List of Tufts University people

The following is a partial, incomplete list of notable Tufts University people. It includes alumni, professors, and others associated with Tufts University, a private research university in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts, USA. See also Tufts University alumni.

Notable alumni

Select Tufts alumni New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, class of 1970 Massachusetts Senator, Scott Brown, class of 1981 Former Prime Minister of Greece Kostas Karamanlis Ph.D. Political Science eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, class of 1988 DuPont CEO Ellen J. Kullman, class of 1978 Actor and voice actor Hank Azaria, class of 1987 Academy Award-winning actor William Hurt, class of 1972 Today Show host Meredith Vieira, class of 1975 Alternative rock band Guster, composed of Tufts graduates

Government and politics

• Rafeeuddin Ahmed, former UN Under Secretary General and Pakistan foreign service officer
• Bolaji Akinyemi, former Nigerian Minister of External Affairs
• Kow Nkensen Arkaah, Vice President of Ghana from 1993 to 1997
• Shafi U Ahmed, Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
• Doug Bailey, American political strategist who founded The Hotline and Unity08
• Anthony Banbury, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support
• Francis X. Bellotti, former Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General of Massachusetts
• C. Fred Bergsten, former Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Council on Foreign Relations
• Jeb Bradley, former U.S. Representative from New Hampshire
• Scott Brown, member of the United States Senate
• Barbara Bodine, former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen and Kuwait
• Richard Boucher, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and chief spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, ambassador to Cyprus, and Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong
• Jay Byrne, American political strategist and former White House spokesperson
• Horace T. Cahill, former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
• Elmer Hewitt Capen, former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives while an undergraduate at Tufts College (now Tufts University) and third president of Tufts College
• John L. Carroll, former Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama and Dean of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law
• Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. State Department
• Anson Chan Fang On-sang (陳方安生), prominent Hong Kong politician. She is both the first woman and the first Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong.
• Musa Javed Chohan, former Pakistani Ambassador to France
• General Seldon Connor, former governor of Maine
• Anthony Cortese, former Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and environmental activist/researcher
• Joe Courtney, U.S. Representative from Connecticut
• HRH Prince Cedza Dlamini of Swaziland, human rights activist and grandson of Nelson Mandela
• Peter DeFazio, U.S. Representative from Oregon
• Michael Dobbs, former Chief of Staff of the British Conservative party and political thriller novelist
• General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Forces
• Shashi Tharoor, Former UN Under-Secretary General and currently India's Minister for External Affairs
• J. Adam Ereli, U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain
• Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and former Ambassador to Lebanon
• Michael E. Festa, former member of the Mass. House of Representatives and Massachusetts Secretary of Elder Affairs
• Ralph Adam Fine, Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge
• Colette Flesch, Luxembourgian politician and Olympic fencing competitor
• Jean Francois-Poncet, French politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1978 to 1981
• Leslie Gelb, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Pulitzer Prize winner in Explanatory Journalism
• Shukri Ghanem, former Prime Minister of Libya
• Jack Hart, member of the Massachusetts State Senate
• John E. Herbst, U.S. State Department Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan
• General Joseph P. Hoar, former commander-in-chief of the United States Central Command
• Faith S. Hochberg, federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Treasury
• Admiral Jonathan Howe, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor
• Wolfgang Ischinger, former German Ambassador to the U.S. and the U.K.
• Ismat Jahan, Bangladeshi Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the U.N., former ambassador the Netherlands
• Zhang Junsai, Chinese Ambassador to Canada
• Costas Karamanlis, prime minister of Greece
• George Keverian, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1985 until 1991
• Thomas Kean, Jr., member and Minority Leader of the New Jersey State Senate, unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate, and son of former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean
