List of Reed College people

Alumni

Academia

• Julia Adams – sociologist; professor, Yale University
• Jon Appleton, 1961 – composer; Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music at Dartmouth College, Visiting Professor of Music at Stanford University
• Louis T. Benezet, 1939 – President, Colorado College
• Sacvan Bercovitch – Professor of American Literature, Harvard University
• Charles Bigelow, 1967 – Professor of Type Design and Writing, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Jonathan Boyarin, 1977 – Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies; Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University
• Robert Brenner, 1964 – Professor of History, UCLA
• Joan Bresnan, 1966 – Professor of Linguistics, Stanford University
• Robert A. Brightman, 1973 – Greenberg Professor of Native American Studies, Reed College
• Peter Child, 1975 – composer, professor of music at MIT
• Jessica Coon, 2004 – Linguistics Professor at McGill University
• Galen Cranz, 1966 – Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley
• Ann Cvetkovich, 1980 – Associate Professor of English at University of Texas, Austin; author of several books, including An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures
• Shannon Lee Dawdy, 1988 – Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago
• Kai T. Erikson, 1953 – President, American Sociological Association and Professor at Yale University
• Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, 1950 – anthropologist
• Janet Fitch, 1978 – Professor of Professional Writing, University of Southern California
• Neil Fligstein, 1973 – Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
• David H. French, 1939 – anthropologist and linguist
• Victor Friedman, 1970 – Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Balkan and Slavic Linguistics, University of Chicago
• Peter Gordon, 1988 – Professor of History, Harvard University
• Ted Robert Gurr, 1957 – Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University
• Loyd Haberly, 1919 – Dean, Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Peter Dobkin Hall, 1968 – Hauser Lecturer on nonprofit organizations, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
• Carol Heimer, 1973 – Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University
• David Hoggan, 1945 – controversial historian
• Dell Hymes, 1950 – anthropologist and linguist
• Maurice Isserman, 1973 – Professor of History, Hamilton College
• Lewis Webster Jones, 1921 – President of Rutgers University
• Don Kates, 1962 – criminologist
• Gail M. Kelly, 1955 – anthropologist
• Wallace T. MacCaffrey, 1942 – scholar of Elizabethan England; chaired the Harvard University history department twice
• Brendan McConville, 1987 – Professor of History at Boston University
• William D. McElroy, 1939 – Chancellor, University of California, San Diego and former Director, National Science Foundation
• Dennis B. McGilvray, 1965 – Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado
• Lisa Nakamura, 1987 – Professor at the Institute of Communication Research and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Kaori O'Connor, 1968 – Senior Research Fellow, University of London
• Christopher Phelps, 1988 – Professor of History, University of Nottingham
• Ray Raphael, 1965 – historian
• Diane Silvers Ravitch – Professor of History, New York University; Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Barbara Reskin – Professor of Sociology, University of Washington
• Lawrence Rinder, 1983 – Dean of Graduate Studies at the California College of the Arts; former Curator of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum
• Stephen Shapin, 1966 – historian and sociologist of science at Harvard University; taught at the University of Edinburgh and the University of California, San Diego
• Robert E. Slavin, 1972 – Director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins; cooperative learning, project Success for All
• George Steinmetz, 1980 - Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan
• Robert K. Thomas – Academic Vice President, Brigham Young University
• Katherine Verdery, 1970 – Julien J. Studley Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor, Anthropology Program, City University of New York Graduate Center
• Jon Westling, 1964 – President Emeritus and Professor of History at Boston University
• Richard Wolin, 1974 – Professor at City University of New York Graduate Center

