List of Wellesley College people

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.

The following is a list of individuals associated with Wellesley College through attending as a student, or serving as a member of the faculty or staff. Dates indicate the year of graduation.

Notable alumnae

Academia

• Virginia Abernethy, 1955 – anthropologist
• Michele Moody-Adams, 1978 – dean, Columbia College
• Patricia Bizzell, 1970 – professor of English
• Claudia Lauper Bushman, 1956 – historian
• Margaret Clapp, 1930 – former president, Wellesley College
• Frances Daly Fergusson, 1965 – former president, Vassar College
• Margaret Henderson Floyd – art historian
• Wendy Lee Gramm, 1966 – economist
• Marjorie Grene, 1931 – philosopher, one of the first philosophers to raise questions about the synthetic theory of evolution
• Carolyn Gold Heilbrun , 1947 – professor of English literature at Columbia University, and mystery novelist under the name "Amanda Cross"
• Ayesha Jalal, 1978 – historian, 1998 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• Amalie Kass, 1949 – historian
• Nannerl O. Keohane , 1961 – political theorist, university president
• Rosalind E. Krauss, 1962 – art critic, professor, theorist
• Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz , 1963 – historian
• Phyllis Williams Lehmann, 1934 – archaeologist
• Jean Kilbourne , 1964 – author, expert on the image of women in advertising
• Mary Lefkowitz , 1957 – classical scholar
• Helen Abbot Merrill, 1886 – mathematician
• Winifred Edgerton Merrill, 1883 – mathematician, first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics
• Ellen Fitz Pendleton, 1886 – mathematician, former president of Wellesley College
• Mary Lyndon Shanley, 1966 – legal scholar, professor of political science at Vassar College
• Ellen Umansky, 1972 – professor of Judaic studies
• Diana Chapman Walsh, 1966 – former president, Wellesley College
• Ernestine Wiedenbach, 1922 – nursing theorist
• Patricia J. Williams , 1972 – law professor at Columbia University, recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship

Art

• Molly Bang , 1965 -, illustrator
• Anita Berrizbeitia, 1980 – landscape architect
• Emilie Benes Brzezinski , 1953 – sculptor, wife of Zbigniew Brzezinski
• Katherine K. Davis , 1914 -, composer, pianist, and author of the famous Christmas tune "The Little Drummer Boy".
• Mary Rockwell Hook, 1900 – architect
• Jennifer Maestre, 1981 – sculptor
• Eleanor Raymond, 1909 – architect, designed and built the first occupied solar-powered house in the US
• Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, 1957 – urban planner, landscape architect

Business

• Joan Wallace-Benjamin, 1975 – CEO of The Home for Little Wanderers
• Robin Chase, 1980 – co-founder of Zipcar
• Mary Cunningham Agee, 1973 – president, The Nurturing Network
• Heather Higgins, 1981 – nonprofit executive, political commentator
• Lois Juliber , 1971 – vice chairman of Colgate-Palmolive
• Elizabeth Parr-Johnston, 1961 – economist
• Marion Sandler, 1952 – CEO and founder of Golden West Financial
• Robin Smith, 1961 – Chairman and former CEO, Publishers Clearing House and President and GM of Dell Publishing at Doubleday
• Lulu Wang, 1966 – Founder and CEO of Tupelo Capital Management in New York. Donated $25 million to Wellesley College in 2000, the largest donation Wellesley College has ever received.