• Olga Kefalogianni, Greek politician
• Michael Kerr, Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management under Obama
• Shahryar Khan, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, author
• Jeffrey Lam, member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and Managing Director of Forward Winsome Industries
• Matthew Levitt, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Timothy Lewis, former federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Susan Livingstone, former acting U.S. Secretary of the Navy and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Installations, Logistics and Environment
• Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, Spanish politician and former Minister of Justice
• Winston Lord, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, former President of the Council on Foreign Relations
• Edwin W. Martin, former U.S. Ambassador to Burma and Consul General of the United States in Hong Kong
• Mbuyamu I. Matungulu, senior economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), former DRC Minister of Finance
• Cynthia McKinney, U.S. Representative from Georgia
• General William T. Monroe, U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain
• Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (1977–2001) and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and India
• Bernd Mützelburg, German special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan and former German ambassador to India
• Phyllis E. Oakley, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (1994–97) and Intelligence and Research (1997–99)
• John Olver, Democratic United States Representative from Massachusetts
• Vardan Oskanyan, former Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Frank Pallone, United States Representative from New Jersey since 1988
• Farah Pandith, Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the U.S. Department of State
• Thomas R. Pickering, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and Ambassador to the United Nations, Israel, and Russia
• Mitchell Reiss, former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State and United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, current President of Washington College
• Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Ambassador to the United Nations, and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate
• Iqbal Riza, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Peacekeeping and Pakistani diplomat
• Chuck Rosenberg, former United States Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia and Southern District of Texas, former Counsel to the FBI Director, former Chief of Staff to the US Deputy Attorney General, and former Counselor to the US Attorney General
• Simon Rosenberg, founder of the New Democrat Network, former candidate for chairman of the DNC
• Juan Manuel Santos, former Defense Minister of Colombia and the current President of Colombia.
• John G. Sargent, former Attorney General of the United States
• Surakiart Sathirathai, former Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Finance Minister of Thailand
• Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund, former Finance Minister of Liberia
• Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United States
• Carl M. Sciortino, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives 2004-present, Democratic Party.
• Konrad Seitz, former German Ambassador to India, Italy, and China
• Radmila Sekerinska, Deputy Prime Minister of Macedonia
• Warren Silver, Maine Supreme Court Judge
• Godfrey Smith, Belizean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Defence, and National Emergency Management
• Norman H. Stahl, judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Admiral James G. Stavridis, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of the U.S. European Command
• Laura Denvir Stith, Missouri Supreme Court Judge
• William Leon St. Onge, former U.S. Representative from Connecticut and mayor of Putnam
• John Philip Swasey, former U.S. Representative from Maine
• Shashi Tharoor, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, former U.N. Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, and prolific author
• Bill Thompson, New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate
• Malcolm Toon, former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Israel, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia
• William Bud Uanna U.S. Security and Counter Intelligence Expert
• Admiral Patrick M. Walsh, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, former U.S. Vice Chief of Naval Operations and Blue Angels aviator
• David Welch, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, former Ambassador to Egypt
• Hassan Wirajuda, Foreign Minister of Indonesia
• Philip D. Zelikow, Counselor of the U.S. State Department and Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission
• Edson Zvobgo, founder of Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu-PF and former Minister of Justice
• Phạm Bình Minh, Foreign Minister of Vietnam

