Notable Alumni

Please note, “Ex” indicates a non-degree alum and the year of expected graduation.

	GORDON ALLOTT A&S’27, Law’29 U.S. Senator; Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, 1951-1955
	DICK ANDERSON Mktg’68 Professional Football Player; Member of the legendary 1972 Miami Dolphins World Champion team
	JOSEPHINE ANTOINE A&S’29, HonDocHum’35 Professional Opera Singer
	BENJAMIN BAILAR Geol’55 U.S. Postmaster General, 1975-1978
	STEPHEN BECHTEL, JR. EngrEx’47, HonDocSci’81 President of the Bechtel Group
	DAVID BOLEN Mktg’50, MS’50 U.S. Ambassador to Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland; Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic; in 1948 became the first CU student to make an Olympic team
	HANK BROWN Acct’61, Law’69 U.S. Senator, President of CU 2005-2008, President of University of Northern Colorado
	RALPH CARR BA’10, Law’12 Former Colorado Governor; champion for Japanese American civil rights during WWII
	CAROL CALLAN MPE’77, MBA’87 Assistant Executive Director, USA Basketball Women’s Programs
	LYNNE CHENEY MEngLit’64 Former Chair, National Endowment for the Humanities; married to former Vice President Cheney
	WILLIAM ‘BUD’ DAVIS PE’51, EdD’63 President, Idaho State University 1965-1975; President, University of New Mexico 1975-1982; Chancellor, Oregon University system; Chancellor, Louisiana State University 1989-1996; author of Glory Colorado! A History of the University of Colorado, Volumes 1 & 2
	W. EDWARDS DEMING MS’24 Renowned expert on quality in manufacturing; revolutionized quality and dependability of Japan’s production which turned it into an economic superpower
	PATRICIA ELLIOT A&S’62 Professional television and Broadway actress
	RUTH FLOWERS A&S’24, MEdu’30 Head of the North Carolina College Department of Romance Languages; was CU’s second black female graduate after having been refused a diploma in 1920 from Boulder High School
	CHRIS FOWLER Jour’85 Television Sportscaster- ESPN
	MICHAEL GELMAN Jour’83 Television Executive Producer for Live with Regis and Kelly; youngest producer of a national talk show
	TIM GILL ApMath’76 Founder, Chair, and Chief Technology Officer, Quark Inc.; created the Gill Foundation in support of gay and lesbian educational and social justice organizations
	VALORIE GOODALL MMus’59 Co-Founder and Producing Director, Rutgers Opera Company
	JIM GRAY Jour’81 Television sportscaster for ESPN, CBS, and NBC; Emmy Award Winner
	BARBARA GROGAN Psych’69 Founder and President, Western Industrial Contractors; first female chair of the Greater Denver Chamber of Commerce
	DAVID GRUSIN Mus’56, HonDocHum’89 Composer
	PHILIP HART Soc’66 Retired University of Massachusetts sociology professor; Author, filmmaker and expert on early black aviators
	JAMES ‘JIMMIE’ HEUGA PolSci’73 U.S. Olympic Skier
	THOMAS HORNBEIN A&S’52 Medical Scientist; first person to ascend Mount Everest via the treacherous West Ridge; designed breathing mask that made climbing at high altitudes possible
	ROBERT ‘BOB’ HOWSAM A&S Ex’40 President and CEO of the Cincinnatti Reds
	VICKI HUDDLESTON A&S’64 U.S. Ambassador to Mali and the Republic of Madagascar; U.S. Diplomat to Cuba, leading the State Department’s Offices of Cuban Affairs
	WILLIAM HYBL Law’67 President of the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1996 to 2000; U.S. representative to the United Nations General Assembly in 2001; CEO and chair of El Pomar Foundation since 1973
	HALE IRWIN, JR. Mktg’68 Professional Golfer
	JEANNE JACKSON Fin’74 CEO, Banana Republic, 1995-2000; CEO walmart.com, 2000-2002
	JO ANN JOSELYN ApMath’65, MAstro’67, PhD’78 First female and first American secretary general of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
	WILLIAM JOVANOVICH Engl’41 Publisher, Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich; published such authors as George Orwell, Charles Lindbergh, and Alice Walker
