Notable Alumni
Phillip Anschutz
Founder, Qwest Communications whose portfolio includes telecom, sports and entertainment ventures, including San Francisco Examiner, LA's Staples Center, stakes in NBA's LA Lakers, soccer's LA Galaxy and hockey's Kings. Film company Walden Media produced Holes, Because of Winn-Dixie and the Narnia series. Cited on Business Week's 50 Most Generous Philanthropists List.
Sheila Bair
Chairwoman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Named second most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in 2008.
Etta Moten Barnett
Actress and singer (first African-American woman to entertain at the White House).
Mark Batenic
CEO, IGA, Inc., largest independent grocers affiliation in world with 4,000 stores in 41 nations
William E. Borah
Influential U.S. senator from Idaho (1906-1940); 1889 graduate sponsored bills establishing labor department, Children's Bureau
George Brown
First African-American elected lieutenant governor in the U.S, (1974) and first African-American elected to statewide office in Colorado
Peter Brown
Former president, CEO and chairman of AMC Entertainment Inc., North America's second-largest theater chain
Sen. Sam Brownback
Current member of the United States Congress and former candidate for Republican presidential nomination
Francisco Santos Calderón
Vice President, Republic of Columbia
CEO of Anglo-American, one of the world's largest mining conglomerates; in 2008 named most powerful woman in the world by Fortune magazine; 7th most powerful woman by Forbes magazine.
Wilt Chamberlain
NBA superstar
John E. Christensen
Chancellor, University of Nebraska-Omaha
Linda Zarda Cook
Former executive director of Shell Gas & Power (highest ranking woman) and CEO of Shell Canada; named 3rd most powerful woman in the world by Fortune magazine in 2008.
Dale R. Corson
President, Cornell University (1969-1977), physicist who discovered basic element Astatine (AT)
Jack Del Rio Jr.
Head football coach, Jacksonville Jaguars
David Dillon
Chairman and CEO, Kroger Co
Bob Dotson
Award-winning NBC News correspondent and author
David Ewing Duncan
Award winning science writer, author and commentator
Robert Eaton
Former CEO of Chrysler Corp.
Joe Engle
NASA astronaut (see also Ronald E. Evans, Steve Hawley)
Paul Ehrlich
Environmental scientist, population expert and author ("The Population Bomb.") Also a MacArthur Fellow recipient
Ronald E. Evans
NASA astronaut (see also Joe Engle, Steve Hawley)
Lorenzo Dow Fuller Jr.
First African-American host on NBC-TV; first African-American to sing with KU symphony.
Moses Gunn
Actor ("Heartbreak Ridge," "Roots")
Ann Hamilton
Sculptor, installation artist and MacArthur Fellow recipient
NASA astronaut (see also Joe Engle, Ronald E. Evans )
Steve Haynes
President, National Newspaper Association
Kevin Helliker
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (see also Gerald Seib, William Allen White)
David Hillis
Evolutionary biologist and MacArthur Fellow recipient
Jane Dee Hull
Governor of Arizona, 1997-2003.
Dave Hunke
President and publisher, USA Today
William Inge
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright ("Picnic"), Oscar Award-winner for "For Splendor in the Grass"
Wes Jackson
Environmental historian; president of The Land Institute, Salina, Kan., a research center on sustainable agriculture; a MacArthur Fellow recipient
Nancy Landon Kassebaum
First female U.S. senator (1979-1997) elected in own right without having been preceded in office by her husband.
Kenton Keith
U.S. ambassador to Quatar, 1992-1995.
Paul Keim
World's leading expert in anthrax DNA fingerprinting
Rick Kellerman
President, American Academy of Family Physicians
Clarence Kelley
Federal Bureau of Investigation director, 1973 to 1978
Rebecca Kolls
Gardening expert (HGTV's "Rebecca's Garden," ABC's "Good Morning America")
Lee Kyung-sook
President of Sookmyung Women's University, South Korea
Doug Lamborn
U.S. Congressman, 5th District, Colorado.
Alf Landon
Kansas governor and 1936 Republican nominee for president.
Neil LaBute
Film director/writer (Wicker Man, Nurse Betty, In the Company of Men)
Delano Lewis
Former National Public Radio CEO and ambassador to South Africa
Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer
Engineer known as the "Father of Aegis," the Navy's primary air-defense weapon system, described as the first integrated air weapon system and the world's preeminent maritime combat system. A guided-missile destroyer is named for him.
Billy Mills
Olympic gold medalist in track (only American to win the 10,000-meters medal)
David McClain
President, University of Hawaii
James A. McClinton
First African-American mayor of Topeka, Kan., 2004-2005
Brian McClendon
Google Earth director of engineering (that's why KU is the center of Google Earth)
Elmer McCollum
Scientist (discovered vitamins A and D)
Co-founder of Netscape; co-authored Lynx text web browser while at KU; responsible for browser innovations such as HTTP cookies, the blink tag, server push and client pull, HTTP proxying, and encouraging the implementation of animated GIFs into the browser.
Rep. Dennis Moore
Current member of the United States Congress
Rep. Jerry Moran
Current member of the United States Congress
Alan Mulally
President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company
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link to video)
Janet Murguia
President, National Council of La Raza, U.S.' largest constituency-based Hispanic organization
Lawton Nuss, Carol Beier and Eric Rosen
Current Kansas Supreme Court justices
Sara Paretsky
Best-selling mystery writer (V.I. Warshawski series)
Mark Parkinson
Governor of Kansas, 2009-
Mandy Patinkin
Actor ("Yentl," "The Princess Bride"; TV's "Chicago Hope")
Dave Peacock
President, Anheuser-Busch
Artur Pizarro
Concert pianist
Dr. William Plested III
President of the American Medical Association
Malcolm S. Robinson
President, National Bar Association
Charles "Buddy" Rogers
Silent screen star whose 1927 movie "Wings" was first to win "best picture" Oscar; married Mary Pickford
Paul Rudd
Actor ("Clueless," "Cider House Rules," TV's "Friends")
Roseann Runte
First woman president of Carleton University (Canada). Past president of Old Dominion University.
Adolph Rupp
Third winningest men's basketball coach after KU graduate Dean Smith, winning 876 games and four national championships in 41 years at University of Kentucky (His coach at KU was James Naismith)
Jim Ryun
Three-time U.S. track Olympian and world-record miler, former member of U.S. House of Representatives
Mathana Santiwat
President, Bangkok University in Thailand
Juan Manuel Santos
Minister of Defense, Republic of Columbia.
Gale Sayers
Famous football player and youngest player in NFL history to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2009-; governor of Kansas, 2003-2009
Gerald Seib
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (see also Kevin Helliker, William Allen White)
Douglas Shane
Director of flight operations for SpaceShipOne, first private manned space program
Bruce Smith
CEO of major oil refiner Tesoro ($16.6 billion in revenues in 2005)
Dean Smith
NCAA's all-time winningest coach (at University of North Carolina) with 879 games until 2006 when surpassed by Bobby Knight; was member of 1952 KU national championship men's basketball team
Vernon Smith
Nobel Prize laureate in economics
Chief judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit
Clyde Tombaugh
Astronomer who discovered the planet Pluto
Rosalie Wahl
First woman justice on the Minnesota state Supreme Court
William Allen White
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author(see also Kevin Helliker, Gerald Seib)
William F. Woo
First Asian-American to be the editor of a major daily American newspaper, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Sir Robert Worcester
British political commentator and market research pioneer; also chancellor of the University of Kent (UK)
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