This page lists notable students, alumni and faculty members of the University of Washington .
Academic administration and teaching
JP Anderson – assistant professor of Race and Public Law in America at San Diego State University , musician of the Band Rabbit Junk
Lloyd Barber – President Emeritus ; former president and former vice chancellor of the University of Regina
H. Kim Bottomly – former president of Wellesley College
Paul Brass – expert on the politics of India
Jonathan Bricker - clinical psychologist, academic, and scientist
Ron Chew – museum professional
Geraldine Dawson (PhD 1979) – Professor of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ; chief science officer, Autism Speaks
William C. Dement (1951) – Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine ; Division Chief of the Stanford University Division of Sleep; founding president of the American Sleep Disorders Association, now the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Mark Emmert (1975) – former president of the University of Washington; current president of the NCAA
Elaine Tuttle Hansen – former president of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine
Yehuda Hayuth – Israeli professor of geography, and President of the University of Haifa
Karen A. Holbrook (PhD 1972) – former president of Ohio State University
Hean Tat Keh (PhD 1998) – Professor of Marketing at Monash University
Elizabeth Topham Kennan – former president of Mount Holyoke College
Michael Mackey (PhD) — Professor of Physiology and Joseph Morley Drake Chair in Physiology at McGill University
John G. Matsusaka – Charles F. Sexton Chair in American Enterprise, Professor of Finance and Business Economics, Business and Law, and Political Science, at the University of Southern California
Douglas Robinson (PhD 1983) – translation scholar, Chair Professor of English and Dean of the Arts Faculty at Hong Kong Baptist University
Kermit Ritland - ecologist and geneticist
Anne Salomon – associate professor with the School of Resource and Environmental Management in the Faculty of Environment at Simon Fraser University
Greg Weisenstein (BA, MA) – president of West Chester University from 2009 to 2016
Aeronautics and astronautics
Michael P. Anderson , NASA Astronaut and crew member of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Scott Crossfield , test pilot
Michael P. Anderson (1981) – NASA astronaut , crew member in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Michael R. Barratt (1981) – NASA astronaut and physician
Albert Scott Crossfield (1949, 1950) – first man to fly faster than Mach 2; assisted in the design of, and piloted, the X-15
Suzanna Darcy-Henneman (1981) – Boeing test pilot; Boeing 777 senior test pilot
Ron Dittemore (1974, 1975) – Space Shuttle program manager of NASA
Bonnie Dunbar (1971, 1975) – NASA astronaut; crew member on five Space Shuttle missions; has spent more than 1,200 hours (50 days) in space
John M. Fabian (Ph.D. 1974) – NASA astronaut; crew member on two Space Shuttle missions
Richard F. Gordon, Jr. (1951) – NASA astronaut, crew member of Gemini 11 and Apollo 12
Robert J. Helberg (1932) – Director of the Lunar Orbiter program
Gregory C. Johnson (1977) – NASA astronaut; crew member of STS-125
Stanley G. Love (1989, Ph.D. 1993) – NASA astronaut; crew member of STS-122 ; planetary scientist
George C. Martin (1931) – former Vice President of Engineering at Boeing; project engineer on the Boeing B-47 ; chief project engineer of the Boeing B-52
George "Pinky" Nelson (1974, Ph.D. 1978) – NASA astronaut; crew member on three Space Shuttle missions
Maynard Pennell (1931) – former Vice President of Product Development at Boeing; responsible for the design of the Boeing 707 , Boeing 720 and Boeing 727
Joseph Sutter (1943) – chief designer of the Boeing 747
Milton O. Thompson (1953) – NASA research pilot selected as an astronaut for the X-20 Dyna-Soar
Joseph John "Tym" Tymczyszyn (1948) – test pilot of America’s first commercial jet aircraft, the Boeing 707
Dafydd Williams – Canadian astronaut and crew member of two Space Shuttle missions: STS-90 in 1998, and STS-118 in August 2007
Art and architecture
Facade showing the signature style of architect Minoru Yamasaki
Business and law
Peter Adkison (1997) – founder and former CEO of Wizards of the Coast ; US publisher of Magic: The Gathering , Dungeons & Dragons and Pokémon
