List of University of California, Riverside people
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This is a list of notable alumni and faculty of the University of California, Riverside.
Notable alumni
Nobel laureates
- Richard R. Schrock – Chemistry, 2005, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Academia, science, and technology
- Peter Adriaens – professor of engineering and entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan
- Leonard Beeghley – professor of sociology at University of Florida
- Neil Campbell – scientist known best for his best-selling Biology textbook
- Mason Gaffney – professor of economics and prominent Georgist
- Harmohinder Singh Gill – plant pathologist who pioneered fungus classification by disc electrophoresis
- Matthew Haughey – blogger and founder of MetaFilter
- Marigold Linton – director of American Indian outreach at the University of Kansas
- Gary North – economist and author
- Arthur Riggs – director of the Beckman Research Institute and former geneticist with Genentech and father of modern biotechnology
- Pedram Salimpour – physician-scientist, author, and professor
- Peter Steinberger – Dean of the Faculty at Reed College, Robert H. and Blanche Day Ellis Professor of Political Science and Humanities
- Tim White – professor of integrative biology and research, paleoanthropologist
- Jennifer Wilby – director of the Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull
- Charles E. Young – first UCR student body president and former chancellor at the University of California, Los Angeles
Arts, film, and literature
- Earl W. Bascom – inventor, actor, rodeo cowboy, Hall of Fame inductee, international artist and sculptor
- Amine Bouhafa – Tunisian composer and engineer, winner of the 2015 César Award for Best Music for the movie Timbuktu
- Steve Breen – 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
- Jamie Chung – actress, TV series The Real World: San Diego and films, such as I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Sorority Row, Grown Ups, The Hangover II
- Billy Collins – eleventh US Poet Laureate
- Katherine Fugate – screenwriter Valentine's Day and creator of Army Wives TV series
- Elizabeth George – mystery writer
- Barbara Hambly – novelist and screenwriter
- Howard Hendrix – novelist
- Ryan Holiday – author of Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator; director of marketing for American Apparel
- Lisa Kekaula – lead singer for The Bellrays
- Patricia Ja Lee – actress known for role as Cassie Chan as the Pink Ranger in the television series Power Rangers: Turbo and Power Rangers in Space
- Nakul Dev Mahajan – choreographer
- Daryl F. Mallett – author, editor, publisher
- Steve Nguyen – film director, producer
- Ruben Quesada – poet
- Lindsay Ridgeway – actress, Boy Meets World
- Charlyne Yi – actress, comedian, and performance artist (Knocked Up)
Athletics
- Michael Basinger – former professional football player for the Green Bay Packers
- Jennifer Bermingham – golfer
- Pat Hill – head football coach of Fresno State
- Butch Johnson – former professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos
- Joe Kelly – Major League pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
- John Lowenstein – former Major League Baseball player
- Steve Lubratich – former Major League Baseball player and current Cleveland Indians Special Assistant to the GM
- AnnMaria De Mars, 1984 Judo World Champion, mother of Ronda Rousey
- Brenda Martinez – track and field athlete
- Gary McCord – professional golfer, CBS announcer and analyst and won the DII individual golf championship in 1970
- Troy Percival – all-time saves leader for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- Dan Runzler – Major League pitcher for the San Francisco Giants
- Marc Rzepczynski – Major League pitcher for the San Diego Padres
- Michael Salazar – professional MLS football player for the Montreal Impact
- Eric Show – former professional baseball player for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics
- Chris Smith – Major League pitcher for the Oakland Athletics
- Erasmo Solorzano – professional MLS football player for the Chivas USA acquired in the 2007 draft
- Brendan Steele – professional golfer on the PGA Tour
Business, politics, and law
- David S. Cunningham, Jr. – Los Angeles City Council member, 1973–87
- Eduardo Garcia – current California State Assemblyman for the 56th District
- Gloria Romero – former State Senate Majority Whip, former California Assembly member, 49th District
