List of University of Washington people

This page lists notable students, alumni and faculty members of the University of Washington.

Notable UW students and alumni

Nobel laureates

• Linda B. Buck (1975) – Physiology and Medicine, 2004
• George Hitchings (1927, 1928) – Physiology and Medicine, 1988
• Martin Rodbell (Ph.D. 1954) – Physiology and Medicine, 1994
• George Stigler – Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1982

Academic administration and teaching

• Lloyd Barber – President Emeritus; former president and former vice chancellor of the University of Regina
• Paul Brass – expert on the politics of India
• Y. Austin Chang – Distinguished Professor
• Ron Chew – museum professional
• Geraldine Dawson, Professor of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; chief science officer, Autism Speaks
• William C. Dement (1951) – Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine; Division Chief of the Stanford University Division of Sleep; founding president of the American Sleep Disorders Association, now the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
• Mark Emmert (1975) – former president of the University of Washington; current president of the NCAA
• Elaine Tuttle Hansen – former president of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine
• Karen A. Holbrook (Ph.D. 1972) – former president of Ohio State University
• Elizabeth Topham Kennan – former president of Mount Holyoke College
• Meng Xiancheng – educator; first president of East China Normal University in Shanghai
• Douglas Robinson (Ph.D., 1983) – translation scholar, Chair Professor of English and Dean of the Arts Faculty at Hong Kong Baptist University

Aeronautics and astronautics

Michael P. Anderson, NASA Astronaut and crew member of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

Scott Crossfield, test pilot

• Michael P. Anderson (1981) – NASA astronaut, crew member in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• Michael R. Barratt (1981) – NASA astronaut and physician
• Albert Scott Crossfield (1949, 1950) – first man to fly faster than Mach 2; assisted in the design of, and piloted, the X-15
• Suzanna Darcy-Henneman (1981) – Boeing test pilot; Boeing 777 senior test pilot
• Ron Dittemore (1974, 1975) – Space Shuttle program manager of NASA
• Bonnie Dunbar (1971, 1975) – NASA astronaut; crew member on five space shuttle missions; has spent more than 1,200 hours (50 days) in space
• John M. Fabian (Ph.D. 1974) – NASA astronaut; crew member on two space shuttle missions
• Richard F. Gordon, Jr. (1951) – NASA astronaut, crew member of Gemini 11 and Apollo 12
• Robert J. Helberg (1932) – Director of the Lunar Orbiter program
• Gregory C. Johnson (1977) – NASA astronaut; crew member of STS-125
• Stanley G. Love (1989, Ph.D. 1993) – NASA astronaut; crew member of STS-122; planetary scientist
• George C. Martin (1931) – former Vice President of Engineering at Boeing; project engineer on the Boeing B-47; chief project engineer of the Boeing B-52
• George "Pinky" Nelson (1974, Ph.D. 1978) – NASA astronaut; crew member on three space shuttle missions
• Maynard Pennell (1931) – former Vice President of Product Development at Boeing; responsible for the design of the Boeing 707, Boeing 720 and Boeing 727
• Joseph Sutter (1943) – chief designer of the Boeing 747
• Milton O. Thompson (1953) – NASA research pilot selected as an astronaut for the X-20 Dyna-Soar
• Joseph John "Tym" Tymczyszyn (1948) – test pilot of America’s first commercial jet aircraft, the Boeing 707
• Dafydd Williams – Canadian astronaut and crew member of two space shuttle missions: STS-90 in 1998, and STS-118 in August 2007

Art and architecture

Facade showing the signature style of architect Minoru Yamasaki

• Bennett Bean – studio potter
• Dale Chihuly (1965) – modern glass sculptor
• Chuck Close (1962) – contemporary photorealistic painter
• Dan Corson (1964) – artist
• Steven Holl (1970) – architect and watercolorist
• Daniel Lorenz Johnson (2000) – permaculture artist and activist
• Mary Tuthill Lindheim – sculptor and studio potter
• Norie Sato – artist specializing in public urban art
• Alyson Shotz – artist who sculpts with material made from a range of synthetic materials
• Victor Steinbrueck (1940) – architect and preservationist
• Art Wolfe (1975) – photographer and conservationist
• Minoru Yamasaki (1934) – modern architect most noted for the design of the World Trade Center

