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Monterey Car Week

Monterey Car Week is a week in August in which a number of car-related events are held in and around Monterey, California.

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is held on the final Sunday of Monterey Car Week. It is a car show showing the most elegant and notable vehicles in the world. The proceeds of the show support charities.

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, formerly known as the Monterey Historics until 2010, is held the final weekend of Monterey Car Week at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The three-day event has over 500 participants, and generally features a specific marque every year.

Auctions
Automobile auctions of classic cars are held at various times and locations on the Monterey Peninsula. They are held by auction houses such as Bonhams, RM Auctions, Russo and Steele, Gooding & Company, Mecum Auctions, and Rick Cole Auctions. Total sales in 2014 were $463,744,226, with the high sale being a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO berlinetta for $38,115,000.

Jet Center Party
The Jet Center Party, formally called the Motorworks Revival, is an invitation-only event held at the Monterey Jet Center the Wednesday before the Pebble Beach Concours. It is considered the unofficial kick-off for the week. It is hosted by Gordon McCall. Both exotic cars and private jets are displayed.

Legends of the Autobahn
A show that features German automobiles. It began as a BMW Car Club of America event and grew to include all German cars. It formerly showed Porsches also, but a separate event, the Porsche Werks Reunion, for Porsches was established in 2014. This event is free to the public. It is held at the Nicklaus Club - Monterey golf club.

Porsche Werks Reunion
The Porsche Werks Reunion event features Porsches and was established in 2014 after splitting off from the Legends of the Autobahn show. There were 519 cars on display at the initial event. This event was started by the Porsche Club of America. It is held at the Rancho Canada Golf Club in Carmel Valley.

The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering
The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering (usually shortened to The Quail) is a car show limited to 200 automobiles located at the Quail Lodge & Golf Club. A maximum 3,000 tickets are sold to this event to avoid crowds. Unlike the Pebble Beach Concours, The Quail vehicles are not judged.

Concorso Italiano
The Concorso Italiano features Italian cars. It is held at the golf course at the Bayonet & Blackhorse Golf Club.

Nobel laureates
As of October 2012, 82 Nobel laureates are affiliated with Columbia University. 43 Nobel laureates are the alumni of Columbia University. 19 of these alumni have also served on the faculty or staff of the University. There are 39 non-alumni Nobel laureates who have been in service—as faculty, research scientists, research or postdoctoral fellows—to the University. Columbia University does not count a Visiting Professor as one of its own. Only those Nobel laureates who have spent a year or more at the University are counted. If Nobel laureates who have spent less than a year at the University were counted, the number of Nobel laureates affiliated with Columbia would be 96, more than any other academic institution. In addition, Columbia ranks third in the number of Nobel Laureates it has graduated compared to other institutions in the world, surpassed only by the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. See List of Nobel Laureates by university affiliation.

Fields Medalists

 * Jesse Douglas&mdash;(attended Columbia College from 1920–1924), one of two winners of the first Fields Medal in 1936
 * Heisuke Hironaka&mdash;former Professor of Mathematics, Columbia; winner of the Fields Medal in 1970
 * Shigefumi Mori&mdash;former Professor of Mathematics, Columbia; winner of the Fields Medal and the Cole Prize (both in 1990)
 * Andrei Okounkov&mdash;Professor of Mathematics, Columbia; winner of the Fields Medal in 2006
 * Stephen Smale&mdash;Professor of Mathematics, Columbia; winner of the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 2006/7, one of only twelve Fields Medallists to win both prizes

Wolf Prize

 * Robert Brout&mdash;(PhD.) Belgian theoretical physicist; 2004 Wolf Prize in Physics; 2010 Sakurai Prize; significant contributions in elementary particle physics
 * John Clauser&mdash;(M.A. 1966, Ph.D. 1969) theoretical and experimental physicist; 2010 Wolf Prize in Physics; Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality
 * Samuel J. Danishefsky&mdash;(postdoctoral fellowship) 1995 Wolf Prize in Chemistry; Danishefsky’s diene, Danishefsky Taxol total synthesis
 * Samuel Eilenberg&mdash;1986 Wolf Prize in Mathematics; Eilenberg–Steenrod axioms, Eilenberg swindle
 * Peter Eisenmann&mdash;(M.A.) architect; 2010 Wolf Prize in Arts; work often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde
 * Harry B. Gray&mdash;2004 Wolf Prize in Chemistry
 * Leon M. Lederman&mdash;(Ph.D.) experimental physicist, Wolf Prize in Physics, National Medal of Science, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Karl Maramorosch&mdash;(Ph.D. 1949) virologist, entomologist and plant pathologist; 1980 Wolf Prize in Agriculture
 * Gilbert Stork&mdash;1995 Wolf Prize in Chemistry; 1982 National Medal of Science, Willard Gibbs Medal
 * Chien-Shiung Wu&mdash;Physics professor, first woman to head the American Physical Society; 1978 Wolf Prize in Physics
 * Stephen Smale&mdash;2006 Wolf Prize in Mathematics; National Medal of Science (1975); Bonner Prize (1975); Comstock Prize in Physics (1964)

Crafoord Prize

 * Wallace Smith Broecker&mdash;(alumnus and faculty) Crafoord Prize in Geoscience (2006), Balzan Prize, National Medal of Science, Vetlesen Prize, among other awards
 * Peter K. Gregersen&mdash;(MD 1976) Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis (2013)
 * Walter Munk&mdash;(undergrad attendee) Crafoord Prize in Geoscience (2010); National Medal of Science, Vetlesen Prize, Kyoto Prize, among other awards
 * Robert J. Winchester&mdash;(faculty) Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis (2013)

Templeton Prize

 * Francisco J. Ayala&mdash;(PhD 1964) Templeton Prize for life's work in evolutionary biology and genetics (2010), National Medal of Science (2001), among other awards

Founding Fathers of the United States
Founding Fathers of the United States are the political leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution, or otherwise participated in the American Revolution as leaders of the Patriots.


 * Alexander Hamilton&mdash;Founding Father, American Revolutionary War officer and aide-de-camp to George Washington, co-author of The Federalist Papers, the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, economist, one of the first U.S. constitutional lawyers (picture appears on U.S. ten dollar bill)
 * John Jay&mdash;Founding Father, President of the Continental Congress, co-author of The Federalist Papers, second U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, diplomat, architect of Jay's Treaty with Great Britain
 * Robert Livingston&mdash;Founding Father, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, first U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, U.S. Minister to France, negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase
 * Gouverneur Morris&mdash;Founding Father, author of large sections of the Constitution of the United States, U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to France, United States Senator from New York, creator of the Manhattan street grid system, a builder of the Erie canal
 * Egbert Benson&mdash;Founding Father, member of the Continental Congresses; with Alexander Hamilton, delegate from New York to the Annapolis Convention; ratifier of the United States Constitution; served in the First and Second United States Congresses

Presidents of the United States

 * Theodore Roosevelt&mdash;(Law, attended 1880 to 1881) (posthumous J.D., class of 1882), 26th President of the United States (1901–1909); hero of the Spanish–American War (Medal of Honor, posthumously awarded 2001); Nobel Peace Prize recipient; Governor of New York; Assistant Secretary of the Navy; professional historian, explorer, author
 * Franklin Delano Roosevelt&mdash;(Law, attended fall of 1904 to spring 1907) (posthumous J.D., class of 1907), 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945); consistently ranked as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents in scholarly surveys; Governor of New York; Assistant Secretary of the Navy
 * Dwight Eisenhower&mdash;34th President of the United States (1953–1961); Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; President of Columbia University
 * Barack Obama&mdash;(B.A. 1983) 44th President of the United States (2009-); Nobel Peace Prize recipient; Democratic Senator from Illinois (2005–2008); first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review

Vice-Presidents of the United States

 * Daniel D Tompkins&mdash;6th Vice-President of the United States, 4th Governor of New York, declined appointment as United States Secretary of State by President James Madison
 * Theodore Roosevelt&mdash;(Law) 25th Vice-President of the United States, organized and helped command the Rough Riders in the Spanish American War, Medal of Honor

Presidents and Prime Ministers (international)

 * Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali&mdash;(M.A.) twice Prime Minister of Iraq (40th PM); six times Foreign Minister; member of both houses of Iraqi Parliament
 * Kassim al-Rimawi&mdash;(M.A. 1954, Ph.D. 1956) Prime Minister of Jordan (1980); Minister on six occasions (from 1962 through 1980)
 * Giuliano Amato&mdash;(M.A., Law 1963) twice Prime Minister of Italy (72nd and 78th PM); Minister of the Interior; Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * Hafizullah Amin&mdash;(Ph.D. 1962) 13th Prime Minister and 4th President of Afghanistan
 * Nahas Angula&mdash;(M.A., M.Ed.) Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia (incumbent as of 2010); member of the National Assembly since 1990
 * Marek Belka&mdash;11th Prime Minister of Poland; twice Minister of Finance
 * Fernando Henrique Cardoso&mdash;(faculty) 34th President of Brazil (1995–2003); Minister of External Relations (1992–1993); Minister of Finance (1993–1994)
 * Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz&mdash;(Fulbright scholar, research, 1980 through 1981) Prime Minister of Poland (1996–97); Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (2001–05); speaker, Sejm (lower chamber, Polish parliament) (2005); Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland (1993–95); Senator (2007–)
 * Gaston Eyskens&mdash;(M.Sc. 1927) six-time Prime Minister of Belgium (1949–1950, 1958–1961, 1968–1973)
 * Mark Eyskens&mdash;(M.A. 1957) Prime Minister of Belgium (1981); Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–92); Belgian Minister of Finance; Belgian Minister of Economic Affairs
 * Sun Fo&mdash;(M.S. 1917) twice Premier of the Republic of China (1931–32, 48–49); President of the Legislative Yuan (1932–48); President of the Examination Yuan (1966–73)
 * Chen Gongbo&mdash;(M.A., Economics, 1925) Chinese politician; President of the Republic of China (Nanjing regime) (1944–1945)
 * Václav Havel&mdash;(visiting artist in residence, 2006); 1st President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003); last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)
 * Jose Ramos Horta&mdash;Nobel Laureate; President of East Timor (2007–2012); Prime Minister (2006–2007)
 * Lee Huan&mdash;(M.A.) former Premier of the Republic of China (1989–1990); ROC Minister of Education (1984–1987)
 * Toomas Hendrik Ilves&mdash;(B.A.) twice President of Estonia ( 2011–, 2006–11); twice Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999–2002, 1996–1998); Member of the European Parliament (2004–2006)
 * Radovan Karadžić&mdash;(M.D. 1975) Serb politician, 1st President of Republika Srpska (1992–1996), psychiatrist, poet; accused of committing war crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre
 * Wellington Koo&mdash;(B.A., Ph.D) twice Premier of China (1924; '26–27); interim President ('26–27); Amb. to the U.S. ('46–56); co-founder League of Nations, United Nations
 * Benjamin Mkapa&mdash;(M.A.) 3rd President of Tanzania (1995–2005); twice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (1984–1990, 1977–1980)
 * Nwafor Orizu&mdash;(M.A.) Acting President of Nigeria (1965–1966); second President of the Nigerian Senate (1960–1966) (during the Nigerian First Republic)
 * Lucas Papademos&mdash;(faculty 1975–84) Prime Minister of Greece (November 2011–12); economist; former Governor, Bank of Greece (1994–02) and Vice President, European Central Bank (2002–10)
 * Hans-Gert Pottering&mdash;(graduate studies) 23rd President of European Parliament (2007–2009)
 * Mary Robinson&mdash;(faculty 2004-) 7th President of Ireland (1990–1997)
 * Mikhail Saakashvili&mdash;(Law 1994) twice President of Georgia (2004–2007, 2008–present); leader of Rose Revolution
 * Juan Bautista Sacasa&mdash;(M.D.) 66th President of Nicaragua (1933–1936); Vice President of Nicaragua (1926–1927)
 * Salim Ahmed Salim&mdash;(M.A.) 5th Prime Minister of Tanzania; Deputy Prime Minister of Tanzania (1986–89); Minister for Foreign Affairs (1980–84); President of the United Nations General Assembly; 6th Secretary General, Organization of African Unity
 * Ernesto Samper&mdash;(M.A.) 56th President of Colombia (1994–98); 17th Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement (1995–98); 1st Minister of Economic Development (1990–91)
 * Mohammad Musa Shafiq&mdash;(M.A.) Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1972–1973); Foreign Minister of Afghanistan (1971–1972)
 * Tang Shaoyi&mdash;twice Prime Minister of the Republic of China (1912, 1922); first President, Shandong University
 * T. V. Soong&mdash;(Ph.D.) twice Premier of Republic of China (1930 and 1945–1947); minister of finance (1932–1933); Governor, Central Bank of China (1928–1931)
 * Charles Robberts Swart&mdash;(M.S.) first State President of the Republic of South Africa (1961–1967); last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa (1960–1961); Acting Prime Minister (1958)
 * Nur Mohammed Taraki&mdash;3rd President and 12th Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1978–1979)
 * Chung Un-chan&mdash;(faculty 1976-78) 40th Prime Minister of South Korea
 * Abdul Zahir&mdash;(M.D.) Prime Minister of Afghanistan; President of Parliament; Ambassador to Italy; Ambassador to Pakistan
 * Zhou Ziqi&mdash;(B.A.) former Premier and President of the Republic of China

SOURCE ARTICLE

Notable faculty
See also above at Nobel Laureates ("Alumni" and "Faculty") for separate listing of 41 notable faculty


