List of Brandeis University people

Here follows a list of notable alumni and faculty of Brandeis University.

Notable alumni

Academia

• Eve Adler, Classicist, professor at Middlebury College
• Amnon Albeck, Chemist, professor and University's Vice-Rector at Bar-Ilan University
• Frederick Alt, Geneticist at Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
• Arjun Appadurai, Anthropologist and editor of Public Culture
• Elliot Aronson, Social psychologist known for research on the theory of cognitive dissonance
• Seyla Benhabib, Professor of political science and philosophy at Yale University
• Bonnie Berger, Professor of applied mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ilan Berman, Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council
• David Bernstein, Law professor and blogger
• Ruth Ben-Ghiat, History professor, New York University
• Deborah Bial, Education strategist, Founder and President of Posse Foundation, MacArthur Fellow
• Richard Burgin, Professor, fiction writer, critic, founder and editor of Boulevard literary magazine
• Nancy Chodorow, Feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst
• Arthur L.Caplan, Professor of Bioethics
• Angela Davis, Political activist, academic and author
• Donna Robinson Divine, Professor at Smith College
• Jean Bethke Elshtain, Professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, feminist, political philosopher
• Daniel A. Foss, Sociologist
• Perry A. Frey, Professor of biochemistry at University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Robert Gallucci, President of the MacArthur Foundation
• Sherwood Gorbach, emeritus Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine
• Herbert Gross, Professor of Mathematics, Bunker Hill Community College, Corning Community College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Evelyn Fox Keller, Historian and philosopher of science, MacArthur Fellow 1992
• David Kertzer, Anthropologist at Brown University; Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Pope and Mussolini
• Barak Kushner, Professor of East Asian History at the University of Cambridge
• Yanna Krupnikov, political scientist
• Deborah Lipstadt, History professor, Emory University
• George Loewenstein, Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University
• Roderick MacKinnon, Professor at Rockefeller University, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Fatema Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist
• Joseph S. Murphy, President of Queens College, President of Bennington College, and Chancellor of the City University of New York
• Elisa New, Professor, Harvard University, wife of Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University
• David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, professor
• Alicia Ostriker, Poet, professor at Rutgers University
• Lawrence Rosen, Anthropologist and law professor
• Philip Rubin, Cognitive scientist, CEO Emeritus, Haskins Laboratories
• Paul Sally, Professor of mathematics, University of Chicago
• Michael Sandel, Professor of political philosophy, Harvard University and former member of The President's Council on Bioethics
• Lawrence Schiffman, Historian of ancient Judaism and Vice-Provost at Yeshiva University
• Joan Wallach Scott, Historian of France and pioneer in the field of gender history
• Milette Shamir, Israeli scholar of American literature and vice president of Tel Aviv University
• Judith Shapiro, Former President, Barnard College
• Elaine Showalter, Literary critic
• Lawrence Solan, Professor of law at Brooklyn Law School
• Hortense Spillers, Literary critic, Black feminist scholar and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University
• Maurice R. Stein, Author of Blueprint for Counter Education (1970), founding dean of the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, and a professor of sociology at Brandeis University
• Alan Taylor, Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian, professor at UC Davis
• Fernando Torres-Gil, Associate Dean and professor of public policy, UCLA School of Public Affairs
• Paul Townsend, Physicist, notable for work on String Theory
• Karen Uhlenbeck, Mathematics professor, MacArthur Fellow, awarded Leroy P. Steele Prize for research, first woman to win the Abel Prize.
• Judith G. Voet, Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Swarthmore College, author of biochemistry textbooks
• Theo Wallimann, Professor, Biochemist/Cell Biologist at ETH Zurich
• Michael Walzer, Professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study
• Edward Witten, Physicist, awarded Fields Medal in 1990
• Rich Yampell, Grammarian, Klingon Language Institute
• David B. Yoffie, Professor of International Business Administration at Harvard Business School
• Julian E. Zelizer, Professor of American political history at Princeton University
• Robert J. Zimmer, Former President, University of Chicago
• John A. Pojman, Patricia Senn and William Senn, Jr., Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Louisiana State University.

