This is a list of people connected to the State University of New York at Buffalo. There are more than 230,000 living alumni of UB. Notable alumni include the CEO's of Paramount Pictures, The Weinstein Company, and A+E Networks, two NASA astronauts, a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award, and a former Prime Minister. UB is one of only two institutions of higher learning in the United States which was founded by a U.S. President (Millard Fillmore), the other being the University of Virginia.
Notable faculty
This list includes both present and former faculty members.
Nobel Laureates
Award recipients
Academia
Name |
Known for |
Relationship to University at Buffalo |
Tim Dean |
British philosopher, author, notable in the field of contemporary queer theory |
Director of The Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture |
David Mark (scientist) |
Pioneer of Geographic information science |
SUNY Distinguished Professor |
Isaac Ehrlich |
Academic economist and researcher, founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Human Capital |
Chair of the Department of Economics |
Michel Foucault |
Historian and philosopher |
Visiting professor (early 1970s) |
René Girard |
historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science |
Distinguished Professor (1971–1976) |
Charles Haynie |
Longtime faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Degree Programs |
An award was established in his name after his death in 2001 |
Bruce Jackson |
Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1971); was nominated for a Grammy (1974); former president of the American Folklore Society (1984); Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Folklore Center in the Library of Congress (1988–89, trustee 1984-89); and director, then trustee of the Newport Folk Foundation (1965—) |
SUNY Distinguished Professor; Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture in 1997; James Agee Professor of American Culture |
Robert L. Ketter |
Authority on earthquake engineering research and a former president of UB |
First chairman of the Civil Engineering Department; dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; university president from 1970 through 1981 |
Paul Kurtz |
Founder and chairman of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal), the Council for Secular Humanism, the Center for Inquiry, and Prometheus Books |
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy |
Steve McCaffery |
Canadian poet and scholar |
Holds the Gray Chair at UB |
Lester Walter Milbrath |
Environmental academic and public intellectual |
Professor of Political Science 1965-1991 |
Charles Mingus |
Jazz bassist, composer, bandleader and pianist. |
Slee Professor of Music (1971) |
Roswell Park |
Founder of Roswell Park Cancer Institute |
Former Professor of Surgery |
Emanuel Parzen |
Statistician, pioneered the use of kernel density estimation (Parzen window) |
Former professor (1970–1978) |
Jayant Patel |
Nicknamed "Dr. Death" by the Australian media |
Former Assistant Professor of Surgery in the 1980s |
David Riesman |
Law scholar and sociologist |
Visiting Professor (1937–1941) |
Stephen Schanuel |
Mathematician known for discovering "Schanuel's lemma" |
Professor of Mathematics |
Albert R. Shadle |
Professor |
Chairman of Biology Department (1919–1953) and Professor of Biology |
Bill Siemering |
Director of Programming and founding program director for National Public Radio; Manager of university-sponsored radio station WBFO; recipient of MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 1993 |
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Leo Smit |
Composer of contemporary classical music |
Former professor |
Craig Venter |
Geneticist; founder of Celera Genomics and the J. Craig Venter Institute; Time magazine's 2007 and 2008 lists of the 100 most influential people in the world |
Former professor |
Ernst Witebsky |
Former professor and chair of the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology (1941–1967); director of the Center for Immunology (1967 until his death in 1969) |
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Ta-You Wu |
Chinese physicist known as the "Father of Chinese Physics" and president of Academia Sinica (1983–1994) |
Former professor and chair of the Department of Physics (1968–1983) |
Collegiate athletics
Notable alumni
Law, politics, and government
Name |
Known for |
Relationship to University at Buffalo |
Harry Bronson |
New York State Assemblyman |
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Chaturon Chaisang |
Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand |
BA in Economics |
Sara Horowitz |
Founder of Freelancers Union and Board Member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
J.D. |
Jack Davis |
Industrialist and politician |
B.S. '55 in Industrial Engineering |
Paul L. Friedman |
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit |
