List of Hampshire College people

The following is a list of individuals associated with Hampshire College through attending as a student, or serving as a member of the faculty or staff.

Notable alumni

Academia

• Alba Arikha, writer, lecturer on creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire and Columbia University
• Sylvia Bashevkin, Canadian academic and feminist at the University of Toronto, former Principal of University College, Toronto
• George Bonanno, psychologist, Columbia University
• Derek Blake Booth, geologist and heir presumptive to the Booth baronetcy, University of Washington
• Heather Boushey, economist, president of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth think tank
• Cynthia Cattell, space physicist and professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at University of Minnesota
• Hasok Chang, historian and philosopher of science, University of Cambridge
• Barry Marc Cohen, art therapist, Diagnostic Drawing Series
• Phyllis Coley, biologist, University of Utah
• Concetta DiRusso, biochemist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Paige Fischer, environmental scientist, University of Michigan
• Vanessa Northington Gamble, physician, professor of medical humanities at George Washington University, chair of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee
• Raymond W. Gibbs Jr., psychologist and psycholinguist, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Nancy Grimm, ecologist, Arizona State University
• Marcia Groszek, mathematician, Dartmouth College
• Gail Hershatter, historian of Modern China at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Williams College, Guggenheim Fellow
• Benjamin Mako Hill, technologist, software developer and founding member of Ubuntu and Debian projects, assistant professor in Communication at the University of Washington
• Sean Hill, neuroscientist, University of Toronto
• Tom Hull, mathematician and professor, Western New England University
• Mary James, physicist, Reed College, University of Maryland, College Park
• Caren Kaplan, feminist theorist, professor of American studies at University of California at Davis, University of California at Berkeley, Georgetown University
• Patricia Klindienst, writer and scholar, American Book Award recipient, Yale University
• Lucy-Ann McFadden, astronomer and planetary scientist for NASA, founder of the Science, Discovery & the Universe Program at the University of Maryland
• Jacob Reider, expert in health information technology policy and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
• G. Philip Robertson, biologist, Michigan State University
• David Schimel, research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology; Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• Timothy Shary, film scholar, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Clark University
• Lee Smolin, theoretical physicist at the Perimeter Institute, University of Waterloo and University of Toronto, author of The Trouble with Physics
• Eric Steig, glaciologist and geochemist, professor of Earth and Space sciences at the University of Washington
• Paul W. Sternberg, biologist, California Institute of Technology
• Alex S. Vitale, sociologist at Brooklyn College, author of The End of Policing (2017)
• Timothy Wilson, Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia
• William H. Warren, psychologist, Chancellor's Professor at Brown University
• Christopher Young, composer, professor of music at the University of Southern California

Activism

• Joseph Amon, epidemiologist, human rights activist at Human Rights Watch
• Chuck Collins, political activist, co-founder of United For a Fair Economy
• Melissa Hoffer, environmental lawyer and Director of the New Hampshire Advocacy Center for the Conservation Law Foundation
• Shalini Kantayya, documentary filmmaker and environmental activist, Catching the Sun
• Alia Amirali, Pakistani politician and activist
• Lisa Shannon, author, human rights activist, and speaker

Arts & Design

• Mequitta Ahuja, feminist painter, Guggenheim Fellow
• Math Bass, artist
• Gideon Bok, painter, Guggenheim Fellow
• Leidy Churchman, painter
• Barry Marc Cohen, art therapist, Diagnostic Drawing Series
• E.V. DAY, artist
• Angela Ellsworth, artist
• Peter Harkawik, artist
• Every Ocean Hughes (formerly known as Emily Roysdon), visual artist
• Jeph Jacques, artist, Questionable Content
• Emma Kohlmann, curator and artist
• Jane Marsching, artist
• Susan Mikula, artist and photographer
• Christina Quarles, artist
• Kanishka Raja, visual artist
• Raghavendra Rathore, Indian fashion designer
• Steven Siegel, sculptor and installation artist

Photography

• Doug DuBois, photographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• James Estrin, New York Times senior staff photographer, Pulitzer Prize recipient
• Jane Marsching, interdisciplinary digital artist
• Susan Mikula, artist and photographer