Harry Arend – Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court [1]
William S. Ayer (1978) – President and CEO of Alaska Airlines
David Bonderman (1963) – investment banker; acquired Continental Airlines ; founder of Texas Pacific Group
Donald Bren (1956) – Chairman and sole shareholder of the Irvine Company , largest real estate developer in California ; wealthiest real estate developer in the United States and 23rd richest American ($13 billion US), according to Forbes
Andrew Brimmer (1950, 1951) – first African American on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Jeffrey Brotman (1964, 1967) – founder and President of Costco[2]
Edward Carlson – former CEO of United Airlines and Westin Hotels
Barbara Ann Crancer (JD) – former St. Louis County (Missouri) Associate Circuit Court Judge; daughter of former Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa
Chris DeWolfe – CEO and co-founder of MySpace
David Estudillo (1996, JD 1999): United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington [3]
John Fluke (1935) – founder of the Fluke Corporation of Everett, Washington
Mary Maxwell Gates (1949) – first female chairperson of United Way (1985–1987); Seattle community leader; philanthropist ; mother of Bill Gates [4]
Bill Gates Sr. (1949, JD 1950) – Seattle lawyer; philanthropist ; father of Bill Gates[5]
Ivar Haglund (1928) – founder of Ivar's restaurant; folk singer
Faith Ireland (1965) – Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court [6]
Irving Kanarek – aerospace engineer; legal defendant for Charles Manson
Lauren J. King (2004) – United States district judge of the Western District of Washington [7]
Leonard H. Lavin – founder of Alberto Culver Company , maker of Alberto VO5 and Mrs. Dash products
Arthur D. Levinson (1972) – Chairman of Apple Inc. (2011–present); Chairman of Genentech (1999–2014)
Mike McGavick (1983) – former chairman and CEO of Safeco ; 2006 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Washington
Salvador Mendoza Jr. (1994) – United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [8]
Yoshihiko Miyauchi (MBA 1960) – Chairman and CEO of ORIX Corporation, the world's largest leasing conglomerate
Raquel Montoya-Lewis (JD 1995): Washington Supreme Court Justice[9]
Jill Otake (JD 1998) – United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
Donald Petersen (1946) – President of Ford Motor Company , 1985–1989; credited for its turnaround
Irv Robbins (1939) – co-founder of Baskin & Robbins
Steven Rogel (1965) – CEO of Weyerhauser
Orin C. Smith (1965) – CEO of Starbucks , 2000–2005, and president, 1994–2005
James Sun (1999) – contestant on The Apprentice ; chairman and co-founder of GeoPage
Takuji Yamashita (1902) – early civil rights pioneer
Literature
Pulitzer Prize winners
William Bolcom (1958) – Music , 1988; composer and winner of three Grammy Awards in 2006
Timothy Egan (1981) – Journalism , 2001; journalist and author
Ed Guthman (1941, 1944) – Journalism, 1949; journalist; former press secretary for Robert F. Kennedy ; professor at the University of Southern California
David Horsey (1975) – Editorial Cartooning , 1999, 2003; editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Mike Luckovich (1982) – Editorial Cartooning, 1995; editorial cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peter Rinearson (2005) – Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing , 1984; aerospace reporter for The Seattle Times and later an author and software industry executive
Marilynne Robinson (1968, 1977) – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction , 2005; novelist, author of Gilead and Housekeeping
James Wright (1954, 1959) – Poetry , 1972; poet
Beverly Cleary (1939) – Children's Books, Fiction, Paperback 1981
Timothy Egan (1981) – Non-fiction 2006 for The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
General
If no class year is listed, author may not have graduated.
Robert Zubrin , science fiction writer
Ralph Angel (graduated, year not known) – poet
Linda Bierds (1969, 1971) – poet and MacArthur Fellowship recipient
Peter Blecha (1974, 1988) – historian, author, essayist
Matt Briggs (1995) – novelist and short story writer
Emily Compagno – attorney and television journalist
David Eddings (1961) – author of epic fantasy novels
P. T. Deutermann (1970) – fiction author
