# List of University at Buffalo people

This is a list of people connected to the University at Buffalo. There are more than 260,000 living alumni of UB. Notable alumni include the CEO's of Paramount Pictures and A+E Networks, two NASA astronauts, a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award, and a former prime minister. UB is one of the only two institutions of higher learning in the United States which were founded by a U.S. President (Millard Fillmore), with the other one being the University of Virginia.

## Notable faculty

This list includes both present and former faculty members.

### Nobel Laureates

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Ronald H. Coase | Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics (1991) | Professor (1951–1958) |
| J. M. Coetzee | South African author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2003) | Professor (1968–1971) |
| Carl Ferdinand Cori | Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1947) | Adjunct assistant professor |
| Sir John Carew Eccles | Australian winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine (1963) for discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane (synapse). | Distinguished Professor of Physiology and Biophysics (1968–1975) |
| Herbert A. Hauptman | Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1985) | Research Professor of Biophysical Sciences, Director of the Medical Foundation of Buffalo |

### Award recipients

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Om P. Bahl | Molecular biologist and honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1973 for his contributions to science and engineering | Former professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences |
| John Barth | Author known for his postmodern works, such as The Sot-Weed Factor, Lost in the Funhouse, and Chimera; winner of the National Book Award | Professor (1965–1973) |
| Robert Conquest | Poet honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom | Visiting Poet and Lecturer in English (1959–60) |
| Robert Creeley | Poet and winner of the Bollingen Prize for poetry | |
| Andreas W. Daum | Humboldt Prize winner and historian | Professor |
| Samuel R. Delany | Hugo Award winning author and literary critic | |
| David Del Tredici | Composer and Pulitzer Prize winner | |
| Carl Dennis | Poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry | Professor |
| Irving Feldman | Poet and MacArthur Foundation Fellow | Professor (1962–2004) |
| Stephen McKinley Henderson | Obie Award winner and Tony Award-nominated stage and screen actor. Recognized as a veteran performer of playwright August Wilson's ouvre. | Professor and former chair in the Department of Theater and Dance |
| Edmund Klein | Dermatologist and winner of the Lasker Award | Research professor |
| Esther Takeuchi | Materials scientist, National Academy of Engineering and winner of the E. V. Murphree Award | |
| Eli Ruckenstein | Materials scientist, National Academy of Engineering and winner of the National Medal of Science | Former SUNY Distinguished Professor |
| Amit Goyal | Materials scientist, National Academy of Engineering and winner of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award | SUNY Distinguished Professor |
| Richard Aaker Trythall | Composer, pianist, Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the Rome Prize | Professor (1972–1973) |