  Arts and entertainment

• Jacob Avshalomov, 1941 – composer
• Kip Berman, 2002 – songwriter and vocalist for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Jody Bleyle, 1992 – singer, songwriter, musician
• Jennifer Camper, 1979, cartoonist
• Peter Child, 1975 – composer, professor of music at MIT
• Ry Cooder, 1971 – singer, songwriter; attended Reed for one semester
• Robert Cornthwaite, 1939 – actor
• Lamar Crowson, 1948 – pianist
• Dr. Demento, born Barret Hansen, 1963 – radio personality
• Pozzi Escot, 1956 – composer
• Johanna Fateman – musician
• Simone Forti – choreographer
• Rob Heinsoo, 1987 – game designer
• Hope Lange – actress
• Jayne Loader, 1973 – writer and director; produced and co-directed The Atomic Cafe
• Peter Mars, 1982 – artist
• Robert Morris, 1953 – sculptor
• Bill Morrison, 1985, filmmaker, Guggenheim fellow
• Charles Munch, 1968 – painter
• Daria O'Neill, 1993 – Portland radio and TV personality
• Eric Overmyer, 1973 – screenwriter, producer, playwright
• David Reed, 1968 – artist
• Lawrence Rinder, 1983 – Director of the Berkeley Art Museum
• Brian Rolland – musician
• Leo Rubinfien, 1974 – photographer
• Susan Silas, 1975 – artist
• Pat Silver-Lasky 1949– screenwriter and actress
• Morgan Spector, 2002 - actor
• Kim Spencer, 1970 – television producer
• David Henry Sterry, 1978 – author, actor/comic
• Igor Vamos, 1990 – contemporary artist, member of The Yes Men
• Anne Washburn, 1991 – playwright

  Business

• Emilio Pucci, 1937 – fashion designer; member of the Italian Parliament
• Bill Naito, 1949 – Portland businessman, developer, and civic leader
• Dan Greenberg, 1962 – CEO of Electro Rent
• Dan Drake, 1964 – co-founder of Autodesk
• Miriam Sontz, 1973 – CEO of Powell's Books, the world's largest independent bookstore.
• Robert Friedland, 1974 – businessman and CEO of Ivanhoe Mines
• Suzan DelBene, 1983 – CEO of Nimble Technology and Vice President at Microsoft
• Elly Blue, 2005 – co-owner of Microcosm Publishing
• Michael Richardson, 2007 – co-founder of Urban Airship.

  Economics

• Dorothy Brady, 1925 – Professor of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
• Robert A. Brady, 1923 – Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
• Rose Friedman, 1930 – author; wife of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman; economist in her own right; left in 1930 after her sophomore year
• Mason Gaffney, 1948 – economist and critic of neoclassical economics
• John Krutilla, 1949, economist who developed concept of existence value
• receiving the National Humanities MedalKalman J. Cohen, 1951 – Professor of Economics, Duke University
• Dale W. Jorgenson, 1955 – economist, professor at Harvard University, past president of the AEA and the Econometric Society
• Michael Rothschild, 1963 – economist, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University
• Nicolaus Tideman, 1965 – economist
• Yoram Bauman, 1995 – economist and stand-up comedian
• Ross Starr – Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego
• Walter Berns – Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

  Food and Drink

• James Beard, expelled 1922/23; honorary degree 1976 – chef and cookbook author
• Mark Bitterman, 1995 – food writer and author
• Steven Raichlen, 1975 – television chef, author
• Kate Christensen, 1986 – food writer and author
• Susan Sokol Blosser, 1967 – founder of Sokol Blosser Winery
• Sean Thackrey – winemaker

  Government

• Josiah H. Beeman V, 1958 – United States Ambassador to New Zealand
• Bud Clark – Mayor of Portland
• Richard Danzig, 1965 – 71st Secretary of the Navy
• Suzan DelBene, 1983 – United States Representative from Washington state
• Chris Garrett, 1996 – member of the Oregon Legislature
• Richard L. Hanna, 1973 – United States Representative from New York
• Cordelia Hood, 1936 – Office of Strategic Services and CIA agent
• Sheldon T. Mills, 1927 – Former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
• J. Elizabeth Mitchell, 1991 – member of the Maine Legislature
• Norman Solomon – candidate for the United States House of Representatives
• Howard Wolpe, 1960 – Congressman

