List of University of Iowa alumni

Academia

• Edwin Adams Davis – M.A. from Iowa; historian of Louisiana; father of Louisiana state archives; Louisiana State University professor
• R. William Field – Associate Professor, College of Public Health, University of Iowa
• Elnora M. Gilfoyle – occupational therapist; Dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences and Provost/Academic Vice President at Colorado State University
• Michael P. Johnson – emeritus professor of sociology, Pennsylvania State University
• James Kennedy – professor of the history of the Netherlands at the University of Amsterdam
• Otto Kraushaar – former president of Goucher College, long-time professor in philosophy at Smith College
• Allan J. Kuethe – historian of Latin America
• Minnette Gersh Lenier – teacher who used stage magic to improve students' learning skills
• Cindy Lovell – educator and writer; executive director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum and Mark Twain House
• Robert Moyers – Founder of Center of Growth and Development at University of Michigan
• Jewel Prestage – Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern University. First African-American woman to earn Ph.D. in Political Science.
• W. Ann Reynolds – chancellor of the California State University and City University of New York
• Jim Rossi - law professor at Vanderbilt University
• Clifford V. Smith, Jr. – 4th chancellor of University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
• William A. Staples – president of the University of Houston–Clear Lake
• John E. Visser – President of Emporia State University, 1967–1984

  Business

• Helen Brockman – fashion designer
• John Bucksbaum – former chairman and chief executive officer of GGP Inc.
• Jim Foster - founder Arena Football League
• Paul P. Harris – lawyer and founder of the first Rotary Club
• Scott Heiferman – founder and CEO, Meetup.com; founder, Fotolog.com
• Howard R. Hughes, Sr. – father of aviation pioneer and film producer Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. and builder of his fortune that started his empire
• Kerry Killinger – chairman and CEO of Washington Mutual
• Bill Perkins – hedge fund manager, film producer
• C. Maxwell Stanley – engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist; founder of Stanley Consultants and The Stanley Foundation; co-founder of HON Industries
• Ted Waitt – co-founder of Gateway, Inc.
• Frank R. Wallace, 1957, entrepreneur, publisher, writer, and developer of the Neo-Tech philosophy

  Government and politics

• Cindy Axne, United States Congresswoman
• Theodore J. Bauer – former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Fred H. Blume – Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court for 42 years
• David E. Bonior – formerly represented Michigan in the United States House of Representatives; Former member of President Barack Obama's Economic Advisory Board
• Terry E. Branstad – two-time Governor of Iowa, and longest-tenured Governor in the nation
• John Burke – tenth Governor of North Dakota
• James Cartwright – retired U.S. Marine Corps General and the 8th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Norm Coleman – former Junior Republican U.S. Senator of Minnesota
• James Dooge – Irish senator and academic in the area of Hydrology; served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Irish Government, and instrumental in forming the framework of the modern European Union and beginning the debate on climate change
• Martha Angle Dorsett – first woman admitted to the Bar of Minnesota
• James B. French – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Greg Ganske – politician from Iowa
• Paul C. Gartzke – Presiding Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals
• Mads Gilbert – Norwegian doctor in Gaza providing humanitarian care at Al-Shifa Hospital during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
• Silas B. Hays – Surgeon General of the United States Army
• Leo A. Hoegh – former Governor of Iowa and National Security Council member
• Chuck Horner – United States Air Force general; commanded Coalition Air Forces during the Gulf War
• Cheryl L. Johnson, lawyer and 36th Clerk of the United States House of Representatives
• Patty Judge, former Lieutenant Governor of Iowa and 2016 candidate for the US Senate
• George Koval – Soviet intelligence officer and Hero of the Russian Federation
• Donald P. Lay – judge of the Eighth Circuit
• Ronald H. Lingren – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Marry Mascher – member of the Iowa House of Representatives
• Andy McKean – politician in the state of Iowa
• John Walter Grant MacEwan – MS 1928; Western Canadian Lieutenant Governor of Alberta; Canadian legislator; Mayor of Calgary
• Jayaprakash Narayan – Indian freedom fighter, social reformer, politician
• Kay A. Orr – first woman Governor of Nebraska; Republican
• John E. Osborn – former Commissioner, U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy; former executive vice president and general counsel, Cephalon, Inc.
• Gregory A. Peterson – Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals
• John Pickler – member of the United States House of Representatives
• Coleen Rowley – shared 2002 Time "Person of the Year" award; the FBI whistleblower who helped bring in terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui
• Kevin G. Ross - Minnesota state judge
• Lawrence F. Scalise – Attorney General of Iowa
• Juanita Kidd Stout – first woman appointed as a federal judge; Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice
• Jim Summerville – Tennessee Senator
• Wang Huning – member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chinese political theorist, former Dean of the School of Law and Chair of the Department of International Politics, Fudan University
• Perry Warjiyo, Ph.D, 1991), Central Bank Governors, The Republic of Indonesia
• Hugh E. Wild – U.S. Air Force Brigadier General
• Ann Williams – member of [Illinois House of Representatives
• Wu Jin – Minister of Education of Taiwan, 1996–1998

