# List of Connecticut College alumni

This is a list of notable alumni of Connecticut College.

## Literature and poetry

* Michael Collier ('76): Poet Laureate of Maryland, 2001–2004; Director of The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College
* Dobby Gibson ('93): poet
* Aracelis Girmay ('99): poet
* Cecelia Holland ('65): novelist
* Gayl Jones ('72): novelist, poet, playwright
* William Lychack ('88): novelist
* Luanne Rice ('77): novelist

## Authors and writers

* Sloane Crosley ('00): best-selling author; essayist; publicist with Vintage Books
* David Grann ('89): journalist and best-selling and staff writer at The New Yorker
* Joshua Green ('94): senior national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek and a weekly columnist for the Boston Globe
* Jazmine Hughes ('12): writer and editor; currently a story editor at The New York Times Magazine
* Nan Kempner ('52): socialite, contributing editor of Vogue
* Elizabeth Peer ('57): journalist; first female foreign bureau chief at Newsweek
* A. B. Stoddard ('89): journalist, political commentator, associate editor of The Hill

## Academia

* Edward Burger ('85): professor of mathematics, Williams College
* Martha Chen: lecturer in public policy, Harvard Kennedy School
* Cynthia Enloe ('60): research professor of international relations and women's studies, Clark University
* Haden Guest ('93): Director of the Harvard Film Archive, and lecturer at Harvard University
* David Haussler ('75): professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, member of National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* Roxanne Johnson: chemist working at United States Environmental Protection Agency
* Mark Samuels Lasner: Senior Research Fellow at the University of Delaware
* Shelley Taylor ('68): social psychologist, pioneer in health psychology, winner of Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from APA
* Ellen Vitetta ('64): Director, Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center National Acad. Sciences; Institute of Medicine; American Acad. Arts and Sciences

## Design, art, and art history

* Agnes Gund: philanthropist, art patron and collector, advocate for arts education
* Christine Y. Kim: associate curator of contemporary art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; former associate curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem
* Peter Som ('93): fashion designer, winner of the 2002 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation prize
* Marcia Tucker: first female curator of the Whitney Museum; founding director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art

## Television and radio

* H. Jon Benjamin ('88): actor, comedian and writer best known for his voice-over roles
* Molly Cheek ('73): It's Garry Shandling's Show
* Lee Eisenberg ('99): writer and producer for The Office and the film Year One
* Chris Gifford ('81): co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning children's series Dora the Explorer
* Scott Lowell: actor, Queer as Folk
* Leland Orser ('82): actor
* Christof Putzel ('01): award-winning journalist and correspondent for Al Jazeera America
* Joan Rivers: actress, comedian; attended CC briefly, then transferred to Barnard College
* Susan Saint James: actress, Kate & Allie; attended CC, did not graduate
* Sam Seder: writer, actor, political commentator, radio host on Air America
* Alec Sulkin ('95): writer and executive producer on Family Guy, The Orville and the 85th Academy Awards
* Wellesley Wild ('94): writer and executive producer on Family Guy, The Orville and the 85th Academy Awards

## Film, theater and dance

* Chrystelle Trump Bond: dancer, choreographer, author, and dance historian
* Ted Chapin ('72): president and executive director, Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization
* Charles Chun ('90): actor; has appeared in Criminal Minds, Scrubs, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and How I Met Your Mother
* David Dorfman (MFA '81): Professor of Dance, chair of Dance Department, choreographer of modern dance
* Sean Fine ('96): winner of Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for Inocente; director of Academy Award-nominated feature documentary War/Dance
* Jeffrey Finn ('92): Broadway producer, nominated for 2005 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for On Golden Pond
* Judy Irving ('68): Emmy Award and Sundance-winning filmmaker
* Raja Feather Kelly ('09): dancer and choreographer and serves as the artistic director of the New Brooklyn Theatre
* Leland Orser ('82): actor and director known for Taken, Taken 2 and Se7en
* Estelle Parsons ('49): stage, film, and television actor; winner of 1967 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Bonnie and Clyde
* Kevin Wade ('76): screenwriter, Working Girl, Meet Joe Black

