intel, co-inventor of integrated circuit, recipient of National Medal of Science	[116]
Ulery, Dana	1959	Chief scientist for the Army Research Laboratory computing sciences	[117]