Arts and media

• Kathy Acker, Novelist
• Mitch Albom, Sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven
• Paula Apsell, Executive Producer of Nova, the longest-running science documentary series and winner of eight Emmy Awards
• Ross Bauer, composer
• Stanley Bing (aka Gil Schwartz), Author, columnist for Fortune and Esquire; Executive Vice President of CBS Corporation
• Dan Blum, Novelist
• Elizabeth Bruenig, writer and opinion columnist for The Washington Post
• David Brudnoy, Talk radio host in Boston
• Samrat Chakrabarti, British-American actor
• Peter Child, Composer
• Joe Conason, Political columnist for The New York Observer
• David Crane, Co-creator, writer, and executive producer of television series Friends
• Steven Culp, Actor
• Tyne Daly, Actress, co-starred in TV series Cagney & Lacey
• Stuart Damon (Stuart Michael Zonis), Actor, played Dr. Alan Quartermaine for thirty years on the TV soap opera General Hospital
• Loretta Devine, Actress in TV series Boston Public and Grey's Anatomy, and films, including Crash
• Josh Dibb (aka Deakin), Musician, member of Animal Collective
• Alan Ehrenhalt, Senior editor of Governing, contributing writer to The New York Times
• Thomas Friedman, Foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times; winner of the National Book Award and three Pulitzer Prizes
• Lindsay Gardner, Media executive
• Gary David Goldberg, Television writer and producer
• Tony Goldwyn, Actor and director
• Karen Lynn Gorney, Actress
• Alexander Gould, Actor known for roles in Finding Nemo and Weeds
• Debra Granik, Film director and screenwriter
• Mark Halliday, Poet
• Marshall Herskovitz, TV and film producer, director and screenwriter
• Dan Hirschhorn, Time.com
• Kay Hymowitz, Conservative commentator, Manhattan Institute scholar
• Chuck Israels, Jazz musician, bassist
• Margo Jefferson, The New York Times theater critic, winner of Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
• Ha Jin, Novelist, winner of the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award
• Michael Kaiser, President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• Myq Kaplan, Comedian
• Marta Kauffman, Executive Producer and co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning television series Friends
• Jesse Kellerman, Novelist and playwright, son of novelists Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman
• Arghavan Khosravi, painter, sculptor and illustrator, attended the postbaccalaureate program in 2015.
• Jon Landau, Music critic, manager and record producer
• Susan B. Landau, Film and television producer (Cool Runnings, Mary and Rhoda)
• Louise Lasser, Actress, ex-wife of Woody Allen
• Abby Leigh, Artist
• Mark Leyner, Postmodern novelist
• Peter Lieberson, Composer
• Charlene Liu, Artist
• Steven Mackey, Composer
• Michael McDowell, Novelist and script writer
• Gates McFadden, Actress, best known as Dr. Beverly Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Kathleen McInerney, Voice actress, Ash Ketchum seasons 1–8 on Pokémon
• Debra Messing, Actress in television series Will & Grace and The Starter Wife
• Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal technology columnist
• Josh Mostel, Actor, son of actor Zero Mostel
• Susana Naidich, Argentine singer
• Barry Newman, Actor
• Marc Tyler Nobleman, Author
• Anand Patwardhan, Documentary filmmaker
• Martin Peretz, Editor-in-chief of The New Republic
• Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Author, journalist, social activist, a founding editor of Ms. magazine
• Patrik-Ian Polk, Writer-producer of Noah's Arc
• Deborah Porter, Critic, non-profit director, founder of the Boston Book Festival
• Tom Rapp, Singer/songwriter, previously of Pearls Before Swine
• Guy Raz, Host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered
• Theresa Rebeck, Playwright and novelist
• Nancy Richler, Novelist
• Nathan J. Robinson, Columnist and founding editor of Current Affairs
• Rosemary Rodriguez, film and TV director including of The Good Wife and Jessica Jones
• Harilyn Rousso, artist, psychotherapist, and disabled rights activist
• Jeff Rubens, Bridge player, writer and editor
• Richard Rubin, Actor, television personality, and reality star of Beauty and the Geek
• David Ian Salter, Film editor of Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo
• Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst
• Bob Simon, CBS television correspondent for 60 Minutes
• Arunoday Singh, Bollywood actor; grandson of Indian politician Arjun Singh
• Sunny Singh, Writer
• Daniel Smith, Writer
• Laura J. Snyder, Historian, philosopher, and author
• Paul Solman, Journalist for PBS
• Christina Hoff Sommers, Author, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
• Karen Sosnoski, Author and filmmaker
• Michael Sugar, Film and TV producer/Oscar winner for Spotlight
• Gary Tinterow (B.A. 1976), art historian and curator
• Eric Tuchman (B.A. 1984), Emmy Award-winning showrunner of The Handmaid's Tale
• Jonathan Vankin, Senior Editor, Vertigo Comics
• Robin Weigert, Actress, played Calamity Jane in Deadwood on HBO
• Adam D. Weinberg, Director of Whitney Museum of American Art
• Eliza Wyatt, Playwright, author, and sculptor