Government and public service

• Bertha Adkins, 1928 – former Undersecretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Madeleine Albright, 1959 – former United States Secretary of State
• Carolina Barco, 1973 – Colombian Ambassador to the U.S.
• Jane Bolin, 1928 – First African-American woman to become a judge
• Sophonisba Breckinridge, 1888 – activist
• Janath R. Cannon, 1939 – counselor to the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Wilma Chan, 1971 – California Democrat
• Madame Chiang Kai-shek née Soong May-ling, 1917 – former First Lady of the Republic of China
• Marguerite S. Church, 1915 – U.S. Representative from Illinois
• Hillary Rodham Clinton, 1969 – United States Secretary of State, former U.S. Senator (D-New York), former First Lady of the United States
• Ophelia Dahl, 1994 – executive director of Partners In Health, daughter of children's author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal
• Molly Dewson, 1897 – feminist, political activist
• Carolyn Dykema, 1989 – Massachusetts state representative
• Christine Durham, 1967 – chief justice, Utah Supreme Court
• Susan Estrich, 1974 – lawyer, professor, author, feminist advocate and commentator for Fox News
• Colette Flesch, 1960 – Luxembourg politician and Olympic fencer
• Cynthia Glassman, 1967 – commissioner of the SEC
• Susan P. Graber, 1969 – circuit judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Aurelia Harwood – philanthropist, president of Sierra Club (1927–1928)
• Farahnaz Ispahani, 1985 – member of Pakistan's parliament, spokesperson for the president of Pakistan, journalist
• Katie Johnson, 2003 – personal secretary to President Barack Obama
• Amalya Lyle Kearse, 1959 – judge, United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit, five time U.S. Champion bridge player
• Nancy K. Kopp, 1965 – Treasurer of Maryland
• Henrietta Wells Livermore (1864–1933), 1887 – suffragette
• Sandra L. Lynch, 1968 – chief judge, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Lindsey Miller-Lerman, 1968 – justice, Nebraska Supreme Court
• Mary V. Mochary, 1963 – attorney and Republican politician, formerly mayor of Montclair, New Jersey
• Helen Barrett Montgomery, 1884 – women's rights activist, church leader, Bible translator
• Alicia Haydock Munnell, 1964 – economist
• Helen O'Bannon, 1961 – economist
• Anne W. Patterson, 1971 – former Acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
• Ruth Baker Pratt, 1898 – congresswoman from 1929 to 1933, first woman elected to Congress from New York
• Reena Raggi, 1973 – U.S. federal judge
• Diane Ravitch, 1960 – historian, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education
• Desiree Rogers, 1981 – public relations executive, White House Social Secretary
• Vanessa Ruiz, 1972 – associate judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• Michele J. Sison, 1981 – American diplomat, US Ambassador to Lebanon since 2008

Journalism

• Marian Burros, 1954 – New York Times food columnist and cookbook author
• Michelle Caruso-Cabrera , 1991 – reporter for CNBC, winner of an Emmy Award
• Kimberly Dozier , 1987 – correspondent for CBS News, winner of the Peabody Award (2008)
• Elizabeth Drew, 1957 – political journalist
• Nikki Finke, 1975 – entertainment/media journalist, deadline.com
• Geneva Overholser, 1970 – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, director of the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication
• Page Hopkins – journalist, co-anchor on Fox News and anchor on NBC/MSNBC
• Robin Reisig, 1966 – print journalist, lecturer at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
• Cokie Roberts , 1964 – senior news correspondent at National Public Radio, winner of the Emmy Award (1991) and Edward R. Murrow Award (1990), former host at ABC This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts
• Carla Robbins, 1974, journalist, member of the NY Times Editorial Board
• Marion K. Sanders, 1925 – journalist, editor of Harper's Magazine
• Diane Sawyer , 1967 – journalist, host of ABC Good Morning America, winner of a 2004 George Polk award for excellence in journalism
• Susan Sheehan , 1958 – journalist, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (1983)
• Lynn Sherr , 1963 – correspondent for ABC 20/20, co-winner of the Peabody Award (1994)
• Marilyn Silverstone, 1950 – photo-journalist and Buddhist nun
• Jennifer Vanasco, 1994 – syndicated columnist and theater critic
• Linda Wertheimer , 1965 – journalist, National Public Radio, winner of the DuPont-Columbia Award (1978) for excellence in journalism

Literature

• Harriet Stratemeyer Adams , 1914 – author of Nancy Drew series, pen name Carolyn Keene –
• Lisa Alther, 1966 – author, novelist
• Katharine Lee Bates , 1880 – author of the words to the anthem America the Beautiful
• Carol Bly , 1951 – short story author, essayist
• Florence Converse, 1893 – author
• Diane Mott Davidson (attended but later transferred to another college), mystery writer
• Marjory Stoneman Douglas , 1912 – conservationist and writer
• Norma Farber, 1931 – children's book writer and poet
• Rosario Ferré, 1960 – poet
• Alex Finlayson, 1973 – playwright
• Abigail Garner , 1997 – author of Families Like Mine
• Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, 1959 – nonfiction writer
• Lisa Kleypas , 1986 – romance novelist, former Miss Massachusetts
• Judith Krantz , 1948 – novelist
• Helen Hooven Santmyer , 1918 – writer
• Jane Langton, 1944 – mystery writer, author of children's literature
• Judith Martin , 1959 – newspaper columnist (Miss Manners)
• Jean Merrill, 1945 – author and editor of children's books
• Santha Rama Rau, 1945 – travel writer
• Mildred Savage , 1941 – novelist
• Nayantara Pandit Sahgal , 1947, novelist, niece of Jawaharlal Nehru and cousin of Indira Gandhi
• Cathy Song, 1977 – poet
• Reetika Vazirani 1984 – poet
• Bing Xin, 1926 – Chinese poet, essayist, short-story writer
• Ann Zwinger, 1946 – natural history writer
• Ira Trivedi,2006 - novelist

