List of California State University, Los Angeles people



This page lists notable alumni and former students, faculty, and administrators of the California State University, Los Angeles.

Academia

 * Sal Castro – educator and activist
 * Edward Diller – Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature, University of Oregon
 * Jaime Escalante – mathematician and teacher; the subject of the 1988 Academy Award-nominated film Stand and Deliver
 * Michael S. Harper – first poet laureate of Rhode Island; professor at Brown University
 * Walter E. Williams – author, economist, and professor at George Mason University
 * Earl G. Yarbrough – president of Savannah State University
 * Lixia Zhang – Professor of Computer Science at University of California, Los Angeles; co-founder of the Internet Engineering Task Force; named among 54 notable women in technology by Business Insider

Business

 * Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (MBA) – Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO and Cabinet Member and Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates
 * James A. Bell ('97) – CFO of the Boeing Company
 * Warren Bryant (B.S. Sociology, 1971) – Chairman and CEO of Longs Drugs
 * Donald Sterling (BA) – former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers

Entertainment

 * Dustin Lee Abraham – producer and screenwriter
 * Al Anthony – LA area radio personality
 * Alan Arkin ('52) – actor, received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
 * Gabe Baltazar – jazz and studio musician
 * Billy Barty ('49, '75) – actor, activist for Little People rights; appeared in the Ron Howard film Willow
 * Luis Bonilla – composer, musician
 * Kara Brock ('98) – television and film actress (The Parkers)
 * Jack Cooper – composer, arranger, musician
 * Eric "Bobo" Correa – musician, rap and pop artist
 * Sam Elliott – actor
 * Phil Feather – studio musician, multireedist
 * Barry Gordon ('86) – former president of the Screen Actors Guild, adjunct professor of political science at Cal State LA
 * Suzanna Guzmán – mezzo soprano, an original associate artists of Los Angeles Opera
 * Telma Hopkins – actress
 * Danny House – jazz and studio musician
 * Daniel Knauf ('82) – screenwriter, producer and director
 * Ronnie Lang – jazz and studio musician
 * Isaac Larian – chief executive officer of MGA Entertainment
 * Steven Lee – music producer, composer, instrumentalist
 * Ricardo Lemvo – Congo-born Angolan bandleader, singer of Makina Loca
 * Tiny Lister – actor, former pro wrestler
 * Lennie Niehaus – composer, arranger, musician
 * Edward James Olmos – actor, director
 * Gil Robertson IV – author, journalist and President of the African American Film Critics Association
 * Scott Shaw – author, actor, filmmaker, and martial artist
 * Robin Shou – martial artist and actor
 * Phil Snyder (MFA 2012) – voice actor, voice of Disney's Jiminy Cricket in Kingdom Hearts and Disney Home Video, professor at the University of Houston
 * Cheryl Tiegs – model and actress
 * Robert Vaughn (BA 1956, MA 1964) – actor
 * John Williams – jazz and studio musician

Literature

 * Octavia Butler – science fiction author
 * Nahshon Dion – creative nonfiction writer
 * Leon Leyson (born Leib Lejzon) – author of The Boy on the Wooden Box, Holocaust survivor saved by Oskar Schindler
 * Lorin Morgan-Richards – author and illustrator, primarily of children's books
 * Marilyn Reynolds – young adult fiction author
 * Joseph Wambaugh ('60) – bestselling novelist