Business

• Peter Ackerman, Managing Director of Rockport Capital
• Vikram Akula, founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance
• John Bello, founder and former CEO of SoBe Beverages and former President of NFL Properties
• Seamus Blackley, game developer who helped create the Microsoft Xbox
• Rob Burnett (producer), President and CEO of Worldwide Pants, Emmy Award-winning executive producer and former head writer of Late Night with David Letterman
• Dov Charney (did not finish), CEO and founder of American Apparel
• Susan Decker, former President of Yahoo!, Inc.
• Lou DiBella, founder/CEO of Dibella Entertainment, owner of The Connecticut Defenders, former head of programming for HBO Sports, TV/film producer, and boxing promoter
• Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase Corporation
• Peter R. Dolan, former CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb
• John J. Donovan, entrepreneur, founder of Cambridge Technology Partners
• Dan Doyle, Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport and former head men's basketball coach at Trinity College (Connecticut)
• Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron
• Lea Fastow née Weingarten, former Enron assistant treasurer and wife of Andrew Fastow
• Richard N. Goodwin, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, prominent political speechwriter, author, playwright, and husband of Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of GOOD Magazine and co-founder of Ethos water
• Seth Godin, marketing expert and founder of Yoyodyne and Squidoo
• Bernard Marshall Gordon, former President and CEO of Analogic Corporation, Neurologica Corporation, and Gordon Engineering Company; inventor who holds over thirty patents
• Cary Granat, co-founder and CEO of Walden Media, former president of Miramax's Dimension Division
• Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International
• Alan Hovhaness, American composer
• Meg Hourihan, co-founder of Pyra Labs, creator of Blogger
• Jeff Kindler, CEO of Pfizer Inc., former Vice President of General Electric Co. and Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations at McDonald's
• Ellen J. Kullman, CEO of DuPont
• Jeffrey Lam, Managing Director of Forward Winsome Industries and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
• Laura Lang, CEO of Time, Inc.
• Jim Manzi, former President, Chairman, and CEO of Lotus Development Corporation
• Harold McGraw III, President and CEO of McGraw-Hill Companies and Chairman of the Business Roundtable
• Umberto Milletti, CEO and co-founder of InsideView and co-founder of DigitalThink
• Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Mubadala Development Company and chairman of Manchester City F.C.
• John Martin Mugar, retired Chairman and President of Star Market
• Pierre Omidyar, billionaire founder of eBay, and his wife Pamela Omidyar
• Frederick Stark Pearson, electrical engineer and businessman
• Roy Raymond Founder of Victoria's Secret lingerie retail stores
• Shari Redstone, Vice Chairman of Viacom Inc.
• Anthony Scaramucci, Founder of SkyBridge Capital
• Neal Shapiro, Emmy Award-winning President and CEO of the PBS station WNET/WLIW New York City, former president of NBC News
• Jeff Stibel, CEO of Web.com
• David Sonenberg, Academy Award-winning movie producer and founder/head of the music management company DAS Communications Ltd
• Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher of The New York Times
• Peter Roth, CEO of Warner Brothers Television
• Ali Sabancı, member of the Sabancı family, chairman of Pegasus Airlines, Desas, and Esaslı Gıda, former Head of Projects at Sabancı Holding
• Monty Sarhan, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Cracked Entertainment
• Wendy Selig-Prieb, CEO of the Milwaukee Brewers
• Brian Shin, founder and CEO of Visible Measures`
• Ed Tapscott, former President and CEO of the Charlotte Bobcats, head coach of the NBA's Washington Wizards
• Jonathan Tisch, Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, co-owner of the New York Giants
• C. David Welch, Bechtel Regional President of Europe/Africa/Middle East/South West Asia and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
• Walter B. Wriston, Chairman and CEO of Citicorp/Citibank from 1967 to 1984

Arts and media

Film and television

• Hank Azaria, actor and voice actor most famous for his work on The Simpsons and various films
• Jessica Biel (did not finish), prominent film actress
• Rob Burnett, Emmy Award-winning executive producer and former head writer of Late Night with David Letterman, President and CEO of Worldwide Pants
• David Costabile, actor, known for his recurring roles on The Wire, Flight of the Conchords, and Breaking Bad
• Karen S. Davis, photographer/author, singer, actress, and journalist
• Chiara de Luca, French-Italian actress
• Dom DeLuise, actor, most famous for his work in Blazing Saddles and Space Balls and as host of the television show Candid Camera
• Nicole Fiscella, Gossip Girl actress and model
• Peter Gallagher, prominent Golden Globe- and SAG Award-winning actor,best known for his roles in The O.C., American Beauty, and Mr. Deeds
• Joshua Gates, host of Syfy channel's Destination Truth
• Jeff Greenstein, Emmy Award-winning TV writer and executive producer of Will & Grace
• Susan Haskell, Emmy Award-winning Canadian actress (One Life to Live)
• Dan Hedaya, film actor, best known for Clueless and Blood Simple
• William Hurt, Academy Award-winning actor, well known for roles in films such as Kiss of the Spider Woman, Broadcast News, A History of Violence, and The Incredible Hulk
• Brian Koppelman, screenwriter (Runaway Jury, Ocean's Thirteen, and The Girlfriend Experience) and producer
• Stephen Macht, TV and film actor
• Niels Mueller, film-maker (The Assassination of Richard Nixon)
• Ameesha Patel, Bollywood actress
• Oliver Platt, Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG-nominated actor (Huff, Frost/Nixon, 2012)
• Sendhil Ramamurthy, actor on Heroes
• Peter Roth, CEO of Warner Brothers Television
• Joshua Seftel, filmmaker (War Inc.)
• Justine Shapiro, American movie and tv actress who co-hosts Globe Trekker
• Ben Silverman, Co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio
• Laura Silverman, actress on The Sarah Silverman Program and sister of comedian Sarah Silverman
• David Sonenberg, Academy Award-winning movie producer and founder/head of the music management company DAS Communications Ltd
• Will Tiao, TV actor
• Steve Tisch, Academy Award-winning producer and co-owner of the New York Giants with his brother Jonathan Tisch
• Meredith Vieira, TV host of The Today Show, formerly of The View
• Aury Wallington, screenwriter and novelist
• Evan Wecksell, comedian/musician from VH1 and E!
• Rainn Wilson (did not finish), actor and co-star of The Office
• Gary Winick, film director (Tadpole, Charlotte's Web) and producer