### Academia

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Joseph A. Alutto | Provost and interim president of Ohio State University | Dean of UB School of Management (1976–1990) |
| Warren Bennis | President of the University of Cincinnati | Provost (1967–71) |
| Ludwig von Bertalanffy | Austrian biologist, known as one of the founders of general systems theory (GST) | Professor in Center for Theoretical Biology |
| Lynne Billard | President of the American Statistical Association and the International Biometric Society | Visiting Professor |
| Jennifer Crocker | Psychologist and president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology | Professor (1985–1995) |
| Tim Dean | British philosopher, author, notable in the field of contemporary queer theory | Director of The Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture |
| Isaac Ehrlich | Academic economist and researcher, founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Human Capital | Chair of the Department of Economics |
| Wiliam Joseph Evitts | Historian of the American South, especially Maryland | Professor and Director of Alumni Relations (1991-2000) |
| Marvin Farber | Chairman of Department of Philosophy from 1937 to 1961; founder of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research | Professor of Philosophy |
| Michel Foucault | Historian and philosopher | Visiting professor (early 1970s) |
| René Girard | Historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science | Distinguished Professor (1971–1976) |
| Paul Goldstein | Globally recognized expert on intellectual property law; awarding-winning author | Professor of law (1967–1975) |
| Charles Haynie | long-time faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Degree Programs | An award was established in his name after his death in 2001 |
| Jörg Guido Hülsmann | Economist and member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts | Former professor |
| Bruce Jackson | Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1971); was nominated for a Grammy (1974); 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 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 |
| Olive P. Lester | Fellow of the American Psychological Association | Chair of the Psychology Department 1952 (1952–1956 acting)–1966; 1973 Distinguished Alumni Award |
| David Mark | Pioneer of Geographic information science | SUNY Distinguished Professor |
| 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 |
| Teresa Miller | Established the Office of Inclusive Excellence and created the university's first strategic diversity and inclusion plan | Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence (2014–2017) |
| Charles Mingus | Jazz bassist, composer, bandleader and pianist. | Slee Professor of Music (1971) |
| Robert E. Paaswell | Interim president of the City College of New York, CEO of the Chicago Transit Authority | Professor (1964–1982) |
| Roswell Park | Founder of Roswell Park Cancer Institute | Former professor of Surgery |
| Emanuel Parzen | Statistician, pioneered the use of kernel density estimation (Parzen window) | Professor (1970–1978) |
| David Riesman | Law scholar and sociologist | Visiting Professor (1937–1941) |
| C. R. Rao | National Medal of Science honored mathematician and statistician | Professor |
| 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 recipient of MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 1993 | First professional manager of university-sponsored radio station WBFO |
| Leo Smit | Composer of contemporary classical music | Former professor |
| Harvey G. Stenger | President of Binghamton University | Former professor, dean, and Provost |
| John J. Tyson | President of the Society for Mathematical Biology | 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 |
| Grace Wang | President of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute | Former professor |
| Ernst Witebsky | Formulated "Witebsky's postulates" that determine whether a disease entity can be regarded as an autoimmune disease | Professor and chair of the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology (1941–1967); director of the Center for Immunology (1967 until his death in 1969) |
| Jon Whitmore | President of Texas Tech University and San Jose State University, CEO of ACT, Inc | Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters and Professor of Theatre (1985–1990) |
| Ta-You Wu | Chinese physicist known as the "Father of Chinese Physics" and president of Academia Sinica (1983–1994) | Professor and chair of the Department of Physics (1968–1983) |
| Marvin Zelen | Biostatistician and developer of Zelen's design | Professor 1967–1977 |

### Collegiate athletics

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Warde Manuel | Director of Athletics of the University of Michigan Wolverines | Athletic Director (2006–2012) |
| Danny White | Director of Athletics of the University of Tennessee Volunteers | Athletic Director (2012–2015) |
| Mark Alnutt | Director of Athletics of the Buffalo Bulls | Athletic Director (2018–present) |

