# List of Brandeis University people

Here follows a list of notable alumni and faculty of Brandeis University.

## Notable alumni
### Academia

* Eve Adler, Classicist, professor at Middlebury College
* Amnon Albeck, Chemist, professor and University's Vice-Rector at Bar-Ilan University
* Frederick Alt, Geneticist at Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
* Arjun Appadurai, Anthropologist and editor of Public Culture
* Elliot Aronson, Social psychologist known for research on the theory of cognitive dissonance
* Seyla Benhabib, Professor of political science and philosophy at Yale University
* Bonnie Berger, Professor of applied mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Ilan Berman, Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council
* David Bernstein, Law professor and blogger
* Ruth Ben-Ghiat, History professor, New York University
* Deborah Bial, Education strategist, Founder and President of Posse Foundation, MacArthur Fellow
* Richard Burgin, Professor, fiction writer, critic, founder and editor of Boulevard literary magazine
* Nancy Chodorow, Feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst
* Arthur L.Caplan, Professor of Bioethics
* Angela Davis, Political activist, academic and author
* Donna Robinson Divine, Professor at Smith College
* Jean Bethke Elshtain, Professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, feminist, political philosopher
* Daniel A. Foss, Sociologist
* Perry A. Frey, Professor of biochemistry at University of Wisconsin–Madison
* Robert Gallucci, President of the MacArthur Foundation
* Sherwood Gorbach, emeritus Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine
* Herbert Gross, Professor of Mathematics, Bunker Hill Community College, Corning Community College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Evelyn Fox Keller, Historian and philosopher of science, MacArthur Fellow 1992
* David Kertzer, Anthropologist at Brown University; Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Pope and Mussolini
* Barak Kushner, Professor of East Asian History at the University of Cambridge
* Yanna Krupnikov, political scientist
* Deborah Lipstadt, History professor, Emory University
* George Loewenstein, Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University
* Roderick MacKinnon, Professor at Rockefeller University, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
* Fatema Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist
* Joseph S. Murphy, President of Queens College, President of Bennington College, and Chancellor of the City University of New York
* Elisa New, Professor, Harvard University, wife of Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University
* David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, professor
* Alicia Ostriker, Poet, professor at Rutgers University
* Lawrence Rosen, Anthropologist and law professor
* Philip Rubin, Cognitive scientist, CEO Emeritus, Haskins Laboratories
* Paul Sally, Professor of mathematics, University of Chicago
* Michael Sandel, Professor of political philosophy, Harvard University and former member of The President's Council on Bioethics
* Lawrence Schiffman, Historian of ancient Judaism and Vice-Provost at Yeshiva University
* Joan Wallach Scott, Historian of France and pioneer in the field of gender history
* Milette Shamir, Israeli scholar of American literature and vice president of Tel Aviv University
* Judith Shapiro, Former President, Barnard College
* Elaine Showalter, Literary critic
* Lawrence Solan, Professor of law at Brooklyn Law School
* Hortense Spillers, Literary critic, Black feminist scholar and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University
* Maurice R. Stein, Author of Blueprint for Counter Education (1970), founding dean of the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, and a professor of sociology at Brandeis University
* Alan Taylor, Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian, professor at UC Davis
* Fernando Torres-Gil, Associate Dean and professor of public policy, UCLA School of Public Affairs
* Paul Townsend, Physicist, notable for work on String Theory
* Karen Uhlenbeck, Mathematics professor, MacArthur Fellow, awarded Leroy P. Steele Prize for research, first woman to win the Abel Prize.
* Judith G. Voet, Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Swarthmore College, author of biochemistry textbooks
* Theo Wallimann, Professor, Biochemist/Cell Biologist at ETH Zurich
* Michael Walzer, Professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study
* Edward Witten, Physicist, awarded Fields Medal in 1990
* Rich Yampell, Grammarian, Klingon Language Institute
* David B. Yoffie, Professor of International Business Administration at Harvard Business School
* Julian E. Zelizer, Professor of American political history at Princeton University
* Robert J. Zimmer, Former President, University of Chicago
* John A. Pojman, Patricia Senn and William Senn, Jr., Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Louisiana State University.

