List of Connecticut College alumni

This is a list of notable alumni of Connecticut College.

Literature and poetry

 * Michael Collier ('76): Poet Laureate of Maryland, 2001–2004; Director of The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College
 * Dobby Gibson ('93): poet
 * Aracelis Girmay ('99): poet
 * Cecelia Holland ('65): novelist
 * Gayl Jones ('72): novelist, poet, playwright
 * William Lychack ('88): novelist
 * Luanne Rice ('77): novelist

Authors and writers

 * Sloane Crosley ('00): best-selling author; essayist; publicist with Vintage Books
 * David Grann ('89): journalist and best-selling and staff writer at The New Yorker
 * Joshua Green ('94): senior national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek and a weekly columnist for the Boston Globe
 * Jazmine Hughes ('12): writer and editor; currently a story editor at The New York Times Magazine
 * Nan Kempner ('52): socialite, contributing editor of Vogue
 * Elizabeth Peer ('57): journalist; first female foreign bureau chief at Newsweek
 * A. B. Stoddard ('89): journalist, political commentator, associate editor of The Hill

Academia

 * Edward Burger ('85): professor of mathematics, Williams College
 * Martha Chen: lecturer in public policy, Harvard Kennedy School
 * Cynthia Enloe ('60): research professor of international relations and women's studies, Clark University
 * Haden Guest ('93): Director of the Harvard Film Archive, and lecturer at Harvard University
 * David Haussler ('75): professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, member of National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * Roxanne Johnson: chemist working at United States Environmental Protection Agency
 * Mark Samuels Lasner: Senior Research Fellow at the University of Delaware
 * Shelley Taylor ('68): social psychologist, pioneer in health psychology, winner of Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from APA
 * Ellen Vitetta ('64): Director, Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center National Acad. Sciences; Institute of Medicine; American Acad. Arts and Sciences

Design, art, and art history

 * Agnes Gund: philanthropist, art patron and collector, advocate for arts education
 * Christine Y. Kim: associate curator of contemporary art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; former associate curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem
 * Peter Som ('93): fashion designer, winner of the 2002 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation prize
 * Marcia Tucker: first female curator of the Whitney Museum; founding director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art

Television and radio

 * H. Jon Benjamin ('88): actor, comedian and writer best known for his voice-over roles
 * Molly Cheek ('73): It's Garry Shandling's Show
 * Lee Eisenberg ('99): writer and producer for The Office and the film Year One
 * Chris Gifford ('81): co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning children's series Dora the Explorer
 * Scott Lowell: actor, Queer as Folk
 * Leland Orser ('82): actor
 * Christof Putzel ('01): award-winning journalist and correspondent for Al Jazeera America
 * Joan Rivers: actress, comedian; attended CC briefly, then transferred to Barnard College
 * Susan Saint James: actress, Kate & Allie; attended CC, did not graduate
 * Sam Seder: writer, actor, political commentator, radio host on Air America
 * Alec Sulkin ('95): writer and executive producer on Family Guy, The Orville and the 85th Academy Awards
 * Wellesley Wild ('94): writer and executive producer on Family Guy, The Orville and the 85th Academy Awards

Film, theater and dance

 * Chrystelle Trump Bond: dancer, choreographer, author, and dance historian
 * Ted Chapin ('72): president and executive director, Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization
 * Charles Chun ('90): actor; has appeared in Criminal Minds, Scrubs, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and How I Met Your Mother
 * David Dorfman (MFA '81): Professor of Dance, chair of Dance Department, choreographer of modern dance
 * Sean Fine ('96): winner of Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for Inocente; director of Academy Award-nominated feature documentary War/Dance
 * Jeffrey Finn ('92): Broadway producer, nominated for 2005 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for On Golden Pond
 * Judy Irving ('68): Emmy Award and Sundance-winning filmmaker
 * Raja Feather Kelly ('09): dancer and choreographer and serves as the artistic director of the New Brooklyn Theatre
 * Leland Orser ('82): actor and director known for Taken, Taken 2 and Se7en
 * Estelle Parsons ('49): stage, film, and television actor; winner of 1967 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Bonnie and Clyde
 * Kevin Wade ('76): screenwriter, Working Girl, Meet Joe Black

National Theater Institute alumni (accredited by Connecticut College)

