# List of University of Tennessee people

The following is a list of people associated with the University of Tennessee system in all its campuses. The list does not include personnel associated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

## Politics and law

* Lamar Alexander, former Tennessee Governor, UT President and former US Senator
* Ali Abu Al-Ragheb, former Prime Minister of Jordan
* Victor Ashe, U.S. ambassador to Poland, former mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee
* John DeWitt Clinton Atkins, member of House of Representatives
* Richard W. Austin, member of House of Representatives
* Howard Baker, Ambassador and former Senate Majority Leader
* Howard Baker Sr., member of House of Representatives
* William M. Barker, Chief Justice to Tennessee Supreme Court
* George White Baxter, Governor of Wyoming territory
* Ray Blanton, Governor of Tennessee, member of House of Representatives
* Marion Speed Boyd, former U.S. district and Chief judge for Tennessee
* John Lafayette Camp, politician and Civil War veteran
* William H. Cate, former U.S. Congressman from Arkansas
* Brett Carter, U.S. House of Representatives candidate
* Saxby Chambliss, U.S. Senator
* Walter Chandler, former mayor of Memphis, Tennessee
* Clement Comer Clay, former Governor of Alabama
* Bob Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga; U.S. Senator
* John Hervey Crozier, member of House of Representatives
* Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., former White House Counsel
* Lincoln Davis, member of House of Representatives
* Jim DeMint, South Carolina U.S. Senator
* M. Jerome Diamond, Vermont Attorney General, 1975–1981
* Lurita Doan, former Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration
* Jimmy Duncan, member of House of Representatives
* John Duncan Sr., member of House of Representative
* Winfield Dunn, former Governor of Tennessee
* Charlene Fite, Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Crawford County, Arkansas
* James B. Frazier, former Governor of Tennessee and U.S. Senator
* Richard Fulton, former Tennessee state senator, US Congressman, mayor of metropolitan Nashville
* Bart Gordon, member of House of Representatives
* Al Gore Jr., former Vice President of the United States, US Congressman, US Senator, professor, and environmentalist, recipient of honorary doctorate, 2010
* Albert Gore Sr., member of House of Representatives and U.S. Senator
* Bill Hendon, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Van Hilleary, U. S. Congressman
* John C. Houk, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Thomas G. Hull, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Amadou Scattred Janneh, former Secretary of State for Communication, Information and Technology, from The Gambia
* Ray Jenkins, Senate counsel during the Army-McCarthy Hearings
* William L. Jenkins, member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Ed Jones, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Jim Justice, Governor of West Virginia
* Joel A. Katz, entertainment lawyer (UT College of Law)
* Estes Kefauver, former U.S. Senator
* Arthur Larson, politician
* Guy A. Lewis, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
* Dan Lipinski, U.S. Congressman (D-IL) and former professor
* William Gibbs McAdoo, former United States Secretary of the Treasury
* John E. McCall, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Jimmy Naifeh, Speaker of the House, Tennessee House of Representatives
* John Randolph Neal Jr., Scopes Trial attorney
* Thomas Amos Rogers Nelson, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* George W. Ochs, former Mayor of Chattanooga
* Michael C. Polt, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia
* Percy Priest, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
* Bob Ramsey (born 1947), Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
* Glenn Reynolds, UT law professor and author of the Instapundit political weblog
* Mercer Reynolds, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland
* Madeline Rogero, first female mayor of Knoxville
* Kenneth Rush, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany
* Edward Terry Sanford, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice
* Jim Sasser, former U.S. Senator
* Ronald L. Schlicher, former U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus
* Margaret Scobey, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and Egypt
* Heath Shuler, U.S. Representative from North Carolina; former NFL player
* William P. Sims, Arizona state senator
* William Pruden Smith, former mayor, Miami
* Paul Summers, former Attorney General of State of Tennessee
* John S. Tanner, member of House of Representatives
* Deborah Tate, United States Federal Communications Commission Commissioner
* George Caldwell Taylor, former U.S. district judge
* Lawrence Tyson, former U.S. Senator
* Gary R. Wade, Tennessee Supreme Court appointee, as of 2006
* Herbert S. Walters, former U.S. Senator
* Zach Wamp, member of House of Representatives
* Allen West, U.S. Representative from Florida
* Washington C. Whitthorne, former U.S. Senator
* Laura I. Wiley, former member of the North Carolina General Assembly; current member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors
* Paul Young, mayor of Memphis, Tennessee