  Art and architecture

• Mildred Beltre – multi-disciplinary artist; co-founder of Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine
• Ryan Bliss – 3D artist; founder of Digital Blasphemy
• David Cantine – Canadian artist
• Elizabeth Catlett – painter; studied under Grant Wood; first African American woman to earn an MFA from the University of Iowa
• Baulu Kuan – artist and curator
• Evan Lindquist – Artist Laureate of the State of Arkansas
• Charles Ray – contemporary artist
• Joe Sharpnack – editorial cartoonist
• Rudi Stern – multimedia artist
• Shirley Briggs – artist and writer; studied under Grant Wood; provided artwork for a number of projects within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and worked on a number of dioramas for the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History
• Eve Drewelowe – artist

  Literature and journalism

• Melissa Albert – author of young adult fiction
• Mildred Benson – writer under pen name Carolyn Keene of Nancy Drew books
• T.C. Boyle – PEN/Faulkner award-winning writer
• Tom Brokaw – broadcast journalist, former anchor, author ; dropped out after 1 year
• Chelsea Cain – writer
• Sandra Cisneros – author
• Max Allan Collins – writer of comic strip Dick Tracy ; also writes mystery novels
• Justin Cronin – author
• Rita Dove – 1993 Poet Laureate of the United States
• David Drake – science-fiction writer
• Andre Dubus – short story writer
• Jeannette Eyerly – writer of young adult fiction
• Joshua Ferris – novelist
• Charles Gaines – author and inventor of paintball
• George Gallup – founder of the Gallup Poll
• Ezzat Goushegir – playwright
• Garth Greenwell - author
• Oscar Hahn – author
• Joe Haldeman – science-fiction writer
• Kathryn Harrison - author
• A.M. Homes - author
• L. D. Hotchkiss – editor-in-chief, Los Angeles Times
• John Irving – writer
• Amy Jacobson – Chicago broadcast journalist
• Leslie Jamison - author
• Denis Johnson – author
• W.P. Kinsella – author
• William Lashner – author of Past Due
• Robie Macauley – novelist and editor of Playboy
• Anthony Marra – author
• Bharati Mukherjee – Bengali-American writer
• Flannery O'Connor – novelist and author of numerous short stories
• Chris Offutt – short story writer and essayist
• Ann Patchett – author
• Tappy Phillips – consumer affairs reporter for WABC-TV in New York City; correspondent for ABC News
• Dr. La Ferne Price – philosopher and author
• Jim Simmerman – poet; founded creative writing program at Northern Arizona University
• Wallace Stegner – author
• Stewart Stern – screenwriter
• Douglas Unger – novelist and founder of UNLV's creative writing MFA program
• Bertha M. Wilson – dramatist, critic, actress
• Yu Guangzhong – Taiwanese poet and author

