List of Hampshire College people

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

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Notable alumni

Psychologist George Bonanno

Theoretical physicist Lee Smolin

Academia

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

Environmental activist and filmmaker Shalini Kantayya

Activism

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

Arts & Design

Artist Angela Ellsworth

Cartoonist Jeph Jacques

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

Photography

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

Writers and authors

Writer Eula Biss

Writer Ethan Gilsdorf

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

Poet Peter Cole

Poets

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

Journalists

Columnist Ellis Henican

Journalist Jeff Sharlet

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

Tabletop and video games

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

Theater

Playwright Naomi Wallace

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

Dance & Performance

• Stephen Petronio, choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow

Film, television, and entertainment

Filmmaker Ken Burns

Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld

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

Actors

Actress Lupita Nyong'o

Actor Liev Schreiber

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

Politicians, diplomats, and other government officials

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

Musicians

Singer-songwriter Elliott Smith

Musician Zachary Cole Smith

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

Composers

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

Business

Seventh Generation Inc. co-founder Jeffrey Hollander

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

Law

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

Other notable alumni

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

Chefs

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

Fictional alumni

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

Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics alumni

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

Past and present faculty

Film and video

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

  

  Filmmaker Penny Lane

Photography

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

Visual arts

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

Jazz musician Yusef Lateef

Theater

• Josephine Abady, theater director

Music

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

Politics

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

Historian Anson Rabinbach

History

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

Anthropologist Aihwa Ong

Anthropology

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

Psychology

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

Writing and Journalism

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

Writer James Baldwin

Poetry

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

Mathematics and Science

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

Ecology

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

Other

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

Presidents

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