Business and law

See also: UW Business School notable alumni and UW Law School notable alumni

• Peter Adkison (1997) – founder and former CEO of Wizards of the Coast; US publisher of Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons and Pokémon
• William S. Ayer (1978) – President and CEO of Alaska Airlines
• David Bonderman (1963) – investment banker; acquired Continental Airlines; founder of Texas Pacific Group
• Donald Bren (1956) – Chairman and sole shareholder of the Irvine Company, largest real estate developer in California; wealthiest real estate developer in the United States and 23rd richest American ($13 billion US), according to Forbes
• Andrew Brimmer (1950, 1951) – first African American on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
• Jeffrey Brotman (1964) – founder and President of Costco
• Edward Carlson – former CEO of United Airlines and Westin Hotels
• Barbara Ann Crancer (JD) – former St. Louis County (Missouri) Associate Circuit Court Judge; daughter of former Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa
• Chris DeWolfe – CEO and co-founder of MySpace
• John Fluke (1935) – founder of the Fluke Corporation of Everett, Washington
• Mary Maxwell Gates (1949) – first female chairperson of United Way (1985–1987); Seattle community leader; philanthropist; mother of Bill Gates
• William H. Gates, Sr. (1949, JD 1950) – Seattle lawyer; philanthropist; father of Bill Gates
• Ivar Haglund (1928) – founder of Ivar's restaurant; folk singer
• Faith Ireland (1965) – Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court
• Irving Kanarek – aerospace engineer; legal defendant for Charles Manson
• Leonard H. Lavin – founder of Alberto Culver Company, maker of Alberto VO5 and Mrs. Dash products
• Arthur D. Levinson (1972) – Chairman of Apple Inc. (2011–present); Chairman of Genentech (1999–present)
• Mike McGavick (1983) – former chairman and CEO of Safeco; 2006 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from Washington
• Yoshihiko Miyauchi (MBA 1960) – Chairman and CEO of ORIX Corporation, the world's largest leasing conglomerate
• The Nordstrom family – Elmer, Everett (1923), Lloyd, Bruce (1955), James F. Jr., John N. (1959), Blake (1985), Peter, Erik (1985), Daniel, and William
• Donald Petersen (1946) – President of Ford Motor Company, 1985–1989; credited for its turnaround
• Irv Robbins (1939) – co-founder of Baskin & Robbins
• Steven Rogel (1965) – CEO of Weyerhauser
• Orin C. Smith (1965) – CEO of Starbucks, 2000–2005, and president, 1994–2005
• James Sun (1999) – contestant on The Apprentice; chairman and co-founder of GeoPage
• Takuji Yamashita (1902) – early civil rights pioneer

Diplomacy

• Darryl N. Johnson – former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand and Lithuania

Literature

Pulitzer Prize winners

• William Bolcom (1958) – Music, 1988; composer and winner of three Grammy Awards in 2006
• Timothy Egan (1981) – Journalism, 2001; journalist and author
• Ed Guthman (1941, 1944) – Journalism, 1949; journalist; former press secretary for Robert F. Kennedy; professor at the University of Southern California
• David Horsey (1975) – Editorial Cartooning, 1999, 2003; editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• Mike Luckovich (1982) – Editorial Cartooning, 1995; editorial cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Peter Rinearson (2005) – Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, 1984; aerospace reporter for The Seattle Times and later an author and software industry executive
• Marilynne Robinson (1968, 1977) – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2005; novelist, author of Gilead and Housekeeping
• James Wright (1954, 1959) – Poetry, 1972; poet

National Book Award

• Beverly Cleary (1939) – Children's Books, Fiction, Paperback 1981
• Timothy Egan (1981) – Non-fiction 2006 for The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

General

If no class year is listed, author may not have graduated.

Robert Zubrin, science fiction writer

• Ralph Angel (graduated, year not known) – poet
• Linda Bierds (1969, 1971) – poet and MacArthur Fellowship recipient
• Matt Briggs (1995) – novelist and short story writer
• David Eddings (1961) – author of epic fantasy novels
• P. T. Deutermann (1970) – fiction author
• Joanna Fuhrman – poet
• Tess Gallagher (1967, 1971) – poet
• David Guterson (1978, 1982) – writer of novel Snow Falling on Cedars
• Kristin Halbrook (2001) – fiction author
• Kristin Hannah (1982) author and New York Times best-seller
• Frank Herbert – science fiction writer, Dune
• Thom Jones (1970) – short story writer
• Kitty Kelley (1964) – investigative journalist and author
• Hank Ketcham – creator of the US comic strip Dennis the Menace
• Donald E. McQuinn (circa 1951) – author of military and science fiction, retired U.S. Marine
• Jerry Pournelle (1956, 1958, 1964) – science fiction author, technology journalist, and essayist
• Tom Robbins – author, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
• Ann Rule (1953) – true crime author
• Marilyn Stablein (1981) – poet and author
• Alex Steffen – writer and editor
• John Straley (1977) – detective fiction author
• Sophus Keith Winther (Ph.D. 1927) – novelist
• Robert Zubrin (1984, 1992) – science fiction writer and Mars exploration advocate

