Table of Contents
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[+] Alumni
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[+] Faculty
- [+] Fictional Cornellians
- [-] University Presidents
- [+] Trustees
- [+] Directors of Cornell Athletics
Alumni
Nobel Laureates
Physics
- Isidor Isaac Rabi (B.Chem. 1919; graduate study 1921-23, transferred) - Physics 1944
- Sheldon Lee Glashow (B.A. 1954 Physics) - Physics 1979
- Steven Weinberg (B.A. 1954 Physics) - Physics 1979
- Douglas D. Osheroff (M.S. 1971 Physics, Ph.D. 1973 Physics) - Physics 1996
Peace, Literature, or Economics
- John Mott (B.S. 1888 Philosophy) - Peace 1946
- Pearl S. Buck (M.A. 1925 English Literature) - Literature 1938
- Toni Morrison (M.A. 1955 English, A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1997-2003) - Literature 1993
- Robert Fogel (B.A. 1948 Economics) - Economics 1993
- Robert F. Engle (M.S. 1966 Physics, Ph.D. 1969 Economics) - Economics 2003
Physiology or Medicine
- Hermann Joseph Muller (graduate study 1911-12) - Physiology or Medicine 1946
- George Wells Beadle (Ph.D. 1930 Genetics) - Physiology or Medicine 1958
- Robert W. Holley (Ph.D. 1947 Organic Chemistry; Professor and Department Chair in Biochemistry, 1948-64) - Physiology or Medicine 1968
- Barbara McClintock (B.S. 1923 Botany, M.A. 1925 Botany, Ph.D. 1927 Cytology; Instructor in Botany, 1927-31; A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1965-74) - Physiology or Medicine 1983
Government
Heads of State
- Jamshid Amuzegar (B.S. 1945 Engineering, Ph.D. 1951) - Prime Minister of Iran, 1977-78
- Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol (LL.M. 2002, J.S.D. 2005) - Princess of Thailand [1]
- Lee Teng-hui (Ph.D. 1968 Agricultural Economics) - President of Republic of China (Taiwan), 1988-2000
- Mario García Menocal (B.S. 1888 Engineering) - President of Cuba, 1913-21
U.S. Cabinet and Cabinet-level Ranks
- Sandy Berger (B.A. 1967 Government) - National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton, 1997-2001
- Samuel W. Bodman (B.S. 1961 Chemical Engineering) - Deputy Secretary of Commerce, 2001-03; Secretary of Energy, 2005-present
- Lincoln D. Faurer - Director, National Security Agency
- Stephen Hadley (B.A. 1969) - National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, 2005-present
- Eugene K. Jones - (M.A. 1908 Social Science) Member of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Black Cabinet, Executive Secretary of the National Urban League, Founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
- C. Everett Koop (M.D. 1941) - Surgeon General of the United States under president Ronald Reagan, 1982-89
- Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (undergrad 1909-10, 1912-13, dropped out) - Secretary of the Treasury, 1934-45
- Edmund Muskie (LL.B. 1939) - Governor of Maine, 1955-59; Senator from Maine, 1959-80; Vice Presidential Candidate, 1968; Secretary of State, 1980-81
- Samuel Pierce (B.A. 1947, J.D. 1949; Trustee, 1972-77, 1978-82) - Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Ronald Reagan, 1981-89
- Thomas C. Reed (B.S. 1956 Mechanical Engineering) - Secretary of the Air Force under Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, 1976-77
- Janet Reno (B.A. 1960 Chemistry; Professor) - Attorney General under Bill Clinton, 1993-2001
- William P. Rogers (LL.B. 1937) - Attorney General, 1957-61), Secretary of State, 1969-73), Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, 1973
- Louis Wade Sullivan (Medical College Resident) - Founder and Dean of Morehouse School of Medicine, 1975, Secretary of Health and Human Services under George H. W. Bush, 1989-93
- Paul Wolfowitz (B.A. 1965 Mathematics and Chemistry) - Deputy Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush, 2001-05, President of the World Bank, 2005-2007
U.S. Senators, Governors, Supreme Court
- Joseph B. Foraker (B.A. 1869) - Governor of Ohio, 1886-90). Senator, Ohio, 1897-1909). One of eight members of Cornell's first graduating class.
- Douglas H. Ginsburg (B.S. 1970) - U.S. Supreme Court nominee
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (B.A. 1954 Government) - U.S. Supreme Court associate justice
- Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (1924) - Representative, Missouri 11th District, 1935-40). Senator, Missouri, 1951-60).
- Philip H. Hoff (J.D. 1951) - Governor of Vermont, 1963-69). First Democrat to serve in that position since the Civil War.
- Goodwin Knight (graduate study 1919-20) - Governor of California, 1953-59
- Chuck Robb (undergrad 1957-58, transferred) - Senator, Virginia, 1989-2001
U.S. Congressmen
- John G. Alexander (J.D. 1916) - Minnesota 3rd District, 1939-41
- Rob Andrews (J.D. 1982) - New Jersey 1st District, 1990-present
- Andrew Biemiller (B.A. 1926) - Wisconsin, 1945-47, 1949-51
- Frederick Van Ness Bradley (1921) - Michigan, 1939-47
- Abraham Lincoln Brick (undergrad) - Indiana, 1899-1908
- Barber Conable (B.A. 1942 Medieval History, LL.B. 1948) - New York 37th District, 1965-73; 35th District, 1973-83; 30th District, 1983-85; President of the World Bank, 1986-91
- Maurice Connolly (1897) - Iowa, 1913-15
- Thomas Joseph Downey (B.S. 1970) - New York 2nd District, 1975-93
- Bob Filner (B.A. 1963 Chemistry, Ph.D. 1973 History of Science) - California 50th District, 1993-2003), 51st District, 2003-present
- Gabrielle Giffords (M.R.P. 1996) - Arizona, 8th District, 2007-present
- Norman Judd Gould (M.E. 1899) - New York, 1915-23
- Gilbert Gude (B.S. 1948) - Maryland 8th District, 1967-77
- Edwin Arthur Hall - New York, 1939-53
- Joseph Clifford Hendrix (studies 1870-73; Trustee) - New York, 1893-95
- Frank Horton (L.L.B. 1947) - New York 36th District, 1963-73), 34th District, 1973-83), 29th District, 1983-93
- Charles Samuel Joelson (B.A. 1937, L.L.B. 1939) - New Jersey, 1961-69
- Clarence Evans Kilburn (1916) - New York, 1940-65
- Mark Kirk (B.A. 1981 History) - Illinois 10th District, 2001-present
- Gary Alcide Lee (graduate study 1963) - New York, 1979-83
- Norman F. Lent (L.L.B. 1957) - New York 5th District, 1971-73), 4th District, 1973-93
- Lewis Henry, 1909) - New York, 1922-23
- Richard Dean McCarthy (graduate study) - New York, 1965-71
- Clement Woodnutt Miller, 1946 Industrial & Labor Relations) - California, 1959-62
- Robert J. Mrazek (B.A. 1967 Government) - New York 3rd District, 1983-93
- James R. Olin (B.E.E. 1943) - Virginia, 1983-93
- Richard Ottinger (B.A. 1950) - New York, 1965-71, 1975-85); Founder and second staff member of the Peace Corps, 1961-64); Dean of Pace Law School, 1994-99
- Edward Worthington Pattison (B.A. 1953, L.L.B. 1957) - New York, 1975-79
- James Parker (1887) - New York 29th District, 1913-33
- John Raymond Pillion (L.L.B. 1927) - New York, 1953-65
- Alexander Pirnie (1924, J.D. 1926) - New York 34th District, 1959-63), 32nd District, 1963-73
- Daniel A. Reed (1898) - New York 43rd District, 1919-45, 1953-59), 45th District, 1945-53
- Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (B.A. 1933) - Wisconsin, 1955-83
- Howard Winfield Robison (1937, law 1939) - New York, 1958-75
- James A. Roe (School of Military Aeronautics 1917) - New York, 1945-47
- George Shiras III (1881) - Pennsylvania, 1903-05
- Henry P. Smith III (law 1936) - New York, 1965-75
- Sam Steiger - (Arizona, 1967-77
- Elmer E. Studley (1894) - New York, 1933-35
- Frank Sundstrom (1924) - New Jersey 11th District, 1943-49
- Paul Harold Todd, Jr. (B.S. 1942) - Michigan, 1965-67), CEO of Planned Parenthood, 1967-70
- William Edgar Tuttle, Jr. (undergrad 1887-89) - New Jersey, 1911-15
- George Ernest Waldo (undergrad 1868-70) - New York, 1905-09
- John De Witt Warner (1872) - New York, 1891-95
- John S. Wold (M.S. 1939) - Wyoming, 1969-71
Diplomats
- William Brownfield (1974) - U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, 2004-present
- Chan Heng Chee (M.A. 1967 Government) - Singapore's ambassador to the U.S., 1996-
- Arthur Hobson Dean (B.A. 1921, L.L.B. 1923) - internation law expert, chief U.S. negotiator at Panmunjeom, assisted with negotiations for Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, delegate to the United Nations,
- Alan Keyes (undergrad 1968-69, transferred) - Diplomat, U.S. Presidential candidate, 1996, 2000; U.S. Senate candidate from Maryland (1988, 1992) and Illinois (2004)
- Jerome H. Holland (B.S. 1939, M.S. 1941) - First black member of the New York Stock Exchange; President of Delaware State University (1953-60) and Hampton University (1960-70); U.S. ambassador to Sweden, 1970-73; chairman of the American Red Cross, 1979-85
- Edwin Jackson Kyle (M.S. 1902) - U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, 1945-48; namesake of Kyle Field
- Sol Linowitz (J.D. 1938, Trustee, 1966-95) - Diplomat, Ambassador, Chairman of Xerox, 1960-66; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, 1998
- Jacob Gould Schurman, Professor of Philosophy, President (1886-1892). Ambassador to Germany (1925-1929)
- Hu Shih (B.A. 1914) - China's ambassador to the U.S., 1938-42; philosopher; poet
- Sao-Ke Alfred Sze (B.A. 1901) - China's ambassador to the U.S. and later UK, founding member of World Bank; First Chinese student to attend Cornell
- Willard Straight (B.Arch. 1901) - American diplomat, investment banker, publisher, World War I veteran, namesake of Willard Straight Hall
Judges and Lawyers
- Floyd Abrams (B.A. 1956) - Co-Counsel, The New York Times "Pentagon Papers" case
- Mary Donlon Alger (LLB 1920) - U.S. Customs Court Judge, Cornell Trustee, and first female editor-in-chief of the Cornell Law Quarterly
- Mark J. Bennett (J.D. 1979) - First Republican Attorney General of Hawaii in 40 years
- Boris Bittker (B.A. 1938) - Prominent professor
- Leonie Brinkema (J.D. 1976) - U.S. District Court Judge
- George B. Clementson (B.L. 1892) - Author of The Road Rights and Liabilities of Wheelmen, the first treatise on bicycle law.
