List of University of Rochester people

Here follows a list of notable alumni and faculty of the University of Rochester.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Notable alumni

Nobel laureates

• Vincent du Vigneaud (Ph.D. 1927), Nobel laureate (1955, chemistry)
• Arthur Kornberg (M.D. 1941, D.Sc. 1962), Nobel laureate (1959, physiology or medicine)
• Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (B.S. 1943), Nobel laureate (1976, physiology or medicine)
• Steven Chu (B.A. math and B.S. physics 1970), Nobel laureate (1997, physics), U.S. Secretary of Energy (2009-2013)
• Masatoshi Koshiba (Ph.D 1955), Nobel laureate (2002, physics)

Higher education leaders

• Myles Brand (PhD 1967) Former President, NCAA
• Robert J. Dolan (Ph.D. 1977), Dean of University of Michigan Business School (Ross)
• Thomas Farrell (B.A., M.S.), Vice President of University of Chicago
• Madeleine R. Grumet (Ph.D.), Dean of UNC Chapel Hill School of Education
• Karen R. Hitchcock (Ph.D.), Principal and Vice Chancellor of Queen's University, Canada
• Susan Hockfield (B.A. 1973), Former Dean and Provost of Yale University, President of MIT
• Barbara E. Kahn (B.A. 1974), Dean, of University of Miami School of Business
• Joseph B. Martin (Ph.D. 1971), Dean of Harvard Medical School
• Steven Matson (Ph.D.), Dean of Graduate School of UNC Chapel Hill
• Brian C. Mitchell (Ph.D.), President of Bucknell University
• Hugo Sonnenschein (B.A. 1961), President Emeritus and Adam Smith Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at University of Chicago
• David C. Sweet (B.A.), President of Youngstown State University 2000–2010
• Gary Schuster (Ph.D. 1971), Former Provost and Vice President of Georgia Institute of Technology 2006 - 2009
• Nils Yngve Wessell (Ph.D. 1938), President of Tufts University 1953-1966

Academia

• Bruce Armitage (B.S. 1988), organic chemist, Carnegie Mellon University professor
• Charles M. Achilles (B.A. 1959, M.S. 1962, Ed.S 1965, Ed.D. 1967), Professor of Educational Administration at Eastern Michigan University and Seton Hall University. Principal researcher Tennessee STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio) experiment on Class-size reduction
• Frederick R. Bieber (M.S. 1976), medical geneticist. Harvard University professor
• Hany Farid (B.S. 1989), William H. Neukom 1964 Distinguished Professor of Computational Science of Dartmouth College.
• Morris Fiorina (Ph.D. 1972), Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Author of Divided Government and Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America.
• Kenneth French (M.B.A. 1978, M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1983), M. Heidt Professor of Finance at Dartmouth College and efficient markets theorist
• Grove Karl Gilbert (geologist)
• Steven Hahn (B.A. 1978), Pulitzer Prize winning historian on faculty at University of Pennsylvania.
• N. Katherine Hayles, (Ph.D. 1977), critical literary theorist
• Zvi Hercowitz (Ph.D. 1980), macroeconomist at Tel Aviv University
• Peter van Inwagen (Ph.D.), philosopher specializing in metaphysics, John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame
• Francis W. Kelsey (B.A. 1880, Ph.D. 1886), Professor of Latin at the University of Michigan from 1889 to 1927 and namesake of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
• Bruce Kingma (Ph.D. 1989), Professor of Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University.
• Richard McKelvey (Ph.D. 1971), political scientist and game theorist
• Arthur R. Miller (BA 1956) Phi Beta Kappa Graduate, Harvard Law graduate magna cum laude 1958, renowned law professor at Harvard University and since 2007 at NYU
• Patricia Numann, Professor of Surgery at State University of New York Upstate Medical University
• Mark Rosenzweig (B.A. 1943, M.S. 1944), research psychologist whose studies showed that the brain develops into adulthood based on life experiences.
• Ivan Sag (B.A. 1971), Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University
• José Scheinkman (Ph.D. 1974), Theodore A. Wells '29 Professor of Economics at Princeton University
• Richard Thaler (Ph.D. 1974), Economist known for pioneering behavioral finance
• H. Allen Orr, Evolutionary Biologist
• Albion W. Tourgée (1859), lawyer, civil rights activist. Represented Homer Plessy in the trial of Plessy v. Ferguson.
• David Sloan Wilson (B.A. 1971), Professor of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University and noted author.
• Steven M. Weinreb (Ph.D. 1967) Russell and Mildred Marker Professor of Natural Products Chemistry Chair, Pennsylvania State University, developer of the Weinreb ketone synthesis.

