List of Wellesley College people

Notable alumnae

Academia

• Virginia Abernethy, class of 1955 – academic anthropologist, involved in politics
• Myrtilla Avery, class of 1891 – an American classical scholar focused on Medieval art, former chair of Department of Art at Wellesley College and director of the Farnsworth Art Museum from 1930–1937. Introduced the first art history classes at Wellesley & the earliest museum studies courses.
• Michele Moody-Adams, class of 1978 – dean, Columbia College
• Carole B. Balin, class of 1986 – professor of Jewish history
• Patricia Bizzell, class of 1970 – professor of English
• Claudia Lauper Bushman, class of 1956 – historian
• Anita Calvert Lebourgeoise – attorney, judge, genealogist, biographer and women's suffrage orator
• Margaret Clapp, class of 1930 – former president of Wellesley College and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
• Frances Daly Fergusson, class of 1965 – former president of Vassar College.
• Juliet Floyd, class of 1982 – professor of Philosophy
• Margaret Henderson Floyd, class of 1953 – art historian and professor
• Susan Armitage, class of 1959 – historian
• Susan Foh – American biblical scholar
• Cecilia Conrad, class of 1976 – economics professor, dean of Pomona College
• Barbara Fraumeni, class of 1972 – economist
• Grace Andrews, class of 1890 – mathematician and professor
• Phyllis Fox, class of 1944 – mathematician and computer scientist
• Grace Frick, class of 1925 – linguistics scholar
• Marjorie Grene, class of 1931 – philosopher, one of the first philosophers to raise questions about the synthetic theory of evolution
• Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, class of 1947 – professor of English literature at Columbia University, and mystery novelist under the name "Amanda Cross"
• Ayesha Jalal, class of 1978 – historian, 1998 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• Theodora J. Kalikow, class of 1962 – former president, University of Maine at Farmington and University of Southern Maine
• Amalie Kass, class of 1949 – historian
• Yoshi Kasuya, class of 1923 – educator, former president of Tsuda University
• Nannerl O. Keohane, class of 1961 – political theorist. President, Wellesley College and Duke University
• Jean Kilbourne, class of 1964 – author, expert on the image of women in advertising
• Rosalind E. Krauss, class of 1962 – art critic, professor, theorist
• Mary Lefkowitz, class of 1957 – classical scholar
• Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, class of 1963 – historian
• Phyllis Williams Lehmann, class of 1934 – archaeologist
• Helen Abbot Merrill, class of 1886 – mathematician
• Winifred Edgerton Merrill, class of 1883 – mathematician, first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics
• Ellen Fitz Pendleton, class of 1886 – mathematician, former president of Wellesley College
• Kay Lehman Schlozman, class of 1968 - political scientist
• Mary Lyndon Shanley, class of 1966 – legal scholar, professor of political science at Vassar College
• Ellen Umansky, class of 1972 – professor of Judaic studies
• Jocelyn Benson, class of 1999 – law school dean
• Diana Chapman Walsh, class of 1966 – former president, Wellesley College
• Ernestine Wiedenbach, class of 1922 – nursing theorist
• Patricia J. Williams, class of 1972 – law professor at Columbia University, recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• Roxana Vivian, class of 1894 – mathematics professor at Wellesley College, the first in her department to hold a doctorate, and Hartwick College.
• Eliza Newkirk Rogers, class of 1900 – art history professor at Wellesley College and Mount Holyoke College, she shaped the art history department at Wellesley, she donated her art collection to the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, and left behind "The Eliza Newkirk Rogers Prize for Architecture" at Wellesley.

  Art and design

• Anne Fougeron, class of 1977 – architect, B.A. in architectural history.
• Molly Bang, class of 1965 – illustrator.
• Ann Beha, class of 1972 – founder and principal, Ann Beha Architects committed to historic preservation.
• Anita Berrizbeitia, class of 1980 – landscape architect and as of 2015 the department chair of the Harvard Graduate School of Design's Department of Landscape Architecture.
• Anna Campbell Bliss, class of 1946 – artist and architect.
• Emilie Benes Brzezinski, class of 1953 – sculptor, wife of Zbigniew Brzezinski
• Katherine K. Davis, class of 1914 – composer, pianist, and author of the famous Christmas tune "The Little Drummer Boy".
• Patricia Degener – American ceramic artist
• Mary Rockwell Hook, class of 1900 – architect
• Julia Kunin, class of 1983 – sculptor, video artist
• Juliette May Fraser, class of 1909 – artist, muralist
• Leila Daw, class of 1962 – installation artist
• Lorraine O'Grady, class of 1955 – conceptual artist and art critic
• Jennifer Maestre, class of 1981 – sculptor
• Eleanor Raymond, class of 1909 – architect, designed and built the first occupied solar-powered house in the US
• Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, class of 1957 – urban planner, landscape architect

