# List of University at Albany people

This is a list of notable University of Albany people.

## Notable alumni
### Arts

* Phoebe Adams (MFA 1978), painter and sculptor
* Sally Sheinman, painter, installation artist, digital artist

### Business

* Steven Berkowitz (1980), former Senior Vice President of Microsoft Online Services, and CEO of MOVE
* Lisa Lillien (1987), entrepreneur
* Edward A. Maher (1867), president of the Third Avenue Railway
* Norman E. Snyder (1983), co-founder of SoBe
* Ronn Torossian, (1995), CEO of 5W Public Relations, the 13th largest PR agency in the US
* Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani
* Tony Vinciquerra (1977), former CEO of Fox Entertainment Group and current CEO and chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
* Jang Young-sik (PhD 1970), economist, former president of the Korea Electric Power Company

### Education

* Peter Afflerbach, literacy researcher and professor of education
* Herman Aguinis (1993), George Washington University School of Business professor and 77th president of the Academy of Management
* Julie Ancis, Distinguished Professor of Informatics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology
* Henrietta Ash Bancroft (1843-1929), graduate, Albany State Normal School (1878); professor, Albion College
* Delia E. Wilder Carson (1833-1917), art educator
* Michael R. Gottfredson, former president of the University of Oregon
* Lucy Stedman Lamson (1857-1926), businesswoman, educator
* Harris Pastides, 29th President of the University of South Carolina

### Government, law, and public policy

* Mike Arcuri (1981), former District Attorney for Oneida County, New York; former representative for New York's 24th congressional district
* Catherine Bertini (1971), former Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme; Fellow of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
* Kevin Chambers (BA 1997), associate deputy attorney general in the Biden administration.
* Rosa Clemente, 2008 Green Party vice presidential candidate
* William J. Condon (BA 1981), New York State Supreme Court Justice Tenth Judicial District (2008-2022)
* Scott de la Vega, acting United States Secretary of Interior under Joe Biden
* Abdirahman Mohamud Farole (1990), former president of the Puntland region of Somalia
* Lewis A. Fidler (1975), politician and New York City Councilman
* Christopher Hahn (BA 1994) Fox News contributor and syndicated radio host
* Lansing Hotaling (1856), District Attorney of Albany County; member of the New York State Assembly
* Gerald Jennings, mayor of Albany, New York
* Benjamin Kallos, lawyer and politician
* Jonathan Kanter (1995), lawyer, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from 2021 to 2024, during the administration of President Joe Biden
* Lawrence Korb (PhD 1969), Council on Foreign Relations and Center for American Progress; Assistant Secretary of Defense (1981–85)
* Seth Marnin (BA, MA), judge, New York Court of Claims (2023–present), and first openly transgender male judge in the United States
* John M. McHugh (MPA 1977), Congressman from New York's 23rd congressional district (1993–2009); U.S. Secretary of the Army (2009–2015)
* Harvey Milk (1951), gay rights figure; former San Francisco city supervisor; assassinated in 1978
* Susan Molinari (BA 1980, MA 1982), former New York Congresswoman, Staten Island
* Zina Lisandrou Panagidi (1992), Mayor of Lefkoniko
* Joseph E. Persico (1952), best-selling author of Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial; biographer of Edward R. Murrow, Nelson Rockefeller, William Casey; former Nelson Rockefeller speechwriter
* John D. Porcari (1985), Deputy U.S. Secretary of Transportation under the Obama administration; former Maryland Secretary of Transportation
* Thomas Roach, Mayor of White Plains, New York
* Angelo L. Santabarbara (BS, 2001), New York State Assemblyman from New York's 111th district (2013–present)
* Martin M. Solomon, lawyer, judge, and politician
* Louis R. Tobacco (1994), New York State Assemblyman (62nd District)
* Christine A. Varney, (1977), Assistant Attorney General; United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
* Mark Weprin (BA 1983), former member of the New York State Assembly and New York City Council
* Richard C. Wesley (1971), judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit
* Lee M. Zeldin (BA 2001), US Representative from New York's 1st congressional district (2015–2023); New York State Senator from New York's 3rd district (2011-2014)

