# List of Whitman College alumni

Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. Following are some of its notable alumni.

## Academia

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Roland Bainton | 1914 | | Protestant church historian and professor of ecclesiastical history at Yale Divinity School |
| Robert Clodius | 1942 | | Educator and acting President of University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Paula England | 1971 | Sociology and psychology | Award-winning sociologist, professor at New York University |
| Reginald Green | 1955 | | Development economist and academic |
| Torey Hayden | 1973 | Biology and chemistry | Child psychologist, special education teacher, university lecturer, and author |
| Stephen A. Hayner | 1970 | English literature | President of Columbia Theological Seminary |
| Dan Fenno Henderson | 1944 | | Founder of the University of Washington Asian Law program |
| Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg | 2001 | Politics | Executive in Residence at Schmidt Futuresrme and former professor at the University of San Francisco. |
| Ben Kerkvliet | 1965 | | Author and educator in comparative politics, Southeast Asia, and Asian studies. |
| Frances Penrose Owen | 1919 | Greek | First woman Regent of Washington State University |
| Gordon Wright | 1933 | BA | History professor at the University of Oregon and Stanford University, |
| Robert W. Young | 1955 | | Linguist known for his work on the Navajo language and professor at the University of New Mexico |

## Art and museums

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Marcus Amerman | 1981 | Art | Artist |
| Douglas Cole | 1960 | Art history | Historian and professor specializing in art and Pacific Northwest cultural history |
| David Crockett Graham | 1908 | BA | Curator of the Museum of Art, Archaeology, and Ethnology at the West China Union University and field collector for the Smithsonian |

## Business

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Ralph Cordiner | 1922 | Economics and political science | CEO and chairman, General Electric, Corp.(1958–1963); President (1950–1958) |
| Stephanie Dorgan | 1977 | Economics | Founder and owner of Seattle music venue The Crocodile |
| Ashifi Gogo | 2005 | Mathematics and physics | Co-founder of Sproxil |
| Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg | 2001 | Politics | Executive in Residence at Schmidt Futures |
| John W. Stanton | 1977 | Political science | Founder and CEO, Western Wireless, majority owner of the Seattle Mariners |
| Colleen Willoughby | 1955 | | Founder of the Washington Women's Foundation and the director of Global Women Partners in Philanthropy |

## Entertainment

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Anomie Belle | 2002 | Sociology | Professional musician and artivist |
| Dirk Benedict | 1967 | Dramatic art | Actor known for Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team. |
| Chastity Belt (band) | 2010 | | Indie-rock band formed by Whitman students |
| Otto Harbach | c. 1900 | MA | Lyricist and librettist of about fifty musical comedies, including The Desert Song |
| Cullen Hoback | 2003 | | Filmmaker, Monster Camp Terms and Conditions May Apply, What Lies Upstream, Q Into the Storm, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery |
| Shane Johnson | 1998 | | Actor, Saving Private Ryan, Black Cadillac |
| Morten Lauridsen | 1965 | | Composer and professor emeritus of composition at the USC Thornton School of Music |
| Lela Loren | 2002 | Theatre | Television actress |
| John Moe | 1990 | Dramatic art | NPR host and author |
| Lance Norris | 1985 | Dramatic art | Actor known for Mystic River |
| Patrick Page | 1985 | | Actor and playwright |
| Kathryn Shaw | 1971 | Dramatic art | Artistic director of Studio 58 at Langara College i |
| Rick Stevenson | 1977 | History | Film writer, director, and producer |
| Adam West | 1951 | English | Actor known for Batman and Family Guy |

## Government and military

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Alan K. Campbell | 1947 | | First director of the United States Office of Personnel Management |
| Alan W. Jones | 1917 | non-degreed | U.S. Army Major general |
| Neil Kornze | 2000 | Politics | former Director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management |