Joanna Fuhrman – poet
Tess Gallagher (1967, 1971) – poet
David Guterson (1978, 1982) – writer of novel Snow Falling on Cedars
Kristin Halbrook (2001) – fiction author
Kristin Hannah (1982) – author and New York Times best-seller
Frank Herbert – science fiction writer, Dune
Thom Jones (1970) – short story writer
Kitty Kelley (1964) – investigative journalist and author
Hank Ketcham – creator of the U.S. comic strip Dennis the Menace
Ada Limón (1998) – 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress of the United States
Suzanne Matson (1987) – fiction writer
Donald E. McQuinn (circa 1951) – author of military and science fiction, retired U.S. Marine
John Okada , author of No-No Boy
John Patric (circa 1924, no degree awarded) – author of numerous books, magazine and newspaper articles, and libertarian periodicals
Jean-Paul Pecqueur – poet
Jerry Pournelle (1956, 1958, 1964) – science fiction author, technology journalist, and essayist
Tom Robbins – author, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Ann Rule (1953) – true crime author
Marilyn Stablein (1981) – poet and author
Alex Steffen – writer and editor
John Straley (1977) – detective fiction author
Sophus Keith Winther (Ph.D. 1927) – novelist
Robert Zubrin (1984, 1992) – science fiction writer and Mars exploration advocate
Government, politics & diplomacy
Henry M. Jackson, United States Senator[10]
Brock Adams (1949) – U.S. Senator (1987–1993); U.S. Representative (1965–1977), for the state of Washington[11]
Fouad Ajami (1969, 1973) – Director of the Middle East Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University [ citation needed ]
Armida Alisjahbana – Minister of Economics and Development of Indonesia (2009–present)
Morgan Christen (B.A., 1983) – United States federal appellate judge
Suzan DelBene (MBA 1990) – U.S. Representative (2012-present) [12]
Norman D. Dicks (1963, J.D. 1968) – Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1977–2013)[13]
Jennifer Dunn (transferred 1962) – US Representative (1993–2005); former chair of the Washington State Republican Party[14]
Earl D. Eisenhower (1923) – electrical engineer, Illinois House of Representatives (1965–1967)
Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (1955, 1957) – Vice President of Nigeria (1979–1983)
Daniel J. Evans (B.S. 1948, M.S. 1949) – Governor of Washington (1965–1977); United States Senator (1983–1989) for the state of Washington[15]
Tom Foley (1951, J.D. 1957) – U.S. Representative (1965–1995); Speaker of the House (1989–1995)[16]
Booth Gardner (B.A. 1958) – Governor (1985–1993) of the state of Washington[17]
Christine Gregoire (B.A. 1969, 1971) – Governor (2004–2012); former Attorney General of the state of Washington[18]
Michael Hardt (M.A. 1986, Ph.D. 1990) – literary theorist and political philosopher based at Duke University [19]
Bruce Harrell (B.A. 1980, J.D. 1984) – acting mayor of Seattle in 2017; current mayor[20]
Susan Hekman (M.A. 1973, Ph.D. 1976) – professor of political science; director of the graduate humanities program at the University of Texas at Arlington [21]
Jaime Herrera (B.A. 2004) – U.S. Representative (2011–2023)[22]
Gordon Hirabayashi (B.A. 1946, M.A. 1949, Ph.D. 1952) – human rights activist
Jay Inslee (B.A. 1973) – Governor of Washington state
Henry M. Jackson (J.D. 1935) – U.S. Representative (1941–1953); U.S. Senator (1953–1983) for the state of Washington; chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1960–1961); member of the Delta Chi Fraternity[23]
Walter Jenny (1978) – Secretary, Oklahoma Democratic Party; 2008 presidential elector; attorney for Oklahoma; member of Tau Kappa Epsilon International fraternity
Sally Jewell (1978) – former U.S. Secretary of the Interior ; former CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI )
T. K. Jones – Civil defense expert in the Reagan administration [24]
Tina Kotek (M.A. 1998) – governor of Oregon
Tom Lantos (B.A. 1949, M.A. 1950) – U.S. Representative for California (1981–2008); Holocaust survivor[25]
Wing Luke – Seattle City Council member; Washington state Assistant Attorney General[ citation needed ]
Edwin L. MacLean – Minnesota state legislator
Warren G. Magnuson (1926, J.D. 1929) – U.S. Senator for the state of Washington (1944–1981);[26] member of the Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Chi fraternity.