### Journalism

* Tom Junod (1980), journalist and writer for Esquire magazine since 1997
* Gloria Rojas, journalist
* Bob Ryan (1967), former lead weatherman, WRC-TV (Channel 4, NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C.)
* Tameka Abraham (2017), journalist and writer for Essence Magazine, Interview Magazine, Greatest Magazine and more.
* Adrianne Baughns-Wallace, television journalist, WFSB, Channel 3 in Hartford, Connecticut, EssenceTelevision, WPIX-TV in New York City

### Literature

* Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of the books Friday Black and Chain-Gang All-Stars
* Emma Lee Benedict (1857-1937), editor, educator, author
* Marcia Brown, children's author
* Lawrence J. Epstein, author
* Stephen Adly Guirgis (1990), playwright (Jesus Hopped the A Train, Our Lady of 121st Street)
* Joyce Hinnefeld, writer of fiction and nonfiction
* Jeffrey Levine, poet, publisher, musician, and attorney
* Lyn Lifshin, poet and teacher
* Gregory Maguire (1976), author of the books Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked (which became a Broadway musical)
* Paul Pines, poet, writer, memoirist; founded The Tin Palace, a jazz nightclub on the Bowery in New York City, and the Jazz at the Lake: Lake George Jazz Weekend
* Radclyffe (Dr. Lenora Ruth Barot), writer and editor of lesbian romance, paranormal romance, erotica and mystery; founder and publisher of Bold Stroke Books
* Karen Schwabach (also uses the pen name Sage Blackwood), author of children's books and young adult fiction
* Tricia Springstubb, children's book and middle grade author

### Performing arts and broadcasting

* Priya Anand, Indian film actress and model
* Awkwafina, aka Nora Lum (2011), American rapper, television personality, and actress.
* Edward Burns, film actor and director
* Carolee Carmello (1983), Broadway actress and singer
* Randy Cohen (1971), former writer for Late Night with David Letterman; currently writes "The Ethicist" column for the New York Times Magazine and answers ethical questions from listeners of All Things Considered
* Jamie Gold (1991), television producer and 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion
* Harold Gould (1947), actor (The Sting, Rhoda, Golden Girls)
* Rosaline Greene, actress
* Steve Guttenberg, film actor
* Randye Kaye, author, radio talk show host, and voice actress
* Brian Lehrer (1973), radio talk show host
* Monte Lipman, record executive and film producer
* Brandon Jay McLaren (2002), television actor
* Josh Ostrovsky (2006), social media personality, actor, entrepreneur
* Ignacyo Matynia (2013), film and television actor (Break Every Chain)
* Michael Nolin (1970), film studio executive; producer of Mr. Holland's Opus; screenwriter of Maniac Magee; professor at Savannah College of Art and Design
* John Ortiz, film and TV actor (The Job, Carlito's Way, Miami Vice, American Gangster)
* Stacey Prussman (1992), actress, radio host, stand-up comedian, 2021 New York City mayoral candidate
* Howard Reig (1942), radio and television announcer
* Marie Roda, television personality (The Real World, The Challenge)
* Frank Whaley, film and television actor
* D.B. Woodside (1991), actor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Lucifer, Single Ladies)

### Science

* Frances E. Allen (1954), IBM Fellow, Turing Award winner (2006)
* Sallie W. Chisholm (PhD 1974), biological oceanographer and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Alan M. Davis (1970), IEEE Fellow for contributions to software engineering; author; entrepreneur; pomologist; horticulturalist
* Lois Privor-Dumm (1986), director, Alliances and Information for PneumoADIP, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
* Myriam Gorospe, scientist, head of the RNA Regulation Section at the National Institute on Aging (NIA)
* Coby Schal (1976), Polish-born American entomologist
* Alanna Schepartz (1982), Milton Harris Professor of Chemistry at Yale University and Director, Yale Chemical Biology Institute; Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences
* Celal Sengor (1982), Turkish geologist, foreign member of the American Philosophical Society
* Omar M. Yaghi (1985), James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry and Co-Director of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at University of California, Berkeley; recipient of the American Chemical Society Chemistry of Materials Award (2009)
* Calvin Zippin (1947), cancer epidemiologist, biostatistician, and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco

### Social sciences

* Robert H. Babcock (BA 1953, MA 1957), historian
* Anne Case (BA), economist
* Philip B. Coulter (PhD 1966), political scientist
* Peter Allen Golden, author, historian, journalist, and blogger
* Debra Hope (PhD 1990), clinical psychologist
* David Pietrusza (BA 1971, MA 1972), historian and author
* William J. Taverner (1990), author, sexologist, editor of the American Journal of Sexuality Education
* Gerhard Weinberg (1948), diplomatic and military historian

### Sports

* Rashad Barksdale (2007), NFL cornerback
* Dave Clawson (MA, 1990), Head Football Coach, Wake Forest
* Dave Cohen (1990), football coach
* Bouna Coundoul (attended 2002-04), Senegalese international soccer goalkeeper
* James Jones (BA 1986, MA 1995), Head Coach of the Yale University Men's Basketball Team
* Jordan Levine, professional lacrosse player
* Ashley Massaro, professional wrestler
* Brett Queener (2007), professional lacrosse player
* Joe Resetarits, professional lacrosse player
* Rob Senderoff (1995), college basketball coach
* Jason Siggers (born 1985), basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
* Lyle Thompson, professional lacrosse player, two-time Tewaaraton Award Winner
* Tara VanDerveer (attended 1971–72), head women's basketball coach at Stanford University; member of Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Halls of Fame
* Jarren Williams (defensive back), NFL defensive back

### Other

* Arlene Istar Lev (1986), family therapist and author of Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and their Families
* Suzanne Lyall, sophomore who disappeared after getting off a bus at Collins Circle in 1998
* Philip Markoff (2007), deceased, accused "Craigslist Killer"
* Peter Turkson, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

## Notable faculty

* Frances Dorothy Acomb, historian
* Manuel Alvar (1977–1998), head of the Spanish Royal Academy; known for his linguistic atlases of Spain and Spanish South America
* Branka Arsić, scholar of American literature, won the Modern Language Association's James Russell Lowell Prize in 2016
* Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1966–70), Spanish novelist (1910–1999); won Cervantes Prize in 1985
* Judith R. Baskin, University of Oregon Associate Dean for Humanities, Director of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, and the Philip H. Knight Professor of Humanities
* Ronald A. Bosco (1975–present), Distinguished University Professor of English & American Literature (2004), SUNY Distinguished Service Professor (1992); president, Association for Documentary Editing; General Editor of The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harvard; has edited, co-edited (primarily with Joel Myerson), and authored over 20 volumes on Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Michael Wigglesworth, and Cotton Mather
* Don Byrd (1971–present), poet and literary critic; works include his poetry collection Technics of Travel, the book-length poems The Great Dimestore Centennial and Aesop's Garden, an analysis of Charles Olson's Maximus, and his masterpiece of literary analysis The Poetics of Common Knowledge
* JoAnne Carson, painter and sculptor, Guggenheim Fellow (2016)
* Alan S. Chartock, political scientist and radio personality
* Sarah Blacher Cohen, writer, scholar, playwright, and professor
* John Frederick Dewey (1971–1982), British structural geologist widely regarded as an authority on the development and evolution of mountain ranges; Fellow of the Royal Society, Wollaston Medal and Penrose Medal recipient, member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
* Sandra K. Ellston, Shakespearean scholar, former Chair of Undergraduate Studies in English and co-director of the Humanities Center.
* Joachim Frank (1976–present), German-American computational biologist, School of Public Health; investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at New York State's Wadsworth Center; elected in 2006 to National Academy of Sciences and named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
* Gordon G. Gallup (1975–present), evolutionary psychologist; developed the mirror test
* M. E. Grenander (1948–89), professor of English, authority on Ambrose Bierce, and benefactor of the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives
* George R. Goldner, art historian, former Drue Heinz Chairman of the Department of Drawings and Paints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Martha Hollander, poet and art historian
* Pierre Joris (1992–present), poet, translator, anthologist; renowned translator of Paul Celan
* Leonard Kastle (1978–89), director of The Honeymoon Killers and notable opera composer of Deseret and The Pariahs
* William Kennedy (1974–present), 1984 winner of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for novel Ironweed; taught creative writing and journalism as UAlbany instructor from 1974 to 1982, thereafter full professor of creative writing; in 1983, awarded the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, part of which went to UAlbany's New York State Writers Institute
* Boris Korenblum, Soviet-Israeli-American mathematician, specializing in mathematical analysis
* Richard Lachmann, sociologist, specialist in comparative historical sociology, and professor
* Scott Lilienfeld, author
* Michael J. Malbin (1990–present), political science, and expert on campaign finance; former speech writer to Richard B. Cheney
* Jon Mandle (1994–present), philosopher who works on issues of political theory and global justice; author of What's Left of Liberalism? An Interpretation and Defense of Justice as Fairness and Global Justice: An Introduction
* Ron McClamrock (1992–present), philosopher who works at the intersection of phenomenology and psychology; author of Existential Cognition: Minds in the World
* Toni Morrison (1985–89), author, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author (works include Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Song of Solomon)
* Paul Pimsleur (1970–76), French-American linguist, educator, and researcher of the language acquisition process, and author of Pimsleur Language Series
* Mark Raider, historian and University of Cincinnati professor of modern Jewish history
* Herman Prins Salomon, Dutch-American linguist and historian
* Vincent Schaefer, founder and longtime director of the Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC); discovered the first successful method of cloud seeding, with dry ice
* Richard E. Stearns, emeritus (1978–2000), Turing Award winner for computational complexity theory
* Bonnie Steinbock (1977–2014), philosopher, expert on reproductive ethics, and former chair of philosophy department
* Bernard Vonnegut (1967–85), atmospheric scientist known for expertise in the physics of lightning; as a colleague of Vincent Schaefer at General Electric in 1946, discovered silver iodide method of cloud-seeding; older brother of author Kurt Vonnegut
* David Wills (1998–2013), translator of Jacques Derrida