Writers and authors

• Lisa Arie, author and motivational speaker, CEO of Vista Caballo
• Alba Arikha, French writer, author of Major/Minor, goddaughter of Samuel Beckett
• Daniel Asia, composer, Guggenheim Fellow, music and culture contributor at the Huffington Post
• Eula Biss, author, Guggenheim Fellow
• Cylin Busby, best-selling author and screenwriter
• David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy
• Rebecca Carroll, writer, editor, and radio producer; former managing editor at xoJane and founding editor of Africana.com
• Leah Hager Cohen, writer
• Kanya D'Almeida, writer and journalist
• Ethan Gilsdorf, writer and journalist, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wired, Salon
• Eli Gottlieb, novelist, author of The Boy Who Went Away
• Suzanne Greenberg, writer
• David M. Hall, writer and corporate trainer, author of Allies at Work
• Gabrielle Hamilton, chef and author
• Ellis Henican, Newsday columnist, Fox News Channel political analyst, New York Times Bestselling author
• Patricia Klindienst, writer and scholar, American Book Award recipient
• Jon Krakauer, mountain climber and writer, New York Times bestselling author of Into The Wild
• Lê Thi Diem Thúy, writer and solo performance artist, Guggenheim Fellow
• Daniel Marcus, science fiction author
• Gary Marcus, cognitive scientist, founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence, New York Times bestselling author
• Daniel José Older, fantasy and young adult fiction writer
• Liz Perle, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Common Sense Media
• Jennifer Pozner, author, media critic, feminist
• John Reed, novelist
• Lisa Shannon, author, human rights activist, and speaker
• Timothy Shary, film scholar
• Sonya Sones, poet and writer for young adults, author of What My Mother Doesn't Know
• Doug Stanton, journalist and New York Times best-selling author
• Thomas H. Stoner, Jr., author and energy entrepreneur, CEO of Entelligent
• Gwen Strauss, writer and author
• Sander Thoenes, journalist
• Maggie Thrash, writer of young adult fiction, Honor Girl
• Alex S. Vitale, sociologist, author of The End of Policing
• Jessamyn West, librarian and blogger, creator of Librarian.net
• Dede Wilson, baker, contributing editor of Bon Appetit, cookbook author
• Torrey Peters, writer, author of Detransition, Baby

Poets

• Janet Aalfs, poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts and martial artist
• Joshua Beckman, poet
• S. Bear Bergman, poet
• Chen Chen, poet
• Peter Cole, poet and MacArthur Fellowship recipient
• Ethan Gilsdorf, writer, poet, and journalist, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wired, Salon
• Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, poet, co-founder of Deaf Poets Society magazine, Lambda Literary Award-winner for Slingshot
• Robin Coste Lewis, poet laureate of Los Angeles, National Book Award winner for Voyage of the Sable Venus
• Sonya Sones, poet and writer for young adults, author of What My Mother Doesn't Know

Journalists

• Tina Antolini, journalist and radio producer for NPR
• Madeleine Baran, Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter and host of the podcast In the Dark
• Suzanne Daley, journalist for The New York Times
• Ethan Gilsdorf, writer, poet, and journalist, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wired, Salon
• Ellis Henican, Newsday columnist, Fox News Channel political analyst, New York Times Bestselling author
• Edward Humes, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Fariba Nawa, journalist and author
• Amy K. Nelson, journalist, Slate, Deadspin, ESPN
• Jeff Sharlet, journalist, Harper's, Rolling Stone
• Doug Stanton, journalist and New York Times best-selling author
• Sander Thoenes, journalist

Tabletop and video games

• Meguey Baker, role-playing game designer, independent publisher and quilt historian
• Vincent Baker, role-playing game designer and publisher
• Noah Falstein, video game designer and producer for LucasArts, DreamWorks Interactive, and The 3DO Company; president of The Inspiracy
• Daniel Licht, composer of films and video games, Dexter, Silent Hill

Theater

• Dennis Boutsikaris, Obie Award-winning actor
• Fred Melamed, Independent Spirit Award-winning actor
• Lupita Nyong'o, Academy Award-winning actress, Tony Award-nominee for Eclipsed
• Liev Schreiber, stage and screen actor, star of Emmy-winning series Ray Donovan, Tony Award-winner
• Andrea Stolowitz, playwright
• Naomi Wallace, playwright and MacArthur Fellowship recipient

Dance & Performance

• Stephen Petronio, choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• Christopher-Rasheem McMllan, choreographer, Ism Fellow, CBA Resident Fellow professor of Dance and Women's Studies, The University of Iowa
• Mariana Valencia, American multidisciplinary artist, Bessie award, Whitney Biennial artist
• Jen Roseblit, choreographer, Bessie award, Guggenheim Fellow
• Meghan Frederick, choreographer
• Norah Zuniga Shaw, choreographer, professor at The Ohio state University