 * Alfred Aho&mdash;Canadian computer scientist widely known for his co-authorship of the AWK programming language; IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2003)
 * Hattie Alexander&mdash;Professor of Pediatrics, microbiologist; known for Haemophilus influenzae, antibiotic resistance
 * Dimitris Anastassiou&mdash;Professor of Electrical Engineering, developer of MPEG-2 technology
 * Karen Barkey&mdash;Professor of Sociology
 * Charles A. Beard&mdash;(Ph.D. 1904) one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century
 * Peter Bearman&mdash;Professor of Sociology
 * Daniel Bell&mdash;(graduate study, 1938–1939) Professor of Sociology
 * J. Bowyer Bell&mdash;Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, and Research Associate at the Institute of War and Peace Studies
 * Jagdish Bhagwati&mdash;Professor of economics and law, author of In Defense of Globalization
 * Franz Boas&mdash;Father of American Anthropology
 * Lee Bollinger&mdash;(J.D.) University President/law professor, First Amendment scholar, Affirmative Action advocate
 * Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen&mdash;Professor of Germanic languages
 * Ronald Breslow&mdash;University Professor of chemistry, biology, pharmacology, and engineering; Priestley Medal (1999); Perkin Medal (2010)
 * Alan Brinkley&mdash;Professor of American history and University Provost; son of newscaster David Brinkley
 * Zbigniew Brzezinski&mdash;National Security Advisor under the Carter Administration, taught Foreign Affairs
 * Richard Bulliet&mdash;History professor and Middle East scholar, author of Kicked to Death by a Camel
 * John Burgess&mdash;Founder of modern political science
 * Santiago Calatrava&mdash;(Honorary Doctorate, 2007), world renowned architect, sculptor and structural engineer, designer of Montjuic Communications Tower and World Trade Center Transportation Hub
 * Charles F. Chandler&mdash;American chemist, first Dean of Columbia University's School of Mines
 * Partha Chatterjee&mdash;Anthropologist and scholar of postcolonial nationalism
 * Hamid Dabashi&mdash;Cultural and literary critic
 * Alexander Dallin&mdash;History and political science professor, director of Russian Institute
 * Samuel J. Danishefsky&mdash;Professor of Chemistry, winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 1995/96
 * Arthur Danto&mdash;Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy emeritus, renowned art critic
 * William Theodore de Bary&mdash;scholar and translator of East Asian texts, particularly the classical Chinese canon
 * Andrew Delbanco&mdash;2012 National Humanities Medal; Director of American Studies at Columbia University
 * Emanuel Derman&mdash;Professor and Director of Columbia's financial engineering program, co-authors of the Financial Modelers' Manifesto
 * Donald Dewey&mdash;Former Economics professor
 * John Dewey&mdash;Former Philosophy professor
 * Theodosius Dobzhansky&mdash;(researcher, graduate study, professor in population genetics); National Medal of Science in 1964; the Franklin Medal in 1973
 * Andrew Dolkart&mdash;architectural historian
 * John R. Dunning&mdash;physicist who played key roles in the development of the atomic bomb
 * Samuel Eilenberg&mdash;winner of the Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1986
 * Arnold Eisen&mdash;Chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
 * Jon Elster&mdash;Robert Merton Professor of Social Science, leading theorist of rational choice theory, Marxism, and social theory
 * William Maurice Ewing&mdash;Earth scientist and pioneer
 * Awi Federgruen, Affiliate Professor of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
 * Enrico Fermi&mdash;Manhattan Project member, founder of Fermilab, Nobel laureate
 * Eric Foner&mdash;Noted historian, authority on Reconstruction
 * Miloš Forman&mdash;Film director, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, two Academy Awards
 * Annette Baker Fox&mdash;International relations scholar
 * William T. R. Fox&mdash;Political scientist and international relations theoretician
 * David Freedberg&mdash;Art historian
 * Ferdinand Freudenstein&mdash;Higgins Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering
 * Fred W. Friendly&mdash;Pioneering CBS News producer and distinguished media scholar
 * Erich Fromm&mdash;Noted psychologist
 * Herbert J. Gans&mdash;Professor of Sociology; author of Popular Culture and High Culture
 * Kristine Gebbie&mdash;Professor of Nursing and Bill Clinton's first AIDS Czar
 * Frank Gehry&mdash;Pritzker Prize-winning architect
 * Benjamin Graham&mdash;Father of value investing, mentor of Warren Buffett
 * Brian Greene&mdash;Mathematics and Physics professor, researcher and popular author in String Theory
 * Sunil Gulati&mdash;Professor of economics and chair of the U.S. Soccer Federation
 * Joan Dye Gussow, food policy expert
 * Richard Hamilton&mdash;Davies Professor of mathematics; awarded Shaw Prize (2011), Leroy P. Steele Prize (2009), Clay Research Award (2003), Veblen Prize (1996)
 * Cyril M. Harris&mdash;Professor of Electrical Engineering and architect
 * Carl Hart - first African American tenured sciences professor at Columbia
 * Ross Hassig&mdash;anthropologist and Mesoamerica scholar
 * Roger Hilsman&mdash;Political scientist, author, and government official
 * Richard Hofstadter&mdash;Noted historian
 * Ralph Holloway&mdash;Physical Anthropologist
 * Carl Hovde (1926–2009), professor and Dean during the Columbia University protests of 1968.
 * Andreas Huyssen&mdash;Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature
 * David Ignatow&mdash;Poet, Bollingen Prize-winner
 * Kenneth T. Jackson&mdash;Preeminent historian of New York City
 * Eric Kandel&mdash;Neuroscientist, 2000 Nobel laureate; Biophysicist, uncovered secrets of synapses. Professor Physicians & Surgeons (1974-); research with the Biomedical Engineering department
 * Thomas Christian Kavanagh&mdash;Professor of civil engineering
 * Donald Keene&mdash;Japanese studies expert
 * James Kent&mdash;first professor of law at Columbia College (1793–98), legal scholar and jurist, author of seminal "Commentaries on American Law", highly respected in England and America; the "Commentaries" treated state, federal, and international law, and the law of personal rights and property
 * Rashid Khalidi&mdash;Middle East historian
 * Philip Kim&mdash;Professor of Applied Physics and Mathematics
 * Grayson L. Kirk&mdash;former president and instrumental in the founding of the United Nations Security Council
 * Kenneth Koch&mdash;Poet
 * Klaus Lackner&mdash;Professor of Environmental Engineering
 * Jaron Lanier&mdash;visiting scholar at the Computer Science department
 * Leon M. Lederman&mdash;Nobel Laureate, discoverer of muon neutrino '62, bottom quark '77. Professor (1951–1989); M.A., Ph.D. Columbia
 * Tsung Dao Lee&mdash;Physics professor, Nobel laureate
 * Rudolph Leibel&mdash; Christopher J. Murphy Memorial Professor of Diabetes; Co-discovered the hormone leptin, and cloned the leptin and leptin receptor genes, which have had a major role in the area of understanding human obesity.
 * Konrad Lorenz&mdash;Psychology professor, Nobel laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 1973)
 * Walther Ludwig&mdash;Classical Studies professor
 * Nicholas F. Maxemchuk&mdash;Professor of Electrical Engineering
 * John Anthony McGuckin&mdash;Professor of Byzantine Christian Studies
 * Margaret Mead&mdash;Professor of Anthropology
 * Don Melnick&mdash;Professor of Environmental Biology and advisor to the UN on environmental issues
 * Edward Mendelson&mdash;Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities
 * Robert K. Merton&mdash;Professor of Sociology; founder of sociology of science; National Medal of Science
 * Jacob Millman&mdash;Professor of Electrical Engineering, creator of Millman's Theorem
 * C. Wright Mills&mdash;Professor of Sociology
 * Eben Moglen&mdash;Law and the Internet Society, General Counsel of FSF
 * Sidney Morgenbesser&mdash;John Dewey Professor of Philosophy
 * Robert Mundell&mdash;Economics professor, 1999 Nobel laureate in Economics
 * Tristan Murail&mdash;Professor of Music Composition, French composer
 * Mira Nair&mdash;Director of Monsoon Wedding, film studies professor
 * Franz Leopold Neumann&mdash;Political science professor, Communist spy in Redhead group
 * Gertrude Fanny Neumark&mdash;one of the world's leading experts on doping wide-band semiconductors
 * John Ordronaux&mdash;Civil War army surgeon, a professor of medical jurisprudence, pioneering mental health commissioner
 * Victor Perlo&mdash;Economics professor, Soviet spymaster involved in Harold Ware spy ring and Perlo group as shown in Venona list of suspected subversives in the U.S.
 * Edmund Phelps&mdash;economist and Nobel laureate
 * Lorenzo da Ponte&mdash;first professor of Italian language and literature at Columbia; librettist to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Charles Lane Poor&mdash;Astronomer
 * Peter Pouncey&mdash; classicist, novelist, College Dean 1972-1976, former President of Amherst College
 * Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin&mdash;Professor, Serbian physicist and physical chemist whose inventions include the Pupin coil
 * Isidor Isaac Rabi&mdash;Professor, Ph.D. from Columbia (1927), Nobel Laureate, Discoverer of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
 * Norman Foster Ramsey Jr.&mdash;Professor (1940–1947) (B.A. 1935, Ph.D. 1940, Columbia); 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics, IEEE Medal of Honor, Discovery of deuteron electric quadrupole moment, molecular beam spectroscopy
 * Michael Riffaterre&mdash;University Professor, French & Romance Philology, Semiotician
 * Mary Robinson&mdash;7th President of Ireland, Professor of Practice in International Affairs
 * Joseph Rothschild&mdash;political science and history professor, teacher of Contemporary Civilization
 * Jeffrey Sachs&mdash;Head of the United Nations Millennium Project to end poverty, author of The End of Poverty.
 * Edward W. Said&mdash;University Professor, professor of English and Comparative Literature, Palestinian activist, author of Orientalism, widely considered founder of Postcolonial studies
 * Mario Salvadori&mdash;Architect, Structural Engineer, Professor (1940's-1990's), consultant on Manhattan Project, inventor of thin concrete shells
 * Andrew Sarris&mdash;Film Studies professor and auteur theorist
 * Saskia Sassen&mdash;Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration; coined the term global city
 * Simon Schama&mdash;History Professor
 * James Schamus&mdash;Film Studies professor, co-president of Focus Features, three time Academy Award nominated and BAFTA Award-winning film screenwriter and producer
 * Warner R. Schilling&mdash;Political scientist and international relations scholar
 * Marshall D. Shulman&mdash;scholar of Soviet studies and the founding director of the Russian Institute
 * Judge Sonia Sotomayor&mdash;Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School (1999-); nominated by President Barack Obama, on May 26, 2009, to be a Justice of the United States Supreme Court
 * Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak&mdash;English professor
 * Henry Spotnitz&mdash;Affiliate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
 * Clifford Stein&mdash;Professor of operations research and industrial engineering
 * Julian Steward&mdash;Anthropologist, authority of Cultural ecology
 * Joseph Stiglitz&mdash;Economics professor, 2001 Nobel laureate in Economics
 * Gilbert Stork&mdash;winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 1995/6
 * Horst Ludwig Störmer&mdash;I.I. Rabi professor of physics and applied physics, winner of 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics
 * Mark Strand&mdash;Poet, former U.S. Poet Laureate, Bollingen and Pulitzer Prize-winner
 * Man-Chung Tang&mdash;professor of civil engineering and former chairman of American Society of Civil Engineers
 * Edward Lee Thorndike &mdash;Father of American Experimental Psychology
 * Robert Thurman&mdash;Je Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, first American Tibetan Buddhist monk, father of actress Uma Thurman
 * Charles Tilly&mdash;Professor of Sociology
 * William York Tindall&mdash;Renowned James Joyce scholar
 * Charles Hard Townes&mdash;professor and an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist who helped to invent the laser
 * Joseph F. Traub&mdash;Founding chairman of the computer science department at Columbia
 * Lionel Trilling&mdash;Literary scholar
 * Harold Clayton Urey&mdash;Professor, Nobel Laureate (1934), extensive development in the Manhattan Project, discoverer of Deuterium
 * Charles Van Doren&mdash;English professor whose national disgrace was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film Quiz Show
 * Mark Van Doren&mdash;Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
 * Vladimir Vapnik&mdash;Professor of Computer Science and co-developer of Vapnik–Chervonenkis theory
 * Kenneth Waltz&mdash;Political Science professor and noted neorealism scribe
 * Duncan Watts&mdash;Professor of Sociology and author of "Six Degrees" and "Small Worlds"
 * Sheldon Weinig&mdash;Professor of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and founder of Materials Research Corporation
 * David Weiss Halivni&mdash;Rabbi, founder of Union for Traditional Judaism and developer of source-critical analysis of the Talmud
 * Nancy Wexler&mdash;Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology
 * Harrison White&mdash;Professor of Sociology
 * Enos Wicher&mdash;Professor and Soviet spy named in Venona list of suspected subversives in the U.S., stepfather of State Department Soviet spy Flora Wovschin
 * Peter Woit&mdash;Mathematics professor, skeptic of string theory
 * Michael Wood&mdash; professor of English and comparative literature, holds endowed chair of English at Princeton
 * Howard Wriggins&mdash;political science and international relations professor, also U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives
 * Chien-Shiung Wu&mdash;Physics professor, first woman to head the American Physical Society and the winner of the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978
 * Mihalis Yannakakis&mdash;Professor of Computer Science, scholar noted for his work in the fields of Computational complexity theory, Databases
 * Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi&mdash;Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History at Culture and Society
 * Shou-Wu Zhang, Mathematics professor; specializes in number theory and arithmetical algebraic geometry; winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009 and Fields Medal finalist
 * Theodore Zoli&mdash;adjunct professor of civil engineering and structural engineer

