Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Famous University of Kansas 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.

Harold Arlin
First broadcaster to call a baseball game on the radio, 1921. Also was the first to announce a college football game on the radio in the same year.

Sheila Bair
Chairwoman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (2006-2011). 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

David G. Booth
Cofounder of Dimensional Fund Advisors; namesake for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and owner of James Naismith's original 13 rules to basketball

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

Sam Brownback
Governor of Kansas, 2011-. Former member of U.S. Senate and House.

Anand Burman
Chairman, Dabur India, a $3.1 billion consumer goods company.

Francisco Santos Calderón
Former Vice President, Republic of Colombia

Cynthia Carroll
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.

Andres Carvallo
Smart Grid Master.  Defined Smart Grid term on March 5, 2004. Inventor of first Smart Grid deployment from 2003 - 2010. Co-Author of “The Advanced Smart Grid” published in July of 2010.

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 Dole
Former U.S. Senate majority leader, presidential and vice-presidential nominee.
More info: The Dole Institute of Politics

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.

Sam Gilliland
CEO of Sabre Holdings, owner of Travelocity, a leading online travel company.

Moses Gunn
Actor ("Heartbreak Ridge," "Roots")

Benjamin D. Hall
Genetic scientist who developed, with a colleague, a vaccine for hepatitis B, one of the world's most common blood-borne viruses.

Ann Hamilton
Sculptor, installation artist and MacArthur Fellow recipient

Steve Hawley
NASA astronaut (see also Joe Engle, Ronald E. Evans )

Steve Haynes
President, National Newspaper Association

Kevin Helliker
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. At least 13 KU alumni have won the prize (see also Colleen McCain Nelson, 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
Past President, American Academy of Family Physicians

Clarence Kelley
Federal Bureau of Investigation director, 1973 to 1978

Rod Keenan
Noted milliner whose hat collection is sold internationally. His hats have been featured in movies and magazines, and custom clients include numerous actors and singers.

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)

Anne Levinson
co-owner of Seattle Storm, 2004 and 2010 WNBA champions

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, 2004-2009

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)

John B. McLendon, Jr.
First African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university (Cleveland State University) and first African American head coach in professional sports (Cleveland Pipers in American Basketball League).

Lou Montulli
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.

Dennis Moore
U.S. Congressman, 1999 to 2011.

Rep. Jerry Moran
U.S. Senator representing Kansas, 2011-. Former member of U.S. House.

Alan Mulally
President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company (link to video)

Janet Murguia
President, National Council of La Raza, U.S.' largest constituency-based Hispanic organization

Colleen McCain Nelson
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. At least 13 KU alumni have won the prize (see also Kevin Helliker, Gerald Seib, William Allen White.)

Chester Nez
One of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers, who during World War II transmitted U.S. military messages in their native language—a code the Japanese never broke. The code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945.

Lawton Nuss, Carol Beier and Eric Rosen
Current Kansas Supreme Court justices

Sara Paretsky
Best-selling mystery writer (V.I. Warshawski series)

Mark Parkinson
Kansas governor, 2009-2011

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, 2006-07

William Powell
Leading Hollywood movie star of the 1930s, best known for The Thin Man series.

Malcolm S. Robinson
President, National Bar Association, 2002

Charles "Buddy" Rogers
Silent screen star whose 1927 movie "Wings" was first to win "best picture" Oscar; married Mary Pickford

Paul Rudd
Actor ("Clueless", "Knocked Up", 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

Gen. Pahol Sanganetra
Deputy Permanent Secretary of Defense of Thailand.

Mathana Santiwat
President, Bangkok University in Thailand

Juan Manuel Santos
President, Republic of Colombia.

Luis Santos
CEO of Casa Editorial El Tiempo (CEET), a leading media company in Colombia, South America Its holdings include the national newspaper El Tiempo.

Gale Sayers
Famous football player and youngest player in NFL history to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Kathleen Sebelius
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2009-; governor of Kansas, 2003-2009

Gerald Seib
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. At least 13 KU alumni have won the prize (see also Kevin Helliker, Colleen McCain Nelson and William Allen White)

Douglas Shane
Director of flight operations for SpaceShipOne, first private manned space program

Bruce A. Smith
CEO of major oil refiner Tesoro, 1995-2010 (Retailed under Shell, USA Gasoline, Mirastar and Tesoro brands)

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

Marla Spivak
Entomologist who studies bee colony health and a MacArthur Fellow recipient

Deanell Reece Tacha
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

Kent Whealy
Founder of the Seed Savers Exchange and a MacArthur Fellow recipient

William Allen White
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. At least 13 KU alumni have won the prize (see also Kevin Helliker, Colleen McCain Nelson, 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)

Kevin Yoder
U.S. Congressman, 2011-. Former student body president.

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