  Pulitzer Prize winners

• Stephen Berry – 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for story he co-wrote for the Orlando Sentinel; associate professor in School of Journalism and Mass Communication
• Robert Olen Butler Jr. – won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for fiction
• Marquis Childs – commentator; 1969 winner for distinguished commentary
• Paul Conrad – editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times; won in 1964, 1971, and 1984
• Michael Cunningham – writer/novelist
• Jorie Graham – poet and MacArthur Fellow on faculty of Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Paul Harding – author
• Robert Hass – poet and former Poet Laureate of the United States
• Josephine Johnson – novelist, writing instructor
• Donald Justice – poet
• Tracy Kidder – 1982 winner for The Soul of a New Machine
• James Alan McPherson – author and MacArthur Fellow on faculty of Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Marilynne Robinson – 2005 winning author for Gilead: A Novel; faculty in Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Jane Smiley – novelist; 1992 winner for A Thousand Acres
• William De Witt Snodgrass – confessional poet; 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Mark Strand – poet; 1999 winner for A Blizzard of One
• Tennessee Williams – playwright; won for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955

  Performing arts

• Tom Arnold – actor and host of Fox Sports Net's talk show Best Damn Sports Show Period
• Scott Beck – filmmaker
• Macdonald Carey – actor
• David Daniels – conductor and author
• Don DeFore – actor
• Ellen Dolan – soap opera actress
• Duck's Breath Mystery Theater – touring comedy troupe featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered
• David Eigenberg – actor
• Simon Estes – bass baritone opera singer, formerly of the New York Metropolitan Opera
• Tanna Frederick – stage and independent film actress
• Bruce French – actor
• Robin Green – executive producer of the HBO series The Sopranos
• Don Hall – director of the Disney animated movie Big Hero 6 which won the Oscar for best animated feature in 2015 and Moana
• Jake Johnson – actor .
• John Shifflett – jazz double bass player and teacher at San Jose State University
• Joy Harjo – poet, songwriter
• Candace Hilligoss – actress
• Mary Beth Hurt – actress
• Toby Huss – actor, creator of Artie, the Strongest Man in the World from The Adventures of Pete and Pete, which he created at No Shame Theatre at the university
• Barry Kemp – producer
• Alex Ko – actor, author, film director
• Ashton Kutcher – actor, producer, entrepreneur
• Adam LeFevre – film and television actor, playwright
• Nicholas Meyer – director
• Greg Morris – actor
• Terry O'Quinn – actor
• Lara Parker – actress
• Eugene Rousseau – saxophonist
• Brandon Routh – actor
• Joe Russo of Russo Brothers – director-writer,,,, and TV shows Arrested Development and Community
• Paul Rust – actor
• Jean Seberg – actress
• William Oscar Smith – jazz double bassist
• David Strackany – musician
• Susan Werner – singer-songwriter
• Brooks Wheelan – comedian
• Gene Wilder – actor
• Bryan Woods – filmmaker
• David Bryan Woodside – actor

  Academy Award winners

• Diablo Cody – screenwriter, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
• Charles Guggenheim – documentary filmmaker, winning four Academy Awards from twelve nominations

  Grammy Award winners

• Al Jarreau – seven-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist
• David Sanborn – six-time Grammy-winning saxophonist