Business
See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Business School, Columbia Law School (Business and Philanthropy), Columbia College of Columbia University, School of Engineering and Applied Science (Columbia University) (Businesspeople) for separate listing of more than 155 businesspersons
 * John Jacob Astor III—19th century real estate baron
 * Frank Lusk Babbott—(LLB 1880) jute merchant and art patron
 * Leonard Blavatnik—(M.A.) Russian-American businessman; Founder, Chairman and President of Access Industries
 * Warren Buffett—(M.S., economics, 1951) Investor, president of Berkshire Hathaway
 * John Andrew Davis – (M.B.A.) Business Executive with numerous Fortune 500 companies. Academic at some of the most prestigious business schools in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
 * Ursula Burns—(M.S., mechanical engineering, 1981) CEO of Xerox Corporation (July 1, 2009–); first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company
 * William Campbell—(B.A., M.A.) Chairman of Board (incumbent as of 2009), former CEO, Intuit, Inc.; Head Football Coach, Columbia University, 1974–1979
 * Bennett Cerf—(B.A. 1919, Litt.B. 1920) Founder of Random House
 * John B. Chambers—(M.A., English literature) Deputy head of the Sovereign Debt Ratings Group and chairman of the Sovereign Debt Committee at Standard and Poor's
 * Leon G. Cooperman—(M.B.A. 1967) billionaire Chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors; former general partner, Chairman, CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management
 * Alexander Crutchfield-(M.B.A. 1984) international investor and financier; founder of Oasis Partners
 * Akio Shigemitsu(or Shin Dong-Bin)—(M.B.A. 1980 ) Chairman, Lotte Group (2011–)
 * Hiroyuki Shigemitsu(or Shin Dong-Ju)—(M.B.A. 1981 ) Vice-Chairman, Lotte Holdings, Vice-President, Lotte Japan (1990–)
 * Jason Epstein—Editorial director at Random House
 * Stephen Friedman—Chairman of Goldman Sachs, National Economic Council director, chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
 * Mario Gabelli—investor
 * Michael Goodkin—(M.B.A.) quantitative finance entrepreneur; instrumental in development of computer program pricing of exotic financial derivatives and structured products
 * Noam Gottesman—B.A., billionaire, GLG Partners
 * Michael Gould—(B.A. 1966) CEO of Bloomingdale's
 * Joseph Peter Grace, Sr.—(B.A.) president and CEO of W. R. Grace and Company
 * Larry Grossman—former CEO of PBS and NBC
 * Armand Hammer—President, Occidental Petroleum, noted internationalist, convicted for illegal campaign donations
 * Herman Hollerith—(Engineer of Mines 1879, Ph.D. 1890) founder of the Tabulating Machine Company, a predecessor to IBM
 * John Kluge—Founder of Metromedia
 * Alfred A. Knopf—(B.A. 1912) Founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Publishers
 * Robert Kraft—(B.A. 1963) Owner of New England Patriots
 * Henry Kravis—(M.B.A. 1969) Investment banker who invented the leveraged buyout
 * Sallie Krawcheck—(M.B.A. 1992) former Chairman, CEO, Sanford Bernstein; number seven, Forbes list, The World's 100 Most Powerful Women (2005)
 * Randolph Lerner—(1984) CEO of MBNA Bank, and owner of Cleveland Browns
 * Frank Lorenzo—(B.A. 1961) corporate raider
 * John R. MacArthur—(B.A. 1917) President and publisher of Harper's, the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the country
 * Eric Ober—Former President of CBS News division, and Food Network
 * Vikram Pandit—(B.S. 1976, M.S. 1977, MBA 1980, Ph.D 1986, Trustee) CEO of Citigroup
 * Mark J. Penn—(Law) worldwide CEO, public relations firm Burson-Marsteller; president, polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates
 * Wayne Allyn Root—(B.A. 1983) Founder & Chairman of Winning Edge International, inducted into Las Vegas Walk of Stars in 2006
 * Lynn Forester de Rothschild—(J.D.) CEO of E.L. Rothschild (2002–)
 * David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville—(M.B.A.) Chairman, CEO, J Sainsbury plc (1992–1997); Deputy Chairman (1988–1992)
 * Edwin Schlossberg—(B.A. 1967, Ph.D. 1971) Founder of ESI Design (also its Principal Designer)
 * David O. Selznick—movie producer
 * Robert Shaye—(J.D. 1964) CEO of New Line Cinema
 * Lawrence L. Shenfield—(B.A. 1915), Advertising executive and philatelist
 * Richard L. Simon—(1920) Co-Founder of Simon & Schuster
 * Epaminondas Stathopoulo—founder and president, The Epiphone Company
 * Ken Shubin Stein—(B.A.) Founder and Portfolio Manager, Spencer Capital Management
 * Joseph M. Tucci—(M.S.) Chairman, President, and CEO, EMC Corporation (2006–); former Chairman and CEO, Wang Laboratories
 * P. Roy Vagelos—(M.D. 1954), Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co.
 * Alan Wagner—(B.A. 1951, M.A. 1952), first president, Disney Channel; East Coast vice president, programming at CBS; radio personality; opera historian and critic
 * S. Robson Walton—(J.D. 1969) Chairman of the Board, Wal-Mart
 * Dan Loeb—(B.A.) billionaire, founder of Third Point LLC
 * His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Amedeo of Belgium, eldest grandson of King Albert II of Belgium and Archduke of Austria and Prince of Hungary.

Religion and ministry
See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Religious figures) for separate listing of more than 10 religious figures
 * Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua—(M.A. 1962) American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1991–12); Archbishop of Philadelphia (1988–03); Bishop of Pittsburgh (1983–88)
 * George BonDurant—founder of Point University (1937) and Mid-Atlantic Christian University (1948)
 * Reuben Clark—(J.D.) prominent leader, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Elliot N. Dorff—(Ph.D. 1971) Conservative Rabbi
 * Ira Eisenstein—(B.A., Ph.D.) Rabbi and the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, along with Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan
 * John Patrick Foley—(M.A.) American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (2007–2011); President, Pontifical Council for Social Communications (1984–2007)
 * Herbert S. Goldstein—(B.A., M.A.) prominent American Rabbi and Jewish leader
 * Benedict Groeschel—(Ph.D. 1971) Catholic priest, author, psychologist; co-founder, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal
 * Joseph Herman Hertz—(Ph.D.) Jewish Hungarian-born Rabbi and Bible scholar; Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom (1913–1946) during World War I and World War II
 * Arthur Hertzberg—(Ph.D. 1966) Conservative Rabbi and prominent Jewish-American scholar and activist
 * Mordecai Kaplan—(M.A., Ph.D.) Rabbi and the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, along with Rabbi Ira Eisenstein
 * Archbishop Leontios of Cyprus—Archbishop of Cyprus (1947)
 * James Francis Aloysius McIntyre—American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1953–1979); Archbishop of Los Angeles (1948–1970)
 * Thomas Merton—(B.A. 1938, studied for M.A.) 20th century Catholic writer, student of comparative religions, trappist monk, poet, author of The Seven Storey Mountain
 * In Jin Moon—(B.A.) president, Unification Church of the United States (2009–)
 * Frederick Buckley Newell—(M.A. 1916) Bishop, The Methodist Church
 * Paula Reimers—(M.A. 1971) Rabbi
 * Henry Y. Satterlee—(A.B. 1863) first Episcopal Bishop of Washington (1896–1908); he established Washington National Cathedral
 * Michael Schudrich—(M.A. 1982) Chief Rabbi of Poland
 * Mendel Shapiro—(J.D.) Jerusalem lawyer and Modern Orthodox Rabbi; author of a notable halakhic analysis
 * Milton Steinberg—(Ph.D. 1928) Rabbi and novelist
 * Diosdado Talamayan—(M.A. 1970) Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tuguegarao (1986–) in the province of Cagayan on the island of Luzon, Philippines
 * George W. Webber (1920–2010)—President, New York Theological Seminary.
 * Hazen Graff Werner—Bishop, The Methodist Church
 * Jan Willis—(Ph.D.) African-American Buddhist and Buddhist scholar at Wesleyan University; called influential by Time Magazine, Newsweek (cover story), and Ebony Magazine

Architecture, arts and literature
See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia College of Columbia University (Artists and architects; and Writers) and Columbia Law School (Arts and Letters) for separate listing of more than 90 architects, artists, and writers
 * Max Abramovitz—(1931) 1961 Rome Prize; designed Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the United Nations complex, and the Assembly Hall
 * Aravind Adiga—(B.A. 1997) author of The White Tiger and winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize.
 * Mitch Albom—(M.A., M.B.A.) author, journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, Tuesdays with Morrie; The Five People You Meet in Heaven; For One More Day
 * Chester Holmes Aldrich—(Ph.B. 1893) was an American architect and director of the American Academy in Rome from 1935 until his death in 1940
 * Jacob M. Appel—(M.A., M.Phil.) author ("Creve Coeur") and playwright (Arborophilia, The Mistress of Wholesome)
 * John Ashbery—(M.A. 1951) poet; MacArthur Fellowship, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
 * Isaac Asimov—(B.S. 1939, Ph.D. 1948) science fiction author, I, Robot
 * Paul Auster—(B.A. 1969) postmodern author, The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace (named after now-defunct Chinese restaurant near campus)
 * Josh Bazell—(M.D.) novelist
 * Béla Bartók—musician, composer, pianist, and early scholar in ethnomusicology
 * James Blish—science fiction author; Nebula Award, Hugo Award; Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame (2002)
 * Helaine Blumenfeld—(Ph.D. 1963) American Sculptor working in Britain and Italy
 * Jim Carroll—writer (The Basketball Diaries), poet, punk rocker
 * Jerome Charyn—(B.A. 1959) novelist
 * Jonas Coersmeier—award-winning architect and designer; a finalist and first runner-up in the World Trade Center Memorial Competition
 * John Corigliano—(B.A. 1959) musician, American composer
 * Robin Cook—(M.D.) physician and novelist; novels combine medical writing with thriller genre; his books have sold nearly 100 million copies
 * Agnes Denes—conceptual and environmental artist; Rome Prize, works held in over 40 public museums, including the MoMA, Met and Whitney
 * Kiran Desai—(M.F.A. 1999) novelist, winner of 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, 1998 Betty Trask Award
 * E.L. Doctorow—(graduate study) author, National Humanities Medal; thrice winner, National Book Critics Circle Award; Ragtime, Billy Bathgate
 * Timothy Donnelly—(M.F.A.) poet, 2012 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; professor at Columbia University
 * Alden B. Dow—(B.A. 1931) architect; known for his prolific architectural design
 * Pamela Druckerman—(M.A.) author and freelance journalist living in Paris, France
 * Clifford Percy Evans—(B.A.) was an American architect based in Salt Lake City, Utah
 * Walter Farley—(B.A. 1941) author, The Black Stallion
 * Amanda Filipacchi—(M.F.A) author, Nude Men, Vapor, Love Creeps
 * Rolf G. Fjelde—(M.F.A.) playwright, educator and poet, Founding President of The Ibsen Society of America
 * Amanda Foreman—1998 Whitbread Prize for Best Biography; author, one of "Ten Best Books of 2011" according to The New York Times
 * Allen Forte—(B.A.) music theorist, now Battell Professor of Music, Emeritus at Yale University
 * Hal Foster—(M.A. 1979) art critic and historian; faculty at Princeton since 1997; Berlin Prize
 * Nicholas Gage—(M.A. 1964) author, "Eleni", "A Place For Us", "Greek Fire"
 * Paul Gallico—(1919) author, The Snow Goose, The Poseidon Adventure, The Silent Miaow
 * Federico García Lorca—(1929–1930) poet & playwright
 * Allen Ginsberg—(B.A. 1949) Beat Generation poet; National Book Award for Poetry for The Fall of America: Poems of These States, among other awards
 * Louise Gluck—United States Poet Laureate (2003–2004), Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, Bollingen Prize, William Carlos Williams Award, among other awards
 * Philip Gourevitch—(M.F.A. 1992) recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, editor of The Paris Review
 * Edwin Granberry—(1920) writer of the Buz Sawyer comic strip
 * Bette Greene—(B.A.) 1975 Newbery Honor, 1973 Golden Kite Award, New York Times Outstanding Book Award, ALA Notable Book Award
 * Ismail Gulgee—(engineering) Pakistani artist noted for his paintings and Islamic calligraphy, qualified engineer
 * Anthony Hecht—(M.A.) Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, United States Poet Laureate (1982–1984), 1983 Bollingen Prize, 1988 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, 1997 Wallace Stevens Award, 1999/2000 Frost Medal
 * Joseph Heller—(M.A. 1949) author, Catch-22
 * Henry Beaumont Herts—(attended) architect; known for theater designs
 * Daniel Hoffman—(B.A. 1947, M.A. 1949, Ph.D. 1956) poet, essayist, United States Poet Laureate (1973–1974)
 * Henry Hornbostel—(B.A. 1891) was an American architect; designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States
 * Langston Hughes—(engineering) African-American writer and poet
 * Zora Neale Hurston—(B.A. Barnard; graduate study, two years, CU) African-American author, folklorist, anthropologist
 * Ely Jacques Kahn—was an American commercial architect; designed numerous skyscrapers in New York City in the twentieth century
 * Rockwell Kent—(B.A.) painter, printmaker, illustrator, and writer
 * Jack Kerouac—(College 1940–1942; dropped out) founder of the Beat Generation movement; author, On the Road
 * Keorapetse Kgositsile—(M.F.A. 1971) South African poet and political activist; South African National Poet Laureate in 2006
 * Leroy Lamis—(M.A.) sculptor and digital artist known for his Plexiglas sculptures
 * Ursula K. Le Guin—(M.A. 1951) author, science fiction, fantasy novels; 1973 National Book Award for Young People's Literature; five Hugo awards, six Nebula awards
 * Alan Lomax—(graduate study) ethnomusicologist, 1986 National Medal of Arts; 2000 Library of Congress Living Legend Award; National Book Critics Circle Award
 * Diego Luzuriaga—(Ph.D. 1996) Ecuadorian composer; 1993. Guggenheim Fellowship for Music Composition recipient, composer of first Ecuadorian opera, 2006 recipient of the Eugenio Espejo National Prize.
 * Edward MacDowell—American composer, professor of music
 * Patricia McCormick—(M.S. 1985) author for young adults; 2012 National Book Award (Young People's Literature), finalist
 * Carson McCullers—author, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
 * Terrence McNally—playwright; four Tony Awards, an Emmy Award, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award
 * William March—author and a highly decorated U.S. Marine; Company K, The Bad Seed
 * John Matteson—(PhD.) Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer (2008)
 * Kate Millett—(Ph.D. 1970) author of Sexual Politics, feminist and artist
 * Fereydoun Motamed—(M.A. 1952) linguist, Louis de Broglie award winner from the French Academy (1963)
 * Isamu Noguchi—sculptor
 * Georgia O'Keeffe—(attended TC 1914–15; studied with Arthur Wesley Dow; TC 1916) artist; Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Medal of Arts
 * Sharon Olds—(Ph.D.) National Book Critics Circle Award, T.S. Eliot Prize, Lamont Poetry Prize, Poet Laureate, State of New York (1998–2000)
 * Ron Padgett—(B.A.) poet; 2009 Shelley Memorial Award; member New York School
 * Campion A. Platt—(B.S. Arch) architect; included in Architectural Digest (2010) as one of Top 100 Architects and Designers in the world
 * John Russell Pope—(B.S. Arch 1894) Rome Prize; designed the National Archives, the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, the West Building of the National Gallery of Art
 * Antoine Predock—(B. Arch.) architect, Rome Prize (1985); AIA Gold Medal (2006), National Design Award (2007)
 * Gregory Rabassa—(Ph.D.) literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese to English; 2006 National Medal of Arts; inaugural U.S. National Book Award (Category Translation)
 * David Rakoff—(B.A. 1986) Canadian-born writer based in New York City; 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor
 * James Renwick, Jr.—(B.A. 1836, M.A. 1839) Gothic Revival architect; designed St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York and the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C.
 * Mark Rudman—(M.F.A.) poet; National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry
 * Karen Russell—(M.F.A. 2006) author, a National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" young writer honoree
 * Friedrich St. Florian—(M. Arch. 1961) Austrian-American architect; Rome Prize; National World War II Memorial, Washington, D.C.
 * J.D. Salinger—author, The Catcher in the Rye
 * Karenna Gore Schiff—(J.D. 2000) author, journalist, and attorney
 * David Serero—(M.S. Arch) French architect; Rome Prize
 * Robert Silverberg—(B.A. 1956) science fiction author; five Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, the prestigious Prix Apollo; 1999 inductee into Science Fiction Hall of Fame
 * Mona Simpson—(M.F.A.) novelist, essayist
 * Upton Sinclair—populist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Jungle; presidential candidate
 * Laurinda Hope Spear—(M.S. Arch 1975) architect and landscape architect; Rome Prize; one of the founders of Arquitectonica
 * William Jay Smith—United States Poet Laureate (1968–1970), Rhodes Scholar
 * Robert A. M. Stern—(B.A. 1960) Postmodern architect; Dean of the Yale University School of Architecture
 * Mary Stolz—(1936–38) writer of fiction for children and young adults; Newbery Honors (1962, 1966); 1953 Child Study Children's Book Award
 * Hunter S. Thompson—author, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; creator of Gonzo Journalism
 * Melvin B. Tolson—(M.A.) Liberian Poet Laureate, he is the central character (played by Denzel Washington) in the movie The Great Debaters (2007)
 * Wells Tower—(M.F.A.) writer of fiction and non-fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, among other awards
 * Erica Simone Turnipseed—(M.A.) writer
 * Mark Van Doren—(Ph.D. 1920) Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
 * Charles Van Doren—(M.A., Ph.D. 1955) author, English professor whose national disgrace was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film Quiz Show
 * Eric Van Lustbader—(B.A.) author of thriller and fantasy novels; The Ninja; continuation of The Bourne Series by Robert Ludlum
 * Fred F. Willson— (B.A. 1902), architect, Bozeman, Montana; designed many buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
 * Eudora Welty—(Business, 1930–31, hon. LHD 1982) Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Optimist's Daughter
 * George Wyatt—(B.A. 1971) sculptor
 * Herman Wouk—(B.A. 1934) Pulitzer Prize-winning author, War and Remembrance
 * Mako Yoshikawa—(B.A. 1988) author, One Hundred and One Ways (1999), a national bestseller translated into six languages
 * Roger Zelazny—(M.A. 1962) science fiction author; The Chronicles of Amber series; three Nebula awards, six Hugo awards