Politics

Henry M. Jackson, United States Senator

• Brock Adams (1949) – US Senator (1987–1993); US Representative (1965–1977), for the state of Washington
• Fouad Ajami (1969, 1973) – Director of the Middle East Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University
• Armida Alisjahbana – Minister of Economics and Development of Indonesia (2009–present)
• Norman D. Dicks (1963, JD 1968) – Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives (1977–)
• Jennifer Dunn (transferred 1962) – US Representative (1993–2005); former chair of the Washington State Republican Party
• Earl D. Eisenhower (1923) – electrical engineer, Illinois House of Representatives (1965–1967)
• Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (1955, 1957) – Vice President of Nigeria (1979–1983)
• Daniel J. Evans (BS 1948, MS 1949) – Governor of Washington (1965–1977); United States Senator (1983–1989) for the state of Washington
• Tom Foley (1951, JD 1957) – US Representative (1965–1995); Speaker of the House (1989–1995)
• Booth Gardner (BA 1958) – Governor (1985–1993) of the state of Washington
• Christine Gregoire (BA 1969, 1971) – Governor (2004–2012); former Attorney General of the state of Washington
• Michael Hardt (MA 1986, PhD 1990) – literary theorist and political philosopher based at Duke University
• Susan Hekman (MA 1973, PhD 1976) – professor of political science; director of the graduate humanities program at the University of Texas at Arlington
• Jaime Herrera (BA 2004) – US Representative-elect (2011–)
• Gordon Hirabayashi (BA 1946, MA 1949, PhD 1952) – human rights activist
• Henry M. Jackson (JD 1935) – US Representative (1941–1953); US Senator (1953–1983) for the state of Washington; chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1960–1961); member of the Delta Chi Fraternity
• Walter Jenny (1978) – Secretary, Oklahoma Democratic Party; 2008 presidential elector; attorney for Oklahoma; member of Tau Kappa Epsilon International fraternity
• Sally Jewell (1978) – current United States Secretary of the Interior; former CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI)
• Tom Lantos (BA 1949, MA 1950) – US Representative for California (1981–2008); Holocaust survivor
• Wing Luke – Seattle City Council member; Washington state Assistant Attorney General
• Warren G. Magnuson (1926, JD 1929) – US Senator for the state of Washington (1944–1981)
• Clarence D. Martin (1906) – Governor of the state of Washington (1933–1940); namesake of Martin Stadium at Washington State University
• Stephen McAlpine (BA 1972) – Lieutenant Governor of Alaska (1982–1990)
• Rob McKenna (BA 1985, BA 1985) – Washington Attorney General (2004–2012)
• Greg Nickels – Mayor of the city of Seattle (2002–2010)
• Jeannette Rankin – US Representative for Montana (1917–1919, 1940–1943); first female member of Congress
• Norm Rice (1972, 1974) – former mayor of the city of Seattle
• Albert Rosellini (1932, 1933) – Governor of Washington (1957–1965)
• Pat Russell (born 1923) – Los Angeles City Council member, 1969–87
• Adam Smith (JD, 1990) – Democratic US Representative from Washington
• Lou Stewart – Washington state labor leader
• Thor C. Tollefson – United States Representative from Washington
• Johnson Toribiong (JD 1972, 1973) – current President, Republic of Palau
• John Urquhart (BA 1971) – current King County Sheriff
• Lynn Woolsey – Democratic US Representative (1993–) from California
• J. Arthur Younger (1915) – Republican US Representative from California (1952–1967)

Military

Prominent officers

Monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on campus

Active duty

• Peter W. Chiarelli (1980) – four-star General and the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
• Bruce W. Clingan (1977) – Admiral United States Navy and Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa, Commander, Allied Joint Force Command, Naples
• Mark R. Wise (1986) – Brig. General Deputy Commander, US Forces Japan, United States Marine Corps

Spanish Civil War

• Eleven University of Washington students joined the International Brigades.

World War II

• Leslie Groves — Major General, United States Army Corps of Engineers, head of the Manhattan Project

Other

• Harley D. Nygren (BS 1945, BSME 1947), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rear admiral, first Director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps
• Kelly E. Taggart, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rear admiral, second Director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps

Medal of Honor recipients

Pappy Boyington, pilot

• Col. (then Maj.) Gregory (Pappy) Boyington (BS 1934) — USMC, fighter pilot and World War II ace
• 1LT Deming Bronson, USA (Class of 1914)
• Lieutenant Colonel Bruce P. Crandall (1951–1952) — U.S. Army helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War
• Brig. Gen (then Maj.) Robert Galer (BS 1935) — Major General, USMC, fighter pilot and World War II ace
• Sgt John D. "Bud" Hawk, USA (1951, 1952)
• 2LT Robert R. Leisy, USA (Class of 1968)
• PFC William K. Nakamura, USA (non-graduate due to internment at Minidoka in 1942)
• Col. (then SSgt.) Archie Van Winkle, USMC (Class of 1961)

Religion

• Sanford Brown – social justice advocate, ordained United Methodist minister, and executive director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle

Science and technology

Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, PhD 1982, science-fiction writer and professor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology

• Tom M. Apostol (1944, 1946) – analytic number theorist and textbook author at the California Institute of Technology
• Bill Atkinson – designer of much of the graphic subsystem for the Apple Macintosh and creator of Hypercard and MacPaint
• Eric Temple Bell (1908) – mathematician and author; recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
• Derek Blake Booth (PhD 1984) – Professor of Earth Sciences
• Rita R. Colwell (1961) – Director of the United States National Science Foundation
• Melvin Defleur – social scientist noted in the area of mass communication
• Ed Felten (MS 1991, PhD 1993) – leading computer scientist in the field of security and authentication
• William Foege (1961) – former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
• David Goodstein – physicist and former vice provost of Caltech
• Lois Wilfred Griffiths (1921, 1923) – Mathematician.
• Victor Grinich – pioneer in the semiconductor industry; a member of the "traitorous eight" who founded Silicon Valley
• Mohamed Hashish – inventor of the abrasive waterjet cutter; fellow in the department of Mechanical Engineering
• Harold Hotelling (BA 1919, MA 1921) – mathematical statistician; economic theorist
• William Hutchinson – founder of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Muhammad Zafar Iqbal (PhD 1982) – former research scientist of Bell Communications Research (Bellcore); professor and the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology; educationalist; columnist; sci-fi writer
• Irving Kanarek – aerospace engineer; legal defendant for Charles Manson
• Gary Kildall – inventor of the CP/M operating system
• Shoshichi Kobayashi (1956) – former chairman of the Berkeley Mathematics Department; recipient of the Geometry prize
• Victor Mills (1926) – inventor of disposable diapers
• Alfred M. Moen – inventor of the single-handed mixing faucet; founder of Moen, Inc.
• PZ Myers (BS 1979) – biologist and science blogger
• Harley D. Nygren (BS 1945, BSME 1947), engineer and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rear admiral, first Director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps
• Tim Paterson (1978) – original author of the MS-DOS operating system
• Howard P. Robertson (1922, 1923) – cosmologist
• Robert G. Roeder (1969) – Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor at The Rockefeller University; recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2003 for "pioneering studies on eukaryotic RNA polymerases and the general transcriptional machinery, which opened gene expression in animal cells to biochemical analysis"
• Waldo Semon – inventor of vinyl and synthetic rubber
• Waldo R. Tobler – American-Swiss geographer and cartographer
• Ruth Todd – American geologist
• Bud Tribble – vice president and director of software technology at Apple Computer; a founder of NeXT computer
• Bob Wallace – inventor of the term "shareware;" creator of the word processing program PC-Write; founder of the software company Quicksoft
• Ted Woolsey – video game translator for Square during the SNES era

Social science and humanities

• Ukshin Hoti – professor of international law and philosophy at the University of Pristina
• Dale Kinkade (1955, 1957) – linguist, specialist on Salishan languages
• Kent R. Weeks (1963, 1966) – Egyptologist

Sports

Olympic medal winners

• Gold medal, men's rowing, 1936 Berlin Olympic Games
  • Gordon Adam
  • Charles Day
  • Don Hume
  • George Hunt
  • Jim McMillin
  • Robert Moch (cox)
  • H. Roger Morris
  • Joe Rantz
  • John White
• Gold medal, men's rowing, 1948 Berlin Olympic Games
  • Gordy Giovanelli
  • Bob Martin
  • Allen Morgan
  • Warren Westlund
  • Bob Will
• David Calder (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games)
• Will Crothers (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2012 London Olympic Games)
• Anna Cummins (gold medal, rowing, 2008 Beijing, silver medal, 2004 Athens Olympic Games)
• Rob Gibson (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2012 London Olympic Games)
• Adrienne Martelli (bronze medal, rowing, 2012 London Olympic Games)
• Conlin McCabe (silver medal, rowing, Canada, 2012 London Olympic Games)
• Hope Solo (women's soccer)
• Mary Whipple (gold medal, rowing, 2012 London, 2008 Beijing; silver medal, 2004 Athens Olympic Games)

Baseball

• Mike Blowers – former Major League Baseball player
• Fred Hutchinson – baseball player and manager and namesake of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Brent Lillibridge – MLB infielder for Chicago Cubs
• Tim Lincecum – 2008, 2009 and 2010 All-Star and two-time NL Cy Young Award recipient
• Sammy White – former MLB catcher, 1953 All-Star
• Sean White – 2007, 2009, 2010 MLB Pitcher for Seattle Mariners