  Science and technology

• Archie Alexander – first African-American graduate ; governor of the Virgin Islands
• M. M. Ayoub – a pioneer in the field of ergonomics
• Alfred Marshall Bailey – ornithologist and long-term director of the Denver Museum of Natural History
• Sidney W. Bijou, – developmental psychologist
• Lawrence Einhorn – pioneering oncologist whose research increased testicular cancer survival rates from 10% to 95%
• Mildred Adams Fenton – geologist, paleontologist, writer on paleontology
• Leon Festinger – social psychologist who was responsible for the theory of cognitive dissonance
• James E. Hansen – heads NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; recognized in Times "100 Most Influential People of 2006" for his efforts to bring understanding and fighting the effects of global climate change
• Bruce C. Heezen – led a team from Columbia University that mapped the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• Darrell Huff – writer known for best-selling book How to Lie with Statistics
• Marshall Kay – geologist and Penrose Medal winner
• Tom Krimigis – space scientist, physicist
• E.F. Lindquist – co-founder of the ACT examination
• Gregor Luthe – chemist, toxicologist, nanotechnologist, inventor and entrepreneur
• Charles F. Lynch – Epidemiologist
• Mark Mattson – neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Deane Montgomery – mathematician
• Mary Lawson Neff – neurologist
• Kent Norman – cognitive psychologist and expert on computer rage
• Clair Cameron Patterson – geochemist who developed the uranium-lead dating method into lead-lead dating, worked on the Manhattan Project, and led early campaigns against lead poisoning
• James Van Allen – space scientist
• Oswald Veblen – mathematician
• Shirley Briggs – conducted work in pesticide and synthetic chemical research
• Wang Shizhen – Chinese academician, father of Chinese nuclear medicine
• George Ojemann – Neurosurgeon and cognitive neuroscientist
• Herbert Jasper – Pioneer of surgical epileptology at the Montreal Neurological Institute

  Sports

Baseball

• Cal Eldred – Major League Baseball pitcher who played for 14 years
• Milo Hamilton – sportscaster for the Iowa Hawkeyes and seven different Major League Baseball teams; recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award
• Hal Manders – relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played in 1941, 1942, and 1946
• Wes Obermueller – Major League Baseball pitcher
• Jim Sundberg – catcher for the Texas Rangers and other teams
• Art Reinhart – Major League Baseball pitcher, 1919–1928

  Basketball

• B.J. Armstrong – NBA point guard for the Chicago Bulls
• "Downtown" Freddie Brown – guard for the Seattle SuperSonics where he was captain of the 1978–79 World Championship team
• Keno Davis – men's basketball coach at Providence College
• Ricky Davis – Los Angeles Clippers player
• Acie Earl – NBA basketball player
• Bob Hansen – player for the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls; basketball analyst for the Hawkeye Radio Network
• John Johnson – player on 1978–79 Seattle SuperSonics championship team
• Noble Jorgensen – player for the Sheboygan Red Skins, Tri-Cities Blackhawks and Syracuse Nationals
• Brad Lohaus – NBA player
• Don Nelson – player for the Boston Celtics and coach for the Golden State Warriors
• Tangela Smith – center for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury

  Football

• Bret Bielema – football player and assistant coach; head coach of University of Arkansas
• Paul Burmeister – NFL quarterback, NFL Network anchor
• Jim Caldwell – offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens
• Dallas Clark – tight end for the Colts, Buccaneers, and Ravens
• Sean Considine – Former NFL defensive safety and special teams, member of the Ravens' Super Bowl XLVII championship team
• Kerry Cooks – NFL defensive back
• John Derby – NFL linebacker
• Jeff Drost – NFL defensive tackle
• Wayne Duke – Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference 1971–1989
• Tim Dwight – NFL player
• Harold Ely – NFL player
• Dick Evans – NFL player
• Wesley Fry – general manager for the Oakland Raiders
• Robert Gallery – NFL offensive tackle, second overall pick in 2004 draft
• Dennis Green – head coach with the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals
• Merton Hanks – NFL defensive back
• Homer Harris – player in 1937; first African American captain of a Big Ten Conference team
• Jay Hilgenberg – center for Chicago Bears
• Walt Housman – football player
• Carlos James – Arena Football League player
• Cal Jones – one of two Iowa football players to have his jersey retired; won the Outland Trophy in 1955
• Nate Kaeding – NFL placekicker
• Harry Kalas – voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, NFL on Westwood One and NFL Films
• Aaron Kampman – NFL defensive end
• Alex Karras – professional football player and actor
• George Kittle - 2x Pro Bowler and 2x All-Pro tight end for the San Francisco 49ers; part of the 49ers Super Bowl LIV team
• Nile Kinnick – Iowa's 1939 Heisman trophy winner with Iowa's Kinnick Stadium named for him in 1972
• Dick Klein – professional football player
• Chuck Long – closest-ever Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1985; later a college head coach; analyst for the Big Ten Network
• Jim Miller – NFL offensive guard
• Tom Moore – longtime NFL coach and offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts
• Bruce Nelson – guard and center
• Ed Podolak – player with the Kansas City Chiefs; football analyst for Hawkeye Radio Network
• Eddie Robinson – winningest coach in football history at Grambling State University from 1942 until 1997
• Reggie Roby – punter for the Miami Dolphins
• Bob Sanders – free agent safety, member of the Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl XLI championship team
• Tyler Sash – safety for the New York Giants' Super Bowl XLVI championship team
• Zud Schammel – NFL guard
• Scott Slutzker – NFL player
• Larry Station – two-time All-American player
• Bob Stoops – player and coach; head coach of the University of Oklahoma
• Mark Stoops – player; head coach of the University of Kentucky
• Mike Stoops – player, coach; defensive coordinator at Oklahoma
• Andre Tippett – Hall of Fame linebacker for the New England Patriots
• Emlen Tunnell – player; first African American to play for the New York Giants; later played for the Green Bay Packers
• Marshal Yanda – Pro-Bowl offensive lineman for the Ravens; member of Super Bowl XLVII championship team