Clarence D. Martin (1906) – Governor of the state of Washington (1933–1940); namesake of Martin Stadium at Washington State University
Stephen McAlpine (B.A. 1972) – Lieutenant Governor of Alaska (1982–1990)[ citation needed ]
Rob McKenna (B.A. 1985) – Washington Attorney General (2004–2012)[27]
Keith Harvey Miller – Governor of Alaska (1969–1970)
Greg Nickels – Mayor of the city of Seattle (2002–2010)
Jeannette Rankin – U.S. Representative for Montana (1917–1919, 1940–1943); first female member of Congress
Norm Rice (1972, 1974) – former mayor of the city of Seattle
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (2002) – U.S. Representative (2005-Present)[28]
Albert Rosellini (1932, 1933) – Governor of Washington (1957–1965)[29]
Pat Russell (born 1923) – Los Angeles City Council member, 1969–87
Angela Rye (B.A. 2002) – CNN Political Commentator and NPR Political Analyst; Executive Director and General Counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus for the 112th United States Congress
Adam Smith (JD, 1990) – Democratic US Representative from Washington [30]
Lou Stewart – Washington state labor leader
Arthur R. Thompson – anticommunist cold warrior and CEO of the right-wing John Birch Society
Thor C. Tollefson – U.S. Representative from Washington[31]
Johnson Toribiong (J.D. 1972, 1973) – current President , Republic of Palau
John Urquhart (B.A. 1971) – current King County Sheriff
Lynn Woolsey – Democratic U.S. Representative (1993–) from California [32]
J. Arthur Younger (1915) – Republican US Representative from California (1952–1967)[33]
Paul Zellinsky (1933–2015) – Democrat and Republican member of the Washington House of Representatives [34]
Dr Eteni Longondo (MPH, 2005) Minister of Public Health, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Darryl N. Johnson (B.A., 1960) – former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand (2001–2004) and Lithuania (1992–1994)
John M. Koenig – former U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus (2012–2015)
Allan Phillip Mustard (B.A., 1978) – U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan (2014–2019); chair of the OpenStreetMap Foundation
Robin Raphel (B.A., 1969) – former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia (1997–2000), Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs (1993–1997)
Military
Prominent officers
Science and technology
Muhammed Zafar Iqbal , PhD 1982, science-fiction writer and professor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
Margaret Allemang (PhD 1974) – long-standing faculty member at the University of Toronto
James G. Anderson (1966) – professor of atmospheric chemistry at Harvard University
Tom M. Apostol (1944, 1946) – analytic number theorist and textbook author at the California Institute of Technology
Bill Atkinson – designer of much of the graphic subsystem for the Apple Macintosh and creator of Hypercard and MacPaint
Eric Temple Bell (1908) – mathematician and author; recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
Wendy Boss (M.S. 1970) – North Carolina State University
Derek Blake Booth (Ph.D. 1984) – professor of earth sciences
James B. Carrell (Ph.D. 1967) – mathematician; recipient of the Steele Prize
Daryl Chapin (1929) – physicist best known for co-inventing solar cells
Rita R. Colwell (1961) – director of the United States National Science Foundation
Jeff Dean (Ph.D. 1996) – Google Senior Fellow; computer scientist and software engineer
Melvin Defleur – social scientist noted in the area of mass communication
Patricia Louise Dudley (Ph.D. 1957), zoologist specializing in copepods
Ed Felten (M.S. 1991, Ph.D. 1993) – leading computer scientist in the field of security and authentication
William Foege (1961) – former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Mark S. Ghiorso – geochemist noted for modeling magmatic systems
David Goodstein – physicist and former vice provost of Caltech
Ashutosh Chilkoti - Alan L. Kaganov Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University
Lois Wilfred Griffiths (1921, 1923) – mathematician
Victor Grinich – pioneer in the semiconductor industry; a member of the "traitorous eight " who founded Silicon Valley
Mohamed Hashish – inventor of the abrasive waterjet cutter ; fellow in the department of Mechanical Engineering
Elizabeth Haswell – biologist, Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Simons Faculty Scholar at the Washington University in St. Louis
Sharon Hillier (Ph.D.) – microbiologist and medical academic
Harold Hotelling (B.A. 1919, M.A. 1921) – mathematical statistician; economic theorist
Jennifer Hunter – mammalogist and Director of the Hastings Natural History Reservation (B.A. 2002)
William Hutchinson – founder of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Muhammad Zafar Iqbal (Ph.D. 1982) – former research scientist of Bell Communications Research (Bellcore); professor and the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology ; educationalist; columnist; sci-fi writer
Erik M. Jorgensen – geneticist and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at the University of Utah noted for finding more than 30 genes involved in synaptic function in C. elegans
Irving Kanarek – aerospace engineer; legal defendant for Charles Manson
Gary Kildall – inventor of the CP/M operating system
Shoshichi Kobayashi (1956) – former chairman of the Berkeley Mathematics Department; recipient of the Geometry prize
Tessa Lau (PhD, 2001) – computer scientist, roboticist, and entrepreneur