Performing arts
See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Actors; Musicians, Composers, Lyricists; Playwrights, Screenwriters, and Directors) and Columbia University School of the Arts

Academy awards

 * Kathryn Bigelow—(M.F.A. 1981), two Academy Awards: director, producer, The Hurt Locker; 2010 Time 100; first female to win Academy Award for directing
 * Sidney Buchman—(B.A. 1923), screenwriter, won an Academy Award for writing Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
 * Elinor Burkett—(M.A. 1988), Academy Award-winning producer of Music by Prudence
 * James Cagney—(upon the death of his father, dropped out), two Academy Awards: Best Actor White Heat and Yankee Doodle Dandy, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Bill Condon—(B.A. 1976), Academy Award-winning writer, Gods and Monsters, Chicago, and Director, Kinsey and Dreamgirls
 * John Corigliano—(B.A. 1959), Academy Award; composer of classical music; 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Music; 2009 Grammy Award
 * Adam Davidson—(M.F.A 1991), Academy Award-winning director for Best Short Subject, The Lunch Date
 * I.A.L. Diamond—(B.A. 1941), Co-winner of an Academy Award for writing The Apartment
 * Tan Dun—(Ph.D.), Academy Award-winning Chinese contemporary classical music composer; scores for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero
 * Dede Gardner—(?), Academy Award-winning co-producer of 12 Years A Slave (film)
 * William Goldman—(M.A. 1956), two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter; novelist, playwright
 * Oscar Hammerstein II—(A.B. 1916; studied at Law School as well, 1916–17), Lyricist and librettist; winner of 2 Academy Awards, 8 Tony Awards, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, and 2 Grammy Awards; including musicals such as the Pulitzer Prize-winning Oklahoma!, The King and I and The Sound of Music; collaborator with Richard Rodgers
 * Howard Koch—(LL.B. __?), Academy Award-winning screenwriter for Casablanca
 * Jennifer Lee (filmmaker)—(M.F.A. ?), Academy Award-winning co-screenwriter and co-director of Frozen (2013 film)
 * William Ludwig—(B.A. 1932), Screenwriter; co-winner, Academy Award (1955) for Interrupted Melody; founder, Screen Writers Guild (known now as Writers Guild of America)
 * Sidney Lumet—(undergraduate studies interrupted by service during World War II), Academy Award-winning film director (nominated five times)
 * Herman J. Mankiewicz—(B.A. 1917), won an Academy Award for co-writing Citizen Kane; older brother of Joseph L. Mankiewicz
 * Joseph L. Mankiewicz—(B.A. 1928), won four Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Director; younger brother of Herman J. Mankiewicz
 * Edmond O'Brien—(B.A., Drama, __?), Academy Award-winning actor, The Barefoot Contessa
 * Anna Paquin—(on leave of absence, attended first year), Academy Award-winning actress, The Piano and X-Men
 * Richard Rodgers—(1923), Composer of musicals; winner of 1 Academy Award, 11 Tony Awards, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 2 Emmy Awards and 2 Grammy Awards; one of two persons to win an EGOT and a Pulitzer Prize, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Oklahoma!, The King and I, and The Sound of Music; collaborator with Oscar Hammerstein II
 * Maureen Ryan—(M.F.A. 1992), Co-produced Academy Award-winning documentary, Man on Wire
 * Franklin Schaffner—(studied law, education interrupted by service during World War II), Academy Award-winning film director
 * Thelma Schoonmaker—(studied for M.A.), three-time Academy Award-winning editor for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed
 * David O. Selznick—(G.S. 1923), three-time Academy Award-winning producer of Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, and King Kong
 * Karl Struss—(B.A. 1912), Academy Award-winning cinematographer, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
 * Steve Tesich—(M.A. 1967), Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Breaking Away
 * Allie Wrubel—(graduate study in music), composer, musician, and songwriter, Academy Award ("Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"); Songwriters Hall of Fame

Actors, directors, writers, composers, others

 * Casey Affleck—(B.A. 1998), Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated actor, Good Will Hunting, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Gone Baby Gone
 * Emanuel Ax—(B.A. 1970), Pianist, won Avery Fisher prize at age 30, won 3 Grammy Awards along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma; awarded John Jay Award by the University
 * Ramin Bahrani—(B.A. 1996), Director and writer Man Push Cart, Chop Suey, and Goodbye Solo
 * Chris Baio—musician, member of indie band Vampire Weekend
 * Mason Bates—(B.A.), Composer of symphonic music; Chicago Symphony's Mead composer in residence (2010–12)
 * Rostam Batmanglij—musician, member of indie band Vampire Weekend
 * Kelly Killoren Bensimon—(GS 1998), author; former model; former editor, Elle Accessories; cast member, The Real Housewives of New York City
 * Albert Berger—(SoA 1983), Academy Award-nominated producer of Cold Mountain, Little Miss Sunshine
 * Jeremy Blackman—(B.A. 2009), Actor, starred in Magnolia
 * Sorrell Booke—(B.A. 1949), Actor, best known as "Boss Hogg" on the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard
 * Pat Boone—(B.S. 1957), Singer and Actor
 * Jesse Bradford—(B.A. 2002), Actor
 * Joshua Brand—(M.A. 1974), Emmy Award-winning creator of St. Elsewhere, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure
 * David Brown—(M.A. 1937), Academy Award-nominated film producer, Jaws, The Sting, Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy
 * Cara Buono—(B.A. 1993), Actress, Third Watch
 * Wendy Carlos—(M.A. 1966), Composer and synthesizer pioneer
 * Vanessa Carlton—Singer, songwriter
 * Soman Chainani, author of The School for Good and Evil
 * Lisa Cholodenko (M.F.A. 1998) – screenwriter and film director, Laurel Canyon, The L Word
 * Peter Cincotti—Pianist, singer, songwriter, actor, model
 * Spencer Treat Clark—(B.A. 2010), Actor, Gladiator, Mystic River, and Unbreakable
 * Ben Cooper—Actor of film and television
 * Federico A. Cordero—(M.A., economics) world-renowned guitarist of classical music
 * Joseph Cross—Actor, Milk
 * Ossie Davis—(GS 1948), Golden Globe-nominated actor and activist, Do the Right Thing
 * Brian Dennehy—(B.A. 1960), Actor, First Blood, Tommy Boy, Romeo + Juliet, Ratatouille
 * Brian De Palma—(B.A. 1962), Movie director, Carrie, Scarface, Carlito's Way, and The Untouchables
 * R. Luke DuBois—(B.A. 1997, M.A. 1999, D.M.A. 2003), Musician, composer/artist, member of the Freight Elevator Quartet
 * Todd Duncan—(M.A.), was an African-American baritone opera singer and actor
 * Fred Ebb—(M.A. 1957), lyricist who collaborated with John Kander on such Broadway musicals as Cabaret, Chicago, Woman of the Year and Kiss of the Spider Woman and the soundtracks of Funny Lady and New York, New York
 * Peter Farrelly—(M.F.A. 1986), Filmmaker, with his brother Bobby Farrelly, There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber
 * Adriana Ferreyr—Brazilian actress, entrepreneur, philanthropist
 * William Finley—(B.A. 1963) American actor
 * Matthew Fox—(B.A. 1989), Golden Globe-nominated actor, Lost, Party of Five
 * James Franco—(M.F.A.), Actor, Golden Globe Award; James Dean; Spider-Man trilogy; Pineapple Express, Milk
 * Dan Futterman—(B.A. 1989), Actor, The Birdcage, Judging Amy
 * Bernard Garfield—(M.A. 1950), Bassoonist and composer
 * Art Garfunkel—(B.A. 1965, art history; M.A. 1965, mathematics; ABD), Grammy-award winning singer, poet, Golden Globe nominated actor, songwriter of Simon and Garfunkel
 * Allen Ginsberg—(A.B. 1948), Beat Generation Poet, National Book Award for Poetry; The Fall of America: Poems of These States
 * Greg Giraldo—(B.A. 1987), Comedian
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt—(attended four years in GS but did not graduate) Actor, 3rd Rock from the Sun, (500) Days of Summer
 * Lauren Graham—Actress, "Gilmore Girls" (Barnard College; B.A. 1988)
 * James Gunn—(M.F.A.), Film Director (Slither), Screenwriter (Dawn of the Dead, Scooby-Doo), and Novelist (The Toy Collector)
 * Jake Gyllenhaal—(attended first two years) Academy Award-nominated Actor, Brokeback Mountain, star of Donnie Darko, Jarhead
 * Maggie Gyllenhaal—(B.A. 1999), Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated Actress, Crazy Heart, Secretary, The Dark Knight
 * Katori Hall—(B.A. 2003) playwright, journalist and actress; The Mountaintop
 * Ed Harris—(attended first two years) Golden Globe-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor, The Truman Show, A Beautiful Mind
 * Lorenz Hart—Broadway lyricist, collaborator with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; wrote such songs as "Blue Moon", "The Lady Is a Tramp", "My Funny Valentine"
 * Utada Hikaru—Japanese pop singer (did not graduate);Fashion model
 * Lauryn Hill—(attended first year), Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, musician
 * Scott Hoffman aka Babydaddy—(B.A. ?), member of the glam rock band, Scissor Sisters
 * Nicole Holofcener—(M.F.A. ?), film and TV director, screenwriter Friends With Money, Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under
 * Katie Holmes—Actress (only attended a summer session)
 * Famke Janssen—(B.A. 1992), Actress, GoldenEye, X-Men
 * Jim Jarmusch—(B.A. 1975), Filmmaker, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Broken Flowers
 * Julia Jones—(B.A.), Native American actress, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, among other films
 * John Kander—(M.A.), lyricist who collaborated with Fred Ebb on such Broadway musicals as Cabaret, Chicago, Woman of the Year and Kiss of the Spider Woman and the soundtracks of Funny Lady and New York, New York
 * Jean Kelly—(B.A. 1994), Actress
 * Alicia Keys—(attended first year), Grammy Award winning singer, musician, composer
 * AJ (에이제이)—(Current student) Singer, member of Korean Pop group U-KISS
 * Simon Kinberg—(M.F.A. ?), screenwriter Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men: The Last Stand
 * Ezra Koenig—musician, member of indie band Vampire Weekend
 * Joseph Kosinski—(GSAPP) television commercial and feature film director best known for his computer graphics and computer generated imagery work
 * Joel Krosnick—(B.A. 1963), Cellist; member of the Juilliard String Quartet; chairman of Cello Department at Juilliard School
 * Robert Kurka—(M.A. 1948), Composer, musician; the opera and instrumental suite The Good Soldier Schweik
 * Tony Kushner—(B.A. 1978), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Angels in America
 * Claire Labine—(M.F.A. ?), head writer of Ryan's Hope, One Life to Live, General Hospital, Where The Heart Is, Guiding Light
 * Yves Lavandier, screenwriter, director (Yes, But...), script doctor and author of Writing Drama
 * Michael Lehmann—(B.A. 1978), director, Heathers, Hudson Hawk
 * Sean Lennon—(attended) Singer and songwriter, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono
 * Al Lewis—(Ph.D. 1941), Actor, The Munsters, basketball scout, New York gubernatorial candidate, restaurateur
 * Hal Luftig—(SoA 1984), 2013 Tony Award
 * Yo-Yo Ma—Renowned cellist (transferred to Harvard University)
 * James Mangold—(M.F.A. 1991), Filmmaker, Girl, Interrupted and Walk the Line
 * Robert Maschio—(B.A. 1988), actor, Scrubs
 * Kate McKinnon—(B.A. 2006), actress and comedian
 * Terrence McNally—(B.A. 1960), Dramatist, winner of four Tony Awards, an Emmy, a Pulitzer Prize, and two Guggenheim Fellowships
 * Max Minghella—(B.A. 2009), Actor, starred in Syriana and Art School Confidential
 * Greg Mottola—(M.F.A. 1991), film director, Superbad
 * Rachel Nichoadls—Actress, model
 * Lena Park—(B.A. 2010) Korean R&B Singer
 * Diane Paulus—(M.A. SoA 1997), 2013 Tony Award; American director of theater, opera; Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater, Harvard University (2009–)
 * Amanda Peet—(B.A. 1995), Actress, The Whole Nine Yards
 * Kimberly Peirce—(M.F.A. 1996), Filmmaker Boys Don't Cry
 * Anthony Perkins—Actor, best known for his work as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
 * Martin Quigley, Jr.—(B.A. 1939), movie trade periodical publisher, author, politician, spy
 * Paul Robeson—(J.D. 1923), Basso cantante concert singer, multi-lingual actor
 * Cameron Russell—Fashion model
 * George Segal—(B.A. 1955), Academy Award-nominated actor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Just Shoot Me!
 * Jeffrey Sharp—(M.F.A.), Filmmaker, Boys Don't Cry, You Can Count On Me
 * Eric Shaw—(GS 2003), 2013 Emmy Award; writer
 * Jenny Slate—(B.A. 2004), cast member, Saturday Night Live
 * Scott Smith—(M.F.A. 1990), Author and Screenwriter, A Simple Plan
 * Allison Starling—(B.A. current student), Broadway actress.
 * Sarah Steele—Actress, Spanglish
 * Julia Stiles—(B.A. 2005) Actress, Save the Last Dance, Mona Lisa Smile
 * Richard Stoltzman—(studied for Ph.D. in music) clarinetist
 * Stephen Strimpell—(B.A. ?, J.D. ?) Actor, star of the cult television classic Mister Terrific
 * Rider Strong—(B.A. 2004), actor, Boy Meets World
 * Craig Timberlake—(M.A.), stage actor, opera singer, and later Columbia faculty member
 * Chris Tomson—musician, member of indie band Vampire Weekend
 * Darko Tresnjak—(B.A. 1998), theatre director
 * Claire Unabia—(G.S. ?), contestant in Cycle 10 of America's Next Top Model
 * Mario Van Peebles—(B.A. 1978), Actor and director, New Jack City, BAADASSSSS!
 * Charles Wuorinen—(B.A. 1961, M.A. 1963), American musician, pianist, and composer
 * Remy Zaken—(B.A. current student), Broadway actress
 * Will Beech—(B.A. current student), stage actor