## Notable alumni
### Law, politics, and government

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Michael A. Battle | Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys | J.D. (1984) |
| Harry Bronson | New York State Assemblyman | |
| Anthony P. Capozzi | Supervising Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California | B.A. (1967) |
| Michael Caputo | Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Public Affairs | |
| Ronald Castorina | Member of the New York Assembly | J.D. |
| Chaturon Chaisang | Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand | B.A. in Economics |
| Cathy Connolly | Minority Leader of the Wyoming House of Representatives | M.A. (1989), J.D. (1991), Ph.D. (1992) |
| Zsolt Csenger-Zalán | Member of the National Assembly of Hungary | M.B.A (2004) |
| Daniel A. Currie | Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey | M.D. (1863) |
| Jack Davis | Industrialist and politician | B.S. in Industrial Engineering (1955) |
| Paul Dyster | Mayor of Niagara Falls, New York | B.A. (1976) |
| MaryEllen Elia | New York State Education Commissioner | |
| Eugene M. Fahey | Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals | J.D. (1984) |
| Kristina Fargo | Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives | B.S. (1985) |
| Eric E. Fiel | Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command | B.S. (1980) |
| Paul L. Friedman | Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | J.D. (1968) |
| Julio M. Fuentes | Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit | J.D. (1975) |
| Anthony H. Gioia | United States Ambassador to Malta | B.A. |
| William J. Hochul Jr. | United States Attorney for the Western District of New York | J.D. (1984) |
| Doug Hoffer | Auditor of Vermont | J.D. |
| Eugene G. Hoitt | Mayor of Marlborough, Massachusetts | Matriculated in 1881 |
| Sara Horowitz | Founder of Freelancers Union and board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York | J.D. |
| Karin Housley | Member of the Minnesota Senate | B.A. (1987) |
| Latoya Joyner | Member of the New York Assembly | J.D. |
| Ben Kallos | Member of the New York City Council | J.D. |
| Troy Kelley | Washington State Auditor | M.B.A., J.D. |
| Joseph J. Kelly | Mayor of Buffalo | J.D. (1920) |
| Carolyn Lamm | President of the American Bar Association | B.S. (1970) |
| Nicole Lee | President of TransAfrica | B.A. (2000), J.D. (2002) |
| Joseph Macmanus | Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State | |
| Sheryl Gordon McCloud | Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court | |
| Karen McMahon | Member of the New York State Assembly | |
| Rafael Rodríguez Mercado | Neurosurgeon, Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico, and Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus | |
| Donald R. Miller | New York State Assemblyman, represents the 121st district | |
| Stephanie Miner | Mayor of Syracuse and Chair of the New York Democratic Party | J.D. (1999) |
| Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed | Prime Minister of Somalia and President of Somalia | B.A. in history (1993), M.A. in American Studies (2009) |
| Frank C. Moore | Lieutenant Governor of New York | LL.B. (1923) |
| John Morgan | Wisconsin State Assemblyman | M.D. (1873) |
| Vice Admiral Robert B. Murrett | Director of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency | B.A. in history (1975) |
| Albert J. Myer | Father of the U.S. Army Signal Corps | M.D. (1851) |
| Henry J. Nowak | Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives | J.D. (1961) |
| Denise O'Donnell | United States Attorney for the Western District of New York | |
| Marc Panepinto | Member of the New York State Senate | |
| Victor M. Pichardo | Member of the New York State Assembly | B.A. |
| Jeanine Pirro | Host of the Fox News Channel legal show Justice with Judge Jeanine, author, and New York State judge, prosecutor, and politician | B.A. (1971) |
| Jack Quinn | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and president of Erie Community College | Ed.M. (1978) |
| Michael Ranzenhofer | Member of the New York State Senate | J.D. (1979) |
| Thomas Roach | Mayor of White Plains, NY | J.D. (1986) |
| Hugh B. Scott | Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of New York | |
| Virginia A. Seitz | United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice | J.D. (1985) |
| Gary L. Sharpe | Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of New York | B.A. (1971) |
| John Sinatra | Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York | B.A. (1993), J.D. (1996) |
| Michele Smith | Member of the Chicago City Council | B.A. (1976) |
| Michael A. Telesca | Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of New York | |
| Samuel Teresi | Mayor of Jamestown, New York | B.A. (1982) |
| Palanivel Thiagarajan | Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu | Ph.D. |
| Dennis Vacco | New York State Attorney General (1994–1998) | |
| Dale Volker | New York State Senator | |
| Raymond Walter | New York State Assemblyman | |
| Dave Weldon | Republican member of the United States House of Representatives | M.D. |
| Jeffrey White | Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of New York | |
| Ji Zhou | Minister of Education for the People's Republic of China (2003–2009) | M.S. (1981), Ph.D. (1984) |