## Law

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Kenneth Culp Davis | 1931 | | Legal scholar remembered as "the father of administrative law." |
| William O. Douglas | 1920 | English and economics | U.S. Supreme Court Justice |
| James Alger Fee | 1910 | | Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| W. Michael Gillette | 1963 | BA | Oregon Supreme Court Justice |
| Meda Chesney-Lind | 1969 | | Criminologist and advocate for girls and women who come in contact with the criminal justice system in Hawaii. |
| Lucile Lomen | 1941 | | First woman to serve as a law clerk for a Supreme Court justice |
| James L. Robart | 1969 | | Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington |
| Charles F. Stafford | 1940 | | Justice of the Washington Supreme Court |

## Literature and journalism

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Nate Cohn | 2010 | BA | Journalist for The New York Times |
| Craig Lesley | 1967 | | Novelist who has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize |
| John Markoff | 1971 | Sociology | The New York Times journalist and co-author of Takedown |
| Edward P. Morgan | 1932 | | Journalist and writer who reported for newspapers, radio, and television media services including ABC, CBS, and PBS |
| Anne Helen Petersen | 2003 | Rhetoric and Film Studies | Journalist for Buzzfeed News, writes the Substack newsletter Culture Study |

## Politics

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Jack Burtch | 1951 | Political science | Washington State Representative |
| Ryan Crocker | 1971 | English | U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, and Pakistan |
| Jena Griswold | 2006 | Politics | Secretary of State of Colorado |
| Hal Holmes | 1923 | | United States House of Representatives |
| Walt Minnick | 1964 | | former Idaho Congressman |
| Pat Thibaudeau | 1960 | Psychology | former Washington State Senator |
| Al Ullman | 1935 | | United States House of Representatives for 24 years |
| Ben Westlund | 1971 | Education and history | former Oregon State Treasurer |

## Science and medicine

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Alexander Barnes | 2003 | Chemistry | chemist, professor, and recipient of the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award |
| J. Bruce Beckwith | 1954 | | Pediatric pathologist known for helping to identify Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome |
| Gerard van Belle | 1990 | Physics and astronomy | Astronomer. |
| Bernard Berelson | 1934 | English | Behavioral scientist known for work on communication and mass media |
| Walker Bleakney | 1924 | Physics | Inventor of mass spectrometer, chair of department of physics at Princeton University |
| Robert Brattain | 1931 | Physics | Physicist |
| Walter Brattain | 1924 | Physics | Nobel Prize winner, physicist, and co-inventor of the transistor |
| Robert Brode | 1921 | | Physicist and leader at the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory |
| Wallace R. Brode | 1921 | BA | Chemist, specializing in the absorption spectra of dyes |
| William M. Fairbank | 1939 | | Physicist known in particular for his work on liquid helium |
| Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger | 1997 | Geology | NASA astronaut |
| Webb Miller | 1965 | BA | Computational biology pioneer |
| David R. Nygren | 1960 | | Particle physicist, inventor of the Time projection chamber. |
| Edith Quimby | 1912 | Mathematics and physics | Medical researcher and physicist |
| Vladimir Rojansky | 1924 | BS | Physicist, one of the earliest researchers of quantum mechanics |
| E. J. Workman | 1924 | BS | Atmospheric physicist |

## Sports

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Mara Abbott | 2008 | Economics | Professional cyclist |
| Ingrid Backstrom | 2000 | Geology | Professional skier |
| Holly Brooks | 2004 | Sociology and environmental studies | Winter Olympian in Nordic skiing |
| Derrike Cope | 1980 | | NASCAR driver, 1990 Daytona 500 winner |
| Ben Eisenhardt | 2014 | | Professional player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League |
| Tommy Lloyd | 1998 | Biology | Head basketball coach at the University of Arizona |

## Technology

| Name | Class | Major | Notability | References |
| Marlin Eller | 1974 | Mathematics | Programmer and software developer, co-author of Barbarians Led by Bill Gates | |
| Steve McConnell | 1985 | Philosophy, mathematics, and computer science | Software engineer and author of Code Complete | |