Performing arts

• George Abbott (B.A. 1911), Broadway writer, producer, and director
• Ron Carter (B.A. 1959), jazz double-bassist
• William Dooley (B.A. 1954), operatic baritone
• Doug Besterman (B.A. 1986), orchestrator and arranger
• Frederick Fennell (B.A. 1937, M.A. 1939), conductor and promotor of the wind ensemble as a performing group
• Renée Fleming (M.A.S. 1983), soprano opera singer
• Robert Forster (B.A. 1964), nominated actor
• Emil J. Kang (B.A. 1990), arts administrator, educator, and curator
• Michael Kanfer (1980) Academy Award-winning visual effects artist for special effects
• Chuck Mangione (B.M. 1963), jazz performer and composer
• J. Greg Miller, horn player
• John R. Quieter (B.A. 1979, M.M. 1981), opera singer
• Anthony Dean Griffey (M.M. 2001), opera singer
• Forbes Riley (B.A. 1983, Political Science and Film Studies), infomercial hostess and actress
• Debra Jo Rupp (B.A. 1974), actress
• Tony Levin, bass player
• Steve Gadd, drummer
• John Hollenbeck (B.A.1990), drummer and composer

Government

• Ruth B. Balser, (A.B. 1969), member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (served 1998 - present)
• Steven Chu (B.A. math and B.S. physics 1970), former United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize winner - Physics
• Mark Ferrandino, (B.A. 1999; M.A. 2000) Colorado House of Representatives 2007–Present
• Vittorio Grilli, (Ph.D. 1986), Italy's Finance and Economy Minister (Monti Cabinet)
• Mary Ellen Jones, (B.A., 1958, M.A.), former New York State senator
• Lewis A. Kaplan, (A.B. 1966) Federal judge for New York's Southern District
• David T. Kearns, (B.A. 1952) former CEO of Xerox Corporation and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education
• Kenneth Keating, U.S. Representative and Senator from New York
• Lawrence Kudlow (1969), Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, CNBC host
• R. Brooks LaPlante, (MBA) Founder/CEO of Doughmakers Gourmet Bakeware and former member of the Indiana House of Representatives
• Chris Lee, Former Congressman, New York's 26th Congressional district.
• Allison M. Macfarlane, (B.S. Geological Sciences 1986) current chair of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Dan Rosenthal, (B.A. 1988) Assistant to the President in the White House under Bill Clinton
• Linda Rosenthal, (B.A. 1980) New York State Assembly 2006–Present, District 67
• Robert D. Sack, (B.A. 1960) Judge United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
• George F. Ward (B.A.), former United States Ambassador to Namibia
• Donald C. Winter, (B.S. 1969) Secretary of the Navy (2006–2009)
• Robert H. Conn, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1981–1988)
• Jimmie V. Reyna, (B.A. 1975) Federal judge for United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Heather Higginbottom, (B.A. 1999) Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources (2013–present)

Literature

• Francis Bellamy (1876), wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance
• Robert Leslie Conly (B.A. English), author
• Richard M. Dolan (M.A. History), historian and author
• Dudley Doust, sports journalist and author
• Bill Kauffman, political journalist and author
• Galway Kinnell (M.A.), poet and Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets
• Janet Maslin (1970), film and music critic for The New York Times
• Thomas Perry (Ph.D Literature, 1974), mystery writer
• Thomas Thackeray Swinburne, poet, composed the College's alma mater The Genesee