### Arts and media

* Kathy Acker, Novelist
* Mitch Albom, Sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven
* Paula Apsell, Executive Producer of Nova, the longest-running science documentary series and winner of eight Emmy Awards
* Ross Bauer, composer
* Stanley Bing (aka Gil Schwartz), Author, columnist for Fortune and Esquire; Executive Vice President of CBS Corporation
* Dan Blum, Novelist
* Elizabeth Bruenig, writer and opinion columnist for The Washington Post
* David Brudnoy, Talk radio host in Boston
* Samrat Chakrabarti, British-American actor
* Peter Child, Composer
* Joe Conason, Political columnist for The New York Observer
* David Crane, Co-creator, writer, and executive producer of television series Friends
* Steven Culp, Actor
* Tyne Daly, Actress, co-starred in TV series Cagney & Lacey
* Stuart Damon (Stuart Michael Zonis), Actor, played Dr. Alan Quartermaine for thirty years on the TV soap opera General Hospital
* Loretta Devine, Actress in TV series Boston Public and Grey's Anatomy, and films, including Crash
* Josh Dibb (aka Deakin), Musician, member of Animal Collective
* Alan Ehrenhalt, Senior editor of Governing, contributing writer to The New York Times
* Thomas Friedman, Foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times; winner of the National Book Award and three Pulitzer Prizes
* Lindsay Gardner, Media executive
* Gary David Goldberg, Television writer and producer
* Tony Goldwyn, Actor and director
* Karen Lynn Gorney, Actress
* Alexander Gould, Actor known for roles in Finding Nemo and Weeds
* Debra Granik, Film director and screenwriter
* Mark Halliday, Poet
* Marshall Herskovitz, TV and film producer, director and screenwriter
* Dan Hirschhorn, Time.com
* Kay Hymowitz, Conservative commentator, Manhattan Institute scholar
* Chuck Israels, Jazz musician, bassist
* Margo Jefferson, The New York Times theater critic, winner of Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
* Ha Jin, Novelist, winner of the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award
* Michael Kaiser, President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
* Myq Kaplan, Comedian
* Marta Kauffman, Executive Producer and co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning television series Friends
* Jesse Kellerman, Novelist and playwright, son of novelists Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman
* Arghavan Khosravi, painter, sculptor and illustrator, attended the postbaccalaureate program in 2015.
* Jon Landau, Music critic, manager and record producer
* Susan B. Landau, Film and television producer (Cool Runnings, Mary and Rhoda)
* Louise Lasser, Actress, ex-wife of Woody Allen
* Abby Leigh, Artist
* Mark Leyner, Postmodern novelist
* Peter Lieberson, Composer
* Charlene Liu, Artist
* Steven Mackey, Composer
* Michael McDowell, Novelist and script writer
* Gates McFadden, Actress, best known as Dr. Beverly Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation
* Kathleen McInerney, Voice actress, Ash Ketchum seasons 1–8 on Pokémon
* Debra Messing, Actress in television series Will & Grace and The Starter Wife
* Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal technology columnist
* Josh Mostel, Actor, son of actor Zero Mostel
* Susana Naidich, Argentine singer
* Barry Newman, Actor
* Marc Tyler Nobleman, Author
* Anand Patwardhan, Documentary filmmaker
* Martin Peretz, Editor-in-chief of The New Republic
* Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Author, journalist, social activist, a founding editor of Ms. magazine
* Patrik-Ian Polk, Writer-producer of Noah's Arc
* Deborah Porter, Critic, non-profit director, founder of the Boston Book Festival
* Tom Rapp, Singer/songwriter, previously of Pearls Before Swine
* Guy Raz, Host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered
* Theresa Rebeck, Playwright and novelist
* Nancy Richler, Novelist
* Nathan J. Robinson, Columnist and founding editor of Current Affairs
* Rosemary Rodriguez, film and TV director including of The Good Wife and Jessica Jones
* Harilyn Rousso, artist, psychotherapist, and disabled rights activist
* Jeff Rubens, Bridge player, writer and editor
* Richard Rubin, Actor, television personality, and reality star of Beauty and the Geek
* David Ian Salter, Film editor of Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo
* Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst
* Bob Simon, CBS television correspondent for 60 Minutes
* Arunoday Singh, Bollywood actor; grandson of Indian politician Arjun Singh
* Sunny Singh, Writer
* Daniel Smith, Writer
* Laura J. Snyder, Historian, philosopher, and author
* Paul Solman, Journalist for PBS
* Christina Hoff Sommers, Author, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
* Karen Sosnoski, Author and filmmaker
* Michael Sugar, Film and TV producer/Oscar winner for Spotlight
* Gary Tinterow (B.A. 1976), art historian and curator
* Eric Tuchman (B.A. 1984), Emmy Award-winning showrunner of The Handmaid's Tale
* Jonathan Vankin, Senior Editor, Vertigo Comics
* Robin Weigert, Actress, played Calamity Jane in Deadwood on HBO
* Adam D. Weinberg, Director of Whitney Museum of American Art
* Eliza Wyatt, Playwright, author, and sculptor