  Business

• Mary Cunningham Agee, class of 1973 – president, The Nurturing Network
• Robin Chase, class of 1980 – co-founder of Zipcar
• Elisabeth DeMarse, class of 1976 – former CEO, Chairman, and President of TheStreet.Com
• Heather Higgins, class of 1981 – nonprofit executive, political commentator
• Lois Juliber, class of 1971 – vice chairman of Colgate-Palmolive
• Elizabeth Parr-Johnston, class of 1961 – economist
• Priya Paul, class of 1988 – Chairman of Park Hotels, Head of Apeejay Surendra Group, also Trustee of Wellesley College
• Marion Sandler, class of 1952 – CEO and founder of Golden West Financial
• Anne Toth, class of 1993 – privacy and policy executive, former Chief Trust Officer of Yahoo
• Susan Wagner, class of 1982 – founder and former COO of BlackRock and board member of Apple Inc.
• Joan Wallace-Benjamin, class of 1975 – CEO of The Home for Little Wanderers

  Government and public service

• Eleanor D. Acheson, 1969 – former Assistant Attorney General of the United States
• Bertha Adkins, 1928 – former Undersecretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Madeleine Albright, 1959 – former United States Secretary of State
• Annette Baker Fox, 1934 – international relations advisor
• Carolina Barco Isakson, 1973 – Colombian Foreign Minister 2002–2006, Ambassador to the US, 2006–2010.
• 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
• Gail Chang Bohr, 1966 – former Minnesota judge
• Harriette L. Chandler, 1959 – President of the Massachusetts Senate.
• Soong Mei-ling, 1917 – former First Lady of the Republic of China
• Marguerite S. Church, 1915 – U.S. Representative from Illinois
• Esther Clenott, 1945 – American politician from Maine, former two-term mayor of Portland and state representative
• Hillary Clinton, 1969 – former United States Secretary of State, former U.S. Senator, former First Lady of the United States
• Deborah Cochran, 1960 – Congresswoman from Massachusetts
• Jan Coggeshall, mayor of Galveston
• Rita Crocker Clements – former First Lady of the U.S. state of Texas
• 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
• Diana DiZoglio, 2010 – Massachusetts State Representative
• Christine Durham, 1967 – chief justice, Utah Supreme Court
• Virginia Durr, 1925 – civil rights activist
• Carolyn Dykema, 1989 – Massachusetts State Representative
• Susan Estrich, 1974 – lawyer, professor, author, feminist advocate and commentator for Fox News
• Colette Flesch, 1960 – Luxembourg politician and Olympic fencer
• Loletta Fyan, 1915 – first librarian in Michigan
• Cynthia Glassman, 1967 – commissioner of the SEC
• Susan P. Graber, 1969 – circuit judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Wendy Lee Gramm, 1966 – economist, former director of ENRON
• Aurelia Harwood – philanthropist, former president of Sierra Club
• 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
• Gail Laughlin, 1894 – first woman from Maine to practice law and founder of the National League for Women's Service
• Henrietta Wells Livermore, 1887 – suffragette
• Sandra L. Lynch, 1968 – chief judge, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Chirlane McCray, 1975 – public affairs activist, First Lady of New York City
• Ida Craven Merriam, 1925 – statistician for the Social Security Administration
• 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 Munnell, 1964 – economist
• Helen O'Bannon, 1961 – economist
• Anne W. Patterson, 1971 – U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, former Acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan
• Ruth Baker Pratt, 1898 – congresswoman from 1929 to 1933, first woman elected to Congress from New York
• Reena Raggi, 1973 – U.S. federal judge
• Leticia Ramos-Shahani, 1951 – former Philippine Senator, diplomat, human rights activist
• 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
• Janna Ryan, 1991 – attorney and wife of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan
• Michele Sison, 1981 – U.S. Ambassador to Haiti
• Tejshree Thapa, 1988 – human rights attorney, developed legal argument for prosecuting rape as a crime against humanity before the ICTY
• Kavindya Thennankoon, 2019 – Sri Lankan youth activist
• Abigail Harrison, 2019 – founder of The Mars Generation nonprofit
• Zatae Leola Longsdorff Straw, 1883 - physician and a New Hampshire state representative
• Julieta Valls Noyes, 1984 – U.S. Ambassador to Croatia
• Lilian Wyckoff Johnson – education policy advocate