- Holly J. Mitchell – current California State Senator for the 30th and 26th (2013-2014) District, former California State Assemblymember to the 54th and 47th (2010-2012) Districts
- Jose Medina – current California State Assemblyman for the 61st District
- Julie Furuta-Toy – current U.S. Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea
- Ken Mettler – past President of the California Republican Assembly
- Lloyd Levine – former California State Assemblyman for the 40th District
- Marc Steinorth – current California State Assemblyman for the 40th District
- Mark Takano – current U.S. House of Representative for the 41st District
- Michael Huerta – former Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
- Paul Cook – current U.S. House of Representative for the 8th District
- Rod Pacheco – former Riverside County District Attorney, California Assembly member
- Ronald Neumann – former U.S. Ambassador to Algeria
- Ruben Barrales – deputy assistant to President Bush and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House, former San Mateo County supervisor
- Sabrina Cervantes – current California State Assemblywoman for the 60th District
- Stefanie Schaeffer – defense attorney, 2006 winner of Donald Trump's reality show, The Apprentice
Other
- Jeff Cooper – creator of the modern technique of shooting; firearms expert who defined the modern scout rifle
- James Holmes – gunman in the 2012 Aurora shooting; currently serving a life sentence for murder
- Shruti Kapoor – Economist, women's right's activist, and social entrepreneur
Notable faculty
- Chris Abani – professor of creative writing and recipient of the Pen Center Freedom to Write Award, Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
- Reza Aslan – assistant professor of creative writing
- John Baez – professor of mathematics, mathematical physicist
- Alexander A. Balandin – professor of electrical engineering
- Lindon W. Barrett – professor and cultural theorist
- Bir Bhanu – Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering, director of the Center for Research in Intelligent Systems
- Alfred M. Boyce – first dean of the College of Agriculture
- Christopher Chase-Dunn – sociologist, contributor to world-systems theory
- Sean Cutler – plant scientist noted for discovery of pyrabactin
- Mike Davis – urban theorist and author
- James H. Dieterich – Distinguished Professor of Geophysics, member of the National Academy of Sciences
- Josh Emmons – American novelist
- Steve Erickson – American author, essayist, critic
- John Martin Fischer – professor of philosophy, Vice-President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, primary proponent of semi-compatibilism
- Katie Ford – American Poet
- Theodore Garland, Jr. – a founder of the field of evolutionary physiology
- Gail Hanson – Distinguished Professor of Physics
- Juan Felipe Herrera – poet, United States Poet Laureate
- Ivan Hinderaker – former chancellor
- Nalo Hopkinson – science fiction and fantasy writer
- Theodore L. Hullar – former chancellor
- Laila Lalami – professor, Pulitzer Prize finalist
- Perry Link – Chancellorial Chair, professor of China Studies
- Ronald O. Loveridge – Mayor of Riverside, California
- Tom Lutz – author, literary critic, founder and editor of the Los Angeles review of books
- Robert Nisbet – conservative sociologist and early Dean of Letters and Science at UCR
- John W. Olmsted – first chairman of the Humanities division
- Alexander Raikhel – professor of entomology, elected to the National Academy of Sciences
- Robert Rosenthal – professor of psychology, former chair of Harvard's psychology department
- Irwin Sherman – professor of biology, specializing in malariology
- George Edgar Slusser – professor of comparative literature, science fiction expert
- Andrea Smith – Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Cultural Studies, Nobel Peace Prize nominee
- Jane Smiley – Pulitzer Prize winning author
- Harry Scott Smith – entomologist
- Susan Straight – writer, professor of creative writing, National Book Award finalist
- Karl Taube – professor of anthropology, specializing in research into pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures
- Bob Toledo – former UCR football coach, 13th head coach of UCLA
- John V. Tunney – professor of business law, former United States Senator and member of Congress
- Jonathan H. Turner – sociologist, one of the last remaining grand theorists in the discipline, author of Structure of Sociological Theory and Emergence of Sociological Theory
- Seymour Van Gundy – former dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
- Georgia Warnke – Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Ideas and Society
References