- Harry T. Edwards (B.A. 1962 Industrial & Labor Relations) - Chief justice, U.S. Court of Appeals
- Charles C. Garside (J.D. 1923) - New York City municipal judge, active in New York State Government
- Hon. Douglas H. Ginsburg (B.A. 1970) - Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, planned presidential nomination to U.S. Supreme Court announced.
- Judge Frank H. Hiscock (A.B. 1875) Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (1916-1926), Chairman of Cornell Board of Trustees, and decided the Chester Gillette murder case.
- Edith Jones (B.A. 1971 Economics) - Justice, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
- Walter Chadwick Noyes (1888) - Justice, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Philip Perry (J.D. 1990) - General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security
- Max Rosenn (B.A. 1929) - Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Jan Schlichtmann (J.D. 1977) - Civil action lawyer whose story was made into the film A Civil Action, in which Schlichtmann is played by John Travolta
- Leah Ward Sears (B.S. 1976) - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia
- Amy St. Eve (B.A. 1987, J.D. 1990) - U.S. District Court Judge
- Elbert Tuttle (B.A. 1918, LL.B. 1923) - Chief judge, U.S. Court of Appeals; ruled on many fundamental 1954 civil-rights cases
Others
- Edwin L. Crawford, first county executive of Broome County, New York
- Stephen Friedman (B.A. 1959; Trustee, 1993-) - Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (2005-), former assistant for economic policy to President George W. Bush (2002-04) and director of the National Economic Council, 2003-04; former chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, 1990-94.
- Jesse Root Grant (undergrad 1874-77, dropped out) - Son of U.S. President Ulysses S Grant
- Mark J. Green (B.A. 1967) - Government consumer-affairs activist, New York Public Advocate, 1994-2001
- Donald Kerr (B.S. 1963) - Assistant Director of the F.B.I., former Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai (Ph.D. 1950) - Governor of Bihar, India, 1979-85, 1993-98
- Stephen D. Krasner (B.A. 1963) - Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department, professor of political science at Stanford University
- Edward M. House (undergrad 1877-80, dropped out) - Foreign policy advisor for Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Florence Kelley (B.A. 1882) - Political and social reformer
- Harold O. Levy (B.A. 1974, J.D. 1977) - Chancellor of New York City Schools 2000 - 2002
- Kyle E. McSlarrow (Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy
- Benjamin Nichols (B.S. 1946, M.S. 1949) - Cornell professor of electrical and computer engineering and Socialist mayor of Ithaca (1989-1995).
- Roberto Prats (B.A. 1990 Public Political Analysis and Economics) - Senator of Puerto Rico
- Anna E. Roosevelt (did not graduate) - Daughter of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
- David William Thomas (B.A. prior to 1900) - Louisiana journalist, attorney, educator, politician
- Lt. Col. Matt Urban (B.A. 1941, History, Government) - Recipient of the Medal of Honor and numerous other decorations for valor during World War II[2]
- William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire (Ph.D.) - scholar and Liberal Democrat peer
Natural Sciences and Related Fields
Mathematics
- Norbert Wiener (graduate study 1910-1911, transferred) - Mathematician, founder of the study of cybernetics
- William F. Friedman (B.S. 1914 Genetics) - Considered by many to be one of the greatest cryptologists of all time[citation needed]
Physics
- Malcolm Beasley (B.E.P. 1962, Ph.D. 1968) - Physicist
- Harry Kroger (Ph.D. 1962) - Physicist and electrical engineer
- Hubert Reeves (Ph.D. 1960) - Astrophysicist
- Ted Taylor (Ph.D. 1956 Theoretical Physics) - Director of Project Orion and designer of many small nuclear weapons
Astronomy
- Frank Drake (B.A. 1952 Engineering Physics; Professor of Astronomy, 1964-84) - SETI researcher, known for the Drake equation
- Vera Rubin (M.A. 1951) - Astronomer known for contributions to the study of dark matter
- Steven Squyres (B.A. 1978 Geology, Ph.D. 1982 Planetary Science; Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy) - Astronomer, principal science investigator for the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity
- Jill Tarter (B.S. 1965) - Astronomer, Director of the Center for SETI Research
Chemistry
- Harry Coover (M.S. 1943, Ph.D. 1944) - Prolific product inventor, notably cyanoacrylate adhesives (Super Glue); member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame
- Walter McCrone (B.S. 1938 Chemistry, Ph.D. 1942 Organic Chemistry) - Leading expert in microscopy, best known for work on the Shroud of Turin and the Vinland map
- Thomas Midgley, Jr. (M.E. 1911) - Inventor of Freon and tetra-ethyl lead
- Benjamin Widom (Ph.D. 1953; Goldwin Smith Professor of Chemistry 1954-) - Physical chemist awarded the Boltzmann Medal
Computer Science and Engineering
- Robert L. Cook (M.S. 1981 Computer Graphics) - Academy Award for creation of RenderMan rendering software
- Andrew C. Greenberg (B.S. 1979) - Co-creator of the massively successful early computer game Wizardry
- Donald P. Greenberg (B.C.E. 1958, Ph.D. 1968) - Computer graphics pioneer and educator
- Morton Heilig (1943) - Early virtual reality pioneer, inventor
- William Higinbotham (graduate study) - Developer of Tennis for Two, 1958, one of the earliest video games
- Jon Kleinberg (B.S. 1993, Professor of Computer Science) - MacArthur Fellow, researcher of combinatorial network structure
- Robert S. Langer (B.S. 1970 Chemical Engineering) - Leading figure in biochemical engineering, author of over 500 patents and 800 scientific papers
- Marc Levoy (B.Arch. 1976, M.S. 1978 Architecture) - Developed technology and algorithms for digitizing 3D objects that led to the Digital Michelangelo Project
- Douglas McIlroy (B.E.P. 1954) - Inventor of the pipes and filters architecture of Unix and the concept of software componentry
- Al Seckel - Creator of the Darwin Fish
- Robert Woodhead - Co-creator of the massively successful early computer game Wizardry and co-founder of AnimEigo
- Paul Francis - Responsible for IP Nesting
Biology, Ecology, Botany, Nutrition
- Robert C. Baker (B.S. 1943; Professor) - Inventor of the chicken nugget
- Stephen Moulton Babcock, developed the "single-grain experiment" (in 1907-11) that would lead to the development of nutrition as a science.
- John Henry Comstock (B.S. 1874; Professor) - Pioneer in entomology research and education
- Milislav Demerec (Ph.D. 1923 Genetics) - Geneticist and long serving director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Keith Downey (Ph.D. 1961) - Inventor of canola oil
- Arthur Rose Eldred (B.S. 1916 Agriculture) - America's first Eagle Scout, 1912), agriculturalist
- Louis Agassiz Fuertes (B.A 1897; Lecturer 1923-?) - Ornithologist and illustrator
- Veranus Alva Moore (B.S. 1887; Professor of Veterinary Medicine 1896-1908), Dean of Vet School, 1908-29) - Bacteriologist and pathologist
- Roger Morse (B.S. 1950, M.S. 1953, Ph.D. 1955; Professor) - Apiculture author, teacher, researcher
Medicine
- Robert Atkins (M.D. 1955) - Creator of the Atkins Diet and an author on health and nutrition
- Emily Dunning Barringer (B.S. 1897) - First female ambulance surgeon in the U.S.
- Dean Edell (B.A. 1963 Zoology, M.D. 1967) - Physician and media personality
- Wilson Greatbatch (B.E.E. 1950) - Inventor of the world's first successful artificial pacemaker
- Henry Heimlich (B.A. 1941, M.D. 1943) - Inventor of the Heimlich maneuver
- Philip Levine (M.D. 1923) - Immunohematologist; discovered the Rh factor in blood in 1939.