## Education

* Edward L. Ayers, former President of the University of Richmond
* Guy Bailey, 15th President of Texas Tech University; President of the University of Alabama
* Philander P. Claxton Sr., founder of the UT Department of Education and U.S. commissioner of education, 1911–1921
* Bob Clement, President of Cumberland University and politician
* Bryan Coker, 12th President of Maryville College
* Margaret Cuninggim, former Dean of Women at the University of Tennessee
* David L. Eubanks, former President of Johnson Bible College
* John Gaventa, political sociologist
* Lee Giles, computer scientist, CiteSeer, David Reese Professor at the Pennsylvania State University
* John Rice Irwin, historian, founder of Museum of Appalachia
* Annie Kennedy, first member of the faculty elected at the Alabama Girls' Industrial School (now, University of Montevallo)
* Joe L. Kincheloe (1950–2008), professor and Canada Research Chair at the Faculty of Education, McGill University in Montreal; founder of The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy; author of more than 45 books and more than one hundred journal articles on issues including critical pedagogy, educational research, urban studies, cognition, curriculum, and cultural studies
* William Allen Montgomery (1829–1905), graduated in 1850; lawyer, planter, Confederate chaplain and Baptist minister; President of Carson–Newman University from 1888 to 1892
* John Thomas Mentzer (~1951–2010), marketing and supply chain scholar
* F. Ann Millner, 11th President of Weber State University
* Velma McBride Murry, psychologist and sociologist at Vanderbilt University
* Shirley Raines, 12th President of University of Memphis
* Linwood H. Rose, 5th President of James Madison University
* Stephen Wallace Taylor, historian and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Macon State College
* W. I. Thomas, sociologist
* Bernie L. Wade, Chancellor, International Circle of Faith Colleges and Seminaries
* Nelson W. Winbush, schoolteacher, assistant principal, and Neo-Confederate activist

## Actors, directors, and entertainers

* Clarence Brown, Academy Award-nominated film director
* Dixie Carter, actress
* Henry Cho, comedian
* John Cullum, actor and singer
* James Denton, actor, Desperate Housewives
* Dale Dickey, actress
* James Dobson actor
* Melanie Hutsell, comedian, actress
* David Keith, actor and director
* Logan Marshall-Green, actor, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Upgrade
* Park Overall, actress
* Constance Shulman, voice-over artist, actress
* Leanne Morgan, comedian, actress and author

## Artists and musicians

* Jeff Baxter, Nike designer
* Deana Carter, country music singer and songwriter
* Ashley Cleveland, gospel singer
* James Denton, actor
* The Dirty Guv'nahs, rock band
* Thomas Fulton, opera conductor
* Drew Holcomb, singer and songwriter
* Ellie Holcomb, singer and songwriter
* Anna Maria Horner, fabric designer and textile artist
* Byron McKeeby, artist
* Wardell Milan, artist
* Lewis Cosby, bass player, 10 Years
* John Howell Morrison, composer
* Bobby Ogdin – recording studio pianist, member of Elvis Presley's TCB Band
* Park Overall, actress
* Dolly Parton, country music singer, recipient of honorary doctorate, 2009
* Cheryl Lynn Studer, opera soprano
* Carl Sublett, painter
* Pam Tillis, country music singer
* Gil Trythall, composer and pianist
* Richard Aaker Trythall, composer and pianist
* Keith Wallen, singer and songwriter, Breaking Benjamin
* Sarah Webb, artist
* Delores Ziegler, opera singer

## Authors

* Carol Aebersold, originator and author of Elf on the Shelf
* Travis Beacham, screenwriter
* Lowell Cunningham, comic book writer
* Owen Davis, playwright
* Bruce Foster, paper engineer, pop-up children's books creator
* Chris Grabenstein, author
* Alex Haley, novelist, biographer and essayist
* May Justus, author of children's books
* Joseph Wood Krutch, novelist, critic and naturalist
* Richard Marius, novelist, scholar and speechwriter
* Cormac McCarthy, novelist
* John C. McManus, PhD, military historian and professor of military history
* Dave Ramsey, financial guru, author, and host of The Ramsey Show
* Brad Vice, short story writer
* Kurt Vonnegut, writer
* Allen Wier, fiction writer and scholar
* William Garrett Wright, poet