Zelma Maine-Jackson – American hydrogeologist[41]
Victor Mills (1926) – inventor of disposable diapers
Virginia Minnich (1938–1984) – professor of medicine; discovered hemoglobin E and elucidated the glutathione synthesis pathway
Horace Yomishi Mochizuki (Ph.D. 1963) – mathematician specializing in group theory
Alfred M. Moen – inventor of the single-handed mixing faucet; founder of Moen Incorporated
PZ Myers (B.S. 1979) – biologist and science blogger
Lina Nilsson (M.S.) – biomedical engineer and Tekla Labs cofounder, MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35
Harley D. Nygren (B.S. 1945, BSME 1947) – engineer and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rear admiral, first Director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps
Tim Paterson (1978) – original author of the MS-DOS operating system
Robin Reid – environmentalist scientist and professor at Colorado State University
Howard P. Robertson (1922, 1923) – cosmologist
Robert G. Roeder (1969) – Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor at The Rockefeller University ; recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2003 for "pioneering studies on eukaryotic RNA polymerases and the general transcriptional machinery, which opened gene expression in animal cells to biochemical analysis"
Michael Schick - physicist
Waldo Semon – inventor of vinyl and synthetic rubber
Bell M. Shimada (B.S. 1947, M.S. 1948, Ph.D. 1956) – fisheries scientist
Waldo R. Tobler – American-Swiss geographer and cartographer
Ruth Todd – geologist
Bud Tribble – vice president and director of software technology at Apple Computer ; a founder of NeXT computer
Cornelia Ulrich – Executive Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah School of Medicine
Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh – plant sciences professor
Bob Wallace – inventor of the term "shareware ;" creator of the word processing program PC-Write ; founder of the software company Quicksoft
Esther Wilkins – dental pioneer, founder of UW's Dental Hygiene Program and author of Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist , the first comprehensive text on dental hygiene
Ted Woolsey – video game translator for Square during the SNES era
William Ka Ming Lau – senior scientist at the University of Maryland , former Deputy Director for Science, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Science Division, discovered the aerosol-monsoon regional feedback mechanism, i.e. the Elevated Heat Pump (EHP) effect
Social science and humanities
Mable E. Buland Campbell (B.A., 1904 and M.A., 1908) professor of English at University of Puget Sound
Robert A. Dahl (B.A., 1936) – longtime professor of political science at Yale University
Ukshin Hoti – professor of international law and philosophy at the University of Pristina
Dale Kinkade (1955, 1957) – linguist, specialist on Salishan languages
Antxon Olarrea – professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona
Deborah Parker (B.A., 1999) – American Ethnic Studies and sociology,[42] [43] former trustee for the University of Washington's Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program board[42]
Irene Reed (degree in 1961), anthropologist and linguist, specialist on the Yupik languages
Kent R. Weeks (1963, 1966) – Egyptologist
Sports
Olympic medal winners
Gold medal, men's rowing, 1936 Berlin Olympic Games
Gold medal, men's rowing, 1948 London Olympic Games
David Calder (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games)
Will Crothers (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2012 London Olympic Games)
Anna Cummins (gold medal, rowing, 2008 Beijing, silver medal, 2004 Athens Olympic Games)
Rob Gibson (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2012 London Olympic Games)
Pan Cheng-tsung (bronze medal, golf, 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games)
Adrienne Martelli (bronze medal, rowing, 2012 London Olympic Games)
Conlin McCabe (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2012 London Olympic Games)
Hope Solo (women's soccer; gold medals, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London)
Mary Whipple (gold medal, rowing, 2012 London, 2008 Beijing; silver medal, 2004 Athens Olympic Games)
Basketball
Nate Robinson
Jon Brockman – drafted in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings
Marquese Chriss – former NBA player for the Phoenix Suns
Justin Dentmon – professional basketball player, 2010 top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League
Dan Dickau – attended 1997-1999; transferred to Gonzaga in 2000; drafted 1st round, 28th overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2002 NBA Draft; played professionally 2002–2010
James Edwards – former NBA player
Markelle Fultz – #1 pick in the 2017 NBA draft , NBA player for the Orlando Magic
Abdul Gaddy (born 1992) – player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Spencer Hawes – drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, currently plays for the South Bay Lakers
Steve Hawes – attended 1969–1972; drafted 2nd round, 24th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1972 NBA Draft; played professionally 1972–1985
Justin Holiday – undrafted in 2011; currently plays for the New York Knicks
Bob Houbregs (1959) – first Washington alumnus in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ; third overall pick in the 1953 NBA draft ; member of Univ. of Washington 1953 final four team.