Media and entertainment

• Laura Allen, 1996 – actress, All My Children, Mona Lisa Smile
• Barbara Babcock , 1960 – actress
• Blanche Baker , 1978 – Emmy-winning actress and sculptress – aka Blanche Garfein, aka Blanche Van Dusen
• Kay B. Barrett, 1924 – highly influential Hollywood talent scout and agent, brought Gone With The Wind to the screen
• Lizzie Borden (filmmaker) – filmmaker
• Adele Buck , 1912 – silent film actress aka Vedah Bertram
• Debra Chasnoff, 1978 – filmmaker
• Phyllis Curtin, 1943 – opera singer
• Suzanne Davis (pianist), 1976 – jazz pianist
• Jo Duffy – editor and writer of comic books
• Nora Ephron , 1962 – movie screenplay writer (When Harry Met Sally...), writer and director (Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail)
• Nancy Friday, 1955 – author
• Daisy Gardner , 1997 – television writer
• Barbara Lea, 1951 – actress and singer
• Ellen Levine, 1964 – editor, first woman editor of Good Housekeeping, editor Redbook, Woman's Day, Cosmopolitan
• Wendy Liebman, 1983 – stand-up comedian
• Ali MacGraw , 1960 – actress
• Anne Revere, 1926 – film, stage, television actress, whose career was cut short by the 1950s Communist blacklist
• Elisabeth Shue (transferred to Harvard), actress
• Natalie Sleeth , 1952 – composer
• Suz Slezak, 2003 - musician, David Wax Museum
• Alice Stewart Trillin, 1960 – author, educator, film producer
• Michelle Yip , 1998 – Chinese actress, left before graduation to pursue an acting career in Hong Kong after winning Miss Chinese International Pageant
• Patricia Zipprodt 1946 , Tony Award-winning costume designer –

Science and Medicine

• Leah Allen, M.A. 1912 – astronomer
• JudyAnn Bigby, 1973 – internist, Secretary of Health and Human Services (Massachusetts)
• Annie Jump Cannon , 1884 – astronomer, developed the well-known Harvard Classification of stars based upon temperature
• Florence Meier Chase, 1924 - botanist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
• Harriet Creighton, 1929 – botanist, geneticist, educator, with Barbara McClintock proved that genetic recombination occurred through chromosomal crossover
• Jane Fay Desforges, 1942 – hematologist, associate editor, New England Journal of Medicine
• Louise Dolan, 1971 – mathematical physicist, cosmological and superstring theorist
• Persis Drell , 1977 – physicist, director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator
• Muriel Gardiner, 1922 – psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, likely the basis for the character "Julia" in Lillian Hellman's "Pentimento"
• Winifred Goldring, 1909 – pioneering female paleontologist
• Terri Grodzicker, 1963 – molecular geneticist, virologist, Dean of Academic Affairs, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Judith Goslin Hall, 1961 – pediatrician and clinical geneticist
• Harriet Louise Hardy, 1928 – pioneer in occupational health, first woman to become a full professor at Harvard Medical School
• Erna Schneider Hoover, 1932 – computer scientist, invented computer switching of telephone traffic at Bell Labs
• Frances L. Ilg, 1925 – pediatrician, authority on child rearing and behavior, author of classic popular books on child development
• Rebecca Lancefield, 1916 – microbiologist, developed serologic classification of beta-hemolytic streptococci
• Story Landis, 1967 – neuroscientist, Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
• Martha McClintock, 1970 – biopsychologist, discoverer of human pheremones
• Nergis Mavalvala, 1990 - astrophysicist, 2010 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• Pamela Melroy, 1983 – astronaut, space shuttle commander
• Vivan Pinn, 1963 – pathologist, Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health
• Jennifer Thaler, 1993 – professor of entomology at Cornell University
• Isabel Bassett Wasson, 1918 – petroleum geologist and National Park Service ranger
• Naomi Weisstein, 1961 – professor of psychology, neuroscientist, author
• Mary Allen Wilkes, 1959 – computer scientist, developed the concept of the operating system, first person to use a home computer