## Business and economy

* Charles Scott Abbott, one of the two originators of Trivial Pursuit
* Claudia Brind-Woody, IBM executive
* James Clayton, President and CEO of Clayton Homes
* Michael T. Dugan, educator and accounting scholar
* Charlie Ergen, CEO of Echostar
* James Haslam Jr., founder and CEO of Pilot Corporation
* Charles O. Holliday, Chairman of Bank of America and Former Chairman of DuPont
* Thomas M. Humphrey, economist and author
* Min Kao, CEO and founder of Garmin
* Frank Knight, economist
* Godwin Maduka, doctor and philanthropist
* Charles McClung McGhee, late 19th-century Knoxville railroad magnate and financier
* Abdisalam Omer, Governor of the Central Bank of Somalia
* Rex Repass, US-based public opinion and marketing research executive
* Jerry Sisk Jr., gemologist and television executive, co-founded Jewelry Television in 1993
* Donnie Smith, CEO of Tyson Foods
* Chris Whittle, founder of Whittle Communications and Edison Schools

## Military

* Burwell B. Bell III, U.S. Army Commander
* Robert Emmet Callan, major general in the U.S. Army and assistant chief of staff in the War Department, 1931–1935
* Clifton B. Cates, aide to President Woodrow Wilson and later Commandant of the Marine Corps
* Thomas A. Davis, Captain of Spanish–American War
* Norman C. Gaddis, former Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force
* Robert C. Hinson, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of United States Strategic Command
* Bruce K. Holloway, military commander of Allied Forces
* Ridley McLean, rear admiral in the U.S. Navy; wrote the Bluejacket's Manual, which is still used to teach naval recruits the basics of seamanship
* Spurgeon Neel, major general, pioneer in aeromedical evacuation
* Austin C. Shofner, World War II U.S. general
* Maurice F. Weisner, former Pacific Fleet Admiral