- Robert Millman (undergrad; Saul P. Steinberg Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, Medical College) - Drug abuse expert, former Medical Director for Major League Baseball
- Cecilia Mettler (Ph.D. 1938)- medical historian
- Lt. Gen. James Peake, US Army (ret) (M.D. 1972) - former Surgeon General of the United States Army
- Alvin F. Poussaint (M.D. 1960) - Child-rearing expert
- Daniel Elmer Salmon (D.V.M. 1872) - Namesake of salmonella; first D.V.M. in the United States
- Benjamin Spock (medical residency; Professor of Pediatrics, Medical College, 1933-47) - Author of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, one of the best selling books of all time
- Ida S. Scudder (M.D. 1899, Medical Missionary in India; Founder of Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, Tamilandu)
NASA Astronauts
- Ellen S. Baker (M.D. 1978) - Lead Astronaut for Medical Issues, Johnson Space Center
- Daniel T. Barry (B.S.E.E. 1975) - Astronaut, contestant on CBS reality program Survivor: Exile Island
- Jay C. Buckey, Jr.) - B.S.E.E. 1977, M.D. 1981) - Astronaut
- Martin J. Fettman (B.S. 1976 Animal Nutrition, M.S. 1970 Nutrition, D.V.M 1970; Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecturer 1994) - Payload specialist
- Mae Jemison (M.D. 1981; A.D. White Professor-at-Large 1999-2005) - First African-American woman to travel in space; member of National Women's Hall of Fame; chemical engineer, physician, teacher
- G. David Low (B.S.M.E. 1980) - Astronaut
- Edward T. Lu (B.S.E.E. 1984) - Astronaut and physicist
- Donald A. Thomas (M.S. 1980 Materials Science, Ph.D. 1982 Materials Science) - Astronaut
Social Sciences
Economics
- Abby Joseph Cohen (B.A. 1973 Economics) - Eminent Wall Street stock strategist
- Francis Fukuyama (B.A. 1974 Classics) - Political economist, philosopher
- Claudia Goldin (B.A. 1967) - Noted economist
- Ricardo Hausmann (Ph.D. 1981) - a former Venezuelan Minister and ex-Chairman of the IMF - World Bank Development Committee
- Frank H. Knight (Ph.D. 1916) - Influential scholar-economist, one of the original leaders of the "Chicago School" of economic theory
- James Needham - Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange[3]
- George Rea (1915) - First paid president of the New York Curb Exchange[4]
- Thorstein Veblen (graduate study 1891-92, transferred) - Economist, author of The Theory of the Leisure Class
Psychology
- Edwin G. Boring (1908, Ph.D. 1915 Psychology; Instructor of Psychology 1913-18) - Historian of psychology
- Urie Bronfenbrenner (B.A. 1938 Psychology and Music; Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Human Development and Psychology) - Psychologist, pioneer in developmental psychology (Ecological Systems Theory), founder of field Human Ecology, co-founder of national Head Start program
- Joyce Brothers (B.S. 1947) - Author, psychologist, and television personality
- James Maas (M.A., Ph.D.; Professor of Psychology) - Psychologist, coined the term "power nap"
- Abraham Maslow (undergrad 1928-29, transferred) - Psychologist best known for his Hierarchy of Human Needs
Anthropology, Sociology, Other Social Science
- Edward Bernays (B.S. 1912 Agriculture) - Public relations practitioner, author of Propaganda
- Ken Blanchard (B.A. 1961, Ph.D. 1967) - Management consultant, co-author of The One Minute Manager
- Alfred Blumstein (B.A., Ph.D) - Criminologist and former dean of the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon University
- Gordon G. Chang (B.A. 1973, J.D. 1976) - Author of The Coming Collapse of China and Nuclear Showdown : North Korea Takes On the World, one of the original set of Student Trustees
- Harry Edwards (Ph.D. 1970) - sociologist noted for work on race and sports, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley
- Daniel A. Foss (B.A.) - Sociologist, author of Beyond Revolution: A New Theory of Social Movements (1986), Freak Culture: Life Style and Politics (1972)
- William McNeill (Ph.D. 1947) - Historian, author of The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
- John Naisbitt (Best-selling writer in the area of futures studies
- Tom Peters (B.C.E. 1965, M.C.E. 1966) - Business management motivational guru
- Stephen Skowronek (Ph.D. 1979) - Pelatiah Perit Professor of political and social science at Yale
- Julian Steward (B.A. 1925 Zoology and Biology) - Anthropologist best known for his development of a scientific theory of cultural evolution
- William Irwin Thompson (Ph.D. 1966; Professor) - Cultural historian, social critic, poet, philosopher of science
- James Weinstein (B.A. 1949 Government) - Author and publisher of In These Times
Humanities
Philosophy
- Thomas Nagel (B.A. 1958) - Philosopher, author of What is it like to be a bat?
- Edmund Gettier
- Paul Ziff
Literature
- Diane Ackerman (M.F.A. 1973 Poetry, M.A. 1976, Ph.D. 1978) - Author, poet, and naturalist
- Gerald Taiaiake Alfred (M.S. 1992, Ph.D. 1994) - Scholar, author, and advisor to indigenous nations
- Morris Bishop (B.A. 1913, M.A. 1914, Ph.D. 1926; Professor of Romance Literature) - Biographer, author, humorist, wrote the preeminent history of the university, A History of Cornell
- Harold Bloom (B.A. 1952) - Literary and cultural scholar-critic
- Susan Brownmiller (B.A. 1956) - Feminist author and activist
- Murray Burnett (B.A. 1931) - Author of the play Everybody Comes to Rick's, which was turned into the film Casablanca
- George Lincoln Burr (B.A. 1881; John Stambaugh Professor of History 1888-?) - U.S. historian, diplomat, author, and educator
- George Cockcroft (B.A. 1954) - Author, The Dice Man, uses the pen name Luke Rhinehart
- Junot Díaz (M.F.A. 1995) - Critically acclaimed, Pulitzer-Prize-winning short-story writer
- Alice Dunbar-Nelson - Poet, journalist, political activist, Harlem Renaissance influence
- Richard Fariña (B.A. 1962 English) - Author, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, folk singer
- Jessie Redmon Fauset (B.A. 1905) - Prolific author from the Harlem Renaissance
- Alice Fulton (M.F.A. 1982; Ann S. Bowers Distinguished Professor of English) - Poet, author, feminist, MacArthur Fellow
- William H. Gass (Ph.D. 1954 Philosophy) - Author, essayist
- Lynne Hanley (B.A. English) - Literary critic
- Minfong Ho (B.A. Economics) - Chinese-American author
- Laura Z. Hobson - Author, Gentleman's Agreement, which was made into the film of the same name
- Clifford Irving (B.A. 1951) - Author of the infamous Howard Hughes biography hoax
- Anne LaBastille (B.A. 1955, Ph.D. 1969) - Author and award-winning conservationist
- Lorrie Moore (M.F.A. 1982) - Prize-winning short-story writer and novelist
- George Jean Nathan (1904) - Author, critic
- Nicholas Nicastro (B.A. 1985 English, M.A. 1991 Archaeology, Ph.D. 2003 Psychology) - Historical novelist
- Thomas Perry (B.A. 1969) - Novelist, Edgar Award winner.
- Thomas Pynchon (B.A. 1959 English) - Author, Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49
- Kenneth Roberts (B.A. 1908) - Novelist, Northwest Passage
- Laura Riding (attended 1918-21) - Poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, leader in modernism.
- Matt Ruff (B.A. 1988) - Author, Fool on the Hill
- Joanna Russ (B.A. 1957 English; Professor) - Feminist author, The Female Man
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (undergrad) - Critical theorist, literature professor
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Ph.D. 1967 Comparative Literature) - Postcolonialist theorist, Can the Subaltern Speak?
- William Strunk Jr. (Ph.D. 1896; Professor) - Author of The Elements of Style
- Hendrik Willem van Loon (1905; Professor of History 1915-17) - Author of the first book to be awarded the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children's literature
- Kurt Vonnegut (undergrad 1941-1943, dropped out) - Author, Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions.
- Lauren Weisberger (B.A. 1999 English) - Author, The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing
- E. B. White (B.A. 1921) - Author, Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little; Co-author, The Elements of Style
History
Glenn C. Altschuler
Music
- Robert Alexander Anderson (1916) - Composer, wrote Christmas song Mele Kalikimaka
- Harry Chapin (dropped out) - Folk musician, Cat's in the Cradle
- Henrique de Curitiba (M.F.A. 1981) - Polish-Brazilian composer
- Mack David - Eight-time Academy Award nominee for songs including Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo
- Joscelyn Godwin (Ph.D. 1969 Musicology) - Musicologist, translator, historian of the esoteric
- Greg Graffin (Ph.D. 1991 Evolutionary Biology) - Lead singer and co-founder of Bad Religion
- Laurens Hammond (B.S. 1916 Mechanical Engineering) - Inventor of the Hammond organ
- Jesse Harris (B.A.) - Grammy-award winning songwriter who wrote "Don't Know Why" and "Come Away with Me", songs popularized by the artist Norah Jones
- John S. Hilliard (D.M.A. 1983) - Classical Composer
- Huey Lewis (undergrad 1967-69, dropped out) - Rock musician, Huey Lewis and the News
- Robert Moog (Ph.D. 1965) - Inventor of the Moog synthesizer
- Steve Reich (B.A. 1957) - Composer
- Christopher Rouse (1958) - Classical composer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music
- Cary Sherman (1968) - President of the Recording Industry Association of America
- Steven Stucky (D.M.A. 1978; Professor of Music Composition) - Pulitzer Prize winning composer
- Paul Francis Webster (undergrad 1927-28, transferred) - Academy and Grammy Award-winning lyricist
- Peter Yarrow (B.A. 1959) - Folksinger, Peter, Paul and Mary
Architecture and Design
- Edmund Bacon (B.Arch. 1932) - Urban planner, reshaped Philadelphia, 1949-70
- Albert Cassell (B.Arch. 1919) - Designed buildings for Howard University, Morgan State University, and Virginia Union University
- Gilmore David Clarke (B.S. 1913 Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering) - Designed the Central Park Zoo and the Unisphere
- Peter Eisenman (B.Arch. 1955) - A foremost practitioner of deconstructivism in American architecture
- Robert Trent Jones, 1931) - Designer of about 500 golf courses
- Raymond M. Kennedy (B.Arch. 1915) - Designed Grauman's Chinese Theatre
- Rem Koolhaas (M.Arch.) - Dutch architect, journalist, and screenwriter
- David Macpherson (Civil Engineering) - City planner for San Antonio, Texas, designed Santa Fe Railroad
- Tomas Mapua (B.Arch. 1911) - Founded the Mapúa Institute of Technology
- Richard Meier (B.Arch. 1957, Professor) - Pritzker Architecture Prize, AIA Gold Medal winner
- Enrique Norten (M.Arch. 1980) - Mexican architect, professor, 2003 World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition jury member
- Richmond Shreve (B.Arch.) - Partner of architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon that designed the Empire State Building
- Vertner Tandy (M.Arch.) - Architect who's most famous commission was probably Villa Lewaro, the mansion of Harlem millionairess Madam C.J. Walker, Founder of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
- Philip Will, Jr (B.Arch. 1928) - Partner of architectural firm Perkins+Will and President of the American Institute of Architects
- E. Stewart Williams (B.Arch.) - Palm Springs, California-based architect with a distinctive modernist style
Fine Arts and Photography
- Susan Rothenberg (B.F.A. 1967) - Painter
- Pat Lipsky (B.F.A. 1963) - Painter
- Frederick Sommer (M.A. 1927 Landscape Architecture) - Photographer
- Hugh Troy (undergrad 1922-27, did not graduate) - Artist, famous prankster
Media
Journalism
- Eric Alterman (B.A. 1982 History and Government) - Liberal author and columnist
- Margaret Bourke-White (B.A. 1927) - Photojournalist
- C.J. Chivers (B.A. 1987) - Foreign correspondent, The New York Times
- Charles Collingwood (B.A. 1939) - Broadcast journalist and foreign correspondent
- Ann Coulter (B.A. 1984) - Conservative author and columnist
- Michael Dirda (Ph.D. 1975, Comparative Literature) - Pulitzer Prize winning book critic for the Washington Post
- David Folkenflik (B.S. 1991) - Media, arts information correspondent, National Public Ratio
- Jeffrey Gettleman (B.A. 1994) - Foreign correspondent, The New York Times
- Philip Gourevitch (B.A. 1986) - Editor, The Paris Review
- Carolyn Gusoff (B.A. 1984) - reporter and anchor with WNBC in New York City
- Austin H. Kiplinger (B.A. 1939) - Journalist, editor of The Kiplinger Letter, founder of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, winner of the Peabody Award
- John S. Knight - Major newspaper publisher and editor, Pulitzer Prize winner
- Eric Lichtblau (B.A. 1987 English and Political Science) - Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for national reporting with The New York Times
- James C. McKinley, Jr. (B.A. 1984) - foreign correspondent, The New York Times
- Philip Merrill (B.A. 1955 Government, Trustee) - Owner and publisher of The Capital Daily Newspaper in Annapolis, MD and Washingtonian magazine; international statesman; advisor to U.S. Presidents
- Summer Rayne Oakes (B.S. 2004 Natural Resources, Entomology, G.I.S.) - model and actress Eco 4 the World, Editor for Lucire, producer of S4 Newsletter
- Keith Olbermann (B.S. 1979 Communication) - Liberal commentator and sportscaster who hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.