Journalism
See also: Notable alumni of Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia College of Columbia University (Journalism and media figures; and Publishers), and Columbia Law School (Journalists) for separate listing of more than 175 journalists, media figures, and publishers
 * Imran Anwar—is a Pakistani American technologist, electrical engineer, business entrepreneur, Journalist, Television Personality, photographer and speaker
 * R.W. Apple—(B.S. 1961) Senior Correspondent, Associate Editor, former Washington Bureau chief, New York Times
 * Marcus Brauchli—managing editor, The Wall Street Journal
 * A'Lelia Bundles—(M.A. journalism) African American journalist
 * Greg Burke (journalist)—(M.A. journalism) senior communications adviser with the Vatican's Secretariat of State (2012–)
 * Diann Burns—(M.A. journalism) television news anchor; a nine-time Emmy Award winner
 * May Cutler—(M.A. journalism) Canadian publisher and journalist, founder of Tundra Books and the first Canadian woman to publish children's books.
 * Jamal Dajani—(B.A. Political Science) Director of Middle Eastern Programming, Link TV, Producer of Mosaic: World News from the Middle East winner of a Peabody Award
 * Yuval Elizur—(M.S. in Journalism) journalist; covers the Israeli economy, globalization, and economic warfare; authur of 8 books
 * Max Frankel—(B.A.) Executive editor, New York Times
 * Melissa Fung—(M.A., journalism) Canadian CBC News journalist
 * Nicholas Gage—Investigative reporter, Foreign Correspondent, The New York Times (1970–1980), Journalist, The Boston Herald Traveler, The Wall Street Journal
 * Robert Giles—current curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
 * Caroline Glick—(B.A. 1991) American-Israeli Journalist, the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post
 * Ken Hechtman—Maverick journalist jailed by the Afghanistan's Taliban government as a suspected spy in 2001
 * Jay Irving—reporter, cartoonist, father of Clifford Irving who is best known for perpetrating hoax biography of Howard Hughes
 * Edward Klein—(B.A., M.A. Journalism) former foreign editor of Newsweek; former editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine; also a bestselling author
 * Leonard Koppett—Acclaimed sports writer, columnist, author
 * Steve Kroft—60 Minutes, three Peabody Awards, nine Emmy Awards
 * Robert Krulwich—(J.D. 1974), media journalist, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, Emmy Award, George Polk Award
 * Howard Kurtz—(M.A. Journalism) journalist and author with a special focus on the media; described as the nation's "most influential media reporter"
 * Joseph Lelyveld—(M.A., Journalism) Executive editor, New York Times
 * Andy Levy—Ombudsman, Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, Fox News Channel
 * A. J. Liebling—(M.A. Journalism) journalist closely associated with The New Yorker from 1935 until his death
 * Thomas Lippman—journalist and author
 * Robert Lipsyte—(B.A. 1957) winner of an Emmy Award in 1990, host of The Eleventh Hour on PBS, correspondent for The New York Times and ABC Nightly News
 * Henry Demarest Lloyd (J.D.), referred to as "the father of investigative journalism"
 * John R. MacArthur—(B.A. 1978) President of Harper's Magazine, political author
 * John McWethy—five Emmy Awards, Overseas Press Club Award
 * Suzanne M. Malveaux—(M.S.) television news reporter; former White House correspondent for CNN
 * Gabriele Marcotti—(M.A., Journalism) Football writer for The Times, The Sunday Herald, La Stampa, Il Corriere dello Sport, Host of Five Live Sport on Fridays
 * Andrés Martinez—(J.D.) Editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times
 * Cynthia McFadden—(J.D.), ABC news anchor, George Foster Peabody Award
 * Matthew Miller (journalist)—(J.D.1986), also columnist and author, The Two Percent Solution (among other works)
 * John L. O'Sullivan—Editor of the Democratic Review during the 1840s, coined the phrase Manifest Destiny
 * Martin Perlich—radio broadcaster and writer
 * Ted Rall—(B.A. 1991) Editorial cartoonist, Pulitzer finalist, columnist, pundit, author of Revenge of the Latchkey Kids
 * Wayne Allyn Root—Spike TV, Discovery Channel, CNBC Creator; Executive Producer and Host of "Wayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge" and "King of Vegas"; Anchorman & Host FNN-Financial News Network
 * Claire Shipman—(B.A. 1986) Senior National Correspondent for ABC, winner of an Emmy Award for her CNN coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989; her work also contributed to the CNN network winning a Peabody Award for its coverage of the Soviet coup attempt of 1991
 * Howard Simons—former curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
 * Allan Sloan—seven time winner of Gerald Loeb Award
 * Richard Smith—(M.I.A., M.S (journalism) 1970) CEO of Newsweek
 * Neil Strauss—(B.A. 1991) journalist and author of The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
 * Sreenath Sreenivasan—(M.S. 1993) an academic administrator, professor and technology journalist based in New York City
 * Arthur Hays Sulzberger—(M.S. 1993) publisher, The New York Times (1935 to 1961)
 * Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Sr.—(B.A. 1951) publisher and businessman; former publisher, The New York Times and chairman of the board of The New York Times Company
 * Ron Suskind—(M.A. 1983) journalist, author
 * Tiziano Terzani—reporter and correspondent
 * Liz Trotta—(CSJ) journalist, three Emmy Awards and two Overseas Press Club awards
 * Steven Waldman—(B.A.) political journalist; Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission (October 2009–)
 * Richard Watts, Jr.—longtime theatre critic for the New York Post
 * Gideon Yago—(B.A. 2000) MTV News Correspondent
 * Mariana van Zeller—(M.A. journalism 02) Portuguese journalist; 2011 Livingston Award; 2010 Peabody Award; 2009 Webby Award

National Book Awards

 * John Ashbery (M.A. 1951) – National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award
 * John Berryman – National Book Award, Bollingen Prize
 * Karen Brazell (Ph.D.) – National Book Award
 * Robert Caro – National Book Award, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, Francis Parkman Prize
 * E.L. Doctorow – National Book Award, National Humanities Medal; three National Book Critics Circle Awards
 * Jason Epstein (B.A. 1949) – National Book Award; co-founded The New York Review of Books
 * Paula Fox – National Book Award (1983), Hans Christian Andersen Medal (known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature")
 * Peter Gay (M.A. 1947, Ph.D. 1951) – National Book Award
 * Allen Ginsberg – National Book Award; one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s
 * Stephen Jay Gould – National Book Award, National Book Critics Award
 * Ursula K. Le Guin – National Book Award, five Hugo awards, six Nebula awards
 * Lillian Hellman (attended) – National Book Award, 1976 Edward MacDowell Medal and Paul Robeson Award
 * Herbert Kohl (education) – National Book Award
 * Jerzy Kosinski (B.A. 1965) – National Book Award
 * Jane Kramer (M.A.) – National Book Award, Emmy Award for documentary filmmaking, National Magazine Award
 * Joseph Wood Krutch (M.A., Ph.D.) – National Book Award
 * Christopher Lasch – National Book Award
 * Joseph P. Lash (M.A. 1932) – National Book Award; Francis Parkman Prize
 * Oscar Lewis (Ph.D.) – National Book Award
 * Salvador Luria – National Book Award, Nobel Laureate
 * Bernard Malamud – twice winner of National Book Award; O. Henry Award
 * Ralph Manheim – National Book Award
 * Robert Nozick – National Book Award
 * Walker Percy (CUCPS, MD 1941) – National Book Award
 * Gregory Rabassa (Ph.D.) – National Book Award, National Medal of Arts (2006)
 * Robert V. Remini (M.A. 1947, Ph.D. 1951) – National Book Award; appointed Historian of the United States House of Representatives
 * Francis Steegmuller (B.A. 1927) – twice winner of National Book Award
 * Edward Seidensticker (M.A.) – National Book Award
 * Gerald Stern (M.A. 1949) – National Book Award, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
 * T.J. Stiles (Ph.D. ABD) – National Book Award (2009)
 * William Troy – National Book Award
 * Tim Weiner (M.A.) – National Book Award (2007)
 * Eudora Welty – National Book Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Medal of Arts
 * Hans Zinsser (A.B. 1899, A.M. 1903, M.D. 1903) – National Book Award, was a bacteriologist and immunologist

Pulitzer prizes

 * Leroy F. Aarons – Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting (shared)
 * Elie Abel – Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (shared)
 * Herbert Agar – Pulitzer Prize for History
 * Ayad Akhtar – 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
 * John Ashbery – Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award
 * Dean Baquet (B.A. 1978) – Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting (1988); managing editor for news operations, The New York Times
 * William M. Beecher (M.S.) – Pulitzer Prize winning former Washington correspondent for the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, New York Times
 * John Berryman – Pulitzer Prize for poetry
 * Katherine Boo – Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
 * Louis Bromfield – Pulitzer Prize for Early Autumn
 * Ethan Bronner – Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism
 * Geraldine Brooks – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
 * Robert Neil Butler – Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
 * Edwin Burrows – Pulitzer Prize for History in 1999 for the book Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
 * Robert Campbell (journalist) – Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic
 * Robert Caro – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
 * Hodding Carter – Pulitzer Prize for his editorials
 * Margaret Clapp – Pulitzer Prize for Biography
 * Robert Coles (M.D.) – Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (1973); Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Humanities Medal
 * John Corigliano – Pulitzer Prize for Music, Academy Award, Grammy Award
 * Holland Cotter (M.Phil) – Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (2009)
 * Richard Ben Cramer – Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
 * Lawrence A. Cremin – Pulitzer Prize for History, Bancroft Prize
 * Justin Davidson – Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
 * Bob Drogin – Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
 * Will Durant – Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Jim Dwyer – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize (for Commentary and for Spot News Reporting)
 * Andrea Elliott – Pulitzer Prize (2007); reporter, New York Times
 * Jesse Eisinger (B.A. 1992) – 2011 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
 * Eric Foner – 2011 Pulitzer Prize for History, Lincoln Prize, and twice winner of the Bancroft Prize
 * Sue Fox (M.S. 1998) – Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting (2004)
 * Glenn Frankel – Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, author
 * Max Frankel – Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
 * Robert Giles – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize (under his editorship), current curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
 * Louise Gluck – 12th U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, Bollingen Prize
 * Charles Gordone – Pulitzer Prize for Drama
 * Juan Gonzalez (journalist) – Pulitzer Prize, George Polk Award
 * Oscar Hammerstein II – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize
 * Anthony Hecht – U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Bollingen Prize, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, Frost Medal
 * Ellis Henican (CSL) – Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting (shared) (1992)
 * Marguerite Higgins – first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (1951)
 * Jim Hoagland – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize (for International Reporting and for Commentary)
 * Richard Hofstader – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize (for History and General Non-Fiction)
 * Michael Holley – Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service (team)
 * Tony Horwitz – Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
 * Richard Howard – Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, American Book Award, Pen Translation Prize
 * Nigel Jaquiss – 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
 * Margo Jefferson – Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
 * William Jorden – Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (shared) and U.S. Ambassador to Panama
 * Frederick Kempe – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize (both team)
 * Glenn Kessler (journalist) – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize (for Spot News Reporting)
 * Tom Kitt – Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Tony Award
 * Carolyn Kizer – Pulitzer Prize, poet, three-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, Frost Medal
 * Edward Kleban – Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award, Drama Desk Award
 * David Kocieniewski (M.A. Journalism 1986) – 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
 * Tony Kushner – Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2 Tony Awards, Emmy Award, Whiting Writers' Award
 * Joseph P. Lash (M.A. 1932) – Pulitzer Prize for Biography (1972)
 * Leonard Levy (Ph.D.) – 1969 Pulitzer Prize for History
 * Joseph Lelyveld – Pulitzer Prize, journalist
 * David Levering Lewis – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, Bancroft Prize, Francis Parkman Prize
 * Steve Liesman – Pulitzer Prize (team leader) for International Reporting
 * Zhou Long – 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music
 * Steve Lohr (JRN 1975) – 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
 * Terrence McNally – Pulitzer Prize, 4 Tony Awards, Emmy Award, 4 Drama Desk Awards, 2 Obie Awards
 * Eileen McNamara – Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting, Yankee Quill Award
 * Carleton Mabee (Ph.D) – 1944 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
 * Bernard Malamud – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, O. Henry Award
 * John Matteson – Pulitzer Prize for Biography
 * Louis Menand – Pulitzer Prize for History, Francis Parkman Prize
 * Steven Millhauser – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
 * Paul Moravec – Pulitzer Prize for Music
 * Tad Mosel – Pulitzer Prize for Drama
 * Amy Ellis Nutt (M.A.) – 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
 * Mirta Ojito – Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
 * Sharon Olds – 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
 * Dele Olojede – Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, first African-born winner of the Pulitzer prize
 * Tim Page (music critic) – Pulitzer Prize, music critic
 * Michael Pupin – Pulitzer Prize, physicist
 * Matt Richtel – 2010 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
 * Richard Rodgers – twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize
 * Carlos P. Romulo – Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence
 * Wendy Ruderman – 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
 * Morrie Ryskind – Pulitzer Prize for Drama
 * Eli Sanders (1999) – 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
 * Carl Emil Schorske – Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
 * William Schuman – Pulitzer Prize for Music, president of the Juilliard School of Music, president of Lincoln Center
 * Louis Simpson – Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Prix de Rome
 * Upton Sinclair – Pulitzer Prize, wrote over 90 books in many genres, his novel Oil! was the basis of There Will Be Blood (2007)
 * R. Jeffrey Smith – Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
 * Tracy K. Smith (M.F.A. 1997) – 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 2006 James Laughlin Award; 2005 Whiting Writers' Award
 * Paul Starr – Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, Bancroft Prize, Goldsmith Book Prize
 * T.J. Stiles – 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
 * Ron Suskind – Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing
 * William Taubman – Pulitzer Prize for Biography, National Book Critics Circle Award
 * Edwin Way Teale – Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
 * Allan Temko – Pulitzer Prize, architectural critic
 * John Kennedy Toole – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
 * Anne Tyler – Pulitzer Prize (Breathing Lessons), National Book Critics Circle Award (The Accidental Tourist)
 * Irwin Unger – Pulitzer Prize for History
 * Carl Clinton Van Doren – Pulitzer Prize, biographer
 * Mark Van Doren – Pulitzer Prize
 * Bill Vlasic (JRN 1982) – 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
 * Mike Wallace (historian) – Pulitzer Prize for History
 * Charles Warren (U.S. author) – Pulitzer Prize for History
 * Tim Weiner – Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
 * Eudora Welty – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Medal of Arts
 * Damon Winter (B.A.) – Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (2009)
 * C. Vann Woodward (M.A. 1932) – Pulitzer Prize for History, Bancroft Prize
 * Herman Wouk – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
 * Charles Wuorinen – Pulitzer Prize for Music, Guggenheim Fellowships, among other awards
 * Brian Yorkey – 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; 2009 Tony Award for Best Score