 * Greg Allen
 * Emily Bergl
 * Adam Bock (The Receptionist)
 * Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue)
 * Jack Coleman (Heroes)
 * Rachel Dratch (SNL)
 * Chris Elliott (SNL)
 * Paul Hodes
 * Kristina Klebe
 * John Krasinski (The Office)
 * Jeremy Piven (Grosse Point Blank, PCU)
 * Michael Portnoy
 * Sam Robards
 * Kate Robin (Six Feet Under)
 * Mark Teschner

Music

 * Sean Greenhalgh ('01): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
 * Robbie Guertin ('02): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
 * Vance Gilbert ('79): singer-songwriter, folk musician
 * Chris Harford: singer, songwriter
 * Alec Ounsworth ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
 * Lee Sargent ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
 * Tyler Sargent ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
 * Henrik Takkenberg ('90): musician, songwriter, producer

Government, law and public policy

 * Debo Adegbile ('91): lawyer in private practice who also serves as a Commissioner for the United States Civil Rights Commission
 * Esther Batchelder (1919): nutritionist, home economist, head of Food and Nutrition division of the US Department of Agriculture
 * Helen Lehman Buttenwieser ('27): lawyer, member of Lehman family
 * Nina F. Elgo ('84): Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court
 * Marie L. Garibaldi ('56): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
 * Catherine Gregg: philanthropist and First Lady of New Hampshire (1953–1955)
 * Mary Ann Handley: Connecticut State Senator
 * Dorcas Hardy ('68): Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
 * Joanne Head: New Hampshire State Representative
 * Bruce Hoffman ('76): Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency, Director of the RAND Corporation's Washington Office, professor at Georgetown University
 * Jay Hooper ('16): Vermont State Representative
 * Joan R. Kemler ('47): first woman to serve as Connecticut State Treasurer (1986–87)
 * Suzi Oppenheimer ('56): New York State Senator
 * Erik Raven ('96), United States Under Secretary of the Navy
 * Sean Spicer ('93): 30th White House Press Secretary
 * Jay Stamper ('95): Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from South Carolina
 * Susan Thomases ('65): attorney, presidential adviser
 * Patricia McGowan Wald ('48): U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia judge; member of International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; member of the Iraq Intelligence Commission
 * Kimba Wood ('66): federal judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Business

 * Tim Armstrong ('93): CEO of America Online (AOL); former Google Inc. Vice President, Advertising Sales
 * Ethan Brown (?): CEO of Beyond Meat
 * Alice Rogoff: former wife of David Rubenstein

Athletics

 * Anita DeFrantz ('74): former Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, member of bronze medal U.S. women's eight-oared shell, 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics
 * Jim Gabarra ('82): Olympic soccer player
 * Jeff Idelson ('86): current director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
 * AJ Marcucci ('21): professional soccer player for New York Red Bulls
 * Jan Merrill ('79): Olympic long-distance runner
 * Rand Pecknold ('90): current head coach of the Quinnipiac University Men's Ice Hockey team
 * Tim Young ('92): Olympic silver medalist in quadruple sculling
 * Maggie Shea ('11): Olympic sailor

Other notable people associated with Connecticut College

 * Blanche Boyd: Professor of English and Writing
 * Pauline Hamilton Dederer: Professor of Biology
 * Edward Harkness: Conn College benefactor, Standard Oil heir and advocate of the Harkness Table method
 * Barkley Hendricks: Professor of Art
 * Carl Kimmons ('73): US Navy officer; first person to rise through the Navy's ranks from mess attendant to commissioned officer
 * Lillian Rosanoff Lieber: mathematician and author
 * William Meredith: winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and Professor of English at the college, 1955–1983
 * William Wuyke: former Venezuelan Olympian; strength and conditioning coach

Presidents

 * Frederick Henry Sykes: President, 1913–1917
 * Benjamin T. Marshall: President, 1917–1928
 * Katherine Blunt: President, 1929–1943, 1945–1946
 * Dorothy Schafer: President, 1943–1945
 * Rosemary Park: President, 1947–1962
 * Charles E. Shain: President, 1962–1974
 * Oakes Ames: President, 1974–1988
 * Claire L. Gaudiani: President, 1988–2001
 * David K. Lewis: Interim President, 2001
 * Norman Fainstein: President, 2001–2006
 * Leo Higdon: President, 2006–2013
 * Katherine Bergeron: President, 2014–2023