Basketball

Nate Robinson

• Jon Brockman – drafted in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings
• James Edwards – former NBA player
• Spencer Hawes – drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings
• Justin Holiday – undrafted in 2011; current player of the Golden State Warriors
• Bob Houbregs (1959) – only Washington alumnus in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; third overall pick in the 1953 NBA draft
• Louie Nelson – former NBA player
• Quincy Pondexter – drafted 26th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft; currently plays for the New Orleans Pelicans
• Eldridge Recasner – NBA three-time All-Pac-10 Conference guard, and former Continental and NBA player
• Nate Robinson – NBA guard picked 21st overall of 2005 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks; winner of 2006, 2009, and 2010 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Competitions
• Lorenzo Romar – current head coach of the University of Washington basketball team
• Terrence Ross – drafted 8th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors
• Brandon Roy – second-highest NBA-drafted Washington basketball player in school history (6th in the 2006 NBA draft) and the 2006–07 NBA Rookie of the Year
• Mark Sanford – first underclassman to enter the NBA draft from the University of Washington; second round pick of the Miami Heat of the 1997 NBA Draft
• Detlef Schrempf – German-born former NBA star
• Tre Simmons – basketball player
• Isaiah Thomas – drafted in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings
• Rod Thorn – former NBA player, former president and general manager of the NBA's New Jersey Nets, current president of the Philadelphia 76ers
• Tony Wroten Jr. – drafted 25th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies; currently plays for the Philadelphia 76ers

Football

Warren Moon, Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback

• Victor Aiyewa – NFL linebacker for the Green Bay Packers
• Vince Albritton – former NFL safety for the Dallas Cowboys
• Khalif Barnes – NFL offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders
• Eric Bjornson – former NFL tight end for the Dallas Cowboys
• Bern Brostek – NFL offensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams
• Dennis Brown – former defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL; played in and won Super Bowl XXIX
• Mark Bruener – NFL tight end for the Houston Texans
• Mark Brunell (1993) – NFL quarterback for the Washington Redskins
• Donald Butler – NFL linebacker for the San Diego Chargers
• Chuck Carroll – elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and National Football Foundation Hall of Fame
• Chris Chandler – former NFL quarterback
• Ernie Conwell – NFL tight end for the New Orleans Saints
• Marquis Cooper – NFL linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Don Coryell (1950, 1951) – former NFL head coach for the San Diego Chargers and introduced the I formation to the NFL
• Stanley Daniels – NFL offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos
• Corey Dillon – NFL running back for the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots
• Steve Emtman – former NFL defensive lineman and the first pick in the 1992 NFL draft
• D'Marco Farr – former NFL defensive lineman and current television personality
• Lee Folkins – former Pro Bowl NFL tight end for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys
• Mason Foster – NFL linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Ray Frankowski – former NFL guard for the Green Bay Packers
• Nesby Glasgow – former safety who played 14 seasons in the National Football League
• Kevin Gogan – former NFL offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders
• Dashon Goldson – NFL Pro-Bowl safety for the San Francisco 49ers
• Don Heinrich – former NFL quarterback for the New York Giants
• Billy Joe Hobert – NFL quarterback
• Dave Hoffmann – NFL linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers
• Brock Huard – former NFL quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks
• Damon Huard – NFL quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs
• Jeff Jaeger – former NFL Pro Bowl placekicker
• Ernie Janet – former NFL guard
• Derrick Johnson – NFL cornerback
• Tank Johnson – NFL defensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals
• Jim Jones – American football player
• Napoleon Kaufman – former NFL running back for the Oakland Raiders
• Jermaine Kearse – NFL wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks
• Senio Kelemete – NFL offensive lineman for the Arizona Cardinals
• Lincoln Kennedy – former NFL offensive lineman and three time Pro Bowl participant
• David Kopay (1964) – former NFL running back
• Olin Kreutz – former NFL Pro Bowl center for the Chicago Bears
• Jake Kupp – former NFL Pro Bowl offensive guard for the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints
• Greg Lewis – NFL running back for the Denver Broncos
• Jake Locker – NFL quarterback for the Tennessee Titans
• Hugh McElhenny (1952) – former NFL running back and member of both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Siupeli Malamala – former NFL offensive tackle and offensive guard for the New York Jets
• Lawyer Milloy – NFL safety for the Seattle Seahawks
• Warren Moon (1978) – former National Football League quarterback and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Jim L. Mora – former head coach of the Seattle Seahawks
• David Moreno – former NFL running back, San Francisco 49ers
• Tony Parrish – NFL safety for the San Francisco 49ers
• Jerome Pathon – NFL wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons
• Dave Pear – former Pro Bowl NFL defensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders
• Steve Pelluer – former NFL quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys
• Cody Pickett – NFL quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers
• Chris Polk – NFL running back for the Philadelphia Eagles
• Fred Provo – former NFL halfback
• Marcel Reece – NFL fullback for the Oakland Raiders
• Matthew Rogers – offensive lineman for the 2001 Washington Rose Bowl team and American Idol finalist
• Danny Shelton – NFL nose tackle for the Cleveland Browns
• Sonny Sixkiller (1971) – former NFL and CFL quarterback; cast member in the original The Longest Yard
• William Arley Smith – former All Pro NFL wide receiver for the Chicago Cardinals
• Isaiah Stanback – former NFL wide receiver and kick returner for the Dallas Cowboys
• Jerramy Stevens – NFL tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Alameda Ta'amu – NFL defensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers
• Daniel Te'o-Nesheim – NFL defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Joe Toledo – NFL offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins
• Marques Tuiasosopo – NFL quarterback for the New York Jets; assistant coach for UW
• CJ Wallace – NFL former defensive back for the Seattle Seahawks
• Arnie Weinmeister – former NFL lineman; member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Teamster boss
• Reggie Williams – NFL wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars
• Al Worley – 1968 Consensus All-American defensive back, set still-standing NCAA record for interceptions in a season (14)