Science and technology

• George Sudarshan (Ph.D. 1958 Physics), made contributions to the field of quantum optics and advanced the idea of the theoretical tachyon
• Martin Ademovic (B.S. 1975), Engineer, inventor.
• Robert Dicke (Ph.D. 1939), inventor of lock-in amplifier, and who made contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity
• Stan Frankel (Ph.D. 1942), Manhattan Project scientist and computer designer
• Michael Gotlieb (MD 1973), First physician to identify AIDS as a disease
• Amit Goyal (Ph.D. 1991), Corporate Fellow & Distinguished Scientist and Distinguished Inventor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Rochester Distinguished Scholar Medal recipient
• Elon Howard Eton (B.A. 1890), Ornithologist
• Edward Gibson (B.S. 1959), former NASA astronaut who set an American record for space travel with 84 days in orbit
• G.K. Gilbert (1862), geologist and Wollaston Medal recipient
• Donald Henderson (M.D. 1954), physician and epidemiologist
• Theodore Krenzer (B.S. and M.S.1962) Gleason Works Director of R and D, developed the face-hobbing process and the initiation and development of loaded tooth contact analysis
• Jay Last (B.S. 1951), member of the Traitorous eight that founded Silicon Valley
• J.C.R. Licklider (Ph.D. 1942), psychologist and computer science visionary, father of the concept of a worldwide computer network or what came to be the Internet. Computing's Johnny Appleseed.
• William F. May (B.S. 1937), chemical engineer who co-founded the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1969.
• Kenneth Ouriel (M.D. 1977), medical researcher and prominent vascular surgeon who operated on Bob Dole
• Park Jong-sei (Ph.D.), head of South Korea's Food and Drug Administration from 1998 to 1999
• James A. Pawelczyk (B.S. 1982), NASA astronaut
• Richard Rashid (M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1980 Computer Science), invented the Mach operating system, currently head of Microsoft Research
• Maj. General Philip King Russel (M.D. 1958), Former Director of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research who contributed to the development against hepatitis A and B and other infectious diseases
• Bruce Schneier (B.S. Physics 1985), computer security expert
• Gary Starkweather (M.S. Optics 1966), inventor of the laser printer
• Eric Topol (M.D. 1979), Scripps Health Chief Academic Officer, pioneer in cardiovascular medicine
• Avie Tevanian (B.A. Math 1983), figure in the development of the NeXT Computer and its successor, Mac OS X at Apple
• Joseph C. Wilson (B.A. 1931), Xerox founder who brought xerography to the world
• Herbert York (B.S. and M.S.), Manhattan Project physicist
• Corinna Cortes (PhD) Danish computer scientist known for her contributions to machine learning. Head of Google Research, New York. Paris Kanellakis Award in 2008 for her work on support vector machines.

Business

• Robert Goergen (1960), CEO of Blyth, Inc.
• Richard Handler, Chairman, CEO & President of Jefferies, Inc.
• Dawne Hickton, graduated 1979, Vice Chair, President, CEO of RTI International Metals
• Robert J. Keegan (1991 MBA), former Chairman of the Board of Goodyear Tire & Rubber and President of the Consumer Imaging business and an Executive Vice President of Eastman Kodak.
• Gail Lione (1971), Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Harley-Davidson
• Barry Meyer (1964), Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros.
• Brain Roseboro (B.A. Economics, 1981), former assistant secretary for financial markets in the Department of Treasury, current Chief of Staff to the Americas COO at UBS
• Paul Singer, founder and CEO of hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation and founder of the Paul E. Singer Family Foundation
• Kimberly A. Snyder, President & General Manager, Entertainment Imaging, Film, Photofinishing & Entertainment Group and Vice President, Eastman Kodak.
• Robert L. Stark (born 1951), American real estate developer and CEO of Stark Enterprises.
• Gerald B. Zornow, former Chairman of the Board of Eastman Kodak Company
• Chang Dae Hwan, president of the Maeil Business Newspaper, South Korea's main business daily

