# List of Utah State University alumni

This list of Utah State University alumni includes notable graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of Utah State University (USU), a public, land-grant, research university located in Logan, Utah. This list does not contain the names of presidents or faculty of the university, unless they happen also to be alumni.
Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act as the Agricultural College of Utah, USU has grown to more than 28,000 students. Although it is headquartered in Logan, USU operates throughout the state of Utah through five regional campuses and more than 20 distance education sites. On June 13, 1899, graduates of the Agricultural College of Utah met to create the Alumni Association. Today, the Alumni Association is located in the historic David B. Haight Alumni Center, which was dedicated on July 11, 1991. Alumni chapters exist in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Washington DC. USU boasts more than 180,000 alumni, who are found in every U.S. state and more than 100 countries.

## Activism

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Rick Bass | 1979 | B.S. Geology | Writer and environmental activist |
| Gregory C. Carr | 1982 | B.S. History | Entrepreneur, human rights activist, and founder of the Gregory C. Carr Foundation, which supports human rights, education and the arts |
| Steve Carr | 1981 | B.S. | First and only American elected to Standing Commission of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the worldwide organization's highest governing body |
| Sonia Johnson | 1958 | B.A. English | Feminist and writer |

## Business

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Nolan Bushnell | | | Founded Atari Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's chain |
| Gregory C. Carr | 1982 | B.S. History | Entrepreneur; founded the company that first developed voice mail; chaired Prodigy, an early global ISP |
| Charlie Denson | 1978 | B.S. Marketing | President of Nike Brand |
| John Forzani | 1971 | B.S. Physical Education | Founder of Forzani Group, Canada's largest sporting goods retailer with 215 company-owned stores under the names Coast Mountain Sports, Sport Chek and Sport Mart |
| Jason Lindsey | 1995 | B.A. M.A. | Co-founder and president of Overstock.com |
| Dick Motta | 1953 | B.S. Physical Education | Owner of the Bluebird Inn in Logan and the Bluebird Inn Bed and Breakfast in Bear Lake, Utah; former NBA coach and color commentator; coach of Chicago Bulls, Washington Bullets and Dallas Mavericks; NBA Coach of the Year in 1971; won an NBA Championship while coaching the Washington Bullets |
| Ward Parkinson | 1969 | B.S. Electrical Engineering | Founder of Micron Technology; VP of Commercial Development of Ovonyx, Inc. |
| Gary E. Stevenson | 1979 | B.A. | Co-founder of ICON Health & Fitness |

## Education

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Caryn Beck-Dudley | 1980 | B.S. Political Science | Dean of the College of Business at Florida State University; first female dean of the Huntsman School of Business (2002–2005) |
| Randy L. Bott | 1970 1975 | B.S. M.S. | Named #1 Professor in the U.S. by RateMyProfessors.com |
| Linda J. Eyre | 1970 | B.S. | Co-author, with her husband Richard Eyre, of 33 books on parenting, including New York Times #1 best seller Teaching Your Children Values; developed and founded Joy Schools preschool system |
| Richard Eyre | 1968 | B.S. | Co-author, with his wife Linda J. Eyre, of 33 books on parenting, including New York Times #1 best seller Teaching Your Children Values; developed and founded Joy Schools preschool system |

## Government and politics

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Norah al-Faiz | 1982 | MEd | Deputy Minister for Women's Education in Saudi Arabia; first woman appointed to ministerial post in Saudi Arabia |
| Ezra Taft Benson | | | U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1953–61) |
| Dennis Black | | B.S. Forest Management M.S. Natural Resources Economics | Democratic politician, representing the 21st District in the Iowa Senate since 1995 |
| Laurence J. Burton | 1956 | | Elected as a Republican to the Eighty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses (1963–1971) |
| Kathleen Clark | 1972 | B.S. Political Science | First woman appointed Director of the Bureau of Land Management (2002–07) |
| George D. Clyde | 1921 | B.S. | Governor of Utah |
| Spencer Cox | | B.A. | Lieutenant Governor of Utah, Governor of Utah |
| Elizabeth Dowdeswell | 1972 | M.S. Behavioral Sciences | 29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (2014–2023); Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (1993–98); Canada's permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization; twice elected to its executive council |
| John Gardner Ford | 1975 | B.S. | Son of former U.S. President Gerald Ford; attended USU during his presidency |
| Steven Ford | | | Son of former U.S. President Gerald Ford; attended USU during his presidency |
| Kenny Guinn | 1970 | Ed.D. Educational Administration | Former Governor of Nevada |
| Paula Hawkins | | | First woman ever elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate without a family connection (1981–87) |
| William Marion Jardine | 1925 | PhD | U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1925–1929); U.S. Ambassador to Egypt |
| Howard Jarvis | | | Anti-tax activist in California |
| Wayne Johnson | | History | Republican member of both houses, consecutively, of the Wyoming State Legislature, 1993 to 2017 |
| Lorna Kesterson | | Journalism | Newspaper reporter and editor; first woman elected mayor of Henderson, Nevada (1985–1993) |
| Evan Mecham | | | Governor of Arizona |
| Michael W. Mosman | 1981 | B.S. | Federal District Judge |
| Harry Reid | 1961 | B.S. Political Science | Former U.S. Senator, D-NV; former U.S. Senate Majority Leader; youngest lieutenant governor in Nevada's history |
| Mike Simpson | 1972 | B.S. | U.S. House of Representatives, R-ID |
| Chris Stewart | 1984 | B.S. | U.S. House of Representatives, R-UT; New York Times best-selling author |
| Ted Stewart | 1972 | B.S. | Federal District Judge |
| Jean Westwood | | | First female Chair of the Democratic National Committee (1972) |
| Ardeshir Zahedi | 1950 | B.S. Animal Science | Former Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the United States |