### Science, technology, and engineering

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Ellen Shulman Baker | Astronaut on the Space Shuttle Atlantis and NASA medical officer | B.A. in geology (1974) |
| Erich Bloch | Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation | B.S. in Electrical Engineering |
| Allison A. Campbell | President of the American Chemical Society | Ph.D. (1991) |
| Marvin Chodorow | Physicist and member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering | B.S. (1934) |
| Bram Cohen | Creator of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer client | |
| Angelo F. Coniglio | Civil engineer, educator, genealogist and author | B.S.C.E. (1961), M.S.C.E. (1971) |
| Alexander H. Flax | Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force and Director of the National Reconnaissance Office | Ph.D. (1958) |
| Claire M. Fraser | President and Director of The Institute for Genomic Research | Ph.D. (1981) |
| Seymour Gitin | Director of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research | B.A. (1956) |
| Wilson Greatbach | Recipient of the Lemelson–MIT Prize and National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 1990 | M.S. (1957) |
| Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein | Mathematician and cryptanalyst | B.A. (1936) |
| Robert Gundlach | Inventor of the modern photocopier | B.S. in physics (1949) |
| Gregory Jarvis | NASA astronaut on the Space Shuttle Challenger | B.S. (1967) |
| Robert F. Landel | Jet Propulsion Laboratory physical chemist noted for his contribution to development of the Williams–Landel–Ferry equation | B.A. (1950), M.A. (1951) |
| Jacob A. Marinsky | Chemist and co-discoverer of the element Promethium | B.S. (1939) |
| Norman McCombs | Recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2013 | B.S. (1968) |
| Robert Pound | Experimental physicist, co-discoverer of nuclear magnetic resonance in condensed matter, carried out Pound-Rebka experiment confirming gravitational time dilation, professor and chairman of the physics department at Harvard University | B.S. in physics (1941) |
| Janet Rideout | Scientist who discovered that azidothymidine could be used treat HIV | Ph.D. (1968) |
| Cynthia Rudin | Statistician and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association | M.A. (1999) |
| Christopher Scolese | Director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Administrator of NASA, and recipient of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal | B.S. (1974) |
| Arun Sharma | Computer scientist, distinguished emeritus professor at the Queensland University of Technology | |
| Alfred P. Southwick | Steam-boat engineer, dentist, professor, credited with inventing the electric chair as a method of legal execution | |
| Nancy Temkin | Statistician and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association | Ph.D. (1976) |
| Jeffrey Umland | Chief Mechanical Engineer of NASA's InSight mission, Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Curiosity rover | B.S. (1985) and Ph.D. (1991) in Mechanical Engineering |
| Alexander Vilenkin | Theoretical physicist and developer of the Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem | Ph.D. (1977) |
| Jeffrey Wigand | First tobacco industry executive to become a major whistleblower against the industry; subject of the feature film The Insider | B.A. Chemistry, M.A. Biochemistry, Ph.D. Biochemistry |
| John Wrench | Mathematician known for his work on calculating the mathematical constant pi to 100,000 decimal places | B.A. (1933), M.A. (1935) |

### Medicine

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Frederick J. Bancroft | Surgeon and first president of Colorado's State Board of Health | M.D. (1861) |
| Edward Nathaniel Brush | Psychiatrist and hospital administrator of Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital | 1874 |
| Michael A. Caligiuri | President of City of Hope National Medical Center | |
| Sidney Farber | Pathologist regarded as the "father of modern chemotherapy" | |
| George Edward Fell | Early developer of artificial ventilation, also investigated the physiology of electrocution, created the final design for the first electric chair in New York State | |
| Wilson Greatbatch | Inventor of improved versions of the cardiac pacemaker | |
| Orvan Hess | Medical doctor noted for early use of penicillin and developing the cardiotocograph | |
| Peter Huttenlocher | Pediatric neurologist and considered to be one of the fathers of developmental cognitive neuroscience | |
| Mukesh Jain | Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences at Brown University (2022–) | B.S. (1987), M.D. (1991) |
| Jerome P. Kassirer | Nephrologist and editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine | M.D. (1957) |
| Elad Levy | Neurosurgeon that progressed the field of endovascular neurosurgery for the treatment of stroke | Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery |
| Demetrius Klee Lopes | Cerebrovascular neurosurgeon | M.D. (1995) |
| Germaine M. Buck Louis | Epidemiologist, and Dean of the George Mason University College of Health and Human Services | B.A. (1978), M.S. (1980), Ph.D. (1987) |
| Mary Blair Moody | Physician and anatomist, first woman to earn a degree from the medical school | M.D. (1876) |
| Donnica Moore | Physician and women's health advocate; author and media commentator on women's health issues | M.D. (1986) |
| Elizabeth Pierce Olmsted | First female ophthalmologist in Buffalo. Pioneer in treatments for the visually impaired. | M. D. (1939) |
| Hobart Reimann | Virologist known for research on pneumonia, periodic disease and the common cold | M.D. |
| Bruce Saran | Ophthalmologist and retina surgeon | M.D. (1988) |
| Joshua A. Siegel | Orthopaedic surgeon and fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons | M.D. |
| George W. Thorn | Physician, pioneered use of cortisone to treat Addison's disease | M.D. (1929) |

