Whitman College - Notable Whitman Alumni

Notable Whitman Alumni

• – Otto Harbach, MA, lyricist and librettist of about 50 musical comedies, including Rose Marie and The Desert Song.
• 1908 - David Crockett Graham, BA, missionary, archeologist, anthropologist, field collector for Smithsonian.
• 1919 - Frances Penrose Owen, BA Greek, honored for her extensive public service in Seattle, first woman Regent of Washington State University
• 1920 – William O. Douglas, BA English-Economics, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
• 1921 - Wallace R. Brode, BA, chemist, absorption spectra of dyes.
• 1922 – Ralph Cordiner, BA Economics-Political Science, CEO and Chairman, General Electric, Corp.(1958–1963); President (1950–1958)
• 1924 – Walter Brattain, BA Physics, physicist, co-inventor of the transistor, Nobel Prize winner.
• 1924 – Vladimir Rojansky, physicist, author and educator.
• 1933 – Gordon Wright, BA, historian.
• 1934 – Bernard Berelson, BA English, behavioral scientist known for work on communication and mass media.
• 1935 – Al Ullman, U.S. congressman for 24 years.
• 1941 – Lucile Lomen, first woman to serve as a law clerk for a Supreme Court justice.
• – Jack Fearey, attended three years, television pioneer at KING-TV, director of the Seattle Center, established the Bumbershoot and the Northwest Folklife Festival.
• 1944 - Dan Fenno Henderson, founder of the University of Washington Asian law program
• 1951 – Adam West, BA English, actor, Batman, Family Guy.
• 1955 – Al Swift, attended two years, Washington Congressman.
• 1959 – Diane Middlebrook, attended, biographer of Anne Sexton.
• 1960 – Douglas Cole, BA Art History, historian specializing in art and Pacific Northwest cultural history.
• 1960 – David R. Nygren, particle physicist, inventor of the Time projection chamber.
• – Pat Thibaudeau, BA Psychology, former Washington State Senator.
• 1963 – W. Michael Gillette, BA, Oregon Supreme Court Justice.
• 1964 – Walt Minnick, BA, Idaho Congressman.
• 1965 - Webb Miller, BA, Computational Biology Pioneer. Time 100, 2009: Scientists and Thinkers
• 1965 – Ben Kerkvliet, author and educator in the fields of comparative politics, Southeast Asia and Asian studies.
• – Morten Lauridsen, attended two years; composer, recipient National Medal of Arts; Distinguished Professor of Composition, USC Thornton School of Music
• 1967 – Dirk Benedict (Niewoehner), BA Dramatic Art, Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team.
• 1970 – Kathryn Shaw, BA Dramatic Art, artistic director of Studio 58 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• 1971 – Ryan Crocker, BA English, current U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, and Pakistan.
• 1971 – John Markoff, BA Sociology, New York Times journalist and co-author of Takedown.
• 1971 – Jack Rasmussen, BA Art, Director and Curator of the American University Museum.
• 1971 – Ben Westlund, BA Education/History, former Oregon State Treasurer. Deceased 2010 while in office.
• 1973 – Torey Hayden, BA, Biology/Chemistry, child psychologist, special education teacher, university lecturer and author.
• 1974 – Marlin Eller, BA Mathematics, programmer and software developer, co-author of Barbarians Led by Bill Gates
• 1977 – John W. Stanton, BA Political Science, Founder and CEO, Western Wireless.
• 1977 – Rick Stevenson, BA History, film writer, director and producer.
• 1982 - Keely Stauter-Halsted, BA History, Hejna Chair in the History of Poland at the University of Illinois at Chicago
• 1985 – Steve McConnell, software engineering author, Code Complete
• 1985 – Lance Norris, BA Dramatic Art, Mystic River.
• 1990 – John Moe, BA Dramatic Art, author and public radio host.
• 1992 – Annee Hartzell, BA Politics, Teacher of the blind, 2009 National Federation of the Blind's teacher of the year.
• 1997 – Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, BA Geology, NASA Astronaut.
• 2000 – Ingrid Backstrom, BA Geology, professional skier.
• 2004 – Holly Brooks, BA Sociology, Environmental Studies, Winter Olympian in Nordic skiing.