Business

• Leonard Asper, Chief Operating Officer, CanWest
• Mitch Caplan, Former president and CEO, E*Trade Financial Corporation
• Christie Hefner, Former Chairman & CEO, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., daughter of Hugh Hefner
• Brian Hirsch, venture capitalist
• Myra Hiatt Kraft, Philanthropist and late wife of Bob Kraft, owner of New England Patriots NFL football team
• Suk-Won Kim, Chair of SsangYong Business Group, one of the largest companies in the Republic of Korea
• Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Executive Vice President of Time Warner, former CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, responsible for the introduction of PlayStation
• Bobby Sager, Philanthropist, photographer, former president of Gordon Brothers Group
• Robert F.X. Sillerman, Media entrepreneur; CEO of CKX, Inc. (owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises and American Idol)
• Donald Soffer, Real estate professional and a developer of Aventura, Florida.
• Louise Sunshine, Real estate professional and founder of the Sunshine Group
• Scott A. Travers, Noted numismatist and author.
• Ellis Verdi, Advertising executive and co-founder of the DeVito/Verdi advertising agency

Government, law, politics and non-profits

• Jack Abramoff, Republican activist; founder, International Freedom Foundation, former lobbyist (convicted of mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion)
• Donna Arzt, Human rights attorney, law professor
• Françoise Blime-Dutertre, French philosopher
• Sidney Blumenthal, Adviser to President Bill Clinton and journalist
• Naomi Reice Buchwald, United States District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
• Devin Carney, Connecticut State Representative
• Jennifer Casolo, Peace activist
• Bernard Coard, Grenadian politician who led the coup that ousted Maurice Bishop
• Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, Member of the House of Lords, UK
• Amy Eilberg, First female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism, hospice chaplain
• Gustavo Gelpi, United States District Court Judge, District of Puerto Rico
• Geir Haarde, Prime Minister of Iceland
• Wakako Hironaka, Member of the Diet of Japan, State Minister, Director-General of the Environment Agency (1993–94)
• Abbie Hoffman, Social and political activist; co-founder of the Youth International Party ("Yippies")
• Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General for the United States Department of Justice
• Otis Johnson, Mayor of Savannah, Georgia
• Joette Katz, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
• Lisa Kubiske, United States Ambassador to Honduras
• Robert Lasnik, United States District Court Judge, Western District of Washington
• Osman Faruk Loğoğlu, Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Turkey
• Roslynn Mauskopf, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of New York
• Vineeta Rai, Indian Administrative Service officer; former Revenue Secretary, Government of India; voted one of 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in India
• Rakesh Rajani, Tanzanian Civil Society Leader
• Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit human rights litigation organization
• Lois Galgay Reckitt, executive director, Family Crisis Services of Portland, Maine
• Lauren Rikleen, Author, lawyer, workplace expert
• Edgar Romano, managing senior partner at the New York City law firm Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP
• Stanley Roth, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 1997–2001
• Dimitrij Rupel, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
• George Saitoti, Vice President of the Republic of Kenya
• Ari Schwartz, Chief operating officer, Center for Democracy and Technology
• Eli J. Segal, Assistant to the President of the United States 1993–1996
• Daniel B. Shapiro, Former United States Ambassador to Israel
• David Sinclair, Maine state representative
• Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund
• Stephen J. Solarz, Former U.S. Representative from Brooklyn, New York
• Beth Teper, Director of COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere)
• Shen Tong, Student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
• Andrew H. Warren, State Attorney of Florida's 13th Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County (1978–01)
• Micah Zenko, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Gerald Zerkin, Attorney for Zacarias Moussaoui