J.D. in 1968 |
Julio M. Fuentes |
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit |
J.D. in 1975 |
Anthony H. Gioia |
Former United States Ambassador to Malta |
B.A. |
Peter Kadzik |
Head of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs |
B.A. '74 |
Nicole Lee |
Former president of TransAfrica |
J.D. '02 and B.A. '00 |
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed |
Prime Minister of Somalia |
B.A. History, 1993; M.A. American Studies, 2009 |
John Morgan |
Wisconsin State Assemblyman |
M.D. 1873 |
Vice Admiral Robert B. Murrett |
Director of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency |
BA in History, 1975 |
Jack Quinn |
Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and president of Erie Community College |
EdM '78 |
Jeanine Pirro |
Host of the Fox News Channel legal show Justice with Judge Jeanine |
B.A. 1971 |
Dave Weldon |
Republican member of the United States House of Representatives |
M.D. |
Aaron Krolikowski |
Director of Research and Public Policy at United Way of Buffalo and Erie County |
B.A. & B.S. '09 |
Michael A. Battle |
Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys |
J.D. in 1984 |
Henry J. Nowak |
Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives |
J.D. in 1961 |
Donald R. Miller |
New York State Assemblyman, represents the 121st district |
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Denise O'Donnell |
Former United States Attorney for the Western District of New York |
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Jeanine Pirro |
Westchester County, New York District Attorney |
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Mark Poloncarz |
County Executive of Erie County, New York |
B.A. |
Michael Ranzenhofer |
Member of the New York State Senate |
J.D. '79 |
Hugh B. Scott |
Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of New York |
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Virginia A. Seitz |
Former United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice |
J.D. '85 |
Michael A. Telesca |
Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of New York |
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Dennis Vacco |
New York State Attorney General (1994-1998) |
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Dale Volker |
New York State Senator |
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Raymond Walter |
New York State Assemblyman |
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Jeffrey White |
Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of New York |
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Ji Zhou |
Minister of Education for the People's Republic of China |
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Science, technology, and engineering
Medicine
Business
News
Film, theatre, and television
Academia
Zhijian James Chen |
Member of the National Academy of Sciences |
Ph.D in Biochemistry '91 |
Marc Edwards (civil engineering professor) |
Expert on water treatment and corrosion, professor at Virginia Tech, and MacArthur Fellow |
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Mark Huddleston |
President of the University of New Hampshire |
B.A. in Political Science |
Sung-Mo Kang |
President of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology |
M.S. in Electrical Engineering '72 |
Ann Kirschner |
Academic; entrepreneur; author of Sala's Gift; launched NFL.COM for the National Football League; co-founder of Columbia University's interactive knowledge network Fathom.com; University Dean of William E. Macaulay Honors College of The City University of New York |
B.A. in English '72 |
William J. Rapaport |
Researcher on intentionality and artificial intelligence, professor at UB |
M.S. '84 in Computer Science |
Blair A. Rudes |
Linguist known for his work on Native American languages |
Ph.D '76 in Linguistics, M.A. '74, B.A. '73 |
Murat Soygeniş |
Architect and professor, Founding Principal, S+ ARCHITECTURE |
M. Arch. in 1985 |
Sema Soygeniş |
Architect and professor, Dean - BAU School of Architecture |
M. Arch. in 1986 |
Ewa Ziarek |
Julian Park Professor of Comparative Literature at UB |
Ph.D. and M.A. |
Robert E. Wright |
Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College (South Dakota) |
M.A., History, Ph.D. History |
Literature
Music
Name |
Known for |
Relationship to University at Buffalo |
Jay Beckenstein |
Saxophone player and co-founder of Spyro Gyra |
B.A. in music, 1973 |
|
Keith Buckley |
Vocalist, lyricist and founding member of Buffalo-based hardcore band Every Time I Die and metal supergroup The Damned Things |
B.A. in English |
|
Rob Derhak |
Bassist, lyricist and founding member of Buffalo-based jam-band moe. |
|
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Ronnie James Dio |
Heavy metal vocalist and songwriter; lead singer of Rainbow 1975-1979; lead singer and creator of Dio; lead singer of Black Sabbath 1979-1982 |