## Humanities and fine arts

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Michael Ballam | 1972 | B.S. Music | Tenor; founder and director of the Utah Festival Opera; author of more than 30 publications and music recordings |
| Rick Bass | 1979 | | PEN/O.Henry Prize-winning novelist, essayist |
| Reed Cowan | 1998 | B.S. | Emmy Award-winning journalist, documentary filmmaker |
| Douglas Kent Hall | | | Writer and photographer |
| Craig Jessop | 1973 | B.S. | Music director; former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir |
| Don Quayle | 1952 1963 | B.S. M.S. | First president of National Public Radio |
| Bill Ransom | 1998 | M.A. | Science fiction writer; Stegner Fellow at Stanford |
| Chip Rawlins | 1974 1983 | B.S. M.S. | Non-fiction writer, poet |
| Jan Shipps | 1961 | B.S. | Historian of Mormonism |
| May Swenson | 1934 | B.S. | Poet; Chancellor of Academy of American Poets |
| Brad Teare | | | Painter and illustrator |
| Gene Tobey | 1965 1967 1969 | A.A. B.F.A. M.F.A. | Artist; sculptor; teaches sculpture and three-dimensional design at USU Logan; namesake of Gene Tobey Memorial Art Scholarship Fund created by his wife Rebecca Tobey in 2006 |
| Mark Walton | 1998 | B.F.A. | Annie-nominated voice actor and story artist, known as the voice of "Rhino" in the movie Bolt |
| Kevin Wasden | 2008 | B.A. | Science fiction and fantasy artist and illustrator |

## Military

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| John K. Cannon | 1914 | | Air Commander-in-Chief, Allied Air Forces, Mediterranean Theater of Operations, World War II; four-star general |
| Peter Cooke | 1971 1973 | Political Science | Retired major general; United States Army Reserves for 39 years |
| Russell Maughan | 1917 | | Pilot of first-ever dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States |
| Chase Nielsen | 1939 | | Participant in Doolittle Raid, career U.S. Air Force officer |

## Religion

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Ezra Taft Benson | | | President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) |
| Hugh B. Brown | | | Member of the First Presidency of the LDS Church |
| Quentin L. Cook | 1964 | B.S. | Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church |
| David B. Haight | 1929 | | Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church |
| W. Rolfe Kerr | 1960 1966 | B.S. M.S. | Commissioner of Education of the LDS Church |
| Boyd K. Packer | 1949 1953 | B.S. M.S. | President of the LDS Church's Quorum of Twelve Apostles |
| L. Tom Perry | 1949 | B.S. Business Administration | Member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church |
| Jan Shipps | 1961 | B.S. History | Preeminent non-Mormon expert on Mormonism; Professor Emeritus of history and religious studies in the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University |
| Gary E. Stevenson | 1979 | B.S. Business Administration | Member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church |

## Science

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Nathan Baldwin | | | Inventor of headphones |
| Mary L. Cleave | 1975 1980 | M.S. Biology Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering | NASA astronaut |
| Richard F. Daines | 1974 | B.S. | Commissioner of Health for New York State; head of the New York Department of Health |
| Eldon J. Gardner | 1934 1935 | B.S. Zoology and Chemistry M.S. Zoology | Geneticist, cancer researcher, discovered a familial colon cancer, Gardner's syndrome; first dean of the College of Science at Utah State University, prolific author of science papers and textbooks |
| Julia F. Knight | 1964 | B.S. Mathematics | Mathematician in model theory and computability theory at the University of Notre Dame, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society |
| George Piranian | 1937 | B.S. Agriculture, M.S. Botany | Mathematician in complex analysis; founded the Michigan Mathematical Journal with Paul Erdős, Fritz Herzog and Arthur J. Lohwater |
| Archimedes Plutonium | 1979 | MEd | As Ludwig van Ludvig, notable Usenet personality |
| Julie A. Robinson | 1989 | B.S. Chemistry | Chief Scientist of the International Space Station |
| Gene P. Weckler | 1958 | B.S. Electrical Engineering | President of Rad-icon Imaging Corporation |
| Shang Fa Yang | 1963 | Ph.D. | Research unlocked key to prolonging freshness in fruits and flowers; 1991 Wolf Prize in Agriculture, considered the "Nobel Prize of Agriculture" |

