Notable People and Alumni
Awarding more than 7,800 degrees annually, UH's alumni base exceeds 260,000. The University of Houston has seen many now notable persons pass through its halls.
Jack Valenti, long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America and creator of the MPAA film rating system, received his B.B.A. from UH and for decades was one of the most influential people in Hollywood. Acclaimed artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel is also a University of Houston alum.
Tom Jarriel, longtime ABC News anchor is an alumni. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1956.
Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School faculty member and chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the U.S. banking bailout during the 2008–2009 financial crisis, received her B.S. from UH in 1970. Alice Sebold, a noted novelist known for Lucky and The Lovely Bones, and Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress (a popular, open-source blogging platform), also attended the university.
Notable athletes within the list include NFL players Wilson Whitley, Glenn Montgomery, Alfred Oglesby, Craig Veasey, Donnie Avery, David Klingler, Kevin Kolb, Sebastian Vollmer, and Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware; baseball stars Doug Drabek, Michael Bourn, and Brad Lincoln; golfers Fred Couples, Billy Ray Brown, Steve Elkington, and Fuzzy Zoeller; track and field legends Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell; NBA legends Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and "The Big E" Elvin Hayes as well as Bo Outlaw, Don Chaney, Michael Young, Damon Jones, Carl Herrera and Otis Birdsong; and legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. The owner of the San Diego Padres and noted philanthropist John Moores holds both undergraduate and law degrees.
Notable politicians include Gene Green, a Democratic politician and a U.S. congressman from the state of Texas representing that state's 29th congressional district. The district includes most of eastern Houston, along with large portions of Houston's eastern suburbs. Ted Poe is a Republican politician currently representing Texas's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. The district includes most of northern Houston, as well as most of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area. Tom DeLay, a former member and majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, who represented Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006, also attended the University of Houston.
Other notable celebrity alumni include Jim Parsons, star of the television series The Big Bang Theory, Brent Spiner of Star Trek: The Next Generation, actors Robert Wuhl, Loretta Devine, Dennis Quaid, Randy Quaid, and Brett Cullen, former attorney and talk show host Star Jones, Project Runway contestants Chloe Dao and Laura Bennett, sportscasters Jim Nantz and Robert Flores, and country music star Larry Gatlin.
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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or people:
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“A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)