Music

• Matt Ballinger, actor and boy band singer (Dream Street)
• Tracy Chapman, multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter
• Slaid Cleaves, folk musician
• Paul DeGeorge, member of the band Harry and the Potters
• Ezra Furman, front man of the band "Ezra Furman and the Harpoons"
• Adam Gardner, guitarist and vocalist for the band Guster
• Matt Glaser, American jazz and bluegrass violinist, former chair of the string department at the Berklee College of Music
• Don Grolnick, noted jazz pianist and composer
• Guster, American alternative rock band
• Jester Hairston, composer, conductor, and actor
• Erik Lindgren, composer and musician
• Jim Nollman, composer, musician, and author involved with animal communications
• Ryan Miller (musician), lead singer and guitarist for rock band Guster
• Charles North, American poet
• Daniel Pritzker, guitarist and songwriter for Sonia Dada, member of the Pritzker family
• Pete Robbins, jazz saxophonist
• Brian Rosenworcel, drummer for the band Guster
• Eric Schwartz, folk singer/songwriter
• Deke Sharon, prominent a cappella singer, composer, and teacher
• Darrell Scott, country singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

Writing and literature

• Jessica Anderson, award-winning Australian author
• Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Author and Professor
• Ian C. Ballon, author of several Internet law books, including a 4-volume treatise
• Cathy Bao Bean, author of The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual
• Ruben Bolling aka Ken Fisher, nationally syndicated cartoonist
• John Ciardi, poet and translator
• Cid Corman, poet, translator, and poetry journal editor
• George Michael Cuomo, American author
• Barbara Delinsky, prolific New York Times-bestselling author
• Michael Dobbs, former Chief of Staff of the British Conservative party and political thriller novelist
• Christopher Golden, horror, fantasy, and suspense novelist
• Cary Granat, co-founder and CEO of Walden Media, former president of Miramax's Dimension Division
• Christopher Lawford, actor and New York Times-bestselling author, nephew of former president John Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Bette Bao Lord, Chinese-American author and civic activist
• William MacDonald, prolific Christian author
• Gregory Maguire, author of the novels Wicked (later adapted into a successful musical) and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
• Maliha Masood, award-winning author
• Anita Shreve, award-winning author
• Darin Strauss, award-winning novelist
• Wylie Sypher, American writer
• Nathanael West (did not finish), author and screenwriter
• Ellen Emerson White, writer whose first book was published while she was a senior at Tufts