## Athletics and sportscasters

* Monica Abbott, former NPF pitcher for the Washington Glory, Olympian (2008)
* Kyle Alexander (born 1996), basketball player for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Chris Daw, Paralympic gold medalist
* Pete Athas, former NFL player
* Bill Bates, former NFL Pro Bowl safety
* Bianca Belair (born Bianca Blair), professional wrestler in WWE
* Buddy Bolding, former head baseball coach at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia
* Dick Bowers, former athletic director for the University of South Florida
* Chris Burke, retired Major League Baseball player
* Kevin Burnett, former NFL player
* Ray Bussard, Hall of Fame and Olympic swimming coach, 1968–1989
* Tamika Catchings, former WNBA player, two-time Olympian (2004, 2008)
* Joey Clinkscales, professional football wide receiver, scout, and executive
* Alan Cockrell, former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach
* Denny Crawford, professional football guard
* Jonathan Crompton, NFL free agent quarterback
* Antone Davis, former National Football League offensive lineman
* Doug Dickey, College Football Hall of Fame head coach at the University of Tennessee (1964–1969) and the University of Florida (1970–1978); athletic director at Tennessee (1985–2002)
* R. A. Dickey, professional baseball pitcher
* Bobby Dodd, college football coach and athletic director at Georgia Tech
* Dale Ellis, former NBA player
* Beattie Feathers, former NFL player; collegiate football and baseball coach
* Paul Finebaum, radio host and journalist
* Cory Fleming, former NFL wide receiver
* Richmond Flowers, former NFL player
* Arian Foster, former NFL running back
* Phillip Fulmer, head coach of Tennessee Volunteers football team (1992–2008)
* Harry Galbreath, former National Football League offensive lineman
* Charlie Garner, NFL running back
* Phil Garner, former Major League Baseball player and manager
* Justin Gatlin, 2004 Summer Olympics 100m gold medalist
* Willie Gault, former NFL wide receiver
* Bobby Gordon, football player
* Sam Graddy, 1984 Summer Olympics 100m silver medalist and 4 × 100 m gold medalist
* Ray Graves, former NFL player; University of Florida head football coach (1960–1969) and athletic director (1960–1979); College Football Hall of Fame (1990)
* Ernie Grunfeld, former NBA player and current president of basketball operations, Washington Wizards
* Travis Haney, college football writer for ESPN Insider
* Alvin Harper, former NFL wide receiver
* Dee Haslam, businesswoman and co-owner of the Cleveland Browns
* Jimmy Haslam, co-owner of the Cleveland Browns
* Albert Haynesworth, NFL defensive tackle
* Todd Helton, Hall of Fame Major League Baseball first baseman for the Colorado Rockies
* Luke Hochevar, professional baseball player
* Chamique Holdsclaw, former WNBA player, Olympian (2000)
* Rick Honeycutt, former Major League Baseball player and current pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers
* Allan Houston, former NBA shooting guard
* Luke Hudson, former MLB pitcher
* Rickea Jackson, WNBA small forward, Los Angeles Sparks
* Austin Johnson, former NFL player
* Dale Jones, former NFL player and current assistant coach at Appalachian State
* Lars Jorgensen (born 1970), swimmer and college coach
* Steve Kiner, former NFL player, College Football Hall of Fame inductee
* Bernard King, former NBA player
* Kara Lawson, WNBA player, Olympian (2008), ESPN analyst
* Jamal Lewis, NFL running back
* Jeremy Linn, swimmer, won one gold and one silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia
* Christine Magnuson, swimmer, won two silver medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China
* Johnny Majors, College Football Hall of Fame 1987, Heisman Trophy runner-up (1956); head football coach at Iowa State University (1968–1972), University of Pittsburgh (1973–1976) and the University of Tennessee (1977–1992)
* Peyton Manning,(Class of 1997) NFL quarterback
* Tee Martin, former NFL quarterback
* Steve Matthews, former NFL quarterback
* Jeronne Maymon (born 1991), basketball player for Hapoel Eilat B.C. of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Bill Mayo, All-American
* Jacques McClendon, NFL offensive lineman
* Tim McGee, NFL receiver
* Ross McGowan, professional golfer
* Greg McMichael, former Major League Baseball player
* Charles McRae, former National Football League offensive lineman
* Jordan McRae (born 1991), basketball player for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Aries Merritt, 2012 Summer Olympics 110m hurdles gold medalist
* Anthony Miller, former NFL pro Bowl wide receiver
* Mike Miller, NFL player
* Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event winner
* Tom Myslinski, former NFL center
* Kevin Nash, former professional wrestler and UT basketball player
* Lindsey Nelson, sportscaster
* Augie Ojeda, Major League Baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks
* Candace Parker, WNBA player, Olympian (2008)
* Woody Paige, sports analyst for The Denver Post and ESPN's Around the Horn
* Bruce Pearl, former men's head basketball coach
* Buzz Peterson, former men's head basketball coach
* Carl Pickens, former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver
* Peerless Price, former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver
* Semeka Randall, former WNBA player
* Josh Richardson, professional basketball player, currently plays for the Miami Heat
* Mychal Rivera, tight end; brother of Glee actress Naya Rivera
* Pat Ryan, former NFL player
* Ovince St. Preux, collegiate football defensive end and linebacker; professional mixed martial artist, formerly with Strikeforce and currently with the UFC
* Mike Smithson, former MLB pitcher
* Robert Shaw, former NFL center
* Michelle Snow, former WNBA player
* Donté Stallworth, NFL WR
* Drew Steckenrider, professional baseball pitcher
* Melvin Stewart, swimmer, won two gold medals and one bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain
* Pat Summitt, former women's basketball head coach (1974–2012); member of Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Halls of Fame; Olympian (1976); head coach for the 1984 Olympic women's basketball team that won gold
* Tyler Summitt, Pat's son and former women's basketball program head coach at Louisiana Tech
* Lenny Taylor, NFL player
* Holly Warlick, former Lady Vols basketball player and former Lady Vols head coach (2012–2019)
* Chuck Webb, NFL player
* Reggie White, former NFL defensive lineman
* Ron Widby, former NFL Pro Bowl punter
* Grant Williams, NBA player
* Jordan Williams, NFL player
* Rhyne Williams, professional tennis player
* Al Wilson, NFL player
* Gibril Wilson, NFL safety
* Jason Witten, NFL Pro Bowl tight end
* Gene Wojciechowski, college football reporter and senior writer for ESPN The Magazine
* Bob Woodruff, head football coach at Baylor University (1947–1949); head football coach and athletic director at the University of Florida (1950–1959)
* Chris Woodruff, associate head coach at the University of Tennessee, former professional tennis player

## Journalists and newscasters

* Richard Ernsberger Jr., senior editor, Newsweek
* Huell Howser, California television personality
* Ryan McGee, ESPN writer and commentator
* Ann Taylor, NPR newscaster
* Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN writer and commentator