- Jeremy Schaap (B.S. 1991) - Reporter on ESPN SportsCenter and Outside the Lines
- Dick Schaap (B.S. 1955) - Sports newscaster on ABC and ESPN, two Emmy Awards, author and co-author of 33 books
- Katherine E. "Kate" Snow (B.S. 1991 Communication) - Journalist, co-anchor of ABC News' Weekend
- Howard Taubman (B.A. 1929) - Chief Music Critic and Chief Theater Critic for The New York Times in the 1950s and 1960s
- William T. Vollmann (B.A. 1981 Comparative Literature) - Journalist, Author of numerous books on war, including a seven volume treatise on violence
- Whit Watson, 1993) - Announcer on Sun Sports
- Sheryl WuDunn (B.A. 1981 European History) - Journalist at The New York Times, co-winner in 1990 of the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, winner of the George Polk Award in 1989, and winner of the Overseas Press Club in 1990.
Film, Television, Theatre
- Ted Berkman (1933) - Screenwriter, authored Bedtime for Bonzo
- Josh Bernstein (B.A. 1993 Anthropology and Psychology) - Host of Digging for the Truth on the History Channel
- Chris Kanik (B.A. 2005 Economics School of Arts and Sciences) - stand-up comic, actor, writer.
- Lee Bienstock (B.S. 2005 Policy Analysis & Management) - Businessman and 2nd place on the fifth edition of the NBC reality show The Apprentice
- Murray Burnett, co-wrote the play, Everybody Comes to Rick's which was adapted into the movie Casablanca
- Dane Clark (bachelors 1930s) - Actor, Moonrise
- Jordan Clarke (B.A. 1973 Philosophy, M.F.A. 1973 Acting) - Actor, starred in Guiding Light, winner of a Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
- Bob Clendenin - Actor, Starred in 10 Items or Less
- Ellen Albertini Dow (B.A. 1935 Theater, M.A. 1938 Theater) - Actress, Wedding Crashers, the rapping grandmother in The Wedding Singer
- Dan Duryea (B.A. English) - Actor
- Art Fleming - Original Jeopardy! host, 1964-75
- Allen Funt (B.A. 1934 Fine Arts) - Producer, created Candid Camera
- Eric Garcia (transferred 1992) - Writer, author of Matchstick Men
- Joel Gertner (1993 - 1996, dropped out) - Former ECW personality
- Harold Gould (M.A. 1948 Theater, Ph.D. 1953 Dramatic Speech and Literature; Professor of Speech and Drama) - Stage, screen, and television actor
- Howard Hawks (Mechanical Engineering) - Noted American film director, producer and writer of the classic Hollywood era; directed Scarface, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, among others
- Catherine Hicks (M.F.A. 1976?) - Annie Camden on 7th Heaven
- Sidney Kingsley (B.A. 1928) - Playwright, screenwriter, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1934 for the drama Men in White
- Jamie Kovac (B.S. 2001, M.Eng. 2002) - "Fury" on American Gladiators[5]
- Arthur Laurents (B.A. 1937 English) - Playwright, screenwriter, director, author, credits include West Side Story, Rope, and Gypsy
- Jane Lynch (M.F.A Theater) - Actress
- Bill Maher (B.A. 1978 English) - Comedian and Politically Incorrect satirist
- Ed Marinaro (B.S. 1972) - Actor on 80 episodes of Hill Street Blues from 1981-86
- Carol Mendelsohn (B.A. 1973) - Television producer, credits include C.S.I.
- Adolphe Menjou (B.S. Engineering) - Actor, famous for his roles in The Sheik, The Three Musketeers, and Paths of Glory
- Ronald D. Moore (failed out 1985) - Writer/Producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica; two-time Hugo Award winner, nominated for Emmy Award
- Frank Morgan (undergrad 1908-09, dropped out) - Actor, played The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, Academy Award recipient
- John Myung (undergrad) - Poker player
- Bill Nye (B.S. 1977 Mechanical Engineering, M.Eng. 1977, Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor, 2001-06) - Star of Bill Nye the Science Guy; science education advocate
- Summer Rayne Oakes (B.S. 2004 Natural Resources, Entomology, G.I.S.) - model and actress Eco 4 the World, Editor for Lucire, producer of S4 Newsletter
- Keith Olbermann (B.S. 1979 Communication Arts) - Sports commentator, MSNBC news anchor, co-host of Football Night in America of NBC
- Peter Ostrum (D.V.M. 1984) - Charlie Bucket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- Richard Price (B.S. 1971) - Author, The Wanderers and 6 other novels; Academy Award nominated screenwriter for The Color of Money and Clockers
- Christopher Reeve (B.A. 1974 Theater Arts and English) - Actor, best known for starring in Superman and its sequels
- Jason Reich (B.S. Communication 1998) - Emmy Award winning writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
- Christopher Rich (M.A. Theater Arts) - Miller Redfield on Murphy Brown
- Andrea Savage (B.A. Political Science and Spanish, minor in Law Studies) - Actress, Dog Bites Man
- Thelma Schoonmaker (B.A. 1961) - Film editor, received the Academy Award for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed
- Robert Smigel (undergrad 1978-80, transferred) - Puppeteer behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog; first head writer of Late Night with Conan O'Brien; author of "TV Funhouse" animations on Saturday Night Live
- Jimmy Smits (M.F.A. 1982) - Actor
- Ken Sunshine (1970) - Publicist
- Tim Squyres (B.A. 1981) - Academy Award nominated film editor, best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Jennifer Tipton (B.A. 1958) - Award-winning theatre and dance lighting designer
- Franchot Tone (undergrad) - Actor, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Mutiny on the Bounty
- Mary Woronov (did not graduate) - Actress, member of Andy Warhol's The Factory
- Katarzyna Dolinska (2007) America's Next Top Model Cycle 10 contestant
- Brian Hallisay (degree in Economics and History) - Actor from the television show Privileged
Education
- William Bagley (Ph.D. 1900 Psychology and Education) - American educator and editor
- Henry Bienen (B.S. 1960) - President of Northwestern University, 1995-present
- John Casper Branner (B.S. 1882) - President of Stanford University, 1913-15); geologist
- Daniel Mark Fogel (B.A. 1969 English, M.F.A 1974 Creative Writing, Ph.D. 1976 English) - President of the University of Vermont, 2002-present
- Joseph Glover (B.A. 1974 Mathematics) - Provost of the University of Florida 2008-present
- Emil Q. Javier (Ph.D. 1969) - President of the University of the Philippines, 1993-99
- David Starr Jordan (M.S. 1872, honorary LL.D. 1886) - Founding President of Stanford University, 1891-1913), President of Indiana University, 1885-91), Smithsonian Institution associate
- Steven Knapp (M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1981) current President of The George Washington University
- Richard Levao (J.D. 1973) - President of Bloomfield College (2003-)
- Jay O. Light (B.S.E. 1963) - Dean of Harvard Business School, 2006-present
- Tomas Mapua (B.Arch. 1911) - Founder of the Mapúa Institute of Technology and accomplished architect
- Michael C. McFarland (B.A. 1969 Physics) - President of College of the Holy Cross, 2000-present
- Lemuel Moss (M.S. 1872) - President of Indiana University (1875-1884)
- Steven Muller - President of Johns Hopkins University, 1972 to 1990
- Ernest Fox Nichols (M.S. 1893, Ph.D. 1897) - President of MIT, 1921-22) and Dartmouth, 1909-16), Professor of physics at Colgate, 1892-98), Dartmouth, 1898-1903), Columbia, 1903-09), and Yale
- Frederick D. Patterson (Ph.D. 1933) - President of what is now Tuskegee University, 1935-53); Founder of the United Negro College Fund; 1987 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
- Michelle Rhee (B.S. Government, 1992)- founder of and President of The New Teacher Project, appointed Superintendent of Washington, DC Public Schools in 2007.