  Law

• Hans A. Linde, 1947 – Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Daniel Cross, 1987 - Washington County Justice of the Peace
• Berkeley Lent, 1948 – Chief Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• George M. Joseph, 1951 – Chief Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals
• Michael E. Levine, 1962 – Senior Lecturer at the New York University School of Law; Dean Emeritus of the Yale School of Management
• Alex Martinez, 1973 – Chief Justice, Colorado Supreme Court
• Jessica Litman, 1974 – Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, legal advisor
• Katya Komisaruk, 1978 – civil rights lawyer
• Alafair Burke, 1991 – Assistant District Attorney, Multnomah County, Oregon; Professor of Law, Hofstra University; crime and mystery writer
• Chris Garrett, 1996 – Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Gus J. Solomon – US District Judge, District of Oregon
• Jacob Tanzer – Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Fay Stender – lawyer and prisoners' rights advocate

  Literature

• Tamim Ansary, 1970 – author of West of Kabul, East of New York
• Doon Arbus, 1967 – writer and journalist, daughter of Diane Arbus
• Alison Baker, 1975 – writer
• Mary Barnard, 1932 – modernist poet and translator of Greek poet Sappho
• Margaret Bechard, 1976 – science fiction writer
• Don Berry, 1931 – writer
• Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, 1969 – poet
• Lee Blessing, 1971 – playwright
• Hob Broun, 1972, author who became paralyzed and wrote two books by puffing air through a tube.
• Alafair Burke, 1991 – author
• Robert Chesley, 1965 – playwright, novelist, and composer
• Kate Christensen, 1986 – novelist, winner of 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
• Gordon Dahlquist, 1984 – playwright, novelist
• William Dickey, 1951 – poet
• Katherine Dunn, 1969 – journalist and author of Geek Love
• Elana Dykewomon, ca. 1971 – author
• Elyssa East, 1994 – novelist
• David Eddings, 1954 – writer
• Nancy Farmer, 1963 – novelist, winner of National Book Award for Young People's Literature
• Elyse Fenton, 2003 – poet
• Janet Fitch, 1978 – novelist, White Oleander, Paint It Black, and The Revolution of Marina M
• Debra M. Ginsberg, 1984 – author
• Shadab Zeest Hashmi, 1995 – poet
• Ernest Haycox – author
• Myrlin Hermes, 1997 – author
• Roger Hobbs, 2011 – author of Ghostman and Vanishing Games
• Jemiah Jefferson, 1994 – author
• Laleh Khadivi, 1998 – author and writer
• Caroline B. Miller, 1959 – author
• Lisa Dale Norton, 1976 – author
• Steven Raichlen, 1975 – author and writer
• Howard Rheingold, 1968 – writer
• M. C. Richards, 1938 – poet
• David Romtvedt, 1972 – poet
• Mary Rosenblum, 1975 – author
• Vern Rutsala, 1956 – poet and writer
• Tina Satter, 2004 – playwright
• Leslie Scalapino, 1966 – poet, publisher, and playwright
• Gary Snyder, 1951 – Pulitzer Prize winner and poet
• Sally Watson, 1950 – writer
• Philip Whalen, 1951 – poet
• Lew Welch, 1950 – poet

  Journalism and Media

• Ed Cony, 1948 – Editor of the Wall Street Journal, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1961
• Robert Richter, 1951 – documentary filmmaker and Academy Award winner
• Barbara Ehrenreich, 1963 – journalist, political activist, author of Nickel and Dimed
• Jim Compton, 1964 – journalist at PBS
• Howard Rheingold, 1968 – writer, critic, and virtual media theorist
• , 1974 – first African-American woman to be hired as reporter at the Oregonian.
• Sheila Rogers, 1980 – columnist and TV producer for The Late Show With David Letterman
• Gary Wolf, 1983 – author and writer for Wired.
• Anya Schiffrin, 1984 – business journalist and author of '
• Adam L. Penenberg, 1986 – writer, professor of journalism at New York University
• Peter S. Goodman, 1989 – reporter for the New York Times and author of '
• Robert Smith, 1989 — journalist, host of Planet Money.
• Arun Rath, 1994 – correspondent for NPR and WGBH, former weekend host of NPR's All Things Considered
• Michelle Nijhuis, 1996 – journalist
• Peter Zuckerman, 2003 – journalist and author
• Adrian Chen, 2009 – journalist and former staff writer at The New Yorker.
• , 2014 – journalist and producer at NPR's Planet Money.