,Film, television, and entertainment

• Chris Applebaum, music video director
• Lesley Arfin, author and staff writer for Girls and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, former Vice contributor
• Ken Burns, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker, The Civil War
• Cylin Busby, best-selling author and screenwriter
• Greg Butler, Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor, Forrest Gump, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, 1917
• Charlie Clouser, musician and composer for film and television, former member of Nine Inch Nails
• Rhys Ernst, film producer and director, Adam, Transparent
• John Falsey, Emmy Award-winning television creator of St. Elsewhere, I'll Fly Away and Northern Exposure
• Victor Fresco, television writer and producer, creator of Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Better Off Ted and Santa Clarita Diet
• Sarah Goldfinger, television writer/producer
• Lee Hirsch, filmmaker, Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, Bully
• Rolfe Kanefsky, filmmaker
• Daniel Licht, composer of films and video games, Dexter, Silent Hill
• Billy Luther, documentary filmmaker, Miss Navajo
• Jeff Maguire, screenwriter, In The Line of Fire, Escape to Victory
• Brett Morgen, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, Jane, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
• Julia Willoughby Nason, documentary filmmaker
• Andrea Pallaoro, film director and screenwriter
• Will Reiser, screenwriter and producer, 50/50
• Alex Rivera, filmmaker, Sleep Dealer
• Rod Roddenberry, television producer and CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry
• Kelly Sears, animator and filmmaker
• Roger Sherman, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker
• Max Simonet, co-creator and host of talk show FishCenter Live
• Barry Sonnenfeld, director of The Addams Family, Men in Black trilogy, Wild Wild West and Get Shorty
• Wes Takahashi, visual effects supervisor and animator for the Back To The Future trilogy, Top Gun, The Goonies; creator of the DreamWorks "boy on the moon" logo
• Christopher Young, film composer, Hellraiser, The Grudge, Spider-Man 3
• Teo Žagar, filmmaker and member of the Vermont House of Representatives
• Tiya Tejpal, Production Designer for The Rapist, Raman Raghav 2.0

Actors

• Xander Berkeley, actor, Terminator 2, Candyman, The Walking Dead, 24
• Dennis Boutsikaris, actor, The Bourne Legacy, Better Call Saul
• Julie Dretzin, actress, Breaking Bad, The Handmaid's Tale
• Adelind Horan, actress, The Deuce
• Fred Melamed, actor, A Serious Man, Lady Dynamite, WandaVision, Barry, Independent Spirit Award-winner
• Eugene Mirman, stand-up comedian and actor, Bob's Burgers, Declocated
• David Moscow, actor, Big
• Lupita Nyong'o, Academy Award-winning actress, 12 Years a Slave, Us
• Jason Salkey, actor
• Liev Schreiber, stage and screen actor, star of Emmy-winning series Ray Donovan, Tony Award-winner
• Joshua Seth, voice actor, Digimon, Akira
• Aamina Sheikh, Pakistani actress and supermodel
• Max Simonet, co-creator and host of talk show FishCenter Live
• Danny Tamberelli, actor known for The Adventures of Pete & Pete, cast member of All That

Politicians, diplomats, and other government officials

• Alia Amirali, Pakistani politician and activist
• Heather Boushey, economist, president of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth think tank, economic advisor to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden
• Eileen Brady, candidate for mayor of Portland, Oregon
• Maud Daudon, CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
• Stephen Gardner, CEO of Amtrak, founder of experimental music group Chessie
• Tooker Gomberg, Canadian politician and environmental activist
• Kenneth Green, politician and social worker, member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
• Petros S. Kokkalis, businessman and member of the European Parliament
• Dawn M. Liberi, diplomat and former U.S. Ambassador to Burundi under Barack Obama
• Jacob Reider, expert in health information technology policy and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology under Barack Obama
• David Shulkin, physician and 9th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Teo Žagar, filmmaker and member of the Vermont House of Representatives

