List of University of Tulsa people

This is a list of notable alumni and notable current and former faculty of the University of Tulsa.

Notable alumni

Arts, letters, media, and the humanities

• Rilla Askew – novelist and short story author
• Louis W. Ballard – composer and author
• Ted Berrigan (BA/MA) – poet associated with the New York School movement
• Ridge Bond – Broadway actor
• Gibson Byrd – painter
• Becky Dixon – television broadcaster
• Gail Farrell (BA, 1969) – singer
• P.S. (Patrick) Gordon (BFA, 1974) – painter
• Jim Hartz (attended 1958–1960) – former co-host of The Today Show
• Paul Harvey (attended 1930s) – syndicated radio personality and author
• Lance Henson (MA) – poet
• S. E. Hinton (BS, 1970) – author of Rumble Fish and The Outsiders
• Ruthe Blalock Jones (BFA, 1972) – American Indian painter and print-maker
• Jerry Keller – pop singer and songwriter best known for 1959 hit "Here Comes Summer"
• R.A. Lafferty (attended 1933–35) – science fiction and fantasy writer
• Dennis Letts – stage actor and English professor
• Bob Losure (BA, Broadcast Journalism, 1969) – former CNN Headline News anchor and author
• Kim Manning (BA, Musical Theater) – singer, actress, reality TV personality
• Anurag Mathur – best-selling author of The Inscrutable Americans
• Rue McClanahan (German and Theater Arts, 1956) – Emmy Award-winning actress, known as Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls
• Phillip McGraw, aka Dr. Phil (attended 1968–1969) – TV personality and psychologist
• Ralph Mullins- jazz trumpet player and film composer
• Mary Kay Place (BA, Speech, 1969) – actress and singer
• John Elwood Price – composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and music teacher
• Carter Revard (B.A. 1952) – poet and linguist
• Donald Roulet (BA, Theology) – Presbyterian minister and civil rights activist
• Gailard Sartain (BFA, 1969) – film and television actor and illustrator
• Joseph Shore – operatic baritone
• Patrick Suppes (attended) – philosopher and longtime professor at Stanford University
• Vu Tran – writer; teaches at University of Chicago
• Jeanne Tripplehorn (attended) – film and television actress
• K. D. Wentworth – science fiction author
• W. Richard West Sr. – painter and sculptor
• Wade Williams (BA, Theatrical Studies, 1987) – actor starring in television series Prison Break
• Daniel H. Wilson – roboticist and author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising, Where's My Jetpack? and How to Build a Robot Army and the bestseller Robopocalypse
• Antonio Zarro – actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker

Politics, business, and education

• Tareq Al-Suwaidan (PhD, Petroleum Engineering, 1990) – Muslim scholar; reformer; TV personality; management expert
• Howard Barnett Jr. – President of Oklahoma State University-Tulsa
• Bradley M. Berkson (BS, Petroleum Engineering, 1985) – US Department of Defense Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness; recipient of Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
• Jim R. Caldwell – first Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate in the 20th century, 1969–1978; retired Church of Christ minister in Tulsa; studied in doctoral program at University of Tulsa
• Craig Campbell (BA, Political Science, 1974) – Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
• William Daniel (MBA, 1985) – former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Baton Rouge; petroleum engineer; businessman
• Kevin Easley – oil and gas executive, member of Oklahoma House of Representatives and Oklahoma Senate
• Drew Edmondson (JD, 1978) – Oklahoma Attorney General and candidate for governor
• Lex Frieden – scholar, disability rights activist, deemed "chief architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act"
• Gregory Kent Frizzell (BA, History, 1981) – federal judge
• David Hall (JD 1959) – former Governor of Oklahoma
• Jim Inhofe (BS, Economics, 1973) – US Senator (R-Oklahoma), former Mayor of Tulsa
• Michael Kitces – financial commentator
• Bill LaFortune (JD, 1983) – former Mayor of Tulsa
• Steve Largent (BS, Biology, 1975) – former US Congressman (R-Tulsa) and Pro Football Hall of Famer
• Robert E. Lavender (JD, 1953) – Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
• Dale A. Lunsford (B.A. 1982, M.B.A. 1985) – President of LeTourneau University
• Doug McMillon (M.B.A. 1991) – CEO of Walmart
• Colonel Michael Mulligan (J.D. 1988) – US Army attorney famous for serving as lead prosecutor in the courts-martial of Hasan Akbar and of Nidal Malik Hasan, the sole accused in the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting
• Ermirio Pereira de Moraes (BS, Petroleum Engineering) – Brazilian billionaire
• Elizabeth Crewson Paris (BA, 1980; JD, 1987) – United States Tax Court Judge
• Roger Randle (J.D., 1979) – former [President pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate]] and former Mayor of Tulsa
• Myles W. Scoggins – President, Colorado School of Mines; former energy executive
• Rodney W. Sippel (BS, 1978) – Federal Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
• Chad "Corntassel" Smith (JD, 1980) – Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Science, engineering, healthcare and technology

• Richard M. Eakin (attended) – pioneering zoologist and Guggenheim Fellow
• Elise Harmon – physicist and computer scientist who helped lead the miniaturization of computers
• Gordon Matthews (BS, Engineering Physics, 1959) – pioneer of voicemail technology
• Marie Tharp – geologist and oceanic cartographer
• Harry Volkman – meteorologist, first to issue a tornado warning
• Michael Wehmeyer (B.S., 1980, M.A. 1982) – educational psychologist and pioneer of application of positive psychology to studies of disability

