Notable Alumni

Gordon Allot (A&S’27, Law’29)
• U.S. Senator
• Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, 1951-1955

Dick Anderson (Mktg’68)
• Football Player
• Member of the legendary 1972 Miami Dolphins World Champion team

Josephine Antoine (A&S’29, HonDocHum’35)
• 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)
• The first CU student to make an Olympic team in 1948
• U.S. Ambassador to Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
• Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic

Hank Brown (Acct’61, Law’69)
• U.S. Senator
• President of CU 2005-2008
• President of the University of Northern Colorado

Ralph Carr (BA’10, Law’12)
• 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)
• Chair, National Endowment for the Humanities
• Married to 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

Patricia Elliot (A&S’62)
• Television and Broadway actress

Ruth Flowers (A&S’24, MEdu’30)
• Head of the North Carolina College Department of Romance Languages
• 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 Cincinnati 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)
• 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)
• Opera singer

Larry Linville (Engr ex’61)
• 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 Marlot (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 1.2 million copies of Chattanooga 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)

• Archaeologist

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)

• 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
• 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’63US)

• 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)

• Football player

Steve Wozniak (Engr ex’69, HonDocSci’89)

• Co-founder, Apple Computer.

Marlene Tseng Yu (Art’67)

• Artist