MacArthur Fellows
The following alumni are fellows of the MacArthur Fellows Program (known as the "genius grant") from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. As this is an interdisciplinary award, fellows are listed here in addition to their listing in their field of accomplishment.


 * John Ashbery—(M.A. 1951) poet; MacArthur Fellowship
 * Jacqueline K. Barton—(Ph.D. 1979) chemist; 1991 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Terry Belanger—(M.A., 1964; Ph.D. 1970) historian; history of books, manuscripts, and related objects; 2005 MacArthur Fellowship; founding director, Rare Book School
 * Edet Belzberg—(M.A., 1957) documentary filmmaker; 2005 MacArthur Fellowship; won Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival (2001)
 * Paul Berman—(M.A.) leading writer on politics and literature; MacArthur Fellowship
 * Seweryn Bialer—(Ph.D.)—political scientist; 1983 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Katherine Boo—(B.A.) journalist and author; 2002 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Rogers Brubaker—(Ph.D. 1990) sociologist; 1994 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Robert Coles—(M.D. 1954) author, child psychiatrist, and professor at Harvard University; 1981 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Wafaa El-Sadr—(MPH) Infectious Disease physician; 2008 MacArthur Fellowship; 2009 Rolling Stone magazine "100 People Who Are Changing America," Scientific American "10: Guiding Science for Humanity" and Utne Reader “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World”
 * Irving Feldman—(M.A. 1953) poet and professor of English; 1992 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Randall Forsberg—(B.A.) expert in Defense and Disarmament as used for promoting democratic institutions; 1983 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Stephen Jay Gould—(Ph.D. 1967) Paleontologist, author; 1981 MacArthur Fellowship; Linnean Society of London's Darwin–Wallace Medal (2008); Paleontological Society Medal (2002); Charles Schuchert Award (1975); Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science (twice – 1983, 1990)
 * Rosanne Haggerty—(M.A. Arch.), housing and community development leader; 2001 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Shirley Heath—(Ph.D. 1970)—linguistic anthropologist; 1984 MacArthur Fellowship
 * John Hollander—(B.A.) poet, 1990 MacArthur Fellowship, Bollingen Prize (1983); Poet Laureate, State of Connecticut (2006–2011)
 * Richard Howard—(B.A. 1951) poet, literary critic, essayist, translator; MacArthur Fellowship; PEN Translation Prize; Poet Laureate, State of New York (1994–1997)
 * David Keightley—(Ph.D.) sinologist, historian; 1986 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Harlan Lane—(B.S., M.S. 1958) psychologist; 1991 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Lawrence W. Levine—(M.A., Ph.D.) historian; 1983 MacArthur Fellowship
 * David Levering Lewis—(M.A. 1959) Professor of History; MacArthur Fellowship
 * Campbell McGrath—(M.F.A. 1988) poet; MacArthur Fellowship; Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Pushcart Prize, three Academy of American Poets Prizes
 * Ralph Manheim—English translator of major German, French works; 1983 MacArthur Fellowship; PEN Translation Prize (1964); PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation
 * Dinaw Mengestu—(M.F.A.) novelist and writer; 2012 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Richard A. Muller—(B.A.) physicist; 1982 MacArthur Fellowship; known for astrophysics, radioisotope dating, optics and climate change
 * Pepon Osorio—(M.A. 1985) Latino artist; 1999 MacArthur Fellowship
 * George Oster—(Ph.D.) mathematical biologist; 1984 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Rosalind P. Petchesky (Ph.D.)—political scientist; 1995 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Terry Plank—(Ph.D. 1993) geologist, volcanologist and professor, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; 2012  MacArthur Fellowship
 * Anna Curtenius Roosevelt—(Ph.D.) archaeologist; 1988 MacArthur Fellowship; Curator of Archaeology, Field Museum (1991–02)
 * Meyer Schapiro—(B.A., Ph.D.) Lithuanian-born American art historian; MacArthur Fellowship; known for forging new art historical methodologies
 * Stephen Schneider—(B.S. 1967, Ph.D., mechanical engineering, plasma physics, 1971) environmental biologist, climatologist; 1992 MacArthur Fellowship; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to which Schneider made significant contributions, shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
 * Carl Emil Schorske—(B.A. 1936) cultural historian; 1981 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Ricardo Scofidio—(M.Arch. 1960) founder, principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; in 1991, one of first architects to win MacArthur Prize "genius grant"
 * Sally Temple—(postdoctoral fellowship) developmental neuroscientist; innovator in field of stem cells, specifically neural stem cells; 2008 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Camilo José Vergara—(M.A. 1977, Ph.D. (not yet awarded)) writer, photographer, documentarian; 2002 MacArthur Fellowship; 2010 Berlin Prize
 * Alisa Weilerstein—(B.A. 2004), cellist, 2011 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Anders Winroth—(M.A., Ph.D.) professor of medieval history, Yale; 2003 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Irene J. Winter—(Ph.D.) art historian; 1983 MacArthur Fellowship
 * Lawrence S. Wittner—(B.A. 1962; Ph.D., in history, 1967) historian; MacArthur Fellowship
 * Eric Wolf—(Ph.D.) anthropologist; MacArthur Fellowship
 * Charles Wuorinen—(B.A. 1961, M.A. 1963) composer; 1985 MacArthur Fellowship

National Medal of Science

 * Jan Drewes Achenbach—(post-doc research) Mechanical Engineer; National Medal of Science (2005)
 * Fay Ajzenberg-Selove—(M.D. 1904) German-American physicist; recipient, 2007 National Medal of Science
 * Kenneth Arrow—(M.S., Ph.D.) economist: National Medal of Science (2004), John Bates Clark Medal (1957), von Neumann Theory Prize (1986); Arrow's impossibility theorem
 * Francisco J. Ayala—(Ph.D. 1964) evolutionary biologist and geneticist, National Medal of Science (2001), among other awards
 * John Backus—(B.S., mathematics, 1949) co-inventor of Fortran programming language, National Medal of Science (1975), ACM Turing Award, Draper Prize
 * Jacqueline K. Barton—(Ph.D. 1979) chemist; National Medal of Science (2011); NSF Waterman Award (1985), ACS Gibbs Medal (2006), Weizmann Women & Science Award
 * Baruj Benacerraf—(B.S.) Venezuelan immunologist, National Medal of Science
 * Konrad Emil Bloch—(Ph.D. 1938) biochemist; 1988 National Medal of Science
 * Wallace Smith Broecker—(B.S. 1953, Ph.D. 1958) Crafoord Prize in Geoscience, National Medal of Science
 * Shu Chien—(Ph.D. 1957) biological scientist, engineer; National Medal of Science; National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * Mildred Cohn—(M.S., Ph.D.) biochemist, National Medal of Science
 * Daniel C. Drucker—(B.S., M.S., Ph.D. 1939) mechanical engineer; authority on theory of plasticity; National Medal of Science; Timoshenko Medal; Drucker Medal
 * Val Logsdon Fitch—(Ph.D.) nuclear physicist, National Medal of Science
 * Milton Friedman—(Ph.D. 1946) economist; John Bates Clark Medal (1951); National Medal of Science (1988); Presidential Medal of Freedom (1988)
 * James Glimm—(Ph.D.) mathematical physicist, National Medal of Science, Priestley Medal
 * Louis Plack Hammett—(Ph.D.) physical chemist; creator, Hammett equation, Curtin-Hammett principle; National Medal of Science, Priestley Medal
 * Michael Heidelberger—(B.S., Ph.D. 1911)immunologist, Lasker Award, National Medal of Science
 * Roald Hoffman—(B.S. 1958) chemist, National Medal of Science
 * Elvin A. Kabat—(Ph.D.) biomedical scientist, National Medal of Science, one of founding fathers, modern quantitative immunochemistry
 * Rudolf E. Kálmán—(Ph.D. 1957) electrical engineer, mathematical systems theorist; National Medal of Science; Kyoto Prize; IEEE Medal of Honor
 * Joshua Lederberg—(B.S.) molecular biologist; National Medal of Science (1989), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2006)
 * Leon M. Lederman—(Ph.D.) experimental physicist, National Medal of Science, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Robert Lefkowitz—(B.A. 1962, M.D. 1966) physician, Shaw Prize, National Medal of Science
 * Raymond D. Mindlin—(B.A., B.S., C.E., Ph.D.) mechanician, National Medal of Science, Presidential Medal for Merit
 * Walter Munk—(undergrad attendee) physical oceanographer; Crafoord Prize in Geoscience; National Medal of Science, Kyoto Prize, Vetlesen Prize, among other awards
 * Frank Press—(M.A., Ph.D.) geophysicist, National Medal of Science
 * Julian Schwinger—(B.A., M.D.) theoretical physicist, National Medal of Science
 * Alfred Sturtevant—(Ph.D.) geneticist, National Medal of Science
 * Patrick Suppes (Ph.D. 1950)—philosopher, 1990 National Medal of Science; contributions to philosophy of science, theory of measurement, foundations of quantum mechanics
 * John G. Trump—(M.S.) high-voltage engineer and physicist; National Medal of Science; National Academy of Engineering
 * Harold Varmus—(M.D. 1941) Director, National Institutes of Health; Nobel Laureate; National Medal of Science; president, CEO, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
 * Evelyn M. Witkin—(Ph.D.) geneticist; National Medal of Science; National Academy of Sciences; Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal

National Medal of Technology

 * Jan Drewes Achenbach—(post-doc research) Mechanical Engineer; 2003 National Medal of Technology; ASME Medal
 * Edwards Deming—(faculty 1988–93) statistician; 1987 National Medal of Technology
 * Walter Lincoln Hawkins—(postgraduate research) chemical engineer, chemist; 1992 National Medal of Technology; first African-American member, National Academy of Engineering; National Inventors Hall of Fame
 * Robert Ledley—(B.S., M.S. 1950) professor of physiology and biophysics; 1997 National Medal of Technology; National Inventors Hall of Fame; pioneered use of electronic digital computers in biology and medicine; research lead to invention of whole-body CT scanner;
 * Arun Netravali—(faculty) computer engineer; 2001 National Medal of Technology; 1991 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal; President of Bell Laboratories (1999-01) and former Chief Scientist for Lucent Technologies

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics
See also: Notable alumni of Columbia College of Columbia University (Scientists and inventors) for additional listing of more than 28 scientists and inventors, Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science for additional listing of more than 55 scientists, engineers, computer scientists and inventors, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons for additional listing of more than 100 physicians