## Sports

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability |
| Lionel Aldridge | | | Former NFL defensive end, Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers |
| Kent Baer | 1974 | B.S. | Former head football coach, Notre Dame; defensive coordinator at many universities |
| Rick Baird | 2000 | | US bobsled team, 1998–2003; forerunner during 2002 Winter Olympics |
| Ed Berry | | | Former NFL and CFL All Star defensive back, Green Bay Packers |
| Jay Don Blake | | | Professional golfer and PGA Tour winner |
| Jim Boatwright | 1974 | | American-Israeli basketball player; won two Euroleague championships with Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv |
| Clyde Brock | 1962 | B.S. | Former CFL All-Star offensive tackle |
| Anthony Calvillo | | | All-time leading passer and star quarterback in the Canadian Football League |
| Mike Connelly | 1959 | | Former NFL center, Dallas Cowboys |
| Chris Cooley | | | Two-time NFL Pro Bowl tight end, currently with the Washington Redskins |
| Kevin Curtis | 2003 | B.S. | NFL wide receiver, currently with the Philadelphia Eagles |
| Chuck Detwiler | | | Former NFL and WFL player |
| LaVell Edwards | 1952 | B.S. Physical Education | College Football Hall of Fame coach; head coach of 1984 National Champion BYU Cougars |
| Kyle Fiat | | | Professional lacrosse player, Philadelphia Wings |
| Gar Forman | 1984 | B.S. | Current general manager, Chicago Bulls |
| Bob Gagliano | 1981 | | Former NFL and USFL quarterback |
| Hal Garner | 1985 | | Former linebacker, Buffalo Bills |
| Jim Garrett | 1951 | | Former NFL coach and scout |
| Tay Glover-Wright | | | CFL cornerback for Ottawa Redblacks, formerly with Calgary Stampeders, formerly NFL cornerback for Indianapolis Colts |
| Cornell Green | 1962 | | Former NFL All-Pro defensive back, Dallas Cowboys; played basketball at USU |
| Donnie Henderson | 1986 | B.S. | Former defensive coordinator, New York Jets and Detroit Lions |
| Eric Hipple | 1980 | B.S. | Former starting NFL quarterback, Detroit Lions |
| Jim Hough | 1978 | B.S. | Former offensive lineman, Minnesota Vikings |
| Phil Johnson | 1963 1965 | B.S. M.S. | Former NBA head coach; currently longtime assistant coach, Utah Jazz; named NBA's top assistant coach three times |
| Rulon Jones | 1987 | B.S. | Former NFL defensive lineman, Denver Broncos; AFC Defensive Player of the Year, 1986 |
| Micah Knorr | 1997 | B.S. | Former NFL punter, Dallas Cowboys, and Denver Broncos |
| Greg Kragen | 2005 | B.S. | Former NFL Pro Bowl defensive tackle, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and Carolina Panthers |
| Travis LaBoy | | B.S. | Former NFL linebacker |
| MacArthur Lane | 2003 | B.S. | Former NFL Pro Bowl running back |
| Jordan Love | 2021 | | NFL quarterback, Green Bay Packers |
| Dick Motta | 1953 | B.S. Physical Education | One of top 10 winningest NBA head coaches of all time; NBA Coach of the Year, 1971; head coach of 1978 NBA champion Washington Bullets; owner of the Bluebird Inn in Logan and the Bluebird Inn Bed and Breakfast in Bear Lake, Utah; former NBA coach and color commentator; Coach of Chicago Bulls, Washington Bullets and Dallas Mavericks; NBA Coach of the Year in 1971; won an NBA Championship while coaching the Washington Bullets |
| Merlin Olsen | 1962 1971 | B.S. Finance M.S. | College and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle; later NFL analyst and TV personality; selected to 14 Pro Bowls; 1974 NFL MVP; actor, Little House on the Prairie and Father Murphy |
| Phil Olsen | 1970 | B.S. | Former NFL center and defensive tackle, Boston Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, and Buffalo Bills |
| Donald Penn | 2005 | B.S. | NFL offensive tackle, Washington Redskins Formerly Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Oakland Raiders |
| Marv Roberts | 1970 | B.S. | Former ABA basketball player |
| Len Rohde | 1960 | B.S. | Former NFL Pro Bowl tackle, San Francisco 49ers |
| Roy Shivers | 1966 | | Former NFL running back, CFL head coach and general manager |
| Jay Silvester | 1959 1971 | B.S. M.S. | Four-time Olympian discus thrower, silver medal (1972); broke world record four times; first to throw 60 meters |
| Al Smith | | B.S. | Former NFL linebacker, Houston Oilers |
| Robert Turbin | 2011 | | Former NFL tailback, Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, and Indianapolis Colts; Super Bowl champion (XLVIII) |
| Bobby Wagner | 2011 | B.S. | NFL linebacker, Seattle Seahawks * Super Bowl champion (XLVIII) |

## Miscellaneous

| Name | Class year(s) | Degree(s) | Notability | Reference |
| Freddy Deeb | | | Professional poker player, World Series of Poker | |
| Mark Hofmann | | | Author of the Salamander letter; convicted murderer | |