Science

• Larry Abbott, Senior Fellow at Janelia Farms (HHMI); co-director, Columbia Center for Theoretical Neuroscience; member of the National Academy of Sciences
• V. Balakrishnan, Indian theoretical physicist
• Eric R. Braverman, Physician
• Adam Cheyer, AI and CS scientist, co-founder of Siri, the company behind Apple's personal assistant on iOS
• Sharon K. Davis, senior scientist and head of the Social Epidemiology Research Unit at the National Human Genome Research Institute
• Judith Rich Harris, Psychologist
• Arthur G. Hunt, Plant and soils scientist
• Leslie Lamport, Computer scientist and inventor of LaTeX document preparation system
• Beatrice B. "BeBe" Magee, Chemist
• Janet Akyüz Mattei, Astronomer, former director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
• Siddhartha Roy, Structural biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Philip Rubin, Cognitive scientist, CEO Emeritus, Haskins Laboratories; White House science advisor in Obama administration
• Robert H. Singer, Senior Fellow at Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chair of Anatomy and Structural Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Ron Sun, Professor of Cognitive Sciences and Computer Science, RPI
• Drew Weissman, Physician-scientist and Nobel laureate
• Robert K. Rainer, American attorney and professor
• Patrick Tufts, Computer scientist and inventor
• Rachel Zimmerman, Space scientist, inventor of the Blissymbol Printer, which simplifies communication for users with physical disabilities

Sports

• Nelson Figueroa, Major League Baseball pitcher
• Jeffrey Lurie, Owner of Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team
• Tim Morehouse, Fencer, silver medal winner in men's team sabre at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Sam Shankland, 2018 US Chess Champion

Crime, political crimes, and terrorism

• Naomi Jaffe, Social and political activist, member of the Weather Underground organization
• Katherine Ann Power, Anti-war activist and former fugitive from justice
• Susan Edith Saxe, Anti-war activist and former fugitive from justice
• Aafia Siddiqui, Neuroscientist (alleged al-Qaeda operative), convicted of assaulting and attempting to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents
• Laura Whitehorn, Member of the Weather Underground organization, participated in the Battle of Boston during the Boston busing crisis