Musicians

• Bob Bralove, musician best known for his work with the Grateful Dead
• Pam Bricker, jazz singer, professor of music, and musical collaborator with Thievery Corporation
• Charlie Clouser, musician and composer for film and television, former member of Nine Inch Nails
• Amy Denio, composer
• Toby Driver, musician and artist, Kayo Dot and Maudlin of the Well
• Ed Droste, singer/songwriter from the Brooklyn-based indie group Grizzly Bear (band)
• Neil Gust, musician and artist, Heatmiser
• Tom Hanway, bluegrass and Celtic banjoist
• Jim Johnston, composer
• Mike Ladd, Hip Hop MC and member of the Antipop Consortium
• Ken Leavitt-Lawrence, rap artist a.k.a. "MC Hawking"
• Daniel Lopatin, musician known as Oneohtrix Point Never
• Matt Mondanile, musician, Ducktails & Real Estate
• Ann Moss, soprano
• Elliott Smith, Academy Award-nominated indie-folk musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
• Zachary Cole Smith, musician, frontman of DIIV
• Supreme Dicks, lo-fi and experimental band
• Autre Ne Veut, musician
• Michael "Mudcat" Ward, blues bassist, pianist and songwriter
• Erica Wheeler, singer-songwriter
• Orchid, hardcore punk band

Composers

• Daniel Asia, composer, Guggenheim Fellow, music and culture contributor at the Huffington Post
• Charlie Clouser, musician and composer for film and television, former member of Nine Inch Nails
• Daniel Licht, composer of films and video games, Dexter, Silent Hill franchise
• Christopher Young, film composer, Hellraiser, The Grudge, Spiderman 3

Business

• Lisa Arie, author and motivational speaker, CEO of Vista Caballo
• Nicholas Callaway, founder of Callaway Arts & Entertainment
• James Crown, president of Henry Crown and Company, director of JPMorgan Chase & Co., General Dynamics and Sara Lee
• Jose Fuentes, co-founder/developer of Duolingo
• David M. Hall, writer and corporate trainer, author of Allies at Work
• Judith Herrell, President Herrell's Ice Cream.
• Benjamin Mako Hill, technologist, software developer and founding member of Ubuntu and Debian projects, assistant professor in Communication at the University of Washington
• Gary Hirshberg, Chairman, President, and "CE-Yo" of Stonyfield Farm
• Jeffrey Hollender, President and CEO of Seventh Generation Inc.
• Mark Kriegsman, computer programmer and Director of Engineering at Veracode
• Aaron Lansky, founder of the National Yiddish Book Center, MacArthur Fellow
• Chris Lavergne, founder of the website Thought Catalog
• Gary Marcus, cognitive scientist, founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence, New York Times bestselling author
• Nicholas Merrill, computer programmer and entrepreneur, founder of The Calyx Institute and plaintiff in the legal case Doe v. Ashcroft
• Liz Perle, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Common Sense Media
• Thomas H. Stoner, Jr., author and energy entrepreneur, CEO of Entelligent

Law

• Melissa Hoffer, environmental lawyer and Director of the New Hampshire Advocacy Center for the Conservation Law Foundation
• Daniel Horowitz, high-profile criminal-defense attorney
• Kathryn Tucker, high-profile attorney and executive director of the End of Life Liberty Project

Other notable alumni

• Elizabeth Armstrong, art curator
• Johnny Dwork, two-time world champion flying disc freestyle athlete

Chefs

• Gabrielle Hamilton, chef and author
• Dede Wilson, baker, contributing editor of Bon Appetit, cookbook author

Fictional alumni

• Alice Kinnon (Chloë Sevigny), lead character from the film The Last Days of Disco
• Charlotte Pingress (Kate Beckinsale), lead character from the film The Last Days of Disco
• Gobi (Horatio Sanz), character on the reoccurring Saturday Night Live sketch Jarret's Room
• Jarret (Jimmy Fallon), character on the reoccurring Saturday Night Live sketch Jarret's Room

Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics alumni

• Bram Cohen, original author and developer of BitTorrent
• Matthew Cook, group leader at the Institute for Neuroinformatics at ETH Zurich and computer scientist who proved the Turing universality of Wolfram's Rule 110 cellular automaton
• Lenore Cowen, computer scientist and mathematician at Tufts University
• Alan Edelman, professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Alan Grayson, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Florida)
• Neil Immerman, professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Susan Landau, professor of cybersecurity and policy at Tufts University, visiting scholar of computer science at Harvard University, Guggenheim Fellow
• Eric Lander, mathematician and geneticist, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and science advisor to President Barack Obama, MacArthur Fellow
• Adam Marcus, professor of mathematics at Princeton University
• Cathy O'Neil, data scientist and blogger at Mathbabe, Director of the Lede Program in Data Practices at Columbia University
• Jim Propp, professor of mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Dana Randall, professor of computer science at Georgia Tech
• Lisa Randall, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, known for developing the Randall–Sundrum model
• Seth Schoen, technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Steven Strogatz, Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University
• Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at UCLA Law School, scholar of American constitutional law and libertarianism
• Erik Winfree, professor of computer science and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology, MacArthur Fellow