Politics

 * Richard Alatorre – Member of the California State Assembly and the Los Angeles City Council
 * Michael D. Antonovich – politician, member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (Fifth District)
 * Joe Baca – member of United States House of Representatives and former chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
 * Lee Baca ('71) – former sheriff of Los Angeles County
 * Sukhbir Singh Badal – Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, India
 * John J. Benoit – California State Senate
 * Wendy Carrillo – politician serving in the California State Assembly
 * Stephen Cooley ('71) – district attorney, Los Angeles County
 * Julian C. Dixon – former member of the California State Assembly, former member of Congress
 * Mervyn Dymally – first foreign-born black Congressman, first black Lt. Governor of California, member of the California State Assembly
 * Evan Freed – attorney, photographer of Robert F. Kennedy
 * Elton Gallegly – former member of United States House of Representatives
 * Tom LaBonge – Los Angeles City Council
 * Rosario Marin ('83) – 41st U.S. Treasurer
 * Juanita Millender-McDonald – member of United States House of Representatives
 * Gloria Molina – former member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
 * Lucille Roybal-Allard – member of United States House of Representatives; former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
 * Kelly Seyarto – member of the California State Assembly; former mayor of Murrieta, California
 * Esteban Edward Torres – US Representative for California's 34th congressional district 1983-1999
 * Robert A. Underwood – delegate of Guam to the United States House of Representatives
 * Maxine Waters – member of United States House of Representatives
 * Diane Watson ('67) – member of the United States House of Representatives and ambassador to Micronesia

Religion

 * J. Jon Bruno – Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, 2002–

Science

 * Samuel Durrance (BS 1972, MS 1974) – NASA astronaut (Columbia and Endeavour), astrophysicist, educator
 * Sy Liebergot – NASA flight controller during Project Apollo, author, space historian



Sports

 * John Adams – former NFL player
 * LaVar Ball – former basketball and football player, founder, owner, and CEO of Big Baller Brand; father of Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo Ball
 * Mike Burns – professional Major League Baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
 * Don Davis – former NFL player
 * Joe Faust – Olympian high jumper, mathematics teacher, aviation publisher, renewal energy researcher (kite energy systems)
 * Jay Gibbons – professional Major League Baseball former outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Baltimore Orioles
 * Mitch Johnson – former NFL player
 * Walter Johnson – former National Football League player with the Cleveland Browns
 * Howard Kindig – former NFL player
 * Billie Jean King – professional tennis player who inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987
 * Noel Lacey – All Conference player who led the CCAA in scoring and assists his first/second year. Finished 8th in the country in scoring in 1991(D2).
 * Martin Vasquez – head coach of C.D. Chivas USA, in Major League Soccer; first player to be on both the United States and Mexico's national teams
 * Mal Whitfield – gold medalist, 1948 London Olympics and 1952 Helsinki Olympics
 * Frank Zane – professional bodybuilder and teacher

Visual arts

 * Jaklin Romine – artist
 * Raul Ruiz – journalist, photographed the police aiming tear gas launchers at the Silver Dollar Café, where Ruben Salazar was killed
 * Hisako Terasaki – artist
 * Kent Twitchell ('72) – muralist
 * Lisa Diane Wedgeworth – visual artist

Faculty

 * Melina Abdullah – chair of the Pan-African Studies Department
 * Daniel Amneus – emeritus professor of English, specializing in Shakespearean textual criticism
 * Jerry Farber – civil rights activist and former child actor
 * Hal Fishman – assistant adjunct professor of political science; won the Associated Press Television-Radio Association's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a Los Angeles local (KTLA) news anchor
 * Ann Garry – Professor Emerita of Philosophy; early pioneer of the field of feminist philosophy
 * William M. London – professor of public health and consumer advocate
 * Antony C. Sutton – economist, historian, professor, and writer
 * Wirt Williams – novelist, journalist, and professor of English

Distinguished visiting adjunct professors

 * Christopher Isherwood – taught Modern English Literature 1961–1962; author; his Berlin Stories was the basis for the Broadway musical and film, Cabaret
 * Dorothy Parker – taught in the English department 1962–63; writer; founding member of the Algonquin Round Table; inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1959
 * Glenn Wilson – visiting professor, summer quarters 1971-72, 1974-75; pioneer of evolutionary psychology; introduced 2D:4D digit ratio as a marker of prenatal testosterone

Trustee professors

 * Barry Munitz – 5th chancellor of the California State University system, and 6th president of the University of Houston