Other

• Suzanne Arms, author, photo-journalist, speaker, and activist on birthing issues
• Mariann Budde, diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington
• Arunas A. Chesonis, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of PAETEC Holding Corp.
• Walter Cooper (scientist), research scientist, education reformer and civil rights activist
• Paul Frommer (B.S. 1965), Creator of Na'vi, the native language of the humanoid heroes in the film Avatar (film)
• Jeremy Glick, a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93
• Terry Gurnett (1977), coach of women's soccer at Rochester
• Ken Hebel, implant specialist who trains dentists and specialists in cosmetic dentistry
• Harold Hodge
• Nasser Saidi (PhD), Lebanese cabinet minister and economist

Notable faculty

See also: Category:University of Rochester faculty

Nobel laureates

• George Hoyt Whipple (Prof. 1914-1976), Nobel laureate (1934, physiology or medicine)
• Henrik Dam (Prof. 1942-1945), Nobel laureate (1943, physiology or medicine)
• Robert Fogel (Prof. 1960-1965, 1968–1975), Nobel laureate (1993, economics)

Current

• Janet Catherine Berlo, art historian, Professor of Art History / Visual and Cultural Studies.
• Douglas Crimp, art historian, Fanny Knapp Alexander Professor of Art History / Visual and Cultural Studies.
• Stanley Engerman, economist/historian, served as President of the Social Science History Association as well as President of the Economic History Association.
• Richard Fenno, political scientist and former President of the American Political Science Association.
• C. R. Hagen, Professor of theoretical physics, co-theorist of Higgs boson and Higgs mechanism. Recipient of 2010 Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics.
• Robert L. Holmes, Secular pacifist and expert on nonviolent action.
• Th. Emil Homerin, Arabic Literature/Islamic Studies scholar, Professor of Religion, and former Chair of the Department of Religion and Classics.
• Steven Landsburg, economist, Slate magazine columnist and popular author on microeconomics.
• Walter Oi, Labor economist, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• H. Allen Orr, University Professor of Biology, winner of the Darwin–Wallace Medal awarded every 50 years for outstanding contributions in evolutionary biology.
• Michael L. Scott, computer scientist and winner of the Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing.
• Emil Wolf, physicist and co-author, along with Max Born, of one of the standard textbooks of optics, Principles of Optics. Also predicted Wolf effect.
• Ching W. Tang, chemist, inventor of Organic light-emitting diode and heterojunction organic solar cells, member of National Academy of Engineering, recipient of 2011 Wolf Prize in Chemistry.
• Lionel W. McKenzie, economist, general equilibrium, co-creator of the Arrow–Debreu–McKenzie model.
• Joseph H. Eberly, Andrew Carnegie Professor of Physics and Optics. Past president of Optics Society of America, and winner of Townes Award.
• Daven Presgraves, Associate Professor of Biology. Winner of Dobzhansky Prize in Evolutionary Biology.
• Edward L. Deci, Professor of Psychology, Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences. Co-founder of self-determination theory (SDT) with Richard Ryan.
• Esther Conwell, Professor of Chemistry and Physics. Winner of the National Medal of Science and member of both the National Academy of Science and National Academy of Engineering.
• Henry Kautz, Professor of Computer Science, former AAAI President and member of their editorial board.

Heads of the University of Rochester

	Presidents of the University of Rochester	Birth-Death	Years as President
1	Rev. Martin Brewer Anderson	(1815-1890)	(1853-1888)
2	Rev. David Jayne Hill	(1850-1932)	(1889-1896)
3	Rev. Benjamin Rush Rhees	(1860-1939)	(1900-1935)
4	Alan Chester Valentine	(1901-1980)	(1935-1950)
5	Cornelis Willem de Kiewiet	(1902-1986)	(1951-1961)
6	Wilson Allen Wallis	(1912-1998)	(1962-1970)
7	Robert Lamb Sproull	(1918-2014)	(1970-1984)
8	George Dennis O'Brien	(1931-)	(1984-1994)
9	Thomas H. Jackson	(1950-)	(1994-2005)
10	Joel Seligman	(1950-)	(2005-)