Todd MacCulloch – former NBA player for the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets
Dejounte Murray – NBA player for the San Antonio Spurs
Louie Nelson – former NBA player
Kelsey Plum – guard who completed her Washington women's career in 2017; all-time leading point scorer in NCAA Division I women's basketball, and selected #1 in the 2017 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Stars
Quincy Pondexter – drafted 26th overall in the 2010 NBA draft ; currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs
Eldridge Recasner – NBA three-time All-Pac-10 Conference guard, and former Continental and NBA player
Nate Robinson – NBA guard picked 21st overall of 2005 NBA draft by the New York Knicks ; winner of 2006, 2009, and 2010 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Competitions
Lorenzo Romar – former head coach of the University of Washington basketball team
Terrence Ross – drafted 8th overall in the 2012 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors ; currently plays for the Orlando Magic
Brandon Roy – second-highest NBA-drafted Washington basketball player in school history (6th in the 2006 NBA draft ) and the 2006–07 NBA Rookie of the Year ; currently a basketball coach for Garfield High School
Mark Sanford – first underclassman to enter the NBA draft from the University of Washington; second round pick of the Miami Heat of the 1997 NBA draft
Detlef Schrempf – German-born former NBA star
Tre Simmons – basketball player
Isaiah Thomas – drafted in the 2011 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings ; currently plays for the Washington Wizards ; two-time NBA All-Star
Rod Thorn – former NBA player, former president and general manager of the NBA's New Jersey Nets,[44] and 2018 inductee at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Christian Welp – attended 1983–1987; drafted 1st round, 16th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1987 NBA Draft; played professionally 1987–1999
Tony Wroten Jr. – drafted 25th overall in the 2012 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies
Phil Zevenbergen – attended 1985-1987; drafted 3rd round, 50th overall by the San Antonio Spurs in 1987 NBA Draft; played professionally 1987–1999
Music
Kenny G
Mark Arm (1985) – lead vocalist for the grunge rock group Mudhoney
Anomie Belle – vocalist, multi-instrumentalist , producer and electronic musician
William Bolcom – pianist and composer of cabaret songs, concertos, sonatas, operas, symphonies; awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Twelve New Etudes for piano
The Brothers Four – musical group from the 1960s
Jack Endino (1980) – producer, musician, engineer, "godfather of grunge"
Peter Hallock – organist, choirmaster, liturgist
Malcolm Hamilton – harpsichordist
Kenny G (1978) – smooth jazz saxophonist
Elmer Gill – jazz pianist and vibraphonist
Ryan Lewis (2009) – DJ, producer, composer, photographer, music video director, business partner of Seattle musician Ben Haggerty (aka Macklemore )
Jake One – Hip hop music producer
The Presidents of the United States of America – alternative rock group
John Roderick – lead singer of The Long Winters
Susan Silver – music manager[50]
Richard Sparks – choral conductor
Ken Stringfellow – main composer, vocalist and guitarist for rock group The Posies
Kim Thayil (1985) – lead guitarist for rock group Soundgarden
Alex Veley (1995) – soul keyboardist and singer
Kathleen Wakefield – songwriter, singer and author
Martin Welzel – organist
Television, film, and other arts
Bruce Lee
Kyle MacLachlan
Anna Faris
Robert Armstrong – movie actor who portrayed Carl Denham in the 1933 version of King Kong [51]
John Aylward – stage, TV, and movie actor, ER , The West Wing
Stan Boreson – comedian and singer, the "King of Scandinavian Humor"[52]
Angus Bowmer – founder of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon
David Brooks – Broadway star and stage director and producer
Dylan Bruce – Canadian actor and model, known for his roles on As the World Turns and Orphan Black
Luke Burbank (1988) – radio host and reporter[53]
Dyan Cannon – film and television actress and twice nominee for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Loren Carpenter (1976) – co-founded Pixar Animation Studios; currently Chief Creative Officer of Disney
James Caviezel – actor, played Jesus Christ in the controversial film The Passion of the Christ , plays one of the leads in the TV series Person of Interest
Lee Shallat Chemel – TV director, Murphy Brown
Queenie Chu – actress, first runner-up of Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2004
Tristram Coffin – actor who played Thomas H. Rynning , commander of the Arizona Rangers , in the syndicated television series 26 Men (1957–1959)
Earl Cole – first African-American male winner of Survivor
Jeffrey Combs – horror film actor and Star Trek regular
Larry Coryell – jazz guitarist
Imogen Cunningham (1907) – photographer
Garret Dillahunt – actor, Raising Hope
Patrick Duffy (1971) – TV actor, Dallas , Step by Step
Anna Faris (1999) – film actress, Scary Movie , House Bunny
Frances Farmer (1935) – film and theatre actress
The Fung Brothers (Andrew Fung, 1988, and David Fung, 1988) – YouTube personalities, rappers, television actors in Broke Bites: What The Fung?!
Leann Hunley – actress, Days of Our Lives , Dynasty , Dawson's Creek
Ken Jennings – holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy!