  Mixed Martial Arts

• Jordan Johnson – professional Mixed Martial Artist, currently with the UFC
• Julie Kedzie – Two-time Hook n' Shoot Tournament Champion, National Karate Champion & fought in first women's MMA match on cable television

  Olympics

• Ed Banach – light heavyweight gold medalist at 1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles
• Lou Banach – heavyweight gold medalist at 1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles
• Terry Brands – bronze medalist at 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia
• Tom Brands – gold medalist at 1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta, Georgia; current University of Iowa wrestling coach
• Chuck Darling – member of the 1956 Summer Olympics gold medal basketball team
• Houry Gebeshian – Armenian Olympic gymnast at the 2016 Summer Olympics
• Deacon Jones – 1956 and 1960 Olympics, track and field
• Randall Lewis – featherweight gold medalist at 1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles, CA
• Anthuan Maybank – 1996 Olympic Games gold medalist in the men's 4x400 meter relay for the US
• Wally Ris – 1948 Olympic swimmer, winner of two gold medals
• George Saling – Olympic hurdler who won the 110-meter hurdles in the 1932 Summer Olympics
• Bowen Stassforth – 1952 Olympic Silver Medalist swimmer 200 m Breaststroke

  Track and field

• Francis X. Cretzmeyer – track and field coach, 1948–78; coached Ted Wheeler and Deacon Jones
• Mel Rosen – track coach

  Wrestling

• Royce Alger – 2x NCAA Champion and retired mixed martial artist
• Paul Bradley – two-time NCAA All-American; professional mixed martial artist, formerly with the UFC and currently with Bellator
• Terry Brands – NCAA Champion in 1990 and 1992, 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, and two-time World freestyle Champion in 1993 & 1995
• Tom Brands – Outstanding Wrestler Award at the 1992 NCAA Tournament; World Champion in 1993; Olympic Champion in 1996
• Rico Chiapparelli – NCAA Champ in 1987; mixed martial arts trainer
• Barry Davis – bantamweight silver medalist 1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles
• Ettore Ewen – professional wrestler for WWE under the name "Big E"
• Brent Metcalf – 2008 and 2010 NCAA Champion; 2008 Dan Hodge Trophy winner
• Steve Mocco – 2003 NCAA Division I Champion at Heavyweight; 2008 Olympic team member; current professional MMA fighter
• Tony Ramos – 2014 NCAA Champion
• Joe Williams – three-time NCAA Champion; 2001 and 2005 wrestling world bronze medalist
• Bill Zadick – 1996 NCAA Wrestling Champion, 2006 World Champion
• Mike Zadick – 2006 wrestling world silver medalist
• Jim Zalesky – three-time NCAA Champion; current coach for Oregon State University