Non-fiction writing and journalism

• William M. Abrams, senior executive and journalist for the New York Times, ABC News and The Wall Street Journal
• Kara Kennedy Allen, VSA producer and daughter of Ted Kennedy
• Erin Arvedlund, author and financial journalist
• Matt Bai, author and political reporter for the New York Times Magazine
• Dick Berggren, motorsports announcer, magazine editor, and racecar driver
• Anthony Everett, news anchor for WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate of Boston, Mass
• David Faber, CNBC market analyst and host of Squawk on the Street
• Adam Felber, political satirist, radio personality, and humorist
• Leslie Gelb, Pulitzer Prize-winner in Explanatory Journalism (1985), former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations
• Michelle Gielan, anchor of CBS Morning News and Up to the Minute
• Lilia Luciano, Puerto Rican actress and TV reporter working in Spanish language television in the United States
• Tony Massarotti, sportswriter for The Boston Globe and author
• Melissa Russo, TV news anchor for WNBC-TV News Channel 4 in New York City
• Neal Shapiro, Emmy Award-winning President and CEO of the PBS station WNET/WLIW New York City, former president of NBC News
• Atika Shubert, Jerusalem bureau chief for CNN
• Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of The New York Times
• Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of American history

Other

• Dan Barber, Chef and Co-Owner of Blue Hill Restaurant
• Garnett Bruce, prominent American opera director
• Seamus Blackley, video game developer
• Charles S. Cohen, CEO of Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation
• Nancy Holt, award-winning artist and sculptor
• Kara Kennedy, film maker, social activist, daughter of Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
• Mark Krikorian, the executive director of Center for Immigration Studies and conservative pundit
• Staś Kmieć, renowned theater and dance choreographer, dancer, and the foremost U.S. authority on Polish folk dance and culture
• Jim McNitt, mixed-media painter and photographer
• Susan Morse, first female president of the Olympic Club in San Francisco
• Shari Redstone, Vice Chairman of Viacom Inc.
• Monty Sarhan, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Cracked Entertainment Sathirathai

Sciences and academia

• Hady Amr, policy analyst and author specializing in U.S.-Arab relations
• Lisa Anderson (scholar), Provost of the American University in Cairo and Middle East political scholar
• Stephen Moulton Babcock, agricultural chemist who pioneered the development of nutrition as a science
• Frank N. Blanchard, influential herpetologist and zoologist
• Arnaud Blin, French historian and political scientist
• Vannevar Bush, engineer and scientist noted for his work on the atom bomb and early computing
• Elmer Hewitt Capen, third president of Tufts College (now Tufts University) and former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives while an undergraduate at Tufts College
• Leonard Carmichael, ninth president of Tufts University, former secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Vice President for Research and Exploration at the National Geographic Society
• John L. Carroll, Dean of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law and former Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama
• Sean B. Carroll, influential researcher and professor of evolutionary developmental biology
• Anthony Cortese, environmental activist/researcher and former Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
• John Albert Cousens, sixth president of Tufts College (later Tufts University)
• Ram Dass, aka Richard Alpert, former Harvard psychology professor involved with the Harvard Psilocybin Project
• Robert Daum, director of the Iona Pacific Inter-Religious Centre at the Vancouver School of Theology
• Dan Ehrenkrantz, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and influential American rabbi
• John E. Endicott, co-president of Woosong University and American foreign policy analyst specializing in security issues
• Eugene Fama, economist particularly known for his work on portfolio theory and asset pricing
• Lewis M. Feldstein, Co-Chairman of the Saguaro Seminar and President of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
• Matt Glaser, former chair of the string department at the Berklee College of Music, American jazz and bluegrass violinis
• Hollis Godfrey, second president of Drexel University
• Frederick Grinnell (biologist) (1945), cell biologist, bio-ethicist, shortlist 2010 Royal Society Prizes for Science Books
• Bernard Marshall Gordon, inventor who holds over thirty patents, former President and CEO of Analogic Corporation, Neurologica Corporation, and Gordon Engineering Company
• Frederick W. Hamilton, fourth president of Tufts College (later Tufts University)
• Rick Hauck, American astronaut
• Bartholomew W. Hogan, former Surgeon General of the United States Navy and Deputy Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association
• Thomas L. Hopkins, progressive education professor and theorist
• William Leslie Hooper, acting president of Tufts College (later Tufts University) between the terms of the fourth and fifth elected presidents
• Leonard George Horowitz, radical health theorist and author
• Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons and Executive Director of MIT Media Lab
• Hassan Jawahery, American-Iranian physicist and former spokesperon for the BaBar experiment
• David W. Kennedy, Vice President of International Affairs at Brown University and legal scholar
• Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, frequent terrorism pundit, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Roderick MacKinnon, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels
• Mahmood Mamdani, African political expert and professor
• Colette Mazzucelli, professor of international affairs
• Kathleen McCartney (dean), Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and developmental psychologist
• Helen Abbott Michael, organic chemist
• George Stewart Miller, acting president of Tufts College (later Tufts University) between the terms of the sixth and seventh elected presidents
• Frederick Nelson, mechanical engineer and professor
• Padraig O'Malley, professor of international studies specializing in the problems of divided societies
• Martin Theodore Orne, psychiatry and psychology professor/researcher
• Juan Manuel García Passalacqua, Puerto Rican policy analyst and author
• Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and expert on rainforest ecosystems
• Joseph W. Polisi, president of The Juilliard School
• Joanne Pransky, robotics expert
• Victor Prather, US Navy surgeon, set the current altitude record for manned balloon flight with Malcolm Ross in 1961
• John Reif, computer science, nanotechnology, and DNA researcher/professor
• Mitchell Reiss, Vice-Provost of International Affairs at The College of William and Mary, former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State and United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland
• Lew Rockwell, libertarian political activist and Chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute
• Ellery Schempp, physicist and political activist
• Albert J. Simone, former President of Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Hawaii system.
• Phillip Hagar Smith, inventor of the Smith chart, a graphical aid to assist in solving problems with transmission lines and matching circuits.
• Richard J. Smith (anthropologist), Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, influential anthropologist and dentist.
• Fred Tanner, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and professor/theorist of international affairs.
• John Q. Trojanowski, prominent neurological researcher/professor specializing in degenerative diseases
• Frankie Trull, prominent lobbyist/science advocate focusing on laboratory animal testing, president of the National Association for Biomedical Research, Foundation for Biomedical Research, and Policy Directions Inc.
• Norman Wengert, political scientist and professor
• Norbert Wiener, mathematician known as the founder of cybernetics
• Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of American history.