Other

• Anya Corke, 2013 – chess player, Woman Grandmaster
• Betty Freeman, 1942 – philanthropist, patron of contemporary classical music including John Cage, Phillip Glass, and Pierre Boulez
• Asma Gull Hasan, 1997 – Muslim feminist writer, lawyer
• Heidi Howkins 1989 – professional mountain climber/expedition leader, only woman to lead expeditions to both Everest and K-2
• Ruth Rowland Nichols, 1924 – aviation pioneer
• Charlotte Anita Whitney, 1889 – women's rights and political activist, suffragist, Communist Party organizer

Fictional alumnae

• Dr. Miranda Bailey, from Grey's Anatomy
• Angela Bower, from Who's The Boss?
• Beth Davenport, from The Rockford Files
• Gillian Holroyd and Merle Kittridge from the 1958 film Bell, Book and Candle
• Mary Hudson, from The Laughing Man
• Sarah McNerney, from Just Married
• Katharine Parker, from the 1988 film Working Girl
• Shirley Schmidt, named partner of Crane, Poole & Schmidt LLPfrom Boston Legal
• Allison Sugarbaker, from Designing Women
• Mia Mason, from Cashmere Mafia
• Amy Burley, from True Blood
• Daphne Zimmer, from Body of Proof
• Dr. Elizabeth Goode, from Head Case

Notable faculty

• Edith Abbott – a social worker, educator, and author
• Emily Greene Balch – economist, peace activist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• Katherine Lee Bates – Author of America the Beautiful; also Wellesley College alumna.
• Frank Bidart – poet
• Harriet Boyd-Hawes – archaeologist
• Howard Mayer Brown, musicologist
• Mary Bunting, microbiologist and academic administrator
• Mary Whiton Calkins, philosopher
• Annie Jump Cannon – astronomer
• Karl "Chip" Case – economist
• Dan Chiasson – poet
• Katharine Coman – economist
• Francis Judd Cooke – composer
• Constance DeFotis – musician
• Sirarpie Der-Nersessian – art historian
• Carlos Dorrien – sculptor
• Alicia Erian – novelist
• David Ferry – poet and translator
• Edmund Barry Gaither – art historian
• Marshall Goldman – economist and author
• June Goodfield – philosopher and historian of science
• Jorge Guillén – poet
• Kathleen Hirsch – writer
• Walter Houghton – historian of Victorian literature
• Nannerl O. Keohane – political theorist; president of the college 1981–1993; also Wellesley College alumna
• Philip L. Kohl – anthropologist
• Hedwig Kohn – physicist
• Mathilde Laigle – historian, author
• Mary Lefkowitz – classical scholar; also Wellesley College alumna
• Tom Lehrer – American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician
• Jon D. Levenson – theologian
• Peggy Levitt – sociology
• Margaret Eliza Maltby – physicist
• Julián Marías – philosopher
• Tony Martin- historian
• Mildred H. McAfee – former president of Wellesley College, first director of the WAVES
• Helen Abbot Merrill – mathematician (and alumna)
• Vladimir Nabokov – author
• James F. O'Gorman – architectural historian
• Alice Freeman Palmer – educator, first woman president of a nationally-known college (Wellesley College)
• Josephine Preston Peabody – poet, dramatist
• Ellen Fitz Pendleton – mathematician, former president of Wellesley College, alumna
• Robert Pinsky – poet
• Adrian Piper – philosopher
• Judith Roitman – mathematician
• Richard Rorty – philosopher
• Paul J. Sachs – art historian
• Allen Sapp (composer) – musician
• Alice T. Schafer – mathematician
• Alan Schechter – political scientist
• Mary Scott – biochemist, pioneer in the identification of B complex vitamins
• Vida Dutton Scudder – writer, educator, welfare activist
• Mary Sears – oceanographer
• Marilyn Sides – writer
• Emily Vermeule – art historian
• Claude Vigée – poet
• Alice Walker – author
• Sarah Frances Whiting – astronomer
• Mary Emma Woolley – Bible scholar, academic administrator