### Business

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| John Alm | CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises | |
| Pete Augustine | President and CEO of New Era Cap Company | B.S. in Accounting and Finance (1987) |
| Lucius L. Ball | Early Partner, Ball Corporation | M.D. (1889) |
| Alan Brownstein | CEO of the American Cancer Society | |
| Millard S. Drexler | Chairman of J. Crew and CEO of Gap Inc. | |
| Ian Bruce Eichner | Founder of The Continuum Company, LLC; real estate developer | |
| Vadim Fedotov | Managing director at Gazprom-Media | B.A. (2007) |
| Gregg S. Fisher | Founder of Gerstein Fisher | B.S. in Finance |
| Katherine Freund | Founder and President of ITNAmerica | B.A. (1972) |
| John Hewitt | Founder and CEO of Liberty Tax Service; co-founder of Jackson Hewitt | |
| Lap Shun Hui | Co-founder of Everex and eMachines | |
| Jeremy Jacobs | Billionaire and CEO of Delaware North Companies and owner of the Boston Bruins | B.A. in Business Administration |
| Jeff Jacobson | CEO of Xerox | B.S. in Business Administration |
| John Kapoor | Billionaire and founder of Akorn | Ph.D. |
| David Klein | CEO of Canopy Growth | M.B.A. |
| Laurent Levy | CEO of Nanobiotix | |
| Robin Yanhong Li | Billionaire and founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu.com, the most popular search engine in China | M.S. Computer Science |
| Thiru Vikram | CEO of Buffalo Automation | |
| Mindy Lubber | President of Ceres | M.B.A. |
| Kevin P. Maloney | Founding Partner of Property Markets Group | |
| Robert E. Rich, Sr. | Founder of Rich Products Corporation | |
| Chris Sacca | #3 Venture Capitalist LOWERCASE Capital | Coursework in mathematics |
| Paul Snyder | Founder of Freezer Queen and owner of the Buffalo Braves | |
| Bob Swan | CEO of Intel | B.S. in Business Administration |
| Christopher Thornberg | Founding Partner and CEO of Beacon Economics, LLC | B.S. in Business Administration (1989) |
| Donato Tramuto | CEO of Tivity Health | |
| Linda J. Wachner | CEO of Warnaco Group | B.A. (1966) |

### News

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Howard Arenstein | Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist for CBS | |
| Wolf Blitzer | Emmy Award-winning journalist for CNN | B.A. in history (1970) |
| Liz Dribben | Buffalo's first woman TV anchor at WKBW-TV, CBS News producer | B.A. (1958) |
| Greg D'Alba | President of CNN News Networks | B.A. (1981) |
| Ira Flatow | Emmy Award-winning science journalist; host of Newton's Apple; current host of NPR's Science Friday | |
| Terry Gross | Peabody Award-winning host of the radio interview program Fresh Air | |
| Sharon A. Hill | Founder of Doubtful News and contributor to The Huffington Post | M.A. (2010) |
| Howard Kurtz | Media reporter and columnist at the Washington Post | B.A. in Psychology and English (1974) |
| Steve Liesman | Emmy Award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner; CNBC Senior Economics Reporter | |
| Tom Toles | Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Washington Post | |
| Hena Doba | TV anchor for Cheddar and formerly CBS, known for "The National Desk with Hena Doba" | B.A. in Psychology and English (2002) |
| Nick Gillespie | Editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and editor-in-chief of Reason magazine | Ph.D. in English Literature |