Athletics

• Bob Backus, Olympic track and field athlete who set world records in the hammer throw
• John Bello, former President of NFL Properties
• Dick Berggren, motorsports announcer, racecar driver, and magazine editor
• Wally Clement, professional baseball player
• Harrie Dadmun, professional American football player
• Lou DiBella, boxing promoter, founder/CEO of Dibella Entertainment, former head of programming for HBO Sports, TV/film producer, and owner of the minor league baseball team The Connecticut Defenders
• Dan Doyle, Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport and former head men's basketball coach at Trinity College (Connecticut)
• Frederick M. Ellis, athlete, coach, professor, head football coach at Tufts from 1946 to 1952
• Colette Flesch, Luxembourgian politician and three-time Olympic fencing competitor
• Chuck Greenberg, an American sports attorney and chairman and founder of the Greenberg Sports Group.
• William Grinnell, American football player and former head football coach at Northeastern University
• Doc Haggerty, professional American football player
• Doc Hazleton, professional baseball player
• Michelle Kwan, Olympic figure skater
• Jim Lonborg, Cy Young Award-winning pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
• Tony Massarotti, sportswriter for The Boston Globe and author
• David Mendelblatt, yachtsman and ophthalmologist
• Mark Mendelblatt, yachtsman, three-time college All-American, silver medalist at 1999 Pan American Games and 2004 Laser World Championships
• Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chairman of Manchester City F.C. and CEO of Mubadala Development Company
• Percy S. Prince, former Louisiana Tech head football and baseball coach and Major in the United States Army during World War I
• Harry Orman Robinson, former head coach of American football at UT-Austin and UMissouri-Columbia
• Wendy Selig-Prieb, former CEO of the Milwaukee Brewers and daughter of Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball
• Heinie Stafford, professional baseball player
• Ed Tapscott, former head coach of the Washington Wizards
• Jonathan Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants and Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels
• Shane Waldron, tight ends coach for the New England Patriots
• Katherine Haley Will, thirteenth (and first female) president of Gettysburg College and former chair of the Annapolis Group
• Art Williams (outfielder) major league baseball player
• Peter Wylde, Olympic Gold Medalist in Team Horse Jumping