  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 Associated Press, winner of the Peabody Award
• Elizabeth Drew, 1957 – political journalist
• Nikki Finke, 1975 – entertainment/media journalist, Deadline Hollywood
• Geneva Overholser, 1970 – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, director of the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication
• Page Hopkins, 1988 – 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 and Edward R. Murrow Award, former host at ABC This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts
• Ellen Levine, 1964 – media executive, former Executive Director of Hearst Magazines
• 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
• Lynn Sherr, 1963 – correspondent for ABC 20/20, co-winner of the Peabody Award
• 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 for excellence in journalism
• Emily Yoffe, 1977 – journalist and regular contributor to Slate

  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, mystery writer
• Marjory Stoneman Douglas, 1912 – conservationist and writer
• Norma Farber, 1931 – children's book writer and poet
• Rosario Ferré, 1960 – poet
• Sheila Connolly, 1972 – mystery writer
• Alex Finlayson, 1973 – playwright
• Nancy Friday, 1955 – author of My Secret Garden, an exploration of female sexuality
• Abigail Garner, 1997 – author of Families Like Mine
• Aline Carter, 1914 – poet laureate of Texas
• 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
• Jean Merrill, 1945 – author and editor of children's books
• Maude Gillette Phillips 1881 – author, educator
• Santha Rama Rau, 1945 – travel writer
• Mildred Savage, 1941 – novelist
• Grace Zia Chua, 1921 – Chinese cookbook author
• 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
• Alyson Richman, 1994 – novelist
• Jasmine Guillory, 1997 – novelist
• Ruth Chan, 2002 - children's book author and illustrator

  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
• Debra Chasnoff, 1978 – filmmaker
• Phyllis Curtin, 1943 – opera singer
• Fazeelat Aslam, 2005 – Academy Award-winning filmmaker
• Suzanne Davis, 1976 – jazz pianist
• Jo Duffy, 1976 – editor and writer of comic books
• Amy Chu, 1990 – comic book author
• Nora Ephron, 1962 – movie screenplay writer, writer and director
• Nancy Friday, 1955 – author
• Angelina Weld Grimké, 1900 – playwright
• Daisy Gardner, 1997 – television writer
• Barbara Lea, 1951 – actress and singer
• 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
• Caroline Rose, 2011 – musician
• Elisabeth Shue, actress
• Natalie Sleeth, 1952 – composer
• 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
• Mira Sethi, 2010 – Pakistani author, journalist, and actress

  Science and medicine

• Nancy Adler, 1968 - Professor of Psychology, Director of the Center for Health and Community, U.C. San Francisco. Member of National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Tundi Spring Agardy, 1980 – marine conservationist
• Leah Allen, M.A. class of 1912 – astronomer.
• Thelma Alper, 1929 – clinical psychologist, first Jewish woman to receive a PhD from Harvard University
• JudyAnn Bigby, class of 1973 – Internist, Secretary of Health and Human Services.
• Annie Jump Cannon, class of 1884 – studied physics and astronomy at Wellesley, astronomer, developed the well-known Harvard Classification of stars based upon temperature.
• Lisa A. Carey – distinguished professor in Breast Cancer research
• Sally Carrighar – naturalist and writer
• Florence Meier Chase, class of 1924 – botanist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
• Harriet Creighton, class of 1929 – botanist, geneticist, Professor of Botany, with Barbara McClintock proved that genetic recombination occurred through chromosomal crossover.
• Dorothy Day, 1919 – plant physiologist
• Louise Dolan, class of 1971 – mathematical physicist, cosmological and superstring theorist
• Persis Drell, class of 1977 – physicist, director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator, dean of the Stanford University School of Engineering
• Katherine Freeman, 1984 – geoscientist, chemist, editor-in-chief of the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences
• Nina Gage, 1905 – leading teacher of modern nursing in China
• Muriel Gardiner, 1922 – psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, likely the basis for the character "Julia" in Lillian Hellman's "Pentimento"
• Winifred Goldring, 1909 – pioneering female paleontologist
• 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
• Abigail Harrison, 2019 – sciences advocate, Internet personality
• Martha Haynes, 1973 – radio astronomer, won the Henry Draper Award for 3D visualization of the universe
• Erna Schneider Hoover, 1932 – computer scientist, invented computer switching of telephone traffic at Bell Labs
• Dorothea Jameson, 1942 – cognitive psychologist, expert in color and vision
• Mary Jeanne Kreek, 1958 – neurobiologist, best known for her work in the development of methadone therapy for heroin addiction, was named a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, received an Alumni Gold Medal Award from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons for “lifetime excellence in medicine”, and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Institute on Drug Addiction.
• 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
• Nergis Mavalvala, 1990 – astrophysicist, 2010 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• Martha McClintock, 1970 – biopsychologist, discoverer of human pheromones
• Pamela Melroy, 1983 – astronaut, space shuttle commander
• Vivian Pinn, 1963 – pathologist, Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health
• Mabel Seagrave, 1905 – doctor, ran a hospital in France after World War I
• Isabel Bassett Wasson, 1918 – petroleum geologist and National Park Service ranger
• Naomi Weisstein, 1961 – professor of psychology, neuroscientist, author
• Mary Allen Wilkes, 1959 – computer pioneer, one of the first people to use a home computer
• Brenda Pruden Winnewisser, 1961 – physicist, received a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, has 122 research publications
• Alexandra Worden, 1992 – microbial ecologist and biologist, fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

