Notable Alumni

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The education you receive at CU Boulder establishes a foundation of excellence that permeates your entire life. Every member of the Forever Buffs community is important to the fabric of the university, and these notable alumni are some of our most accomplished graduates.

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

Gordon Allot (A&S’1927; Law’1929)

U.S. Senator
Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, 1951–55

Dick Anderson (Mktg’68)

Football player
Member of the legendary 1972 Miami Dolphins World Champion team

Josephine Antoine (A&S’1929; HonDocHum’35)

Opera singer

Benjamin Bailar (Geol’55)

U.S. Postmaster General, 1975–78

Stephen Bechtel, Jr. (Engr ex’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 2005–08
President of the University of Northern Colorado

Ralph Carr (BA’1910; Law’1912)

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 Dick Cheney

William 'Bud' Davis (PE’51; EdD’63)

President, Idaho State University 1965–75
President, University of New Mexico 1975–82
Chancellor, Oregon University system
Chancellor, Louisiana State University 1989–96
Author of Glory Colorado! A History of the University of Colorado, Volumes 1 & 2

W. Edwards Deming (MS’1924)

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’1924; MEdu’1930)

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)

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, 1996–2000
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, 2000–02

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 authors such as George Orwell, Charles Lindbergh and Alice Walker

Ruth Keesling (Jour’53)

President of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, 1987–91

Billy Kidd (Econ’69)

Olympic skier
Won a silver model in the 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’1901; MS’1902; HonDocLaw’1909)

President of Colorado State University, 1909–40

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’1926; HonDocHum’84)

Formed the Glenn Miller Orchestra
Member of the Army Air Force band during World War II
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’1914; MA’1915; HonDocSci’42)

Archaeologist

Tony Ortega (BA’80; MFA’95)

Artist

Alva A. 'Gov' Paddock (A&S’1910)

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; PhDAstroPhys’75)

Astrophysicist
Two-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 Survivors Network, part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines that won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997
Professor of political science at Missouri State University

Wiley Rutledge (Law’1922; HonDocLaw’40)

Supreme Court Justice, 1943–49

Spencer Silver (PhDChem’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)