 * Saul Amarel—(M.S. 1953, Ph.D. 1955) computer scientist and pioneer in artificial intelligence
 * Roy Chapman Andrews—(M.A.) dinosaur bone hunter; Cover of Time Magazine, October 29, 1923
 * Virginia Apgar—(M.D. 1933) effectively founded field of Neonatology, created the Apgar score which is used to evaluate the health of newborn babies
 * Edwin Howard Armstrong—(B.S. 1913) inventor of radio circuitry such as the regenerative circuit and FM radio; pioneer in feedback amplifiers; first Institute of Radio Engineers (now IEEE Medal of Honor), 1941 Franklin Medal, 1942 Edison Medal, National Inventors Hall of Fame
 * Oswald Avery—(M.D. 1904) discoverer of DNA's role in transmitting genetic information
 * T. Romeyn Beck—(M.D.) forensic medicine pioneer
 * H. I. Biegeleisen—(B.S.) American physician and vein expert, pioneer of phlebology
 * Ira Black—(B.A. 1961), neuroscientist and stem cell researcher who served as the first director of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey.
 * Thomas Berry Brazelton—(M.D.) pediatrician; Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
 * Thomas H. Chilton—(B.A. 1922) chemical engineer; a founder of modern chemical engineering practice; Chilton and Colburn J-factor analogy
 * Marie Maynard Daly—(Ph.D. 1947) first African American woman to earn a doctorate in chemistry
 * Charles Drew—(M.D. 1940) inventor of blood plasma preservation system
 * Helen Flanders Dunbar—(Ph.D. 1929) important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine
 * Noam Elkies—(B.S.) three-time Putnam Fellow; mathematician, co-creator of Schoof–Elkies–Atkin algorithm; chess master
 * Joseph Engelberger—( B.S. 1946, M.S. 1949) engineer and entrepreneur, often credited with being father of Robotics; 1997 Japan Prize
 * David Eppstein—(M.S. 1985, Ph.D. 1989) computer scientist, mathematician
 * James C. Fletcher—(B.S.) physicist, 4th and 7th Administrator of NASA
 * Ferdinand Freudenstein—(Ph.D.) mechanical engineer, widely considered the "Father of Modern Kinematics"; National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science
 * Tom Frieden—(M.D., MPH) Director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009–); N. Y. City Health Commissioner (2002–09)
 * Elmer L. Gaden—(B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) father of biochemical engineering; fifth recipient, 2009 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize; National Academy of Engineering
 * Alfred Norton Goldsmith—(Ph.D.) electrical engineer; IEEE Medal of Honor
 * Gordon Gould—(work toward Ph.D., did not complete), inventor of the laser
 * Benjamin Graham—(B.A. 1914) father of modern security analysis and value investing, taught Warren Buffett
 * William Stewart Halsted—(M.D.) thought by many to be the most innovative, influential and important surgeon the U.S. has ever produced
 * Walter Lincoln Hawkins—(postgraduate research) chemical engineer, chemist; first African-American member, National Academy of Engineering; 1992 National Medal of Technology; National Inventors Hall of Fame
 * Gustav A. Hedlund—(M.A.) mathematician, one of the founders of symbolic and topological dynamics
 * Jean Emily Henley—(M.D. 1940) wrote the first German anesthesia textbook after World War II
 * Herman Hollerith—(B.S. 1879, Ph.D.) statistician who developed a mechanical tabulator; founder of one of the companies that later merged and became IBM
 * Robert Jastrow—(B.A, M.A. Ph.D.) astronomer
 * Arthur Jensen—(Ph.D. 1956) known for work in psychometrics and differential psychology; educational psychologist who argued for heritability of intelligence
 * Edward Kasner—(Ph.D. 1899) mathematician who coined the term googol; Kasner metric, Kasner polygon
 * Marshall Kay—(Ph.D. 1929) geologist; known for Stratigraphy; 1971 Penrose Medal
 * Robert Ledley—(B.S., M.S. 1950) professor of physiology and biophysics; pioneered use of electronic digital computers in biology and medicine; research lead to invention of whole-body CT scanner; National Medal of Technology; National Inventors Hall of Fame
 * Kai-Fu Lee—(B.S. 1983) prominent figures in Chinese internet sector; established China division, Microsoft Research; establishing China research division for Google
 * John W. Marchetti—(A.B., B.S. 1925; E.E. 1931) radar pioneer combining government and industrial activities
 * Winifred Edgerton Merrill—(Ph.D. 1886) the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics
 * Robert Mills—(B.A.) Putnam Fellow; physicist, specializing in quantum field theory, the theory of alloys, and many-body theory; Yang-Mills fields
 * Robert Moog—(B.S.E.E.) pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer
 * Joel Moses—(B.A., M.A.) MIT Provost and Institute Professor, author of Macsyma
 * William Nierenberg—(Ph.D.) Putnam Fellow; physicist, worked on Manhattan Project; director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1965–86)
 * Edward Lawry Norton—(M.S. 1925) electrical engineer, discovered the Norton equivalent circuit
 * Bedabrata Pain—(M.S., Ph.D., Applied physics) Indian inventor; CMOS image sensor, active pixel sensor, 87 invention patents; film director
 * William Barclay Parsons—(B.S. 1879) civil engineer
 * Michael I. Pupin—(B.S. 1883) physicist and physical chemist; IEEE Medal of Honor, Edison Medal for his work in mathematical physics; Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography
 * Hyman G. Rickover—father, U.S. nuclear submarine fleet, Enrico Fermi Award; U.S. Navy four-star Admiral;
 * Benjamin Spock—(M.D. 1929)—pediatrician, author of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care; Olympic rower
 * George Clark Southworth—(graduate study) radio engineer; pioneering contributions: microwave radio physics, radio astronomy, waveguides; IEEE Medal of Honor
 * Paul Stelzer—(M.D. 1972)—cardiothoracic surgeon and expert in the Ross procedure
 * John Stevens (inventor)—(A.B. 1768)—built first steam railroad, responsible for first patent law in the U.S.
 * John Stone Stone—(1886–1888) mathematician, physicist, inventor; influential in developing wireless communication technology, IEEE Medal of Honor
 * Hing Tong—(Ph.D.) mathematician, algebraic topology; theoretical physics; known for providing original proof of Katetov–Tong insertion theorem
 * Joseph F. Traub—(Ph.D.) computer scientist, National Academy of Engineering
 * Neil deGrasse Tyson—(MPhil. 1989, Ph.D. 1991) astrophysicist, science communicator; 1st & current Director of the Hayden Planetarium
 * Roy Vagelos—(M.D.) mastered three professions: medicine, science, business
 * Allen Whipple—(M.D.) surgeon known for pancreatic surgery bearing his name (the Whipple procedure), as well as Whipple's triad
 * Victor Wouk—(B.A. 1939) scientist and engineer; pioneer in the development of electric and hybrid vehicles
 * Lotfi A. Zadeh—(Ph.D. 1949) mathematician, electrical engineer, computer scientist, artificial intelligence researcher; founder of fuzzy mathematics, fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic; IEEE Medal of Honor; National Academy of Engineering
 * Bruno H. Zimm—(B.S. 1941, M.S. 1943, Ph.D. 1944) polymer chemist & DNA researcher; in statistical mechanics, the Zimm–Bragg model

Astronauts and aviators

 * Kenneth D. Bowersox—(M.S. 1979)
 * Kevin P. Chilton—(M.S. 1977)
 * Amelia Earhart—(attended one semester, 1920)
 * William G. Gregory—(M.S. 1980)
 * Gregory H. Johnson—(M.S. 1985)
 * Michael J. Massimino—(B.S. 1984)
 * Story Musgrave—(M.D. 1964)
 * Eugene H. Trinh—(B.S. 1972)

Presidents, chancellors, founders

 * Carmen Twillie Ambar (J.D.)—Ninth woman to lead Douglass College and 13th president of Cedar Crest College
 * Frederick A.P. Barnard—president, Columbia; Chancellors of the University of Mississippi; namesake of Barnard College
 * Lee Bollinger (JD 1971)—current president, Columbia; former president, University of Michigan; former Provost, Dartmouth College; First Amendment scholar; named defendant in two key affirmative action cases in the United States Supreme Court; Chair, Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2011)
 * H. Keith H. Brodie (M.D.)—former chancellor (1982–1985) and president (1985–1993), Duke University
 * Harold Brown (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)—physicist; former president, Caltech; former dean, School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University
 * Nicholas Murray Butler (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.)—president, Columbia University; Nobel Laureate; president, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
 * Colin Campbell (J.D.)—13th president, Wesleyan University
 * Margaret Clapp (Ph.D 1937)—president, Wellesley College (1949–1966)
 * James S. Coles (B.S. 1936, Ph.D.)—former president, Bowdoin College
 * Michael Crow (faculty)—president, Arizona State University
 * Colgate Darden (1923)—chancellor, College of William and Mary (1946–47); president, University of Virginia (1947–59); namesake, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
 * Nicholas Dirks (faculty)—10th chancellor-designate, University of California, Berkeley; professor, anthropology, history, and Dean, faculty of arts and sciences
 * Livingston Farrand (M.D.)—4th president, Cornell University and University of Colorado; public health advocate
 * John Henry Fischer (M.S. 1949, Ph.D. 1951)—president, dean, Teachers College, Columbia University for fifteen years; as school superintendent, made Baltimore the first large American city to desegregate its public schools
 * James C. Fletcher (B.A.)—president, University of Utah and head of NASA
 * Lether Frazar (Ph.D.)—president, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and McNeese State University, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
 * Ellen V. Futter (J.D. 1974)—president, Barnard College (1980–93), president, American Museum of Natural History
 * Gordon Gee (J.D., Ed.D.)—former president, Brown University; former chancellor, Vanderbilt University; twice president, Ohio State University; president, the University of Colorado at Boulder and West Virginia University
 * Frank Goodnow (LL.B. 1882)—president, Johns Hopkins University
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones (M.A.)—president, historically black Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana from 1936 to 1977
 * Thomas Kean (M.A.)—president, Drew University, head of 9/11 Commission
 * Eamon Kelly (Ph.D.)—former president, Tulane University
 * Grayson L. Kirk (faculty)—president, Columbia
 * George Latimer (LL.B.)—regent, University of Minnesota
 * Joshua Lederberg (B.A. 1944; graduate study)—former president, Rockefeller University; Nobel prize-winning biologist, National Medal of Science, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Ronald D. Liebowitz (Ph.D. 1985)—president, Middlebury College (2004—)
 * Peter Likins (faculty)—electrical engineer; president, University of Arizona; former president, Lehigh University
 * John V. Lombardi (M.A. 1964, Ph.D. 1968)—president, University of Florida (1990–1999); chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2002–2007); president, Louisiana State University System (2007–present)
 * Seth Low (B.A. 1870)—president, Columbia University; chairman, Tuskegee Institute (1907–1916)
 * James L. McConaughy (Ph.D. 1913)—president, Wesleyan University and Knox College
 * Alfred Thayer Mahan (attended, two years)—president, U.S. Naval War College; author of The Influence of Sea Power upon History
 * Anthony Marx (faculty)—president, Amherst College
 * Martin Meyerson (B.A.)—president, the University of Pennsylvania; acting chancellor, University of California, Berkeley; president, State University of New York at Buffalo
 * J. Hillis Miller, Sr. (Ph.D. 1933)—fourth president, University of Florida (1947–1953)
 * Robert A. Millikan (Ph.D. 1895)—early president, Caltech (1921–1945); Nobel prize-winning physicist; first to measure the charge of the electron
 * Christina Hull Paxson (M.A. 1985, Ph.D. 1987)—19th president, Brown University (2012–); former Dean and Professor of Economics & Public Affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
 * Mario Laserna Pinzon (B.A.)—founded the Universidad de Los Andes
 * Peter Pouncey (Ph.D. 1969)—classicist; former president, Amherst College
 * Jehuda Reinharz (B.S.)—president, Brandeis University
 * Nicanor Reyes, Sr. (Ph.D.)—founder and 1st president, Far Eastern University in Manila, Philippines
 * Thomas Hedley Reynolds (M.A. 1947, Ph.D. 1953)—Historian; president, Bates College.
 * Judith Rodin (Ph.D.)—Psychologist;chancellor and former president, University of Pennsylvania; president, Rockefeller Foundation; former provost, Yale University
 * Brian C. Rosenberg (M.A., Ph.D.)—16th president, Macalester College (2003–)
 * David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (M.B.A.)—Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (elected, October 16, 2011)
 * William Schuman (B.S. 1935)—president, Juilliard School of Music; president, Lincoln Center; inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Music; founded Juilliard String Quartet; awarded National Medal of Arts
 * Beheruz Sethna (M.Phil. and Ph.D)— president, University of West Georgia; Professor of Business at the University
 * Judith Shapiro (Ph.D.)—former president, Barnard College; anthropologist
 * Michael Sovern (B.A., Ph.D.)—president, Columbia University; Dean of Columbia Law School; professor at Columbia Law School
 * Lida Lee Tall (B.A.)—sixth president/principal, State Teachers College at Towson (now Towson University)
 * Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (B.A. 1959)—president, George Washington University and the University of Hartford
 * David Truman (faculty)—Political scientist and educator; former president, Mount Holyoke College
 * Andrew Truxal (Ph.D. 1928)—president, Hood College and Anne Arundel Community College
 * Michael K. Young (Law faculty)—president, University of Utah; former dean, George Washington University Law School