- Carlos E. Santiago (Ph.D. 1982 Economics) - Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- Kathleen Sullivan (B.A. 1976) - Dean of Stanford Law School, 1999-2004), Professor at Harvard Law School, 1984-93), Professor at Stanford Law School, 2004-present
- M. Carey Thomas (B.A. 1877) - Founder and second President of Bryn Mawr College, 1894-1922); suffragist
- Randi Weingarten (B.S. 1980 Labor Relations) - President of the United Federation of Teachers
- Eric W. Weisstein (B.A. 1990 Physics, minor Astronomy) - Encyclopedist, created and maintains MathWorld, ScienceWorld, and other encyclopedias
- Eliot Wigginton (B.A. 1965) - High school teacher, founder and editor of the Foxfire books
- George T. Winston (B.A. 1874 Literature, Professor) - President of University of North Carolina, (1891-96), the University of Texas, 1896-99), and North Carolina State University, 1899-1908
Business
Founders
- Willis Carrier (M.E. 1901) - Founder of Carrier Corporation; inventor of air conditioning
- Adolph Coors (B.A. 1907) - Co-founder of Coors Brewing Company
- Joseph Coors (B.Chem. 1939, Chem. E. 1940) - Co-founder of Coors Brewing Company
- Mac Cummings (B.A. 2001) Co-founder of Terakeet Corporation; Director of Internet Finance (Hillary Clinton for President)
- David Duffield (B.E.E. 1962, M.B.A. 1964) - Co-founder of PeopleSoft
- David Edgerton (B.S. Hotel Administration) - Co-founder of Burger King
- Chuck Feeney (B.S. Hotel Administration) - Founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group, Founder & Director of Atlantic Philanthropies
- Frank Gannett (B.A. 1898) - Founder of Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher; namesake of Gannett Health Center
- Paul Graham (B.A.) - Co-founder of Viaweb, sold for $46.6 million to Yahoo! and became Yahoo! Stores; Lisp programmer, author
- Leroy Grumman (M.E. 1916) - Founder of Grumman Aerospace Corporation
- Myra Hart (B.A. 1962, M.B.A. 1981, Trustee, 1999-) - One of four founders of Staples, Inc., Professor at Harvard Business School
- Jeff Hawkins (B.S. 1979 Electrical Engineering) - Founder of Palm, Inc. and Handspring; inventor of the Palm Pilot
- Irwin M. Jacobs (B.E.E. 1956) - Co-founder and Chairman of Qualcomm; UCSD and MIT engineering professor, pioneer of CDMA wireless technology, philanthropist
- James McLamore (B.S. 1947 Hotel Administration) - Co-founder of Burger King
- Edward Leamington Nichols (B.S. 1875, Professor) - Founder of the Physical Review
- Drew Nieporent (B.S. 1977 Hotel Administration) - Owner of Myriad Restaurant Group, which operates 16 restaurants in six U.S. cities
- Franklin W. Olin (B.C.E. 1886) - Founder of Olin Corporation; namesake of Olin Hall
- John M. Olin (B.S. 1913 Chemistry) - Founder of John M. Olin Foundation, President, Olin Corporation; namesake of Olin Library
- Jay Walker (B.S. 1977 Industrial Relations) - Founder of Priceline.com; founder and chairman, Walker Digital
- Sanford I. Weill (B.A. 1955 Government) - Former Chairman and CEO of Citigroup; founder of Shearson Loeb Rhoades, sold for $930 million to American Express; namesake of Weill Cornell Medical College
- Robin Wolaner (B.S. 1975 Industrial and Labor Relations) - Founder of Parenting Magazine
Chairpersons, CEO's, Executives
- Val A. Browning (B.S. 1917 Engineering) - President of Browning Arms Company
- Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. (undergrad 1906-09, dropped out) - President, 1940-48) and Chairman, 1948-62) of DuPont
- Abby Joseph Cohen (B.A. 1973 Economics and Computer Science, Trustee) - Managing Director of Goldman Sachs
- Pete Coors (B.S. 1969 Industrial Engineering) - Executive of Coors Brewing Company, Senatorial candidate, 2004
- Kenneth T. Derr (B.S. 1959 Mechanical Engineering, M.B.A. 1960, Trustee) - Chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation, 1989-99
- Dave Dombrowski (undergrad 1974-75, transferred) - President, CEO, and General Manager of the Detroit Tigers
- Reggie Fils-Aime (B.S. 1983 Applied Economics) - President of Nintendo's North American division
- Byron Grote (Ph.D. 1981 Quantitative Analysis) - Chief Financial Officer of BP
- Raj Gupta (M.S. 1969 Operations Research) - CEO and president of Rohm and Haas[6]
- Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. (B.A. 1922 Chemistry) - President of S. C. Johnson & Son; benefactor and namesake of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on campus
- Herbert Fisk Johnson III - 5 Cornell degrees 1979-86 - CEO of S. C. Johnson & Son; benefactor and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell
- Samuel Curtis Johnson, Jr. (B.A. 1950 Economics) - Chairman of S. C. Johnson & Son; benefactor and co-namesake of the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management
- Thomas W. Jones (B.A. 1969, M.R.P. 1972, Trustee) - Principal of TWJ Capital LLC
- William D. Perez (B.A. 1969 Government) - CEO of Wm. Wrigley, Jr. Company, CEO of Nike, Inc., 2004-06
- Joseph N. Pew, Jr. (M.E. 1908) - Vice President (1912-1947) and Chairman (1947-1963) of Sun Oil Company; founder of The Pew Charitable Trusts
- Lewis Platt (B.S. 1964 Mechanical Engineering) - CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 1992-99), Chairman of Boeing, 2003-05
- Justin Rattner (B.S. 1970 Electrical Engineering, M.S. 1972 Computer Science) - Chief Technology Officer of Intel, ABC News Person of the Week for his work on the ASCI Red system (fastest computer in the world, 1996-2000), R&D Magazine's "Scientist of the Year", 1989
- Bruce S. Raynor (B.S. 1972 Industrial & Labor Relations) - President of UNITE HERE
- Kevin Reilly (President of NBC Entertainment, 2004-present
- Jon Rubinstein (B.S. 1978 Electrical Engineering, M.Eng 1979 Electrical Engineering) - Senior Vice President of the iPod Division at Apple Computer
- Steven Sinofsky (B.A. 1987 Arts & Sciences) - Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering at Microsoft
- Warren Staley (M.B.A. 1967) - Chairman and CEO of Cargill, America's largest private company; member of President's Export Council under George W. Bush
- Ratan Tata (B.Arch. 1962 Architecture and Structural Engineering) - Chairman of Tata Group, India's wealthiest business group, 1991-present
- Walter C. Teagle (B.S. 1899, Trustee, 1924-54) - President and Chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil)
- Myron Charles Taylor (LL.B. 1894) - Chairman and CEO of U.S. Steel, 1932-38), namesake of Myron C. Taylor Hall
- Arnold Tremere, Executive Director, Government Official (Canadian International Grains Institute)[7]
- Rick Tsai (Ph.D Material Science and Engineering) - CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Athletics
American Football
- Kevin Boothe (B.S. 2005 Hotel Administration) - Oakland Raiders, 2006, New York Giants, 2007-present
- Al Dekdebrun - Buffalo Bisons, 1946, Chicago Rockets, 1947), Boston Yanks, 1948), New York Yankees, 1948
- Ed Marinaro (B.S. 1972) - Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, and Seattle Seahawks; runner-up for the 1971 Heisman Trophy Award, actor on Hill Street Blues
- Seth Payne (1997) - Jacksonville Jaguars, 1997-2001, Houston Texans, 2001-2007
- Lee Reherman (1988) - Miami Dolphins, actor on American Gladiators and X-Files
- Glenn "Pop" Warner (LL.B. 1894, Football Coach) - Football player and coach, founder of Pop Warner Little Scholars
- Derrick Harmon (1984) - San Francisco 49ers 1984-1986
- Gary Wood (1964) - New York Giants 1964-1966, 1968-1969, New Orleans Saints, 1967
- Pete Gogolak (1964) - Buffalo Bills 1964-1965, New York Giants, 1966-1975 First "soccer style" kicker in professional "American" football.
Ice Hockey
- Gary Bettman (B.S. 1974) - Commissioner of the NHL
- Ken Dryden (B.A. 1969) - NHL Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender, Canadian Member of Parliament
- Ned Harkness (Lacrosse and Hockey head coach) - Head coach and GM of the Detroit Red Wings
- David LeNeveu- Goalie for the Phoenix Coyotes
- David McKee - Goaltender for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
- Matt Moulson (2006) - Left Wing for the Los Angeles Kings
- Douglas Murray (2003) - Defenceman for San Jose Sharks
- Lance Nethery - NHL player, executive in the German Elite League
- Joe Nieuwendyk (1988) - NHL player, 3-time Stanley Cup champion
- Ryan O'Byrne (2007)- Defensemen for the Montreal Canadiens
Olympics
- Jon Anderson (1971) - 1972 Olympian, track; winner of 1973 Boston Marathon
- Darren Eliot (1983) - NHL player, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres; 1984 Olympian
- Al Hall (1956) - Four-time Olympian (1956, 1960, 1964, 1968), hammer throw
- Robert J. Kane (1934, Director of Athletics) - U.S. Olympic Committee president, 1976-80; inducted into U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, 1986
- Kent Manderville (1993) - NHL player, Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins; 1992 Olympian
- Travis Mayer (undergrad 2000-01, on leave) - Olympic freestyle skiing silver medalist
- Charles Moore (1951, Director of Athletics, 1994-99) - 1952 Olympic gold medalist (hurdles) and silver medalist (1600-meter relay); honored as Golden Olympian, 1996
- Pablo Morales (J.D. 1994) - Three-time gold medalist in swimming, 1992 Summer Olympics
- Bo Roberson (1958) - Black athlete with the distinction of being the only person to earn an Ivy League degree, an Olympic medal, a doctorate, and have a career in the N.F.L.[8]
- Jamie Silverstein (undergrad 2002-04, 2006-) - Olympic figure skater
Other
- Bruce Arena (B.S. 1971) - 5-time NCAA Championship coach at the University of Virginia, coach of Major League Soccer's D.C. United, coach of the U.S. national team, coach of MLS's New York Red Bulls. Present coach of MLS's Los Angeles Galaxy.