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Morton Feldman |
Composer and Edgard Varèse Professor of Music |
|
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Chuck Garvey |
Guitarist, lyricist and founding member of the Buffalo-based jam-band moe. |
|
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Paddy Hagan |
Lead tambourine player for legendary rock band Dan and the PussykatZ |
|
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Willie Nile, aka Robert Noonan |
Singer, songwriter |
B.A. in Philosophy, 1971 |
|
Valerian Ruminski |
Bass singer; recipient of a Richard Tucker Career Grant, the Lincoln Center Martin Segal Award, a William Mattheus Sullivan Foundation Grant, a 2004 Gerda Lissner Foundation Grant, a Liederkranz Prize, and the 1st Prize in the MacAllister Singing Competition |
Bachelor of Music '95 |
|
Elliott Sharp |
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer |
M.A. in Music Theory and Composition '77 |
|
Sports and athletics
Name |
Known for |
Relationship to University at Buffalo |
Jonathan Akpoborie |
Nigerian soccer player |
|
Dave Hahn |
Professional mountain guide, ski patroller, journalist and lecturer |
B.A. '84 |
Turner Battle |
Former basketball player (led the Bulls to their first NIT appearance), basketball coach |
B.A. in 2006 |
Sam Craven |
English soccer player |
|
Michael Cross |
Director of Athletics, Bradley University |
B.S. '91, M.A. '93 |
Steve Geltz |
MLB Pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays |
B.A. in 2008 |
Desmond Green |
MAC champion; three-time Division 1 NCAA qualifier wrestler; mixed martial artist in Bellator |
Major in Social Sciences 2011 |
Joe Hesketh |
Former MLB pitcher (1984-1994) |
B.A. in 1980 |
Chris Kanyon |
Professional wrestler in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment |
Bachelor's degree in physical therapy |
Khalil Mack |
NFL player, Oakland Raiders, 5th overall 2014 draft pick |
B.A. '14 |
Javon McCrea |
Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2014 |
B.A. '14 |
Liam McHugh |
Studio host for the NBC Sports Network, anchoring much of its staple programming, including the NHL, Tour De France and college football/basketball |
B.A. '97 in communication |
Tom Murphy |
Professional baseball player for a minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies |
B.A. in 2012 |
Matvey Natanzon |
Backgammon player |
BA in Accounting, 1991 |
Branden Oliver |
Running back for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League |
B.A. in 2014 |
Dominic Oppong |
Canadian soccer player |
|
Gerry Philbin |
Member of the 1968 World Champion New York Jets |
|
Jamey Richard |
Center for the Indianapolis Colts |
|
Trevor Scott |
Defensive end for the Oakland Raiders |
|
James Starks |
Running back for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL |
|
John Stofa |
Miami Dolphins (AFL, NFL) quarterback, first expansion draft selection of the Cincinnati Bengals AFL) |
|
Josh Thomas |
Cornerback in the National Football League |
|
Mitchell Watt |
Player for Hapoel Gilboa Galil of the Israeli Basketball Super League |
B.A. in 2012 |
Chancellors and presidents
From its inception until 1962, the private school was known as the University of Buffalo, and it was headed by a chancellor. Since it became the public State University of New York at Buffalo, it has been called the University at Buffalo, and the CEO is its president.[8]
- Millard Fillmore, 1846–1874; 13th President of the United States and 12th Vice President of the United States
- Orsamus H. Marshall, 1882–1884
- E. Carleton Sprague, 1885–1895
- James O. Putnam, 1895–1902
- Wilson S. Bissell, 1902–1903
- Charles Phelps Norton, 1905–1920
- Samuel P. Capen, 1922–1950
- T. R. McConnell, 1950–1954
- Clifford C. Furnas, 1954–1966
- Claude E. Puffer (acting), 1955–1957
- Martin Meyerson, 1966–1970
- Robert L. Ketter, 1970–1982
- Steven Sample, 1982–1991
- Bill Greiner, 1991–2004
- John B. Simpson, 2004–2011
- Satish K. Tripathi, 2011–present
See also
References
External links
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Media
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- UB Reporter
- WBFO FM88.7
- UB Today
- News Services
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Buildings
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- Abbott Hall
- Alfiero Center
- Alumni Arena
- Baird Hall
- Baldy Hall
- Bell Hall
- Bissell Hall
- Bonner Hall
- Capen Hall
- Center for the Arts
- Clark Hall
- Clemens Hall
- Cooke Hall
- Davis Hall
- Diefendorf Hall
- Fronczak Hall
- Furnas Hall
- Harriman Hall
- Hayes Hall
- Hochstetter Hall
- Jacobs Management Center
- Jarvis Hall
- Ketter Hall
- Knox Hall
- Lockwood Library
- Mathematics Building
- Millard Fillmore Academic Center
- Natural Sciences Complex
- Norton Hall
- O'Brian Hall
- Park Hall
- Slee Hall
- Squire Hall
- Student Union
- Talbert Hall
- UB Stadium
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