Soccer

Hope Solo

• Kate Deines – professional soccer player for the Atlanta Beat and Seattle Reign FC
• Lindsay Elston – professional soccer player for Houston Dash and Seattle Reign FC
• Joe Franchino (1997) – former Major League Soccer player and U.S. international
• George John – defensive player for the MLS team FC Dallas
• Ellis McLoughlin – played in Bundesliga and MLS
• Veronica Perez – professional soccer player for Washington Spirit and the Mexico National Team
• Brandon Prideaux – former Major League Soccer player; two-time MLS Cup champion
• Hope Solo – goalkeeper for US Women's National Team and Seattle Reign FC
• Craig Waibel – four-time Major League Soccer champion; defender for Houston Dynamo

Track and field

• Brad Walker (2003) – two-time NCAA pole vault champion; gold medalist at the 2006 World Indoor Championships and 2007 World Championships

Other sports

• Fred Beckey (1949) – mountaineer
• Louise Friberg (2003) – golfer
• William Quillian – tennis player
• Annabel Ritchie (born 1978) – rower
• Summer Ross (attended freshman year) – volleyball; 2010 FIVB Youth Under-19 and Junior Under-21 world champion
• Bob Sapp – kickboxer; MMA fighter; former NFL lineman
• Joyce Tanac Schroeder (1968) – Olympic gymnast
• Ed Viesturs (BS 1981) – first American to summit all 14 of the world's 8000 meter peaks
• Kenji Yamada – two-time U.S. National Judo champion

Music

Kenny G

• Mark Arm (1985) – lead vocalist for the grunge rock group Mudhoney
• Anomie Belle – vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and electronic musician
• William Bolcom – pianist and composer of cabaret songs, concertos, sonatas, operas, symphonies; awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Twelve New Etudes for piano
• The Brothers Four – musical group from the 1960s
• Jack Endino (1980) – producer, musician, engineer, "godfather of grunge"
• Peter Hallock, organist, choirmaster, liturgist
• Malcolm Hamilton – harpsichordist
• Kenny G (1978) – smooth jazz saxophonist
• Ryan Lewis (2009) – DJ, producer, composer, photographer, music video director, business partner to Seattle musician Ben Haggerty (aka Macklemore)
• The Presidents of the United States of America – alternative rock group
• John Roderick – lead singer of The Long Winters
• Richard Sparks – choral conductor
• Ken Stringfellow – main composer, vocalist and guitarist for rock group The Posies
• Kim Thayil (1985) – lead guitarist for rock group Soundgarden
• Kathleen Wakefield – songwriter, singer and author

Television, film, and other arts

Kyle MacLachlan

Anna Faris

• Robert Armstrong – movie actor who portrayed Carl Denham in the 1933 version of King Kong
• John Aylward – stage, TV, and movie actor, ER, The West Wing
• Stan Boreson – comedian and singer, the "King of Scandinavian Humor"
• Angus Bowmer – founder of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon
• David Brooks – Broadway star and stage director and producer
• Dylan Bruce – Canadian actor and model, known for his roles on As the World Turns and Orphan Black
• Luke Burbank (1988) – radio host and reporter
• Dyan Cannon – film and television actress and twice nominee for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
• Loren Carpenter (1976) – co-founded Pixar Animation Studios; currently Chief Creative Officer of Disney
• James Caviezel – actor, played Jesus Christ in the controversial film The Passion of the Christ, plays one of the leads in the TV series Person of Interest
• Lee Shallat Chemel – TV director, Murphy Brown
• Queenie Chu – actress, first runner-up of Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2004
• Tristram Coffin – actor who played Thomas H. Rynning, commander of the Arizona Rangers, in the syndicated television series 26 Men (1957–1959)
• Earl Cole – first African-American male winner of Survivor
• Jeffrey Combs – horror film actor and Star Trek regular
• Larry Coryell – jazz guitarist
• Imogen Cunningham (1907) – photographer
• Garret Dillahunt – actor, Raising Hope
• Patrick Duffy (1971) – TV actor, Dallas, Step by Step
• Anna Faris (1999) – film actress, Scary Movie, House Bunny
• Frances Farmer (1935) – film and theatre actress
• The Fung Brothers (Andrew Fung, 1988, and David Fung, 1988) – YouTube personalities, rappers, television actors in Broke Bites: What The Fung?!
• Leann Hunley – actress, Days of Our Lives, Dynasty, Dawson's Creek
• Ken Jennings – holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy!
• Richard Karn (1979) – television actor; Al Borland in Home Improvement
• Carl Kennedy – stage actor
• Bruce Lee – martial artist and actor
• Kyle MacLachlan (1982) – film and television actor most famous for roles in Twin Peaks, Desperate Housewives, Dune, and Sex and the City
• Mary Mapes – former producer of the CBS television show 60 Minutes
• Ernest Martin (1932) – theatre director and manager
• Joel McHale (1995, MFA 2000) – host of The Soup on E!; actor on NBC comedy Community
• Robert Osborne (1954) – film historian
• Dorothy Provine – actress with leading roles in The Bonnie Parker Story, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Good Neighbor Sam and the TV series The Alaskans
• Pamela Reed – actress
• Jean Smart (1974) – television actress, Designing Women, Kim Possible
• Manick Sorcar – artist, engineer, and entrepreneur
• Rick Steves (1978) – host, writer and producer of public television's Rick Steve's Europe; best-selling travel author
• Julia Sweeney (1982) – Saturday Night Live actress
• Robb Weller (1961) – Entertainment Tonight host and inventor of the wave
• Dawn Wells (1960) – Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island
• Steve Wiebe (1991) – primary subject of the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and former world record holder for Donkey Kong
• Rainn Wilson – actor, The Office, Six Feet Under
• Art Wolfe (1975) – nature photographer and star of PBS show Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe

Crime

• Theodore Robert Bundy – commonly known as "Ted" Bundy; serial killer, 1974–1978; admitted to killing 30 people; some sources say he could have killed as many as 100

Notable current and former faculty and staff

Nobel Laureates

• Linda B. Buck – Physiology and Medicine, 2004
• Hans G. Dehmelt – Physics, 1989
• Edmond H. Fischer – Physiology and Medicine, 1992
• Leland H. Hartwell – Physiology and Medicine, 2001
• Edwin G. Krebs – Physiology and Medicine, 1992
• Douglass C. North – Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1993
• William F. Sharpe – Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1990
• E. Donnall Thomas – Physiology and Medicine, 1990
• David Thouless – Physics, 2016; also awarded the 1990 Wolf Prize in Physics

Pulitzer Prize winners

• Elizabeth Bishop – Poetry, 1956
• Stephen Dunn – Poetry, 2001
• Richard Eberhart – Poetry, 1966
• Vernon Louis Parrington – History, 1928
• Theodore Roethke – Poetry, 1954

Biology and medicine

• Margaret Allen – former Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery
• William H. Calvin – popularizer of neuroscience and evolutionary biology, including the hybrid of these two fields, neural Darwinism
• John Gottman – National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Award winner
• Bertil Hille – Professor of Physiology and Biophysics; expert on ion channels; co-recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1999
• Leroy Hood – biologist; recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Prize for inventing "four instruments that have unlocked much of the mystery of human biology"
• Michael Katze — microbiologist and expert in the study of infectious diseases
• Barry Kerzin – former Assistant Professor of Medicine (1985–89); Honorary Professor at Hong Kong University; Buddhist monk and teacher; personal physician to the Dalai Lama
• Belding H. Scribner – inventor of the Scribner shunt, which enabled long-term kidney dialysis

Business and law

• William R. Greiner – President of the University at Buffalo, 1991-2004
• Paul Heyne – economist and author of The Economic Way of Thinking
• Terence Mitchell – Gold member of Academy of Management Hall of Fame; one of three Gold members out of over 10,000 members

Politics and administration

• David de Kretser – current Governor of Victoria, Australia
• Denice Denton – Dean of the University of Washington College of Engineering, 1996-2005; first woman in the United States to lead an engineering college of a major research university
• William Gerberding – President of the University of Washington, 1979-1995
• Margaret Levi – 2005 President of the American Political Science Association
• Charles Odegaard – President of the University of Washington, 1958-1973
• Dixy Lee Ray – seventeenth governor of the state of Washington, the first woman to hold that position
• Paul Schell – former mayor of Seattle; former Dean of the University of Washington School of Architecture and Urban Planning, 1992-1995
• Henry Suzzallo – Croatian-American and president of the University of Washington, 1915-1926