Criminal activity

• Elaine Brown, tax protestor involved in a 5-month armed standoff
• Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron
• Lea Fastow née Weingarten, former Enron assistant treasurer and wife of Andrew Fastow
• Gina Grant, matricide
• Jonathan Pollard (did not graduate), Israeli-American spy
• Harry Sagansky, member of the Jewish Mafia who is the oldest organized crime figure to serve a federal prison term
• Jon Schillaci (did not graduate), convicted sex offender previously listed as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

Notable faculty

• Tadatoshi Akiba, mathematics professor (1972–1986), Japanese politician and activist
• Nalini Ambady, social psychologist, famous for pioneering and coining thin-slicing
• Jody Azzouni, logician, philosopher of mathematics
• Lawrence S. Bacow, economist
• Hugo Adam Bedau, ethicist, editor of Civil Disobedience: Theory and Practice (1969) and specialist on the ethical implications of the death penalty
• Stephen W. Bosworth, Dean of the Fletcher School, currently serving as Secretary of State Clinton's Special Representative for North Korea Policy
• Jay Cantor, author, screenwriter
• Lauro Cavazos, former U.S. Secretary of Education and president of Texas Tech University
• Antonia Chayes, Professor of International Politics and Law, former United States Under Secretary of the Air Force
• Allan M. Cormack (1924–1998), physicist, Nobel Prize recipient, inventor of the CAT scan
• Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher, author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Consciousness Explained
• John J. Donovan, entrepreneur, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (1973–1983)
• Daniel W. Drezner, Professor of International Politics, regular featured columnist in Foreign Policy Magazine
• Lee Edelman, English professor, author of No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive
• Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, history professor
• John Galvin (1995–2000), General and former Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
• Frank Pierrepont Graves, noted historian of education
• Margaret Henderson Floyd, art historian and author of Henry Hobson Richardson and other books on architectural history
• Joseph Igersheimer German, *1879 †1965, ophthalmologist, famous in Turkey
• Ayesha Jalal, historian of South Asia, MacArthur fellow, Carnegie scholar
• Ray Jackendoff, linguist, author of Foundations of Language
• Sheldon Krimsky
• Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Poet Laureate of the United States 1981-1982
• Alfred Church Lane, geologist
• Louis Lasagna, former Dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences and Academic Dean of the School of Medicine, known for introducing the modern Hippocratic Oath
• Philip Levine, Pulitzer Prize winning poet and National Book Award recipient.
• Franklin M. Loew, former Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine
• William C. Martel – Associate Professor of International Security Studies
• William Green Miller, Professor and Associate Dean, United States Ambassador to Ukraine from 1993 to 1998
• William Moulton Marston, died 1947, taught briefly at Tufts in the 1920s, creator of Wonder Woman
• Haruki Murakami, Japanese author
• Adil Najam, international negotiation and diplomacy
• Vali Nasr, Iranian-American academic and scholar, as well as Associate Chair of Research at the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Author of The Shia Revival. Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
• Raymond S. Nickerson, psychologist and author
• Martin Sherwin, Walter S. Dickson professor of English and American History, Pulitzer Prize winner for biography on J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Robert Sternberg, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and eminent psychologist, President of the APA
• John H. Sununu, former Dean of the College of Engineering, conservative U.S. politician
• Barry Trimmer, professor of Biology, invented (with David Kaplan) the world's first soft bodied robot
• Alexander Vilenkin, leading theoretical physicist
• Jonathan Wilson, author
• Wayne Winterrowd (1941-2010), horticulturist and author known for his lush gardens in Southern Vermont.

Fictional characters

• Elaine Benes, from the television show Seinfeld
• Jennifer Melfi, played by Lorraine Bracco, from the television show The Sopranos