## National Theater Institute alumni (accredited by Connecticut College)

* Greg Allen
* Emily Bergl
* Adam Bock (The Receptionist)
* Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue)
* Jack Coleman (Heroes)
* Rachel Dratch (SNL)
* Chris Elliott (SNL)
* Paul Hodes
* Kristina Klebe
* John Krasinski (The Office)
* Jeremy Piven (Grosse Point Blank, PCU)
* Michael Portnoy
* Sam Robards
* Kate Robin (Six Feet Under)
* Mark Teschner

## Music

* Sean Greenhalgh ('01): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
* Robbie Guertin ('02): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
* Vance Gilbert ('79): singer-songwriter, folk musician
* Chris Harford: singer, songwriter
* Alec Ounsworth ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
* Lee Sargent ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
* Tyler Sargent ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
* Henrik Takkenberg ('90): musician, songwriter, producer

## Government, law and public policy

* Debo Adegbile ('91): lawyer in private practice who also serves as a Commissioner for the United States Civil Rights Commission
* Esther Batchelder (1919): nutritionist, home economist, head of Food and Nutrition division of the US Department of Agriculture
* Helen Lehman Buttenwieser ('27): lawyer, member of Lehman family
* Nina F. Elgo ('84): Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court
* Marie L. Garibaldi ('56): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
* Catherine Gregg: philanthropist and First Lady of New Hampshire (1953–1955)
* Mary Ann Handley: Connecticut State Senator
* Dorcas Hardy ('68): Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
* Joanne Head: New Hampshire State Representative
* Bruce Hoffman ('76): Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency, Director of the RAND Corporation's Washington Office, professor at Georgetown University
* Jay Hooper ('16): Vermont State Representative
* Joan R. Kemler ('47): first woman to serve as Connecticut State Treasurer (1986–87)
* Suzi Oppenheimer ('56): New York State Senator
* Erik Raven ('96), United States Under Secretary of the Navy
* Sean Spicer ('93): 30th White House Press Secretary
* Jay Stamper ('95): Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from South Carolina
* Susan Thomases ('65): attorney, presidential adviser
* Patricia McGowan Wald ('48): U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia judge; member of International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; member of the Iraq Intelligence Commission
* Kimba Wood ('66): federal judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

## Business

* Tim Armstrong ('93): CEO of America Online (AOL); former Google Inc. Vice President, Advertising Sales
* Ethan Brown (?): CEO of Beyond Meat
* Alice Rogoff: former wife of David Rubenstein

## Athletics

* Anita DeFrantz ('74): former Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, member of bronze medal U.S. women's eight-oared shell, 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics
* Jim Gabarra ('82): Olympic soccer player
* Jeff Idelson ('86): current director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
* AJ Marcucci ('21): professional soccer player for New York Red Bulls
* Jan Merrill ('79): Olympic long-distance runner
* Rand Pecknold ('90): current head coach of the Quinnipiac University Men's Ice Hockey team
* Tim Young ('92): Olympic silver medalist in quadruple sculling
* Maggie Shea ('11): Olympic sailor

## Other notable people associated with Connecticut College

* Blanche Boyd: Professor of English and Writing
* Pauline Hamilton Dederer: Professor of Biology
* Edward Harkness: Conn College benefactor, Standard Oil heir and advocate of the Harkness Table method
* Barkley Hendricks: Professor of Art
* Carl Kimmons ('73): US Navy officer; first person to rise through the Navy's ranks from mess attendant to commissioned officer
* Lillian Rosanoff Lieber: mathematician and author
* William Meredith: winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and Professor of English at the college, 1955–1983
* William Wuyke: former Venezuelan Olympian; strength and conditioning coach

## Presidents

* Frederick Henry Sykes: President, 1913–1917
* Benjamin T. Marshall: President, 1917–1928
* Katherine Blunt: President, 1929–1943, 1945–1946
* Dorothy Schafer: President, 1943–1945
* Rosemary Park: President, 1947–1962
* Charles E. Shain: President, 1962–1974
* Oakes Ames: President, 1974–1988
* Claire L. Gaudiani: President, 1988–2001
* David K. Lewis: Interim President, 2001
* Norman Fainstein: President, 2001–2006
* Leo Higdon: President, 2006–2013
* Katherine Bergeron: President, 2014–2023
* Leslie Wong: Interim President, 2023–2024
* Andrea Chapdelaine: President, 2024–present