- Joe Birmingham - Baseball player, Cleveland Naps, 1906-14
- Bryan Colangelo (B.S. 1987) - President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors, 2005, 2007 NBA Executive of the Year
- Jon Daniels (B.S. 1999) - General Manager of the Texas Rangers, youngest GM ever in Major League Baseball
- Ronald Maierhofer (B.S. 1960) - U.S. National Soccer Team. All-American soccer player at Cornell University.
- Michael "Mike" G. French (1976) - All-American lacrosse player at Cornell University from 1974 to 1976, leading the "Big Red" to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1976.
- Bill Jenkins - dragracer, ranked eighth on NHRA's Top 50 drivers in 2001
- Hughie Jennings (J.D. study 1901-04, dropped out; Baseball Coach, 1899-?) - Baseball Hall of Fame-inducted shortstop; Louisville Colonels, 1891-1893), Baltimore Orioles, 1893-1899), Brooklyn Superbas, 1899-1900, 1903), Philadelphia Phillies, 1901-1902), Detroit Tigers, 1907, 1909, 1912, 1918
- Daniel R. Mackesey (1977) - Received NCAA Top Five Award in 1978 for lacrosse and soccer; inducted in National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2006
- Teddy Mayer (J.D.) - Motor racing team manager
- Eamon McEneaney (1977) - All-American lacrosse player at Cornell University from 1975 to 1977, leading the "Big Red" to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1976 and 1977. Eamon died in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
- Dick Savitt - tennis player, ranked # 2 in the world.
- Dan Wood (Ph.D. 1977), Five year Cornell golf and soccer (52-20-6) coach. Later coached professional teams Tacoma Tides, Colorado Caribous and Atlanta Chiefs. Turned professional golfer in 1980.
Crime
- Nick Berg (undergrad 1996-98, transferred) - Businessman beheaded by Islamic militants on May 7, 2004 during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq
- Leo Frank (B.S. 1906 Engineering) - Factory owner whose 1915 lynching for rape and murder sparked the reforming of the Ku Klux Klan; subject of the musical Parade
- Katrina Leung (B.S. 1976) - Accused spy, case dismissed then later sentenced to terms of plea agreement
- Robert Tappan Morris (graduate study 1988-89, suspended) - Author of the Morris Worm, which crippled the Internet in 1988
- Michael Ross (B.S. 1981 Agricultural Economics) - Convicted serial killer executed in Connecticut on May 13, 2005
- Michael Schwerner (B.A. 1961 Sociology) - Murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1964 Mississippi civil rights worker murders
Faculty
Nobel Laureates
Physics
- Richard Feynman (Physics faculty, 1945-50) - Physics 1965
- Hans Bethe (John Wendell Anderson Professor of Physics, 1935-2005) - Physics 1967
- Hannes Alfvén (Distinguished Professor in Engineering) - Physics 1970
- John Robert Schrieffer (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1969-75) - Physics 1972
- Kenneth G. Wilson (Professor of Physics and Nuclear Studies, 1963-88) - Physics 1982
- Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1977-83) and Bethe Lecturer in Physics, 1989-90) - Physics 1991
- David Lee (Professor of Physics) - Physics 1996
- Robert Coleman Richardson (Floyd R. Newman Professor of Physics) - Physics 1996
Peace, Literature, or Economics
- Norman Borlaug (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1982-88) - Peace 1970
- Wole Soyinka (Senior Fellow, Society for the Humanities, 1985) - Literature 1986
- Octavio Paz (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1972-74) - Literature 1990
- Amartya Sen (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1978-84) - Economics 1998
Chemistry
- Peter Debye (Professor of Chemistry, 1940-50; Department Chair) - Chemistry 1936
- James B. Sumner (Professor, 1929-55 and Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry/Nutrition) - Chemistry 1946
- Vincent du Vigneaud (Professor of Biochemistry, Medical College, 1938-67), Professor of Chemistry, 1967-75) - Chemistry 1955
- Manfred Eigen (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1965-76) - Chemistry 1967
- Paul Flory (Chemistry faculty, 1948-57) - Chemistry 1974
- Roald Hoffmann (Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor in Humane Letters) - Chemistry 1981
- Henry Taube (Assistant Professor, 1944-46) - Chemistry 1983
- Richard R. Ernst (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1996-2002) - Chemistry 1991
Physiology or Medicine
- Herbert Spencer Gasser (Medical College, 1931-34) - Physiology or Medicine 1944
- Fritz Albert Lipmann (Research Associate, Medical College, 1939-1941) - Physiology or Medicine 1953
- Peter Medawar (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1965-71) - Physiology or Medicine 1960
- Haldan Keffer Hartline (Associate Professor, Medical College, 1940-41) - Physiology or Medicine 1967
- Har Gobind Khorana (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1974-80) - Physiology or Medicine 1968
- Robert F. Furchgott (Assistant Professor of biochemistry, Research Associate, Medical College, 1941-49) - Physiology or Medicine 1998
- Paul Greengard (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1981-87) - Physiology or Medicine 2000
- Charles Edward Stevens (Chairman of Physiology, Biology and Pharmacology, 1961 - 1979) - Fulbright Scholar and internationally recognized expert in the field of comparative physiology and digestive systems.
Natural Sciences and Related Fields
Mathematics
- Eugene Dynkin (Professor) - Mathematics
- Walter Feit (Professor, 1952-64) - Mathematician, co-author of the Feit-Thompson theorem
- Allen Hatcher (Professor, 1985-) - Mathematics
- John Irwin Hutchinson (Professor of Mathematics, 1894-?) - American mathematician
- Saunders Mac Lane (Professor) - Developer of algebra's category theory
- Anil Nerode (Goldwin Smith Professor of Mathematics) - Mathematician
- Piergiorgio Odifreddi (Professor) - Mathematician
- Paul Olum (Professor) - Mathematics, President of the University of Oregon 1980-89
- Steven Strogatz (Professor of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 1994-) - Mathematician
- éva Tardos (Professor of Computer Science) - Mathematician, Guggeinheim fellow, winner of the Fulkerson Prize, 1988
- William Thurston (Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, 2003-) - Mathematics; Fields medal winner
- Charles F. Van Loan (Chair of the Department of Computer Science) - Mathematician
Physics
- Robert Bacher (Professor, 1935-1949) - Manhattan Project leader and member of Atomic Energy Commission
- Persis Drell (Professor, 1988-2002) - American particle physicist
- Freeman Dyson (Professor, 1951-53) - Physics, mathematics
- Mitchell Feigenbaum (Professor) - Physicist whose pioneering studies in chaos theory led to the discovery of the Feigenbaum constant
- Peter Goldreich (Thomas Gold Lecturer, 1987) - Astrophysicist
- Arthur Kantrowitz (Professor, 1946-56) - Physicist and engineer
- Boyce McDaniel (Professor, 1946-1985) - Manhattan Project physicist and synchotron designer
- Paul McEuen (Professor, 2001-) - Physicist, specializes in nanotubes
- Yuri Orlov (Researcher of Physics, 1986-) - Nuclear physicist, former Soviet dissident and human rights activist
- Dennis William Sciama (Professor) - Physicist
- George Paget Thomson (Non-resident Lecturer, 1929-30) - Nobel Prize, Physics 1937
- Kip Thorne (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1986-92) - Astrophysicist
- Robert R. Wilson (Professor) - Youngest group leader on the Manhattan Project, first director of Fermilab
Astronomy
- Thomas Gold (John L. Wetherill Professor of Astronomy, 1959-2004) - Astrophysicist, coined the term "magnetosphere"
- Jean-Luc Margot (Assistant Professor) - Astronomer, awarded the H. C. Urey Prize by the American Astronomical Society, 2004
- Carl Sagan (David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences, 1968-96) - Space Sciences
- Edwin Ernest Salpeter (James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of the Physical Sciences Emeritus, 1948-) - Astronomer
- Aleksander Wolszczan (Professor) - Discoverer of first extrasolar planets and pulsar planets.