Richard Karn (1979) – television actor; Al Borland in Home Improvement
Bruce Lee – martial artist and actor[54]
Kyle MacLachlan (1982) – film and television actor most famous for roles in Twin Peaks , Desperate Housewives , Dune , and Sex and the City
Mary Mapes – former producer of the CBS television show 60 Minutes
Ernest Martin (1932) – theatre director and manager
Joel McHale (1995, MFA 2000) – host of The Soup on E! ; actor on NBC comedy Community
Dennis Nyback (2008) independent film archivist, found footage filmmaker
Robert Osborne (1954) – film historian
Steve Pool (1978) – weather presenter and journalist of KOMO-TV
Dorothy Provine – actress with leading roles in The Bonnie Parker Story , It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World , Good Neighbor Sam and the TV series The Alaskans
Pamela Reed – actress
Kelsey Schmidt (1989) – Miss Washington USA 2016
Jean Smart (1974) – television actress, Designing Women , Kim Possible
Manick Sorcar – artist, engineer, and entrepreneur
Rick Steves (1978) – host, writer and producer of public television's Rick Steve's Europe ; best-selling travel author
Julia Sweeney (1982) – Saturday Night Live actress
George Tsutakawa (1937, MFA 1950) – painter and sculptor, faculty member of the University of Washington, recipient of Washington's Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus Award in 1984
Robb Weller (1961) – Entertainment Tonight host and inventor of the wave
Dawn Wells (1960) – Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island
Steve Wiebe (1991) – primary subject of the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and former world record holder for Donkey Kong
Rainn Wilson – actor, The Office , Six Feet Under
Art Wolfe (1975) – nature photographer and star of PBS show Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe
Crime
Theodore Robert Bundy – commonly known as "Ted" Bundy; serial killer, 1974–1978; admitted to killing 30 people; some sources say he could have killed as many as 100
Amanda Knox ; convicted of the murder of her roommate in Italy, conviction later overturned
Politics and administration
Science and technology
Eric G. Adelberger –experimental nuclear physicist and gravitational metrologist; recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
David Baker – biochemist and computational biologist; developed the Rosetta algorithm for protein structure prediction; recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Eric Temple Bell – mathematician and author; recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
Carl Bergstrom – theoretical biologist, created the Eigenfactor ranking for scientific journals
Gaetano Borriello – computer scientist and pioneer in ubiquitous computing , creator of Open Data Kit
Donald E. Brownlee – principal investigator of the Stardust comet spacecraft; cited in Discover magazine's 100 most important discoveries in 2004[58]
Mark Crispin – inventor of the Internet Message Access Protocol
Vitaly Efimov – proposed a new and exotic state of matter known as the Efimov State
Oren Etzioni – Washington Research Foundation Entrepreneurship Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Jens H. Gundlach – physicist, recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Blayne Heckel – experimental physicist, recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Thomas W. Hungerford – mathematician and author of many textbooks, including Abstract Algebra: An Introduction
Victor Klee – mathematician who specialized in convex sets , functional analysis , analysis of algorithms , optimization , and combinatorics ; President of the Mathematical Association of America , 1971–1973; a University of Washington faculty member for 54 years
Neal Koblitz – mathematician; creator of hyperelliptic curve cryptography ; independent co-creator of elliptic curve cryptography
Richard E. Ladner – computer scientist; known for his numerous significant contributions to theoretical computer science
Edward D. Lazowska – Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering
Isaac Namioka – mathematician who worked in general topology and functional analysis
Seth Neddermeyer – physicist; co-discoverer of the muon ; Manhattan Project scientist; recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award
Jerre Noe – first chair of Computer Science Group (now the Computer Science and Engineering Department); directed the Eden Project , the first award in the National Science Foundation 's Coordinated Experimental Research Program
Robert O'Malley – mathematician and President of the Society For Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 1991 and 1992
Irene C. Peden – first American woman engineer or scientist to conduct research in the Antarctic[59] [60]
Mamidala Ramulu – scholar and mentor of the College of Engineering
William A. Stein – creator of SageMath ; modular forms researcher
Gunther Uhlmann – mathematician and recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
Daniel S. Weld – Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
Jessica Werk – Assistant Professor of Astronomy
Social science, arts, and humanities
James A. Banks – scholar ; the "father of multicultural education "
David P. Barash – Professor of Psychology
Laurence BonJour – Professor of Philosophy
Ruthanna Boris – Dance: Ballet
Michael Brame – Professor of Linguistics
Jon Bridgman – American historian
Shawn Brixey – digital art , telematics , physics, bioart
Patricia Shehan Campbell – Professor of Music Education and Ethnomusicology
Susan Casteras – Professor of Art History
Francis D.K. Ching – author of books on architectural graphics