Science and technology

• David Baker – biochemist and computational biologist; developed the Rosetta algorithm for protein structure prediction
• Eric Temple Bell – mathematician and author; recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
• Carl Bergstrom – theoretical biologist, created the Eigenfactor ranking for scientific journals
• Jeffrey M. Bradshaw – senior research scientist at The Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
• Donald E. Brownlee – principal investigator of the Stardust comet spacecraft; cited in Discover magazine's 100 most important discoveries in 2004
• Mark Crispin – inventor of the Internet Message Access Protocol
• Vitaly Efimov – proposed a new and exotic state of matter known as the Efimov State
• Oren Etzioni – Washington Research Foundation Entrepreneurship Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering
• Thomas W. Hungerford – mathematician and author of many textbooks, including Abstract Algebra: An Introduction
• Victor Klee – mathematician who specialized in convex sets, functional analysis, analysis of algorithms, optimization, and combinatorics; President of the Mathematical Association of America, 1971-1973, he was a University of Washington faculty member for 54 years
• Neal Koblitz – mathematician; creator of hyperelliptic curve cryptography; independent co-creator of elliptic curve cryptography
• Edward D. Lazowska – Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering
• C. Johan Masreliez (PhD 1972) – physicist, inventor and cosmologist; developed Masreliez’s theorem in 1975 while an associate professor
• Seth Neddermeyer – physicist; co-discoverer of the muon; Manhattan Project scientist; recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award
• Jerre Noe – first chair of Computer Science Group (now the Computer Science and Engineering Department); directed the Eden Project, the first award in the National Science Foundation's Coordinated Experimental Research Program
• Robert O'Malley – mathematician and President of the Society For Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 1991 and 1992
• Mamidala Ramulu – scholar and mentor of the College of Engineering
• William A. Stein – creator of SageMath; modular forms researcher

Social science, arts and humanities

• James A. Banks – scholar; the "father of multicultural education"
• David P. Barash – Professor of Psychology
• Laurence BonJour – Professor of Philosophy
• Jon Bridgman – American historian
• Shawn Brixey – digital art, telematics, physics, bioart
• Francis D.K. Ching – author of books on architectural graphics
• Sidney S. Culbert – psychologist and Esperantist; major influence in the design of cockpit instrument panels in the Boeing 707 jet aircraft through his research in perception
• Stuart Dempster – composer, trombonist, and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient
• August Dvorak – educational psychologist most noted for the invention of the Dvorak simplified keyboard
• Peter Erös – symphony and opera conductor
• Sarah Nash Gates – costume designer, historian of costuming, president of USITT
• John Goodlad – education researcher, author of A Place Called School
• Richard Haag – designer of Gas Works Park; founded the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington
• Victor Hanzeli – former Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literature
• Nancy Hartsock – feminist philosopher noted for her work in feminist epistemology and standpoint theory
• Huck Hodge – composer, winner of the Gaudeamus Prize
• Hsu Dau-lin – Chinese legal historian
• Charles R. Johnson – scholar, a MacArthur Fellow, recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and winner of the National Book Award for writing Middle Passage
• Richard Kenney – poet
• W. Hudson Kensel – historian of the American West
• Jacob Lawrence – among the best known African American painters of the 20th century
• Fang-kuei Li – linguist with expertise in Chinese and Native American languages
• Elizabeth Loftus – psychologist who works on human memory and how it can be changed by facts, ideas, suggestions and other forms of post-event information
• Fred Lukoff – linguist and scholar of Korean studies
• Alan Marlatt – psychologist who pioneered harm reduction
• Heather McHugh – poet
• Roy Andrew Miller – linguist notable for his advocacy of Japanese and Korean as members of the Altaic group of languages
• Frederick Newmeyer – linguist and 2002 President of the Linguistic Society of America
• James Palais – historian in the field of Korean history
• Lionel Pries – teacher of Minoru Yamasaki, A. Quincy Jones, and many Northwest Modern architects
• Kenneth B. Pyle – Japanese historian and former director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
• W.J. Rorabaugh – American historian; managing editor of Pacific Northwest Quarterly; author of The Alcoholic Republic
• Roger Sale – literary critic and author, noted for his influence on literary criticism on children's literature
• Steven Shaviro – cultural critic and author of Doom Patrols
• Vilem Sokol – music professor, string teacher, and legendary conductor of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras from the 1960s to the 1980s
• Robin Stacey – history professor, author of numerous articles and books on early medieval Britain and Ireland
• Daris Swindler – anthropologist; primate expert; his An Atlas of Primate Gross Anatomy is a standard work in the field
• David Wagoner – poet and novelist
• Daniel Waugh – director of the Seattle Silk Road Project; editor of the journal of the Silkroad Foundation
• Daniel S. Weld – Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
• Karl Wittfogel – sinologist and historian; author of Oriental Despotism

Athletics

• Hiram Boardman Conibear – rowing coach
• Gil Dobie – undefeated (58-0-3) football coach of the University of Washington from 1908 to 1916, whose tenure largely comprised the NCAA Division I-A record for an unbeaten streak (64 games) and who oversaw the entirety of the NCAA Division I-A's second longest winning streak (40 games); elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951
• Marv Harshman – head basketball coach of the University of Washington from 1971 to 1985
• Don James – head football coach from 1974 to 1992
• Lorenzo Romar – current head basketball coach of the University of Washington
• Steve Sarkisian – former head football coach at the University of Washington
• Tyrone Willingham – former head football coach at the University of Washington