Sports

• Mike Anderson (1982) – former UAB and current Missouri basketball coach
• Bob Babich – captain of the 1982 team; defensive coordinator, Chicago Bears
• Tom Baldwin – professional football player, New York Jets
• Don Bandy – professional football player, Washington Redskins
• Dick Blanchard – former professional football player
• Bob Breitenstein – former offensive lineman and first Argentine to play in the NFL
• Dennis Byrd – professional football player, New York Jets
• Chris Chamberlain – linebacker, St. Louis Rams
• Danny Colbert – NFL player
• Joe Cooper – professional basketball player
• Steve Cox – former professional wrestler
• Ken Duncan – former professional football player
• Jim Finks – pro football Hall of Famer
• Todd Franz – 2005 NFL player Green Bay Packers
• Gus Frerotte (1994) – professional football player
• Dean Hamel – former defensive lineman Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys
• Hank Haney (BS, Education, 1977) – professional golf coach
• Steve Harris (BS, Sociology 2001) – the university's second all-time leading scorer; former professional basketball player, Houston Rockets; #19 in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft
• Todd Hays (BA, Education, 1992) – Olympic silver medalist in bobsled
• Damaris Johnson – professional football player
• Jerome Jordan – professional basketball player
• Brian Kelly – professional boxing; fought for the WBC World Light Heavyweight
• GJ Kinne – professional football quarterback, New York Giants
• Carin Koch – professional golfer on the LPGA Tour
• Steve Largent (1975) – Seattle Seahawks receiver, Pro Football Hall of Famer; former US Congressman
• Clyde LeForce, Detroit Lions quarterback
• Kevin Lilly – NFL defensive lineman
• Tony Liscio – former offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys
• Nancy Lopez (attended 1974–1977) – professional golfer
• Tim Martin – football player (Miami Dolphins)
• Garrett Mills (2006) – tight end/fullback for the Minnesota Vikings
• Barry Minter – former Chicago Bears linebacker
• Ricky Ortiz – professional wrestler
• Jerry Ostroski – former Buffalo Bills offensive lineman
• Drew Pearson (BS, Recreation Administration, 1973) – former wide receiver, Dallas Cowboys; sportscaster; member of the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor
• Chris Penn – former San Diego Chargers wide receiver
• Stacy Prammanasudh (BS, Exercise & Sports Science, 2002) – professional golfer on the LPGA Tour
• Paul Pressey – former Milwaukee Bucks player; unofficially the first NBA point forward
• Dave Rader (BS Mechanical Engineering, 1975–1980) – former college and professional football player; head football coach of the University of Tulsa (1988–1999); former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Alabama
• Ray Rhodes – former NFL head coach
• Jerry Rhome – former NFL quarterback
• Steve Rogers – former Montreal Expos starting pitcher
• Michael Ruffin – professional basketball player for Obradoiro CAB of the Liga Española de Baloncesto in Spain
• Bob St. Clair – former offensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Tracy Scroggins – former Detroit Lions linebacker
• Lovie Smith – head coach, Chicago Bears
• Paul Smith (BA, Communication, 2007) – quarterback, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Ray Smith – football player
• Bob Storey – former CFL player; two-time Grey Cup champion
• Willie Townes – former defensive lineman Dallas Cowboys
• Howard Twilley (1965) – former Wide Receiver Miami Dolphins 1966–76
• Bill Van Burkleo – former CFL player; four-time Grey Cup champion
• Kaye Vaughan – Hall of Fame football player, CFL
• Tyrunn Walker – defensive lineman Detroit Lions
• Howard Waugh – first player to rush for 1000 yards in the CFL
• Charles Wright – gridiron football player

Current and former faculty

• Larry Catá Backer – scholar of comparative law and international affairs
• Natan Brand – Israeli classical pianist
• Robert Butkin – law professor and former State Treasurer of Oklahoma
• Alfred Corn – poet and essayist
• Dennis Denisoff – literary critic and poet
• Robert Donaldson – political scientist and former dean at Vanderbilt University
• Nancy Feldman – civil rights activist and civic leader
• Paul Finkelman – legal historian
• Germaine Greer – feminist theorist (one of the major voices of the second-wave feminist movement)
• Robert Hogan – psychologist known for his innovations in personality testing and organizational studies
• Alexandre Hogue – realist painter
• Moscelyne Larkin – one of the "Five Moons", Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma who gained international fame in the 20th century
• Pawel Lewicki – cognitive scientist and tech entrepreneur
• John S. Lowe – energy law scholar
• Joseph Wilson Morris – Federal District Judge for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
• Darcy O'Brien – literary critic and author of fiction
• Albert C. Reynolds – petroleum engineering expert
• Robert Sanborn - urban educator
• Paul Scott – British novelist
• Boaz Sharon – pianist at Boston University Tanglewood Institute
• Melissa L. Tatum – scholar of Native American law
• Victor Udwin – comparative literature professor
• Keith Ward – philosopher and theologian at Oxford University
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko – Russian poet, dissident public intellectual and essayist
• Leonard Zusne – psychologist