Chemistry
- James Crafts (Professor of Chemistry, 1868-97) - President of MIT, 1897-1900
- Wilder Dwight Bancroft (Professor, 1895-?) - Physical chemist
- John Gamble Kirkwood (Professor) - Chemist
- Stephen Lee (Professor of Solid State Chemistry) - MacArthur Fellow and Sloan Fellow
Computer Science and Engineering
- Paul Ginsparg (Professor of Physics and Computing & Information Science, 2001-) - Developer of the arXiv e-print archive
- Joseph Halpern (Professor of Computer Science) - Computer scientist
- Juris Hartmanis (Professor, 1965-) - Computer scientist; Turing Award recipient, 1993
- John Hopcroft (IBM Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics in Computer Science) - Turing Award recipient, 1986
- Trevor Pinch (Chair of Science and Technology Studies Department) - Chair of the Science and Technology Studies department
- Theodore Paul Wright (Acting President, 1951) - U.S. aeronautical engineer and educator
Biology, Ecology, Botany, Nutrition
- Louis Agassiz (Lecturer) - American zoologist, glaciologist, and geologist
- Liberty Hyde Bailey (Professor) - Botanist, founder of the 4-H movement, namesake of Bailey Hall
- Joan Jacobs Brumberg (Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow; Professor of History, Human Development, and Gender Studies, 1979-) - Scholar in adolescence, body image and eating disorders, and Related Fields
- T. Colin Campbell (Professor) - Nutritionist, director of the China Project, and author of The China Study
- Robert Chandler (Professor) - Winner of the World Food Prize, 1988
- Thomas Eisner (Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology) - Pioneer of chemical ecology
- Barton Warren Evermann (Lecturer, 1900-03) - American ichthyologist
- Jane Goodall (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1996-2002) - Naturalist
- Charles Frederick Hartt (Professor, 1868-?) - Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist who specialized in the geology of Brazil
- Graham Kerr (Professor, 1973) - Chef, "The Galloping Gourmet"
- Rebecca J. Nelson (Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, Plant Breeding and International Agriculture) - MacArthur Fellow, 1998); researcher in crop disease resistance
- Katharine Payne (Researcher at Bioacoustics Research Program, Lab of Ornithology) - Whale and elephant researcher
- David Peakall (1968-1975 Laboratory of Ornithology, senior research associate in the Section of Ecology and Systematics in the Biological Sciences Division)
- Benoît Roux (Professor) - Molecular biologist; winner of the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry, 1998) from the Royal Society of Canada
- John C. Sanford (Professor, 1980-98) - Inventor of the gene gun
- Steven D. Tanksley (Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Breeding, 1985-) - Plant breeding and agronomy researcher
- Helen Turley - winemaker
- Herbert John Webber (Professor, 1907-12) - American plant physiologist, developed the citrange
- Robert Whittaker (Professor) - American vegetation ecologist
- Burt Green Wilder (Professor of Neurology and Vertebrate Zoology, 1867-1910) - American comparative anatomist
Medicine
- James Ewing (Professor of Clinical Pathology, 1899-?) - American pathologist; discovery of a form of malignant bone tumor that later became known as Ewing's Sarcoma
- Robert Foster Kennedy (Professor of Neurology) - One of the first to use electroconvulsive treatment to treat psychosis; first to link shell shock and hysteria
- Georgios Papanikolaou (Researcher at Department of Anatomy, Medical College, 1913-?) - Inventor of the Pap smear test for cervical cancer
- Tom Shires (Chair of Surgery, 1975-91) - trauma surgeon; use of saline solution in shock
Geology and Geography
- Heinrich Ries (Professor, 1898-?) - American economic geologist
- Ralph Stockman Tarr (Professor, 1897-?) - American geographer
Social Sences
Economics
- Kaushik Basu (Professor of Economics) - Indian economist
- George M. von Furstenberg (Assistant Professor of Economics) - Economist best known for monetary policy, free trade policy and international finance
- James Laurence Laughlin (Professor, 1890-92) - Founded the Federal Reserve System
- Thomas Sowell (Professor, 1965-?) - Economist
- Holbrook Working (Professor) - Economic theorist on hedging, futures prices, market maker behavior, and storage
Psychology
- Daryl Bem (Professor of Psychology) - Social psychologist, creator of self-perception theory,
- Sandra Bem (Professor) - Psychologist, created Bem Sex Role Inventory, studies gender roles
- Thomas Gilovich (Professor of Psychology) - Researcher of decision making and behavioral economics
- Paulina Kernberg (Professor of Psychiatry, 1978-2006) - American child psychiatrist and authority on personality disorders
- Kurt Lewin (Professor) - Founder of modern social psychology
- Ritch Savin-Williams (Professor) - prolific sexual orientation researcher
- Edward B. Titchener (Professor) - Inventor of structuralism, founder of first psychology lab in U.S. (at Cornell University)
Law
- G. Robert Blakey professor of law and director of the Cornell Institute on Organized Crime (1973-80) - author of the RICO statute and chief counsel to House Select Committee on Assassinations
- Milton R. Konvitz - head of Liberian codification project
Anthropology, Sociology, Other Social Science
- John Adair (Professor, 1948-?) - Anthropologist
- Fred Buttel (Professor of Rural Sociology) - Sociologist
- Dian Fossey (Visiting Research Associate, 1980) - Anthropologist whose murder was recreated as the film Gorillas in the Mist
- Bronislaw Malinowski (Lecturer, 1933) - Founder of social anthropology
- John V. Murra (1968-82) - professor of anthropology, with a focus on the Inca Empire
- Richard Swedberg (Professor of Sociology, 2002-) - Swedish economic sociologist
- Sidney Tarrow (Maxwell Upson Professor of Government and Sociology) - Researcher of comparative politics, social movements, and political sociology
- James D. Thompson (Professor) - Sociologist
- Bassam Tibi (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 2004-) - Political scientist of Islamic countries
Humanities
Philosophy
- Kwame Anthony Appiah (Professor, 1986-89) - African Studies philosopher and novelist
- Max Black
- Allan Bloom (Professor, 1963-70) - Philosophy and Government, author of Closing of the American Mind
- Richard Boyd (Professor) - Philosopher
- Edwin Arthur Burtt (Professor) Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy in 1941, author of numerous works on philosophy
- Harold F. Cherniss (Professor) - Author and expert on the philosophy of Ancient Greece
- Morris Raphael Cohen (Lecturer) - Jewish philosopher, lawyer and legal scholar
- James Edwin Creighton (Professor) - American philosopher
- Terence Irwin
- Anthony Kenny
- Norman Kretzmann
- Norman Malcolm (Professor, 1947-58) - Ludwig Wittgenstein scholar
- Evander Bradley McGilvary (Susan Linn Sage Professor of Ethics, 1899-1905) - American philosophical scholar
- John Rawls (Professor) - Philosopher, author of A Theory of Justice, Political Liberalism, and The Law of Peoples
- Sydney Shoemaker (Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy) - Philosopher and metaphysician
- Jason Stanley
- Brian Weatherson (Associate Professor of Philosophy) - Philosopher, metaphysician
Literature
- M.H. Abrams Author of the Mirror and the Lamp, acclaimed literary critic
- Frederick Ahl (Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature) - Classics scholar
- Archie Randolph Ammons (Professor of Creative Writing, 1964-98) - Poet
- Benedict Anderson (Professor Emeritus of International Studies) - Author of Imagined Communities
- Charles Edwin Bennett (Goldwin Smith Professor of Latin, 1892-?) - Classicist
- Hiram Corson (Professor) - Professor of literature
- Louis Dyer (Acting Professor of Greek, 1895-96) - American educator and author
- Max Farrand (Professor) - Author of American historical subjects
- Betty Friedan (Professor) - Feminist, author of "The Feminine Mystique"
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Professor, 1985-90) - Afro-American Studies scholar
- Victor Lange (Professor) - Professor of modern languages
- Vladimir Nabokov (Professor of European and Russian Literature, 1948-58) - Author of the novel Lolita
- Adrienne Rich (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1981-87) - Feminist poet
- Nathaniel Schmidt (Professor of Semitic Languages and Literatures) - American orientalist
- William De Witt Snodgrass (Professor, 1955-57) - Poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- Melanie Thernstrom (Professor) - Author and freelance journalist
- Alvin Toffler (Professor) - American writer, sociologist, and futurist, Future Shock
- Helena Maria Viramontes (Professor of English) - Chicana fiction writer
- Wendy Wasserstein (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 2005-06) - Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright
History
- Felix Adler (Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature, 1874-76) - Early 20th century Jewish rationalist and social reformer
- Glenn C. Altschuler, Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, a Weiss Presidential Fellow, and the Dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at Cornell University.
- Carl L. Becker (John Wendell Anderson Professor of History, 1917-41) - Historian, namesake of Carl Becker House
- David Brion Davis (Professor of History, 1957-69?) - 1967 Pulitzer Prize winner--scholar of slavery and American intellectual history
- Anthony Grafton (Professor) - One of the leading scholars of the Renaissance
- Donald Kagan (Professor) - Classicist
- Michael Kammen (Professor of History) - 1973 Pulitzer Prize winner and U.S. Constitution scholar
- Walter LaFeber (Steven Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow of History, 1958-2006) - U.S. foreign policy historian
- Goldwin Smith (Professor of English and Constitutional History, 1868-71) - Historian, University Reformer, namesake of Goldwin Smith Hall
- Carl Stephenson (Professor of Medieval history, 1930-54?) - Influential early 20th century medievalist.
- John Szarkowski (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1983-89) - Influential photography curator, historian, and critic
- Herbert Tuttle, 19th-century historian, author, (Professor of international law)
Music
- Malcolm Bilson (Professor) - Music historian
- David Borden (Director, Digital Music Program) - American composer of minimalist music
- Karel Husa (Professor, ?-1992) - Composer best known for Music for Prague 1968, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
- Hunter Johnson (Professor) - American composer
Architecture and Design
- Bristow Adams (Professor, 1914-45) - American journalist, professor, forester, and illustrator
- Buckminster Fuller (Professor) - Architect and inventor, famous for work with geodesic domes
- Colin Rowe (Professor, 1970s) - Architectural historian and theoritician.