### Business

* Leonard Asper, Chief Operating Officer, CanWest
* Mitch Caplan, Former president and CEO, E*Trade Financial Corporation
* Christie Hefner, Former Chairman & CEO, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., daughter of Hugh Hefner
* Brian Hirsch, venture capitalist
* Myra Hiatt Kraft, Philanthropist and late wife of Bob Kraft, owner of New England Patriots NFL football team
* Suk-Won Kim, Chair of SsangYong Business Group, one of the largest companies in the Republic of Korea
* Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Executive Vice President of Time Warner, former CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, responsible for the introduction of PlayStation
* Bobby Sager, Philanthropist, photographer, former president of Gordon Brothers Group
* Robert F.X. Sillerman, Media entrepreneur; CEO of CKX, Inc. (owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises and American Idol)
* Donald Soffer, Real estate professional and a developer of Aventura, Florida.
* Louise Sunshine, Real estate professional and founder of the Sunshine Group
* Scott A. Travers, Noted numismatist and author.
* Ellis Verdi, Advertising executive and co-founder of the DeVito/Verdi advertising agency

### Government, law, politics and non-profits

* Jack Abramoff, Republican activist; founder, International Freedom Foundation, former lobbyist (convicted of mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion)
* Donna Arzt, Human rights attorney, law professor
* Françoise Blime-Dutertre, French philosopher
* Sidney Blumenthal, Adviser to President Bill Clinton and journalist
* Naomi Reice Buchwald, United States District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
* Devin Carney, Connecticut State Representative
* Jennifer Casolo, Peace activist
* Bernard Coard, Grenadian politician who led the coup that ousted Maurice Bishop
* Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, Member of the House of Lords, UK
* Gustavo Gelpi, United States District Court Judge, District of Puerto Rico
* Geir Haarde, Prime Minister of Iceland
* Wakako Hironaka, Member of the Diet of Japan, State Minister, Director-General of the Environment Agency (1993–94)
* Abbie Hoffman, Social and political activist; co-founder of the Youth International Party ("Yippies")
* Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General for the United States Department of Justice
* Otis Johnson, Mayor of Savannah, Georgia
* Joette Katz, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
* Lisa Kubiske, United States Ambassador to Honduras
* Robert Lasnik, United States District Court Judge, Western District of Washington
* Osman Faruk Loğoğlu, Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Turkey
* Roslynn Mauskopf, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of New York
* Vineeta Rai, Indian Administrative Service officer; former Revenue Secretary, Government of India; voted one of 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in India
* Rakesh Rajani, Tanzanian Civil Society Leader
* Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit human rights litigation organization
* Lois Galgay Reckitt, executive director, Family Crisis Services of Portland, Maine
* Lauren Rikleen, Author, lawyer, workplace expert
* Edgar Romano, managing senior partner at the New York City law firm Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP
* Stanley Roth, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 1997–2001
* Dimitrij Rupel, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
* George Saitoti, Vice President of the Republic of Kenya
* Ari Schwartz, Chief operating officer, Center for Democracy and Technology
* Eli J. Segal, Assistant to the President of the United States 1993–1996
* Daniel B. Shapiro, Former United States Ambassador to Israel
* David Sinclair, Maine state representative
* Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund
* Stephen J. Solarz, Former U.S. Representative from Brooklyn, New York
* Beth Teper, Director of COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere)
* Shen Tong, Student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
* Andrew H. Warren, State Attorney of Florida's 13th Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County (1978–01)
* Micah Zenko, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
* Gerald Zerkin, Attorney for Zacarias Moussaoui