Sidney S. Culbert – psychologist and Esperantist ; major influence in the design of cockpit instrument panels in the Boeing 707 jet aircraft through his research in perception
Stuart Dempster – composer, trombonist, and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient
Joël-François Durand – composer; Professor of Composition; Associate Director, UW School of Music
August Dvorak – educational psychologist most noted for the invention of the Dvorak keyboard layout
Peter Erös – symphony and opera conductor
Kathryn O. Galbraith – children's book writer
Sarah Nash Gates – costume designer, historian of costuming, president of USITT
John Goodlad – education researcher, author of A Place Called School
Regan Gurung – Indian-American professor of psychology and author
Richard Haag – designer of Gas Works Park ; founded the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington
Victor Hanzeli – former Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literature
Nancy Hartsock – feminist philosopher noted for her work in feminist epistemology and standpoint theory
Huck Hodge – composer, winner of the Gaudeamus Prize
Hsu Dau-lin – Chinese legal historian
Charles R. Johnson – scholar, a MacArthur Fellow , recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and winner of the National Book Award for writing Middle Passage
Richard Karpen – composer; Director, UW School of Music
Richard Kenney – poet
W. Hudson Kensel – historian of the American West
Jeffrey Kurtzman , musicologist
Jacob Lawrence – among the best known African American painters of the 20th century
Fang-kuei Li – linguist with expertise in Chinese and Native American languages
Elizabeth Loftus – psychologist who works on human memory and how it can be changed by facts, ideas, suggestions and other forms of post-event information
Fred Lukoff – linguist and scholar of Korean studies
Alan Marlatt – psychologist who pioneered harm reduction
Edward Melcarth - painter, sculptor, and photographer
Heather McHugh – poet
Roy Andrew Miller – linguist notable for his advocacy of Japanese and Korean as members of the Altaic group of languages
Bryan Monroe – editor, CNN Politics; editor-in-chief, Ebony magazine
Frederick Newmeyer – linguist and 2002 President of the Linguistic Society of America
James Palais – historian in the field of Korean history
Lionel Pries – teacher of Minoru Yamasaki , A. Quincy Jones , and many Northwest Modern architects
Kenneth B. Pyle – Japanese historian and former director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Tommy Rall – dancer; tap, men's ballet techniques, ballet partnering
W.J. Rorabaugh – American historian; managing editor of Pacific Northwest Quarterly ; author of The Alcoholic Republic
Roger Sale – literary critic and author, noted for his influence on literary criticism on children's literature
Steven Shaviro – cultural critic and author of Doom Patrols
Spencer Shaw – librarian; Professor of Library Science, Information School
Craig Sheppard – pianist; Professor of Piano; Chair of the Keyboard Department, UW School of Music
Vilem Sokol – music professor, string teacher, and conductor of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras from the 1960s to the 1980s
Robin Stacey – history professor, author of numerous articles and books on early medieval Britain and Ireland
Pepper Schwartz – sociologist, author or co-author of numerous books, magazines, website columns, and a television personality on the subject of sexuality
Daris Swindler – anthropologist ; primate expert; his An Atlas of Primate Gross Anatomy is a standard work in the field
Carole Terry – organist and harpsichordist; Professor of Organ and Harpsichord
David Wagoner – poet and novelist
Melia Watras – violist and composer; Professor of Viola; Chair of the Strings Department, UW School of Music
Daniel Waugh – director of the Seattle Silk Road Project; editor of the journal of the Silkroad Foundation
Karl Wittfogel – sinologist and historian; author of Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power
Turrell V. Wylie – Tibetologist and linguist: created the Wylie transliteration for the Tibetan language
Athletics
Hiram Boardman Conibear – rowing coach
Gil Dobie – undefeated (58-0-3) football coach of the University of Washington from 1908 to 1916, whose tenure largely comprised the NCAA Division I-A record for an unbeaten streak (64 games) and who oversaw the entirety of the NCAA Division I-A's second longest winning streak (40 games); elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951
Marv Harshman – head basketball coach of the University of Washington from 1971 to 1985
Don James – head football coach from 1974 to 1992
Lorenzo Romar – former head basketball coach of the University of Washington
"Former Justice Harry Arend Collapses, Dies in Anchorage", Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (June 28, 1966), p. 1, 7.
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Spadafora, Mary Jean (April 6, 2012). Marmor, Jon (ed.). "Parker named National Indian Parent of the Year" . 360° View. Viewpoints . Vol. 9, no. 1 (Spring 2012). University of Washington: Paul Rucker. p. 10 . Archived from the original on June 11, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via issuu . Deborah Parker, '99, [...] has a degree in sociology and American Ethnic Studies from the UW [...] [and] currently serves as a trustee on the UW Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program Board, is a Tulalip Tribe Legislative Policy Analyst.
SWE (March 13, 2008). "Irene Peden" . Engineering Pioneers . Society of Women Engineers. Retrieved October 29, 2015 .
Peden, Irene (March 2, 2002). "SWE Pioneers" (PDF) . Society of Women Engineers (Interview). Interviewed by Kata, Lauren. p. 6. Retrieved October 29, 2015 .