- Romaldo Giurgola (Professor) - Architect, winner of the AIA Gold Medal
- Oswald Mathias Ungers (Professor, 1968-1976) - Architect
Fine Arts and Photography
- Jacqueline Livingston (Professor of Photography and Art (?-1978) - Feminist photographer
- Alison Lurie (Professor of Literature, 1970-) - Pulitzer Prize winning author
Media
Journalism, Film, Television, Theatre
- John Cleese (A.D. White Professor-at-Large, 1999-2006; Provost's Visiting Professor, 2006-) - Comedian and actor
- John Pilger (Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor, 2003-06) - Left-wing journalist
Government, Law, Business
- Iajuddin Ahmed (Visiting Professor, 1984) - President of Bangladesh, 2002-present
- Alfred C. Aman, Jr. (Professor, 1977-91) - Dean of Suffolk University Law School and Indiana University School of Law
- Lloyd Blankfein (Board of Overseers, Medical College) - President and CEO, Goldman Sachs, 2006-present
- Andrew Hacker (Professor) - Political scientist, questioned race, class, and gender in American society
- E. Roland Harriman (Established the Irving Sherwood Wright Professorship in Geriatrics, Medical College) - Financier and philanthropist
- Charles Evans Hughes (Professor, Law School, 1891-93) - Governor of New York, 1907-10, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice, 1910-16), U.S. Presidential candidate, 1916), U.S. Secretary of State, 1921-25), U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, 1930-41
- Irving Ives (Trustee; Dean of Industrial & Labor Relations, 1945-47) - U.S. Senator from New York, 1947-59, namesake of Ives Hall
- Alfred E. Kahn (Robert Julius Thorne Professor Emeritus of Political Economy; Trustee; Dean of Arts & Sciences) - Advisor to President Jimmy Carter on deregulation; economist
- Cynthia McKinney (Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor, 2003-06) - U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1993-2003, 2005-present
- Edwin Barber Morgan (Trustee, 1865-74) - U.S. Representative from New York, 1853-59); Director of American Express
- Robert Parris Moses (Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor, 2006-) - Civil rights leader, creator of the Algebra Project, MacArthur "genius"
- Frances Perkins (Lecturer of Industrial & Labor Relations (?-1965) - U.S. Secretary of Labor, 1933-45), first female U.S. Cabinet member
- Clinton Rossiter (Professor of Government, 1946-70) - Political scientist
- Frederick A. Sawyer (Professor) - Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, 1873-74; Senator from South Carolina, 1968-73
- Martin Shefter (Professor of Government, 1986-) - Political scientist
Education
- Sarah Gibson Blanding (Dean of Human Ecology, 1941-46) - President of Vassar College, 1946-64
- Claude L. Kulp (Professor of Education) - Educator
- Alan G. Merten (Dean of the Johnson School) - President of George Mason University
- Don Michael Randel (University Provost, Dean of Arts & Sciences) - President of the University of Chicago, 2000-06
- Benjamin Ide Wheeler (Professor of Greek and Comparative Philology (President of the University of California, 1899-1919
Athletics
- Bob Blackman (Head Coach, Football, 1977-82) - Member of the College Football Hall of Fame
- Charles E. Courtney (Head Coach, Rowing, 1883-1920) - Noted rower and rowing coach
- Melody Davidson (Head Coach, Women's Ice Hockey) - Head coach of the Canadian national women's hockey team and the Canadian 2006 Winter Olympics women's hockey team
- Edward Moylan (Head Coach, Tennis and Squash, 1962-72) - Tennis player
- Michael Slive (Director of Athletics) - Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, 2002-present
- Phil Sykes (Interim Head Coach, Field Hockey, 2003) - U.S. Olympic field hockey defender
Fictional Cornellians
- In 30 Rock, Fat Balls, a potential addition to Tracy Jordan's entourage is studying hotel administration at Cornell University.
- In Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart, a hotel manager attended the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
- In Ally McBeal, Ling Woo was editor of the Cornell Law Journal.
- In Altered States, Dr. Eddie Jessup, played by William Hurt, is a research scientist at Cornell Medical College.
- In Annie Hall, Herschel Kominsky has a chair in philosophy at Cornell.
- In Any Given Sunday, Christina Pagniacci, played by Cameron Diaz, graduated with an M.B.A. in 1996.
- In American Pie and other films in the series, Vicky Lathum, played by Tara Reid, attends Cornell.
- In Avenue Q, Princeton had a B.A. in English from Cornell in early drafts of the play, according to creator Jeff Marx.
- In Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Newt Hoenikker is a Cornell pre-med student drop-out.
- In Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane, the film's title character played by Orson Welles, was expelled.
- In Dark City (1950), Danny Haley, played by Charlton Heston, was an undergraduate from 1937 to 1941.
- In Deception Point by Dan Brown, Gabrielle Ashe has a B.A. in Government.
- In Dirty Dancing, Neil attends the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
- In Goats, many of the main characters attended Cornell.
- In Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst, Prince Hrubal of Northern Transylvania.
- In The Lost Weekend, Don Birnam, played by Ray Milland, attended but did not graduate.
- In Me, Myself and Irene, Irene Waters, the film's title character played by Renée Zellweger, claims her major at Cornell was "Turf Management."
- In Made of Honor, Tom and Hannah meet at Cornell where Hannah studied fine arts.
- In Megan McCafferty's novels, Len Levy has an M.D from Cornell.
- In The Office, Andy Bernard, a new officemate from the Stamford branch, boasts that he attended Cornell, was in an a cappella group named "Here Comes Treble", started a frisbee golf team, drank heavily, never studied and still graduated, on time.
- In Over There, Pvt. Frank "Dim" Dumphy, played by Luke Macfarlane, is nicknamed "Dim" for being highly intelligent and earning a B.S. from Cornell, but ending up in the Army.
- In The Prince of Tides, Dr. Susan Lowenstein, played by Barbra Streisand.
- In Say Anything..., Sheila, played by Kim Walker, was admitted to Cornell and plans to attend.
- In Sex and the City, Velma Rudin, psychologist in the show's second season, holds two Cornell degrees.
- In The Simpsons, Sideshow Mel attended Cornell.
- In The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the character Diana attends Cornell.
- In Spriggan, Rie Yamabishi has a B.A. in Linguistics.
- In Starman, National Security Agency scientist Mark Shermin wears a Cornell sweatshirt.
- In Step Up, Nora's mother wants her to apply to Cornell if her dancing career fails
- In New Moon, The Cullens move to Ithaca, where at Cornell, Jasper studies Philosophy and Carlisle is a professor
- In Ugly Betty, Alexis Meade's assistant, Nick, is a Cornell graduate.
- In Water for Elephants, Jacob Jankowski, the narrator, attended Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
- In Numb3rs, Agent Sinclair is a graduate of Cornell.
University Presidents
| President | Life | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Dickson White | 1832-1918 | 1866-1885 |
| Charles Kendall Adams | 1856-1902 | 1885-1892 |
| Jacob Gould Schurman | 1854-1942 | 1892-1920 |
| Livingston Farrand | 1867-1939 | 1921-1937 |
| Edmund Ezra Day | 1883-1951 | 1937-1949 |
| Deane Waldo Malott | 1898-1996 | 1951-1963 |
| James A. Perkins | 1911-1998 | 1963-1969 |
| Dale R. Corson | b. 1914 | 1969-1977 |
| Frank H.T. Rhodes | b. 1926 | 1977-1995 |
| Hunter R. Rawlings III | b. 1944 | 1995-2003 |
| Jeffrey S. Lehman (B.A. 1977) | b. 1956 | 2003-2005 |
| David J. Skorton | b. 1949 | 2006- |
Trustees
The Board of Trustees is vested with "supreme control" over the entire university, in accordance to university bylaws. The board's major responsibilities are to establish the degrees that are awarded by the university, elect the president, and adopt an annual plan of financial operation. Day-to-day administration has been delegated by the trustees to the president. There are 64 voting members on the board, including students, employees, faculty, and alumni that are voted onto the board by their respective group. The four ex officio members of the board are the president of the university, the governor of the state of New York, the speaker of the state assembly, and the president of the state senate. The current chairman of the board is Peter C. Meinig.
Chairmen of the Board of Trustees:
| Chairman | Tenure |
|---|---|
| Ezra Cornell | 1866-1874 |
| Henry W. Sage | 1875-1897 |
| Roswell P. Flower | 1897-1899 |
| None | 1899-1917 |
| Frank H. Hiscock | 1917-1939 |
| J. DuPratt White | 1939 |
| Howard Edward Babcock | 1940-1947 |
| Neal Dow Becker | 1947-1953 |
| John Lyon Collyer | 1953-1959 |
| Arthur H. Dean | 1959-1968 |
| Robert W. Purcell | 1968-1978 |
| Jansen Noyes, Jr. | 1978-1984 |
| Austin H. Kiplinger | 1984-1989 |
| Stephen H. Weiss | 1989-1997 |
| Harold Tanner | 1997-2002 |
| Peter C. Meinig | 2002- |
Directors of Cornell Athletics
Cornell's athletics were for many years run by the CU Athletics Association, which was financially independent from the University. Here is a list of people who held paid positions to head Cornell's athletic endeavors.[9]
| Name | Tenure | Title |
|---|---|---|
| John L. Senior '01 | 1901-07 | Graduate Manager of Athletics |
| William J. Dugan '07 | 1907-10 | Graduate Manager of Athletics |
| John H. Scott '09 | 1910-11 | Graduate Manager of Athletics |
| G. Ervin Kent '11 | 1911-18 | Graduate Manager of Athletics |
| Romeyn (Rym) Berry '04 | 1919-35 | Graduate Manager of Athletics |
| James Lynah '05 | 1935-44 | Director of Athletics |
| Bob Kane '34 | 1941-44 | Acting Director of Athletics |
| Bob Kane '34 | 1944-71 | Director of Athletics |
| Bob Kane '34 | 1971-76 | Dean of Athletics |
| Jon T. Anderson | 1971-75 | Director of Athletics |
| Bob Kane '34 | 1975-76 | Dean of Athletics |
| Richard D. (Dick) Schultz | 1976-81 | Director of Athletics |
| Michael L. (Mike) Slive | 1981-83 | Director of Athletics |
| Laing E. Kennedy '63 | 1983-94 | Director of Athletics |
| Charles H. Moore '51 | 1994-99 | Director of Athletics |
| J. Andrew (Andy) Noel Jr. | 1999-present | Director of Athletics |
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