### Science

* Larry Abbott, Senior Fellow at Janelia Farms (HHMI); co-director, Columbia Center for Theoretical Neuroscience; member of the National Academy of Sciences
* V. Balakrishnan, Indian theoretical physicist
* Eric R. Braverman, Physician
* Adam Cheyer, AI and CS scientist, co-founder of Siri, the company behind Apple's personal assistant on iOS
* Sharon K. Davis, senior scientist and head of the Social Epidemiology Research Unit at the National Human Genome Research Institute
* Judith Rich Harris, Psychologist
* Arthur G. Hunt, Plant and soils scientist
* Leslie Lamport, Computer scientist and inventor of LaTeX document preparation system
* Beatrice B. "BeBe" Magee, Chemist
* Janet Akyüz Mattei, Astronomer, former director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
* Siddhartha Roy, Structural biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
* Philip Rubin, Cognitive scientist, CEO Emeritus, Haskins Laboratories; White House science advisor in Obama administration
* Robert H. Singer, Senior Fellow at Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chair of Anatomy and Structural Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
* Ron Sun, Professor of Cognitive Sciences and Computer Science, RPI
* Drew Weissman, Physician-scientist and Nobel laureate
* Robert K. Rainer, American attorney and professor
* Patrick Tufts, Computer scientist and inventor
* Rachel Zimmerman, Space scientist, inventor of the Blissymbol Printer, which simplifies communication for users with physical disabilities

### Sports

* Nelson Figueroa, Major League Baseball pitcher
* Jeffrey Lurie, Owner of Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team
* Tim Morehouse, Fencer, silver medal winner in men's team sabre at the 2008 Summer Olympics
* Sam Shankland, 2018 US Chess Champion

### Crime, political crimes, and terrorism

* Naomi Jaffe, Social and political activist, member of the Weather Underground organization
* Katherine Ann Power, Anti-war activist and former fugitive from justice
* Susan Edith Saxe, Anti-war activist and former fugitive from justice
* Aafia Siddiqui, Neuroscientist (alleged al-Qaeda operative), convicted of assaulting and attempting to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents
* Laura Whitehorn, Member of the Weather Underground organization, participated in the Battle of Boston during the Boston busing crisis