### Art, Film, theatre, and television

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Melvin Bernhardt | Tony Award winning director | |
| Evan King | Bagpipe Champion | Doctor of Physical Therapy |
| Ellen Carey | Artist known for conceptual photography | M.F.A. (1978) |
| Maury Chaykin | Actor | B.F.A. in Theatre (1972) |
| Matthew Cooper | Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Trans-Media Sports Coverage - Rio Olympics 2016 NBC Sports, Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Interactive Experience - Tokyo Olympics 2021 NBC Sports | B.A. in Media Studies (2014) |
| Jesse Cox | YouTuber | B.A. |
| Thomas Curley | 2015 Academy Award winner for Best Achievement in Sound Mixing | B.A. in Film Studies (2001) |
| Allan D'Arcangelo | American artist | B.A. in history (1953) |
| Winston Duke | Actor known for portraying M'Baku in Black Panther | B.A. (2008) |
| James Foley | Director of House of Cards | B.A. in psychology (1974) |
| Shep Gordon | Hollywood film agent and producer; featured in the 2014 documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon | B.A. in sociology (1968) |
| Brad Grey | Golden Globe winner; television and film producer; CEO of Paramount Pictures | B.A. in Communication and Business (1979) |
| Max Grodénchik | Television and film actor | |
| Fred Hembeck | Cartoonist | B.A. (1975) |
| Keith Hughes | YouTuber | M.A. (2006) |
| Sylvia Lark | Seneca painter, printmaker | B.A. (1969) |
| Robert Lieberman | Director of Fire in the Sky and Table for Five | |
| Abbe Raven | Chairwoman and CEO and president of A&E Television Networks, founder of The History Channel | B.A. in theatre (1974) |
| Alberto Rey | Artist | M.F.A. (1987) |
| Peter Riegert | Academy and Emmy award nominated actor, screenwriter and film director | |
| Parry Shen | Chinese American actor | |
| Cindy Sherman | American artist known for Untitled Film Stills | B.A. (1976) |
| Ron Silver | Tony Award winning Actor and political activist | |
| Ellen Spiro | Documentary filmmaker; Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellow | |
| Victoria Siemer | Graphic artist, designer | B.F.A in Communication Design |
| Anne Turyn | American photographer | M.F.A. |
| Roy Vongtama | Actor; board-certified radiation oncologist | M.D. (2000) |
| John Walsh | Host of America's Most Wanted | 1965 |
| Harvey Weinstein | Film producer; Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases; Weinstein effect | |
| Bil Zelman | Photographer and director | B.F.A. (1996) |
| Alan Zweibel | Comedy writer, multiple Emmy Award winner, and one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live | |

### Academia

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Paula Allen-Meares | Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago | |
| Mary Anne Bobinski | Dean of the Emory University School of Law | B.A., J.D. |
| Zhijian James Chen | Member of the National Academy of Sciences | Ph.D. in biochemistry (1991) |
| Soonja Choi | Linguist and member of the Academia Europaea | Ph.D. in linguistics (1986) |
| Steven A. Cohen | Executive Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University | Ph.D. and M.A. |
| Marc Edwards | Expert on water treatment and corrosion, professor at Virginia Tech, and MacArthur Fellow | B.A. |
| U. B. Desai | Founding Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad | M.S. (1976) |
| Karen Halbersleben | President of Northland College | Ph.D. in history (1987) |
| Mark Huddleston | President of the University of New Hampshire | B.A. in Political Science (1972) |
| Kay Johnson-Gentile | Professor at Buffalo State University | Ph.D. in Elementary Education |
| Sung-Mo Kang | President of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology | M.S. in Electrical Engineering (1972) |
| 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 (1972) |
| Brian Levin-Stankevich | President of Westminster College; Chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire | |
| William M. London | Professor of public health and consumer advocate | Ed.M., Ed.D. |
| Elmira Mangum | President of Florida A&M University | Ph.D. |
| C. L. Max Nikias | President of the University of Southern California | M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering |
| A. Kenneth Pye | President of Southern Methodist University | B.A. |
| William J. Rapaport | Researcher on intentionality and artificial intelligence, professor at UB | M.S. in Computer Science (1984) |
| Blair A. Rudes | Linguist known for his work on Native American languages | B.A. (1973), M.A. (1974), Ph.D. in linguistics (1976) |
| Wilfrid Sellars | Philosopher | M.A. (1934) |
| Richard D. Schafer | Mathematician and Fellow of the American Mathematical Society | |
| Murat Soygeniş | Architect and professor, Founding Principal, S+ ARCHITECTURE | M. Arch. (1985) |
| Robert E. Wright | Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana University | M.A. and Ph.D. in History |
| Ewa Ziarek | Julian Park Professor of Comparative Literature at UB | Ph.D. and M.A. |