  Other

• Anya Corke, 2013 – chess player, Woman Grandmaster
• Julia Collins, 2005 – holds second-longest Jeopardy winning streak, best female champion
• Betty Freeman, 1942 – philanthropist, patron of contemporary classical music including John Cage, Philip Glass, and Pierre Boulez
• Asma Gull Hasan, 1997 – Muslim feminist writer, lawyer
• Mary Haskell
• Georgia Pellegrini, 2003 – author, food blogger, chef and hunter
• Ruth Rowland Nichols, 1924 – aviation pioneer
• Charlotte Anita Whitney, 1889 – women's rights and political activist, suffragist, Communist Party organizer

  Notable faculty

• Edith Abbott – social worker, educator, and author
• Myrtilla Avery – American classical scholar focused on Medieval art, former chair of Department of Art at Wellesley College and director of the Farnsworth Art Museum from 1930–1937. Introduced the first art history classes at Wellesley & the earliest museum studies courses.
• Emily Greene Balch – economist, peace activist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• Katharine Lee Bates – author of America the Beautiful; also Wellesley College alumna.
• Judy Brown – physicist
• Carolyn Shaw Bell – economist
• Frank Bidart – poet
• Harriet Boyd-Hawes – archaeologist
• Howard Mayer Brown – musicologist
• Mary Bunting – microbiologist and academic administrator
• Alice Huntington Bushee – writer
• Mary Whiton Calkins – philosopher
• Annie Jump Cannon – astronomer
• Karl "Chip" Case – economist
• Dan Chiasson – poet
• Katharine Coman – economist
• Francis Judd Cooke – composer
• Rose Laub Coser – sociologist
• Sirarpie Der-Nersessian – art historian
• Carlos Dorrien – sculptor
• Alicia Erian – novelist
• Alona E. Evans – political scientist
• 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
• Ellen Hildreth – computer scientist
• Kathleen Hirsch – writer
• Walter Houghton – historian of Victorian literature
• Marian E. Hubbard – zoology professor
• Nannerl O. Keohane – political theorist; president of the college 1981–1993; also Wellesley College alumna
• Philip L. Kohl – anthropologist
• Hedwig Kohn – physicist
• 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
• Alison McIntyre – philosopher
• Helen Abbot Merrill – mathematician
• Vladimir Nabokov – author
• James F. O'Gorman – architectural historian
• Alice Freeman Palmer – educator, first woman president of a nationally known 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 – musician
• Alice T. Schafer – mathematician
• Alan Schechter – political scientist
• Vida Dutton Scudder – writer, educator, welfare activist
• Mary Sears – oceanographer
• Marilyn Sides – writer
• Marion Elizabeth Stark – mathematician
• Emily Vermeule – classical scholar and archaeologist
• Claude Vigée – poet
• Alice Walker – author
• Sarah Frances Whiting – astronomer
• Mary Emma Woolley – Bible scholar, academic administrator
• Richard Yarde
• Mabel Minerva Young – mathematician