  Inventors and Innovators

• C. Howard Vollum, 1936 – founder of Tektronix; inventor of the edge-triggered oscilloscope
• Ken Koe, 1945 – co-inventor of Zoloft.
• Bernard Smith, 1948 – sailboat designer
• John Sperling, 1948 – founder of the University of Phoenix
• , 1949 – inventor of the Gordon Wrench
• James Russell, 1953 – inventor of the compact disc
• Peter Norton, 1965 – creator of Norton Utilities
• Richard Crandall, 1969 – computer scientist who developed the irrational base discrete weighted transform used in finding large prime numbers
• Steve Jobs, 1976 – Apple co-founder and CEO; Pixar co-founder and CEO
• Pamela Ronald, 1982 – geneticist and developer of flood-tolerant rice
• Larry Sanger, 1991 – co-founder of Wikipedia
• Luke Kanies, 1996 – created Puppet software system
• Daniel K. Kim, 2001 – transportation entrepreneur

  Philosophy

• Karl Aschenbrenner, 1934 – philosopher of aesthetics
• Sydney Shoemaker, 1953 – Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University
• Guy Sircello, 1958 – Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine and scholar of aesthetics
• Jay Rosenberg, 1963 – philosopher of metaphysics, epistemology, and language.
• Allen W. Wood, 1964 – Professor of Philosophy, Indiana University
• Tom Wasow, 1967 – Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at Stanford University
• Sally Haslanger, 1977 – Professor of Philosophy, MIT
• Eric T. Olson, 1986 – Professor of Philosophy, University of Sheffield; taught at Cambridge University
• Lisa Kemmerer, 1988 – author and professor of philosophy and religion at Montana State University Billings

  Psychology and Neuroscience

• Harry Harlow, 1926 – professor of psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Herbert Jasper, 1928 – professor of psychology, McGill University
• Eleanor Maccoby, 1939 – psychologist at Stanford University, member of the National Academy of Sciences
• M. Brewster Smith, 1939 – professor of psychology, University of Chicago
• Jeanne Block, 1947 – developmental psychologist, professor, Stanford University
• Richard F. Thompson, 1953 – professor of psychology, University of Southern California
• Daryl Bem, 1960 – professor of psychology, Cornell University
• Eleanor Rosch, 1960 – professor of psychology, University of California, Berkeley
• Robert Frager, 1961 – social psychologist, founder of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
• Mary Rothbart, 1962 – educational and developmental psychologist, professor at University of Oregon
• Eleanor Rosch, 1962 – cognitive psychologist, professor at UC Berkeley
• Paul H. Taghert, 1975 – neuroscientist, Washington University in St. Louis
• Roberto Malinow, 1979 – neuroscientist, UC San Diego
• Cyma Van Petten, 1981 – cognitive neuroscientist, professor at SUNY-Binghampton
• Gina G. Turrigiano, 1984 – professor of vision science, Brandeis University; MacArthur Fellow
• Athena Aktipis, 2002 – director of the Human Generosity Project at Arizona State University
• Allen Bergin – psychologist

  Biology and Chemistry

• Arthur H. Livermore, 1940 – biochemist
• Allah Verdi Mirza Farman Farmaian, 1951 – biologist, Rutgers University
• Bruce Voeller, 1956 – biologist, AIDS researcher, gay-rights activist; coined the term AIDS
• Daniel S. Kemp, 1958 – Professor of Chemistry, MIT
• Mark Ptashne, 1961 – Professor of Molecular Biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• Donald Engelman, 1962 – biochemist at Yale University; Guggenheim fellow
• Anne Hiltner, 1963 – polymer scientist and professor at Case Western Reserve
• Kenneth Raymond, 1964 – Professor of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
• Arlene Blum, 1966 – mountaineer and chemist
• Michael Balls, 1966 – zoologist and professor, University of Nottingham
• Mary Jo Ondrechen, 1974 – Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University
• Alison Butler, 1977 – metallobiochemist at UC Santa Barbara, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Rachel E. Klevit, 1978 – Professor of Biochemistry, University of Washington
• Roger Perlmutter, 1973 – biotechnologist; head of Research and Development at Amgen, Inc.
• Victor Nizet, 1984 – Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacy at the University of California, San Diego
• Kevan Shokat, 1986 – Professor and Chair of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco; Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator
• John Alroy, 1989 – paleobiologist
• Stephen C. Sillett, 1989 – botanist, professor at Humboldt State University
• Paul Knoepfler, 1989, stem-cell researcher, author, professor at UC Davis School of Medicine
• Kent Kirshenbaum, 1994 – Professor of Chemistry, New York University