### Literature

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Charles Baxter | Author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; Guggenheim Fellow | |
| Bob Budiansky | Comic book writer, The Transformers | |
| Taylor Caldwell | Anglo-American novelist | B.A. in English (1931) |
| Mary Cappello | Guggenheim Fellow and Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Rhode Island | M.A., Ph.D. |
| Doris Davenport | Writer, educator, and literary and performance poet | M.A. |
| Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson | Writer on subjects related to architecture, design, culture, and the built environment | B.A. |
| Graham Foust | Poet and associate professor at Saint Mary's College of California | Ph.D. (2002) |
| Richard Hofstadter | Pulitzer Prize-winning historian; author of Anti-intellectualism in American Life and The Age of Reform | B.A. |
| Michael Kelleher | Poet; program director of the Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes at Yale University | M.A. in English (Poetics) (2001) |
| Anthony Petrosky | Poet and 1982 Walt Whitman Award winner | |
| Donald Revell | Poet, essayist, translator, Guggenheim Fellow, and 2004 Lenore Marshall Award winner | |
| Merlin Stone | Author of When God Was a Woman | B.S. (1958) |
| Elizabeth Willis | Poet, literary critic, and Guggenheim Fellow | |

### Music

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Laura Aikin | Operatic coloratura soprano | |
| 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. | |
| 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 | |
| Jonathan Donahue | Lead singer and co-founder of Mercury Rev | B.A. in English (1988) |
| Morton Feldman | Composer and Edgard Varèse Professor of Music | |
| Chuck Garvey | Guitarist, lyricist and founding member of the Buffalo-based jam-band moe. | |
| Grasshopper | Co-founder of Mercury Rev | B.A. in Media Studies (1988) |
| Gerry Niewood | Versatile Jazz Saxophonist. Performed with Chuck Mangione, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and others. His compositions were recorded by Mangione, Lena Horne, Rare Silk and others. | B.A. in International Business (1965) |
| Willie Nile, aka Robert Noonan | Singer, songwriter | B.A. in philosophy (1971) |
| Valerian Ruminski | Award-winning bass singer | Bachelor of Music (1995) |
| Elliott Sharp | Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer | M.A. in Music Theory and Composition (1977) |