## University presidents

| Executive | Title | Term |
| David Perkins Page | Principal | 1844–1848 |
| George R. Perkins | Principal | 1848–1852 |
| Samuel B. Woolworth | Principal | 1852–1856 |
| David Cochran | Principal | 1856–1864 |
| Oliver Avery | Principal | 1864–1867 |
| Samuel B. Woolworth | Acting principal | 1867 |
| Joseph Alden | President | 1867–1882 |
| Edward P. Waterbury | President | 1882–1889 |
| Albert N. Husted | Acting president | 1889 |
| William J. Milne | President | 1889–1914 |
| Leonard Blue | Acting president | 1914–1915 |
| Abram Roy Brubacher | President | 1915–1939 |
| John M. Sayles | President | 1939–1947 |
| Milton Nelson | Acting president | 1947–1949 |
| Evan R. Collins | President | 1949–1969 |
| Allan A. Kuusisto | Acting president | 1969–1970 |
| Louis T. Benezet | President | 1970–1975 |
| Emmett B. Fields | President | 1975–1977 |
| Vincent O'Leary | President | 1977–June 30, 1990 |
| Judith A. Ramaley | Acting president | July 1, 1990 – July 31, 1990 |
| H. Patrick Swygert | President | August 1, 1990 – June 30, 1995 |
| Karen R. Hitchcock | Acting president President | July 1, 1995 – November 7, 1996 November 8, 1996 – January 31, 2004 |
| Carlos E. Santiago | Officer-In-Charge | February 1, 2004 – February 23, 2004 |
| John R. Ryan | Interim president | February 24, 2004 – January 31, 2005 |
| Kermit L. Hall | President | February 1, 2005 – August 13, 2006 |
| Susan Herbst | Officer-In-Charge | August 14, 2006 – October 31, 2007 |
| George M. Philip | Interim president President | November 1, 2007 – June 16, 2009 June 16, 2009 – December 31, 2012 |
| Robert J. Jones | President | January 1, 2013 – September 30, 2016 |
| James R. Stellar | Interim president | September 24, 2016 – September 17, 2017 |
| Havidan Rodriguez | President | September 18, 2017 – present |