Theorists
See also: above at Nobel Laureates (Alumni) for separate listing of more than 43 academics and theorists, Notable alumni at Columbia College of Columbia University (Academicians), Columbia Law School (Academia: University presidents and Legal Academia), and Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Economists-Natural Scientists, Social Scientists) for separate listing of more than 163 academics and theorists
 * Mortimer Adler (Ph.D.)—Founder of the Great Books movement
 * Claude Ake (Ph.D. 1966)—Nigerian political scientist
 * Kenneth Arrow (M.S., Ph.D.)—economist, John Bates Clark Medal, National Medal of Science
 * E. Digby Baltzell (Ph.D.)—sociologist, credited with the popularization of the acronym WASP
 * Jacques Barzun (B.A. 1927, Ph.D. 1932; Faculty 1932–75)—historian; 2003 Presidential Medal of Freedom; 2010 National Humanities Medal
 * Steven M. Bellovin (B.A.)—computer scientist; one of originators of USENET; co-inventor, Encrypted key exchange password-authenticated key agreement methods
 * Ruth Benedict (Ph.D.)—cultural anthropologist, author of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, a World War II-era study of Japanese culture
 * Theos Casimir Bernard (Ph.D.)—an accomplished American practitioner of Yoga and Tibetan Buddhism, a scholar of religion and explorer
 * Walter Block (Ph.D.)—Austrian School free market economist
 * Karen Boroff (Ph.D.)—Dean, Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University
 * Joseph Campbell (B.A., M.A.)—mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion
 * John Maurice Clark (Ph.D 1910)—economist
 * Robert C. Clark (Ph.D. 1971)—Dean and Professor of Law, Harvard Law School (1989–2003)
 * Margaret Cuninggim, served as Dean of Women at the University of Tennessee and at Vanderbilt University
 * Robert Dallek (M.A. 1957, Ph.D. 1964)—historian specializing in American presidents, Bancroft Prize
 * Wm. Theodore de Bary (B.A.)—East Asian studies expert
 * John Dewey—Philosopher, developed theory of pragmatism
 * Donna Robinson Divine (Ph.D. 1971)—political scientist
 * Norman Dorsen (B.A. 1950)—Professor of Law at NYU Law School (Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, and Comparative Constitutional Law)
 * Irwin Edman (B.A., Ph.D. 1964)—Philosopher and writer
 * Richard Epstein (B.A. 1964)—considered one of the most influential legal thinkers of modern times
 * Yael S. Feldman (PhD. 1981)—Abraham I. Katsh Professor of Hebrew Culture and Education and Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University
 * Charles Ferster (M.A., Ph.D.)—behavioral psychologist
 * Moses Finley (M.A., Ph.D.)—Historian noted for his work on the ancient economy
 * Joshua Fishman (Ph.D.)—Distinguished linguist specializing in social linguistics, language and culture, and Yiddish
 * Richard Florida (Ph.D. 1986)—American urban studies theorist; created concept, creative class and its implications for urban regeneration
 * Gilberto Freyre (M.A. 1922)—Brazilian sociologist, cultural anthropologist and historian
 * Milton Friedman (Ph.D.)—Free market economist, John Bates Clark Medal, National Medal of Science, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Allan Gotthelf (Ph.D. 1975)—philosopher, and a recognized authority on the philosophies of both Aristotle and Ayn Rand
 * Lynne Hanley (M.A.)—literary critic
 * Edward Harris (archaeologist) (B.A. 1971)—inventor of the Harris matrix
 * Sidney Hook (Ph.D 1927)—was an American philosopher of the Pragmatist school; Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * J. C. Hurewitz (M.A. 1937, Ph.D. 1950)—Middle East scholar, Columbia faculty 1950–1984
 * Jane Jacobs (two years of graduate studies)—Urban theorist
 * Ira Katznelson (B.A. 1966)—political scientist and historian; When Affirmative Action Was White (2005)
 * Donald Keene (B.A. 1942)—Japanese studies expert
 * Ruth Landes (Ph.D. 1935)—author, City of Women (1947)
 * Paul Lazarsfeld—one of major figures in 20th-century American sociology; founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research
 * Harvey J. Levin (M.A. 1948, Ph.D. 1953)—communications economics pioneer
 * Seymour Martin Lipset (Ph.D. 1949)—sociologist
 * Margaret Mead (M.S. 1924, Ph.D. 1929)—anthropologist; Presidential Medal of Freedom; Kalinga Prize
 * Robert Nozick (A.B. 1959, summa cum laude)—Philosopher
 * Marvin Opler (Ph.D. 1938)—anthropologist and social psychiatrist
 * Michael Oren (B.A., M.A.)—historian and author; Israeli ambassador to the United States
 * Richard Popkin (B.A. 1950, Ph.D.)—academic philosopher, specialized in the history of enlightenment philosophy and early modern anti-dogmatism
 * Alvin Poussaint (B.A. 1956)—noted professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; author of numerous books on child psychiatry
 * Frank Press (M.A., Ph.D.)—Geophysicist, work in seismic activity and wave theory, counsel to four U.S. Presidents.
 * Steven Rubenstein—(B.A. 1984, M.A. 1986, Ph.D. 1995) anthropologist
 * James R. Russell (B.A.)—Ancient Near Eastern scholar; professor at Harvard University
 * Edward Sapir (B.A. 1904, M.A. 1905, Ph.D. 1909)—Linguist and anthropologist, one of creators of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
 * Andrew Sarris (B.A.)—film critic, a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism, and a controversialist
 * Nathan A. Scott, Jr. (Ph.D.)—literary scholar and founder of the theology and literature doctoral program at the University of Chicago
 * Anwar Shaikh (M.A., Ph.D. 1973)—Professor of Economics; Professor at The New School for Social Research of New York
 * Patrick Suppes (Ph.D.)—philosopher, National Medal of Science
 * Lionel Trilling (B.A. 1925, M.A. 1926, Ph.D. 1938)—Literary critic
 * Immanuel Wallerstein (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.)—sociologist
 * Eugene P. Watson (Advanced study 1960)—Namesake of the library at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana
 * Philip L. White (MA 1952, Ph.D. 1954)—Nationality historian and political activist in Austin, Texas
 * Sean Wilentz (B.A. 1972)—Chair of American Studies at Princeton University; winner of the Bancroft Prize in history
 * Jay Winter (B.A. 1966)—World War I scholar at Yale University
 * Thomas Woods (M.Phil., Ph.D.)—historian
 * Aaron D. Wyner (Ph.D. 1963)—information theorist noted for his contributions in coding theory.
 * Howard Zinn (M.A., Ph.D.)—historian

Sports

 * Mario Ančić—(LL.M. 2013), former Croatian professional tennis player and current NBA executive
 * Roone Arledge—(B.A.) Pioneer of sports and news broadcasting with ABC, "Monday Night Football", "20/20", etc.; winner of 37 Emmy Awards
 * Norman Armitage—17-time national champion sabre fencer, and 6-time Olympian
 * Lou Bender—(B.A. 1932, LL.M. 1935) pioneer player with Columbia Lions and in early pro basketball; was later a successful trial attorney.
 * William Campbell (business executive)—(B.A.) Chairman of Board (incumbent as of 2009) and former CEO of Intuit, Inc. and Head Football Coach, Columbia University, 1974–1979
 * José Raúl Capablanca—World Chess Champion (1921–27)
 * Gary Cohen—(B.A.) New York Mets television play-by-play announcer
 * Eddie Collins—(CC 1907) Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman
 * Caryn Davies—(J.D., Class of 2013) American rower, stroke seat in women's eight; gold medals, 2012 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics; silver medal, 2004 Summer Olympics
 * Annie Duke—professional poker player
 * Lou Gehrig—(1921–23) Baseball player for the New York Yankees, enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (now commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease")
 * Vitas Gerulaitis—Professional tennis player
 * Edward P. Hurt—Morgan's football, basketball and track coach
 * Max Kellerman—(B.A. 1998) ESPN Radio host in Los Angeles and HBO boxing analyst
 * Dan Kellner—4-time All-American, NCAA foil champion, national champion, 2-time Pan American gold medalist and 1-time silver medalist, 1-time Maccabiah silver medalist
 * Sandy Koufax—Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher
 * Shaul Ladany—(Ph.D 1968) world-record-holding Israeli racewalker, Bergen-Belsen survivor, Munich Massacre survivor, and Professor of Industrial Engineering
 * Maya Lawrence—(M.A.) American fencer; bronze medal in the women's team épée, United States Fencing Team, 2012 Summer Olympics
 * Howard Lederer—Professional poker player, brother of Annie Duke
 * Sid Luckman—(B.A.) American football quarterback, enshrinee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
 * James M. "Jim" McMillian—(B.A.) NBA basketball player
 * Bruce Gehrke—(B.A.) American football NFL player with New York Giants
 * Cliff Montgomery—(B.A.) American football quarterback; enshrinee, College Football Hall of Fame; captain and MVP, Rose Bowl winning squad; Silver Star recipient in U.S. Navy
 * Dave Newmark, NBA basketball player
 * Mark Pope—(M.D. Class of 2010) Former NBA player. Left Columbia before graduation to pursue a coaching career; now an assistant at BYU.
 * Paul Robeson—American football All-American, attorney, musician, activist
 * Archie Roberts (American football)—(B.A. 1942) played with the Miami Dolphins; subsequently became a cardiac surgeon
 * Bob Sheppard—(M.A. 1933) sports announcer, "Voice of the Yankees"
 * William Milligan Sloane—Founder of the United States Olympic Committee
 * Keeth Smart—Business School, silver medal, fencing, 2008 Summer Olympics
 * David Stern—(J.D.) NBA Commissioner
 * Cristina Teuscher—(B.A. 2000) Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, 1996
 * Jenny Thompson—(M.D. 2006) former competition swimmer, won twelve medals, including eight gold medals, in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics
 * LeRoy T. Walker—(M.A.) the first black president of the United States Olympic Committee (1992–1996)
 * Marcellus Wiley—(B.A. 1997) American football player, Pro Bowl defensive end
 * James L. Williams—(B.A.) World Class Fencer, Olympic silver-medal winner, 2008

Activists
See also: notable alumni of Columbia Law School (Activism) and Columbia College (Miscellaneous) for a separate listing of more than 50 activists
 * Bella Abzug (LL.M. 1947), social rights activist and a leader of the women's rights movement
 * Anna Baltzer, public speaker and Jewish-American pro-Palestinian activist
 * Mark Barnes (LL.M. 1991), advocate for public healthcare law at the state and national levels, co-founded the first AIDS law clinic
 * Edward Bassett (LL.B. 1886), one of the founding fathers of modern day urban planning
 * Lee Bollinger, advocate for affirmative action, defendant in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger
 * Robert L. Carter (LL.M. 1941), civil rights activist, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund general counsel, in which capacity he argued Brown v. Board of Education II
 * Julius L. Chambers (LL.M. 1964), civil rights leader, attorney, and educator; third President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
 * Felix Cohen (1928), advocate for native American rights, fundamentally shaped federal native American law and policy
 * Roy Cohn (LL.M. 1947), conservative lawyer who became famous during the investigations of Senator Joseph McCarthy into alleged Communists in the U.S. government
 * Robert Cover (J.D. 1968), civil rights and international anti-violence activist, professor at Yale Law School
 * Annie Elizabeth Delany (D.D.S. 1923), dentist and civil rights pioneer; subject, New York Times bestselling oral history, Having Our Say
 * Sarah Louise Delany (B.A. 1920, M.A. 1925), educator and civil rights pioneer; subject, New York Times bestselling oral history, Having Our Say
 * Daniel DeLeon (LL.M. 1878), socialist newspaper editor, politician, trade union organizer; regarded as forefather of idea of revolutionary industrial unionism
 * Albert DeSilver (LL.B. 1913), a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
 * William Dudley Foulke (LL.B. 1871), reformer; principal reformers, New York State and federal civil service systems; early president, American Suffrage Association
 * Ruth Bader Ginsburg (LL.B.), women's rights advocate, co-founded the Women's Rights Law Reporter; co-authored the first law school casebook on sex discrimination; as chief litigator of the ACLU's women's rights project, she argued six(?) cases before the U.S. Supreme Court
 * Jack Greenberg (B.A. 1945, LL.B. 1948), second President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; argued 40 civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
 * Arthur Garfield Hays (LL.B. 1905), civil liberties activist, general counsel for the ACLU, notable trials included Scopes Trial, trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, and Scottsboro case
 * Dorothy Height (grad. study), was an American administrator, educator, and social activist; president, National Council of Negro Women for forty years; Presidential Medal of Freedom; Congressional Gold Medal
 * Charles Evans Hughes, one of the co-founders of the National Conference of Christians and Jews to oppose the Ku Klux Klan, anti-Catholicism, and anti-Semitism
 * Ben Jealous (B.A.), Rhodes Scholar; president and chief executive officer, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (2008–)
 * Wang Juntao (Ph.D. Pol. Sci., 2006), one of alleged heads of 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
 * Steve Kelly, legal advocate for litigants who could not afford an attorney and for public housing tenants; consumer advocate
 * Rushworth Kidder (Ph.D.), founded the Institute for Global Ethics
 * William Kunstler (LL.B. 1948), civil rights and human rights activist; director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (1964–1972); co-founded, Center for Constitutional Rights
 * Eugene Lang (M.S. 1940), philanthropist, Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * Charles K. Lexow, first attorney for the Legal Aid Society of New York City; brother of Clarence Lexow (class of 1872)
 * Li Lu (1996), one of the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests, first student at Columbia to simultaneously receive B.A., M.B.A., and J.D. degrees
 * Meghan McCain (B.A. 2007), blogger and daughter of Arizona senator John McCain
 * Vilma Socorro Martínez, served for almost ten years as president and general counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
 * James Meredith (L.B. 1968), American civil rights movement figure, first African American student at the University of Mississippi
 * Constance Baker Motley (LL.B. 1946), attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (1945–64); Manhattan Borough president (1964–66)
 * Kelly Overton, animal rights activist
 * Antonia Pantoja (M.S. 1954), Presidential Medal of Freedom; educator, social worker, feminist, civil rights leader and founder of ASPIRA
 * Marshall Perlin (LL.B. 1942), civil liberties lawyer, defended Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
 * Anika Rahman (J.D. 1990), president and CEO, Ms. Foundation for Women (2/2011)
 * Paul Rapoport (J.D. 1965), co-founder of the New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center and the Gay Men's Health Crisis
 * Michael Ratner (J.D. 1969), human rights activist on national and international level, current president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (co-founded by William Kunstler in 1969), the National Law Journal named him as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States (2006)
 * Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf (B.A. nuclear engineering, 1969), American Sufi imam, author, and activist
 * Isaac Rice, U.S. chess patron
 * Paul Robeson (LL.B. 1923), civil and human rights activist, international social justice activist, writer, Spingarn Medal
 * Theodore Roosevelt, progressive reformer, conservationist, a leader of the Republican Party and the Progressive Party
 * Herbert L. Rosedale (B.A. 1953, LL.M. 1956), one of the foremost anti-cult activist in the United States
 * Menachem Z. Rosensaft (1979), a leader of the Second Generation Movement of children of Jewish survivors
 * Brad R. Roth (LL.M. 1992), social and human rights activist, critic of torture policies in the administration of George W. Bush
 * Charles Ruthenberg (1909), founder of the Communist Party of America (1919)
 * Mikheil Saakashvili (LL.M. 1994), founder and leader of the United National Movement in Georgia (country), leader of the bloodless "Rose Revolution"
 * Alex Safian, co-director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
 * Theodore Shaw, civil rights leader, attorney, and educator; former 5th President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
 * Arthur B. Spingarn (A.B. 1897), leader in fight for civil rights for African Americans, third president NAACP
 * Joel Elias Spingarn (A.B. 1895), educator, literary critic, and civil rights activist; second president NAACP; established Spingarn Medal
 * Leon Sullivan (M.A. 1947), Presidential Medal of Freedom; civil rights activist, anti-apartheid activist, long-time GM Board Member, and Baptist Minister
 * Franklin A. Thomas, president of the Ford Foundation (1976–1991)
 * Faye Wattleton (M.S. 1967), president of the Center for the Advancement of Women, National Women's Hall of Fame
 * Judith Vladeck (1947), civil rights advocate, particularly on behalf of women; helped set new legal precedents against sex discrimination and age discrimination
 * Charles Weltner (1950), advocate for racial equality, second individual to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award

Fictional characters

 * Grace Adler — Will & Grace
 * Marshall Eriksen — (alumnus of Columbia Law School) How I Met Your Mother
 * Ross Geller — (has a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University) Friends
 * Saskia Kupferberg—(attended Columbia College, Columbia University) The Sopranos
 * Alex Mercer—(alumna of Columbia University) from the video game Prototype
 * Peter Parker — (Columbia University physics student) in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films
 * Meadow Soprano —(alumna of Columbia College, Columbia University) The Sopranos
 * Asuka Sugo—(Columbia University alumna) Future GPX Cyber Formula
 * Jessie Spano — Saved by the Bell
 * Will Truman — Will & Grace
 * Jeff Winger of the NBC television series Community (TV series) whose diploma from Columbia Law School is discovered to be from the country of Colombia and forced to attend Greendale Community College in the pilot
 * Dr. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, Leader of the Marvel Comics superhero team the Fantastic Four
 * Dr. Victor Von Doom, Dr. Doom, Marvel Comics supervillain
 * Matthew Murdock, Esq., Columbia Law School, Marvel Comics superhero Daredevil

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