### Sports and athletics

| Name | Known for | Relationship to University at Buffalo |
| Jonathan Akpoborie | Nigerian soccer player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's soccer team |
| Eddie Basinski | Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher (1944–1945, 1947) | Played tennis and ran cross country for the Buffalo Bulls |
| Turner Battle | Basketball player and coach | B.A. (2006); member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Nick Bremigan | MLB umpire | Member of the Buffalo Bulls baseball team |
| George Whitney Calhoun | Football and hockey player, co-founder of the Green Bay Packers | |
| Louis Campbell | Basketball player, French Basketball Cup MVP | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Meili Carpenter | High diver | B.S. (2010); member of the Buffalo Bulls diving team |
| Russell Cicerone | Professional soccer player | B.S. (2017); member of the Buffalo Bulls men's soccer team |
| Patrick Clarke | Arena football kicker for several teams | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Marc Julian Copani | Professional wrestler, World Wrestling Entertainment | |
| Modie Cox | Professional basketball player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Sam Craven | English soccer player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's soccer team |
| Richard Deitsch | Sportswriter and radio host | |
| Cierra Dillard | Basketball player drafted by the Minnesota Lynx | Member of the Buffalo Bulls women's basketball team |
| Jim Drucker | Commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association, Commissioner of the Arena Football League (AFL), founder of NewKadia.com | B.A. (1973), Business Manager of The Spectrum, Play-by-Play Announcer Buffalo Bulls hockey on WBFO radio |
| Steve Geltz | MLB pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays | B.A. (2008); member of the Buffalo Bulls baseball team |
| James Gordon | AFL tight end | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Desmond Green | MAC champion wrestler; professional mixed martial artist | Member of the Buffalo Bulls wrestling team |
| Drew Haddad | National Football League (NFL) wide receiver | B.A. (2000); member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Dave Hahn | Professional mountain guide, ski patroller, journalist and lecturer | B.A. (1984) |
| Demone Harris | NFL linebacker | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Joe Hesketh | MLB pitcher (1984–1994) | B.A. (1980); member of the Buffalo Bulls baseball team |
| Adrian Hill | Official for the NFL | |
| Ezekiel Jackson | Professional wrestler, World Wrestling Entertainment | |
| Tyree Jackson | Professional football quarterback and tight end | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Anthony Johnson | Football player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Chris Kanyon | Professional wrestler in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment | B.S. in Physical Therapy |
| Tim Kenney | Director of Athletics, St. Bonaventure University | Member of the Buffalo Bulls swimming team |
| Malcolm Koonce | NFL defensive end | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Cam Lewis | NFL cornerback | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Khalil Mack | NFL linebacker and defensive end, 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year | B.A. (2014); member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| C. J. Massinburg | Professional basketball player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Javon McCrea | Professional basketball player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Liam McHugh | Studio host for the NBC Sports Network | B.A. in communication (1997) |
| Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe | Olympic basketball player for New Zealand | Member of the Buffalo Bulls women's basketball team |
| Jim McNally | College football and NFL coach | Player and coach for the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Steven Means | NFL defensive end | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Tom Murphy | MLB catcher | B.A. (2012); member of the Buffalo Bulls baseball team |
| Matvey Natanzon | Backgammon player | B.A. in accounting (1991) |
| Branden Oliver | NFL running back for the San Diego Chargers | B.A. in sociology (2015); member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Dominic Oppong | Canadian soccer player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's soccer team |
| Jaret Patterson | NFL running back | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Sam Pellom | National Basketball Association (NBA) forward | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Nick Perkins | Professional basketball player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Gerry Philbin | Professional football player in the NFL, American Football League and World Football League (WFL) | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Brent Pry | Virginia Tech head football coach | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| E. Greenard Poles | Canadian Football League (CFL) linebacker | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Frank Reid | CFL defensive tackle | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Stephanie Reid | Women's National Basketball League player | Member of the Buffalo Bulls women's basketball team |
| Jamey Richard | NFL center | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Matt Rhule | Head coach of the Carolina Panthers | M.Ed. (2003); Defensive line coach of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Naaman Roosevelt | NFL and CFL wide receiver | B.A. in sociology (2022); member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Mason Schreck | NFL tight end | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Jake Schum | Professional football punter | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Trevor Scott | Professional football defensive end | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Kristjan Sokoli | NFL defensive end, first Albanian-born player in NFL history | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| James Starks | Running back for the Green Bay Packers | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| John Stofa | Professional football quarterback in the NFL and WFL | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Josh Thomas | NFL cornerback | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |
| Mitchell Watt | Professional basketball player | B.A. (2012); member of the Buffalo Bulls men's basketball team |
| Drew Willy | NFL and CFL quarterback | Member of the Buffalo Bulls football team |

## 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.
* 1846–1874: Millard Fillmore; 13th President of the United States and 12th Vice President of the United States
* 1882–1884: Orsamus H. Marshall
* 1885–1895: E. Carleton Sprague
* 1895–1902: James O. Putnam; New York State Senator and Postmaster General of Buffalo
* 1902–1903: Wilson S. Bissell; 36th United States Postmaster General
* 1905–1920: Charles Phelps Norton
* 1922–1950: Samuel P. Capen; former Director of the American Council on Education.
* 1950–1954: T. R. McConnell; former University of Minnesota Dean of the College of Sciences, Literature, and Arts.
* 1954–1966: Clifford C. Furnas; former Assistant Secretary of Defense for the United States.
* 1955–1957: Claude E. Puffer (acting)
* 1966–1970: Martin Meyerson; Interim Chancellor for the University of California Berkeley, President of the University of Pennsylvania
* 1970–1982: Robert L. Ketter
* 1982–1991: Steven Sample; 10th President of the University of Southern California
* 1991–2004: Bill Greiner
* 2004–2011: John B. Simpson; former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington
* 2011–present: Satish K. Tripathi