## Notable faculty and staff, past and present

* John B. Anderson: United States Congressman, third-party candidate for President of the United States in 1980
* Stuart Altman: Healthcare policy economist, member of the Institute of Medicine
* Alexander Altmann: Professor of Jewish Philosophy and History of Ideas
* Teresa Amabile: Social and organizational psychologist
* Robert J. Art: International politics
* Kathleen Barry: Feminist and sociologist
* Leonard Bernstein: Composer and conductor
* Frank Bidart: Poet, awarded Bollingen Prize
* Egon Bittner: Sociologist and police science scholar
* Michael Brenner: Professor for Jewish history and culture
* Bernadette Brooten: Professor of Christian studies, member of the MacArthur Fellows Program
* Olga Broumas: Poet
* David Buchsbaum (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* Mary Baine Campbell: Poet and critic
* Carolyn Cohen: Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* Saul Cohen (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* Frank Conroy: Memoirist, fiction writer, and director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop
* Lewis A. Coser: Sociologist, one of the founders of Dissent magazine
* J.V. Cunningham: Poet and literary critic
* Pamela Dellal: Mezzo-soprano
* Stanley Deser (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* Mark Feeney: Pulitzer Prize-winning arts critic for The Boston Globe
* Irving Fine: Composer
* David Hackett Fischer: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
* Mickey Fisher: Basketball coach and Brandeis Athletic Director
* Benny Friedman: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback; Brandeis Athletic Director and last football coach
* Lawrence "Larry" Fuchs: Founder of the American Studies Department at Brandeis and immigration policy expert
* Paul Georges: Member of National Academy Museum
* Ray Ginger: Historian noted for his biography of Eugene V. Debs
* Eugene Goodheart: Literary critic
* Arthur Green: Jewish spirituality and thought
* Allen Grossman: Poet, awarded Bollingen Prize and MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant
* Jeff Hall (emeritus): member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* Timothy J Hickey: Computer scientist
* Anita Hill: Lawyer and social policy expert
* Heisuke Hironaka: Mathematician, Fields Medal winner
* Michelle Hoover: Writer-in-residence, author
* Irving Howe: Political theorist, editor and founder of Dissent
* Hugh Huxley (emeritus): Member of the National Academy of Sciences
* Ray Jackendoff (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* Paul Jankowski: Historian
* Gish Jen: Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* William Jencks: Biochemist
* Charles Kadushin, psychologist known for social network analysis and study on Jewish populations
* William E. Kapelle: Medieval historian
* Dorothee Kern: Biochemist, former basketball player for the East Germany national team
* Jytte Klausen: European politics, author of The Cartoons that Shook the World
* Walter Laqueur: Historian and political commentator
* Max Lerner: Author, syndicated columnist, and editor
* Alvin Lucier: Composer of experimental music
* Alasdair MacIntyre: Philosopher
* Kanan Makiya: Iraqi dissident, advocate of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
* Herbert Marcuse: Social theorist and member of the Frankfurt School
* Eve Marder: Neuroscientist
* Abraham Maslow: Psychologist noted for humanistic approach
* Eileen McNamara: Pulitzer Prize- winning columnist for the Boston Globe
* Pauli Murray: Feminist, civil rights advocate, lawyer, and ordained priest
* Ulric Neisser: Pioneer in development of cognitive psychology
* Irene Pepperberg: Psychologist noted for research on cognition in animals, particularly for her work with Alex, a grey parrot
* Gregory Petsko: Biochemist
* James Pustejovsky: Linguist, proposer of Generative Lexicon theory
* Philip Rahv: Literary and social critic, editor and founder of Partisan Review
* David Rakowski: Music, runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1999, 2002)
* Robert Reich: United States Secretary of Labor, 1993–1997
* Margret Rey: Author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Curious George series
* Adrienne Rich: Poet, essayist and feminist
* Philip Rieff: Sociologist and cultural critic
* Jehuda Reinharz: Former President of Brandeis University and current Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History, and Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis.
* Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the United States
* Michael Rosbash: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* Rosie Rosenzweig: Resident scholar
* Dennis Ross: Special envoy/ambassador to Middle East under President Bill Clinton
* Jonathan Sarna: Historian of American Judaism
* Nahum Sarna: Biblical scholar, father of Jonathan Sarna
* Morrie Schwartz: Sociologist; subject of Mitch Albom's bestselling novel, Tuesdays with Morrie
* Arnold S. Shapiro: Mathematician
* Thomas M. Shapiro: Sociologist, author
* Mitchell Siporin: Artist
* Thomas Sowell: Economist, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
* Marie Syrkin: Poet and author
* Andreas Teuber: Philosophy professor, actor
* Samuel O. Thier: President of both Massachusetts General Hospital and Brandeis University
* Gina G. Turrigiano: Neuroscientist, winner of the MacArthur "Genius" Award
* Claude Vigée: Poet
* Kurt Heinrich Wolff: Sociologist
* Franz Wright: Poet, awarded Pulitzer Prize
* Yehudi Wyner: Composer, awarded Pulitzer Prize
* Leslie Zebrowitz: Social psychologist