  Science, Mathematics, Computing, and Engineering

• John Backus, 1932 – Professor of Physics, University of Southern California
• John Alexander Simpson, 1940 – Professor of Physics, University of Chicago, and atomic scientist on the Manhattan Project
• Clarence Allen, 1949 – Professor of Geology, California Institute of Technology
• Daniel Bump, 1974 - Professor of Mathematics, Stanford University
• Larry Shaw, 1961 – physicist and founder of Pi Day
• David B. Dusenbery, 1964 – father of sensory ecology
• David Flory, 1964 – physicist; Professor of Physics, Chairman of the Physics Department, and Director of the School of Natural Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Arthur Ogus, 1968 – Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley
• Thomas William Ferguson, 1965 – physician
• Alan H. Borning, 1971 – Professor of Computer Science, University of Washington
• Jonathan Grudin, 1972 – computer scientist
• Catherine Otto, 1975 – physician
• Daniel Kottke, 1976 – computer scientist
• Lawrence Philips, 1976 – software engineer; developer of the Metaphone family of phonetic encoding algorithms
• Norman Packard, 1977 – chaos theory physicist
• Steven McGeady, 1980 – technologist
• Theodore James Courant, 1982 – mathematician
• Kelly Falkner, 1983 – oceanographer, Antarctic researcher
• Peter Shirley, 1985, computer scientist
• Keith Packard, 1986 – software developer; known for his work on the X Window System
• Shep Doeleman, 1986 – astrophysicist, director of the Event Horizon Telescope project
• Irena Swanson, 1987, mathematician and professor at Reed College
• Craig DeForest, 1989 – astrophysicist, director of the PUNCH mission
• Edward Ramberg – physicist

  Other

• Greta Christina, 1983 – blogger
• Mike Davis – activist and scholar
• Randall Giles – composer
• Max Gordon, 1924 – owner of the Village Vanguard
• Mukunda Goswami, 1961 – Hare Krishna guru
• Christopher Langan – "America's smartest man;" won a scholarship to Reed after earning a perfect SAT score, but dropped out
• Murray Leaf, 1961 – anthropologist
• Ben Manski – democracy activist, lawyer, sociologist
• Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 2016 – human rights activist
• Joann Osterud, 1968 – aviator and stunt pilot
• Harry Wayland Randall, 1936 – member of international brigades in Spanish Civil War
• Aaron Rhodes, 1971 – human rights advocate
• Helen Sandoz – lesbian activist
• Genny Smith – publisher
• Peter Stafford – author and writer
• Sumner Stone, 1967 – typeface designer
• Michael Teitelbaum, 1966 – program director and demographer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• Donald Niven Wheeler, 1936 – political activist

  Fictional alumni

• Erlich Bachmann, from HBO's Silicon Valley
• John William Barry from David Guterson's 2008 novel The Other
• Bill McKay, portrayed by Robert Redford in the 1972 film The Candidate
• Donald "Don" Miller in his semi-autobiographical 2003 book Blue Like Jazz and in the 2012 Blue Like Jazz film
• Harald Petersen, Reed '27 from Mary McCarthy's 1963 novel The Group
• Japhy Ryder from Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums
• Hunter Scangarelo, friend of Meadow Soprano in the 1999–2007 television series The Sopranos
• Sierra from Charmed Thirds, Megan McCafferty's 2006 novel in the Jessica Darling series
• Lambert "Sharkey" Somers, from Judy Blume's 1998 novel Summer Sisters

  Faculty

• William J. Connell – historian
• Paul Douglas – US Senator from Illinois
• David J. Griffiths – physicist
• Daniel Reisberg – psychology