Past and present faculty

Film and video

• Joan Braderman, video artist and director, MacArthur Fellow
• Bill Brand, experimental filmmaker
• Baba Hillman
• Peter Hutton (filmmaker), experimental filmmaker
• Penny Lane (filmmaker), documentary filmmaker
• Jerome Liebling, filmmaker and photographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• Kara Lynch, video artist
• Elaine Mayes, filmmaker and photographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• Julia Meltzer, video artist, Guggenheim Fellow
• Walid Raad/Atlas Group, video and multi-media artist
• Abraham Ravett, filmmaker and photographer
• Ellen Spiro, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker
• Hope Tucker

Photography

• Diane Arbus, photographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• Jacqueline Hayden, feminist photographer and video artist
• Jerome Liebling, filmmaker and photographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• Sandra Matthews, photographer
• Elaine Mayes, filmmaker and photographer, Guggenheim Fellow
• Carrie Mae Weems, photographer, MacArthur Fellow

Visual arts

• Leonard Baskin, graphic artist and sculptor, Guggenheim Fellow
• David Diao, painter

Theater

• Josephine Abady, theater director

Music

• Ray Copeland, jazz musician
• Mark Dresser, jazz musician
• Marty Ehrlich, jazz musician
• Yusef Lateef, jazz musician, Grammy Award-winner
• Roland Wiggins, music theorist, music teacher to John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Yusef Lateef, Buster Williams, Jimmy Owens, and Billy Taylor

Politics

• Eqbal Ahmad, political scientist, writer and academic
• Michael Klare, scholar on U.S. defense policy and global resource issues

History

• Anson Rabinbach, historian of modern Europe, co-founder of New German Critique, Guggenheim Fellow
• E. Francis White, historian

Anthropology

• Alan H. Goodman, anthropologist
• Aihwa Ong, anthropologist, MacArthur Fellow
• Leonard Glick, anthropologist, historian of ideas and Judaism

Psychology

• John Roosevelt Boettiger, psychologist, grandson of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Writing and Journalism

• James Baldwin, novelist, essayist, poet, playwright and activist
• Ronnie Dugger, journalist, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The New Yorker, founder of The Texas Observer, George Polk Award-winner
• David Anthony Durham, historical and epic fantasy novelist
• Lynne Hanley, literary critic and feminist
• Norton Juster, architect and writer, author of The Phantom Tollbooth
• Michael Lesy, writer and literary journalist, author of Wisconsin Death Trip
• Elinor Lipman, novelist, short story writer, and essayist
• David Roberts, mountaineer and author
• Andrew Salkey, writer
• Eric Schocket, American studies and literature scholar
• Helaine Selin, librarian, author, and editor

Poetry

• Polina Barskova, poet
• Aracelis Girmay, poet
• Paul Jenkins, professor of poetry
• John Murillo, poet
• Chase Twichell, poet, Guggenheim Fellow

Mathematics and Science

• Raymond Coppinger, professor of biology and cognitive science
• David Kelly, professor of mathematics
• Eric Lander, mathematician and geneticist, MacArthur Fellow
• Margaret M. Robinson, mathematician

Ecology

• Arthur H. Westing, professor of ecology and dean of the School of Natural Science, Guggenheim Fellow

Other

• Ngawang Samten, Tibetologist
• Robert Sanborn, activist and President/CEO of Children At Risk
• Jonathan Westphal, professor of philosophy

Presidents

• Franklin Patterson (1966–1971), first president of Hampshire College and co-author of the New College Plan
• Charles R. Longsworth (1971–1977), current director of Saul Centers, Inc., former President, CEO, and Chairman of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
• Adele S. Simmons (1977–1989), former President of the MacArthur Foundation and first female dean of student affairs at Princeton University
• Gregory S. Prince, Jr. (1989–2005), chairman of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts and vice-chair of the Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice of the American Bar Association
• Ralph J. Hexter (2005–2010), former dean at UC Berkeley and Acting Chancellor of UC Davis, founding member of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education
• Marlene Gerber Fried (2010–2011) (interim)
• Jonathan Lash (2011–2018), attorney, member of the board of directors and former president of the World Resources Institute
• Miriam E. Nelson (2018–2019), acting president and CEO of Newman's Own Foundation, best-selling author, and nutritionist
• Kenneth Rosenthal (2019) (interim)
• Edward Wingenbach (2019–present), former acting president of Ripon College

References