## Rhodes Scholars

* Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Balliol College, B.A. 1981 MA 1986; graduated from Harvard Law School in 1983 with a JD degree; served in the cabinet of Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter; sat on several corporate boards; served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy under President Obama and Director of White House Office of Healthcare Reform
* William Everett Derryberry, St. John's College, BA 1932 MA 1940; had a 34-year academic career as president of Tennessee Technological University, where he oversaw the transformation of the school from a campus of a few acres and a few buildings with 700 students and 31 faculty members to a university comprising six colleges and schools on 235 acres of property with a student body of close to 7,000 and a faculty of more than 350
* Bernadotte E. Schmitt, Merton College, BA 1908, M.A 1913; professor at Western Reserve University (1910–1925) and the University of Chicago (1925–1946); when he retired from Chicago, he held the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professorship of Modern History; served briefly in World War I as a 2nd Lieutenant of Field Artillery; during World War II, he acted as a special consultant on history in the Department of State's Division of Research and Publications and its Division of Historical Policy Research

## Nobel laureates

* James Buchanan, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economic Science; received an M.S. degree from UT in 1941
* Peter C. Doherty, faculty member in the UT Health Science Center in Memphis

## Pulitzer prize winners

* John Netherland Heiskell, 1893 graduate of the University of Tennessee; publisher and editor of the Arkansas Gazette', 1902–1972; under his leadership, the paper won a Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service
* Owen Davis, 1889 graduate, won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Icebound in 1923
* John M. Hightower, attended the University of Tennessee 1927–1929; won a Pulitzer while at the Associated Press for International Reporting in 1952
* Ron Kirksey, 1970 graduate of the University of Tennessee, won the Pulitzer prize for public service journalism in 1994 as part of a team at the Akron Beacon Journal
* Cormac McCarthy, novelist who attended University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1951–1952 and 1957–1960; won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road
* Bernadotte E. Schmitt, earned a bachelor of arts at the University of Tennessee in 1902, won a Pulitzer in History in 1931 for his book The Coming of the War, 1914 (1930)
* John Noble Wilford, 1955 graduate of the University of Tennessee; won two Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting; science correspondent for The New York Times, and founder of the paper's weekly science section
* Edward Osborne Wilson, attended University of Tennessee 1950–1951, won two Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction for his books On Human Nature (1979) and The Ants (1991)

## Science and technology

* Mladen Bestvina, topologist, professor of mathematics at University of Utah
* William E. Bickley, entomologist
* Jack Dongarra, computer science professor; creator of LINPACK and LAPACK; 2021 Turing Award Recipient
* Gertrude Ehrlich, professor of mathematics at University of Maryland, College Park
* Weston Fulton, meteorologist, inventor
* Lee Giles, computer scientist, CiteSeer, David Reese Professor at Pennsylvania State University
* Lexemuel Ray Hesler, mycologist
* Carl B. Huffaker, biologist and agricultural scientist
* Mohammad Ataul Karim, physicist
* Frank Knight, economist
* Mounir Laroussi, plasma physicist, pioneer of plasma medicine
* Madeline Kneberg Lewis, archaeologist of the Southeastern United States
* Joana Kuntz, organizational psychologist in New Zealand
* Gerald North, atmospheric scientist, author of North Report and The Impact of Global Warming in Texas
* Douglas W. Owsley, division head of physical anthropology of Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
* Ronald H. Petersen, mycologist of the University of Tennessee
* Alan Rabinowitz, zoologist, CEO of Panthera
* Edward K. Reedy, radar researcher and director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, 1998–2003
* Subrata Roy, inventor, professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Florida
* Antoinette Rodez Schiesler, chemist, director of research at Villanova University
* Jeremy C. Smith, Governor's Chair and Director of UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics
* Morwen Thistlethwaite, knot theorist
* Peter Tsai, chemist, inventor of the N95 mask
* E.O. Wilson, biologist and naturalist

## Astronauts

* Jeffrey Ashby
* Randolph Bresnik
* Joe Edwards
* Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie
* Chris Hadfield
* Henry Hartsfield
* Charles O. Hobaugh
* Scott J. Kelly
* Donald H. Peterson
* Margaret Rhea Seddon
* Barry E. Wilmore

## Faculty

* Sandra Blain (born 1941), ceramicist, potter, and sculptor
* Charles W. Kent (1860–1917), scholar of the English language
* Vernon Lattin (born 1938), president of Brooklyn College
* Carolyn Ringer Lepre, 10th president of Salisbury University
* Jill Mikucki, microbiologist, Antarctic researcher
* Kate Vitasek (born 1968), author and educator, adjunct faculty in the Haslam College of Business Global Supply Chain Institute and the Graduate and Executive Education