	RUTH KEESLING Jour’53 President of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, 1987-1991
	BILLY KIDD Econ’69 Olympic Skier; won Silver in 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria
	RICHARD KNOWLTON Econ/Geog’54 Chair, Hormel Foods Corporation
	CYNTHIA LAWRENCE Mus’83, MFA’87 Professional Opera Singer
	LARRY LINVILLE Engr Ex’61 Professional Actor
	CHARLES LORY Phys’01, MS’02, HonDocLaw’09 President of Colorado State University, 1909-1940
	DOUG LOONEY Jour’63 Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated
	THEODORE MAIMAN EngrPhys’49 Developed the first laser
	BILL MAROLT Bus’67 President and CEO, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
	SANFORD MCDONNELL MechEngr’48 President and CEO, McDonnell Douglas Corporation
	R.C. MERCURE, JR. Phys’51, MS’56, PhD’57 Co-Founder and President, Ball Brothers Research Corporation
	GLENN MILLER A&S Ex’26, HonDocHum’84 Formed the Glenn Miller Orchestra; member of the Army Air Force band during WWII; won the first gold record awarded by the recording industry for selling one million copies of Chatanooga Choo Choo
	JERRY MCMORRIS Mgmt’62 Former Owner, Colorado Rockies Baseball Team
	WILLIAM MOONEY A&S’58 Actor; played Paul Martin on All My Children
	EARL MORRIS A&S’14, MA’15, HonDocSci’42 Archeaologist
	TONY ORTEGA BA’80, MFA’95 Artist
	ALVA A. ‘GOV’ PADDOCK A&S’10 Editor; Historian
	BOB PALMER Jour’60 News Anchor
	TREY PARKER A&S Ex’93 Co-Creator and Executive Producer, South Park
	GLENN PORZAK PolSci’70, Law’73 Led the first American team to climb two peaks over 26,000 feet on the same trip: Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse; fourth American to climb the “Seven Summits”
	ROBERTA RAMO Hum’64 First female president of the American Bar Association
	ROBERT REDFORD A&S Ex’58, HonDocHum’87 Actor, Director and Producer; Founded the Sundance Institute
	DEAN REED A&S’60 Professional Musician and Actor
	RICK REILLY Jour’81 Back page columnist for ESPN The Magazine; Author of “Life of Reilly” column in Sports Illustrated; co-author of the movie “Leatherheads”; founder of the anti-malaria effort Nothing But Nets
	ROY ROMER Law’52 Governor of Colorado; Chair, Democratic National Committee; Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District
	JOE ROMIG Phys’63, PhD AstroPhys’75 Astrophysicist; 2-time All-American football player and Rhodes Scholar
	LUIS ROVIRA Econ/PolSci’48, Law’50 Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice
	KEN RUTHERFORD PolSci’85, ExecMBA’93 Co-Founder of the Landmine Survivor’s Network, part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines which won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997; Professor of political science at Missouri State University
	WILEY RUTLEDGE Law’22, HonDocLaw’40 Supreme Court Justice, 1943-1949
	SPENCER SILVER ChemPhD’66 Inventor, Post-it® Notes adhesive
	MARY DECKER SLANEY Ex’79 World-Class Runner
	LEROY SMITH IntlAf’62 U.S. Embassy Counsel, First Secretary; Paris, France
	JEAN WILSON STAFFORD A&S’36, MA’38, HonDocHum’72 Pulitzer Prize-winning Author
	MATT STONE Art, Math’93 Co-Creator and Executive Producer, South Park
	PETER TEETS ApMath’63, MS’65, HonDocSci’90 President, Lockheed Martin Corporation, 1997-1999; Under Secretary of the United States Air Force in 2001
	WILLIAM TOOMEY Jour’62 U.S. Olympic Decathlete
	LLEWELLYN THOMPSON A&S’28, HonDocLaw’58 U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1957-1962
	DALTON TRUMBO A&S Ex’29 Screenplay Writer
	MARILYN VAN DERBUR Engl’60 Miss America 1958
	BYRON WHITE A&S’38, HonDoc’63 US Supreme Court Justice; Rhodes Scholar; All-American football player
	CLAYTON WHITE Psych’34, MD’42 Medical Scientist; Rhodes Scholar; worked to develop the field of blast biology
	MURIEL SIBELL WOLLE MA’30 CU Professor, Artist
	JOHN WOOTEN PE’59 Professional Football Player
	STEVE WOZNIAK Engr Ex’69, HonDocSci’89 Co-founder, Apple Computer
	MARLENE TSENG YU Art’67 Artist