Notable faculty and staff, past and present

• John B. Anderson: United States Congressman, third-party candidate for President of the United States in 1980
• Stuart Altman: Healthcare policy economist, member of the Institute of Medicine
• Alexander Altmann: Professor of Jewish Philosophy and History of Ideas
• Teresa Amabile: Social and organizational psychologist
• Robert J. Art: International politics
• Kathleen Barry: Feminist and sociologist
• Leonard Bernstein: Composer and conductor
• Frank Bidart: Poet, awarded Bollingen Prize
• Egon Bittner: Sociologist and police science scholar
• Michael Brenner: Professor for Jewish history and culture
• Bernadette Brooten: Professor of Christian studies, member of the MacArthur Fellows Program
• Olga Broumas: Poet
• David Buchsbaum (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Mary Baine Campbell: Poet and critic
• Carolyn Cohen: Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Saul Cohen (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Frank Conroy: Memoirist, fiction writer, and director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Lewis A. Coser: Sociologist, one of the founders of Dissent magazine
• J.V. Cunningham: Poet and literary critic
• Pamela Dellal: Mezzo-soprano
• Stanley Deser (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Mark Feeney: Pulitzer Prize-winning arts critic for The Boston Globe
• Irving Fine: Composer
• David Hackett Fischer: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
• Mickey Fisher: Basketball coach and Brandeis Athletic Director
• Benny Friedman: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback; Brandeis Athletic Director and last football coach
• Lawrence "Larry" Fuchs: Founder of the American Studies Department at Brandeis and immigration policy expert
• Paul Georges: Member of National Academy Museum
• Ray Ginger: Historian noted for his biography of Eugene V. Debs
• Eugene Goodheart: Literary critic
• Arthur Green: Jewish spirituality and thought
• Allen Grossman: Poet, awarded Bollingen Prize and MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant
• Jeff Hall (emeritus): member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Timothy J Hickey: Computer scientist
• Anita Hill: Lawyer and social policy expert
• Heisuke Hironaka: Mathematician, Fields Medal winner
• Michelle Hoover: Writer-in-residence, author
• Irving Howe: Political theorist, editor and founder of Dissent
• Hugh Huxley (emeritus): Member of the National Academy of Sciences
• Ray Jackendoff (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Paul Jankowski: Historian
• Gish Jen: Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• William Jencks: Biochemist
• Charles Kadushin, psychologist known for social network analysis and study on Jewish populations
• William E. Kapelle: Medieval historian
• Dorothee Kern: Biochemist, former basketball player for the East Germany national team
• Jytte Klausen: European politics, author of The Cartoons that Shook the World
• Walter Laqueur: Historian and political commentator
• Max Lerner: Author, syndicated columnist, and editor
• Alvin Lucier: Composer of experimental music
• Alasdair MacIntyre: Philosopher
• Kanan Makiya: Iraqi dissident, advocate of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Herbert Marcuse: Social theorist and member of the Frankfurt School
• Eve Marder: Neuroscientist
• Abraham Maslow: Psychologist noted for humanistic approach
• Eileen McNamara: Pulitzer Prize- winning columnist for the Boston Globe
• Pauli Murray: Feminist, civil rights advocate, lawyer, and ordained priest
• Ulric Neisser: Pioneer in development of cognitive psychology
• Irene Pepperberg: Psychologist noted for research on cognition in animals, particularly for her work with Alex, a grey parrot
• Gregory Petsko: Biochemist
• James Pustejovsky: Linguist, proposer of Generative Lexicon theory
• Philip Rahv: Literary and social critic, editor and founder of Partisan Review
• David Rakowski: Music, runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1999, 2002)
• Robert Reich: United States Secretary of Labor, 1993–1997
• Margret Rey: Author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Curious George series
• Adrienne Rich: Poet, essayist and feminist
• Philip Rieff: Sociologist and cultural critic
• Jehuda Reinharz: Former President of Brandeis University and current Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History, and Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis.
• Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the United States
• Michael Rosbash: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Rosie Rosenzweig: Resident scholar
• Dennis Ross: Special envoy/ambassador to Middle East under President Bill Clinton
• Jonathan Sarna: Historian of American Judaism
• Nahum Sarna: Biblical scholar, father of Jonathan Sarna
• Morrie Schwartz: Sociologist; subject of Mitch Albom's bestselling novel, Tuesdays with Morrie
• Arnold S. Shapiro: Mathematician
• Thomas M. Shapiro: Sociologist, author
• Mitchell Siporin: Artist
• Thomas Sowell: Economist, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
• Marie Syrkin: Poet and author
• Andreas Teuber: Philosophy professor, actor
• Samuel O. Thier: President of both Massachusetts General Hospital and Brandeis University
• Gina G. Turrigiano: Neuroscientist, winner of the MacArthur "Genius" Award
• Claude Vigée: Poet
• Kurt Heinrich Wolff: Sociologist
• Franz Wright: Poet, awarded Pulitzer Prize
• Yehudi Wyner: Composer, awarded Pulitzer Prize
• Leslie Zebrowitz: Social psychologist

References