List of Reed College people

This page lists notable alumni of Reed College, a distinguished liberal arts and sciences institution located in Portland, Oregon. The list includes individuals recognized for their achievements, along with their current and/or former roles.

Students who met specific academic requirements, but did not graduate, are considered full alumni by the college and identified as non-degreed alumni within this list for clarity.

Alumni

Academia

Economics

Philosophy

Psychology and neuroscience

Biology and chemistry

Science, mathematics, computing, and engineering

• Clarence Allen, 1949 – professor of Geology, California Institute of Technology
• John Backus, 1932 – professor of Physics, University of Southern California
• Alan H. Borning, 1971 – professor of Computer Science, University of Washington
• Daniel Bump, 1974 – professor of Mathematics, Stanford University
• Theodore James Courant, 1982 – mathematician
• Craig DeForest, 1989 – astrophysicist, director of the PUNCH mission
• Shep Doeleman, 1986 – astrophysicist, director of the Event Horizon Telescope project
• David B. Dusenbery, 1964 – father of sensory ecology
• Kelly Falkner, 1983 – oceanographer, Antarctic researcher
• Thomas William Ferguson, 1965 – physician
• David Flory, 1964 – physicist; professor of Physics, chairman of the Physics Department, and director of the School of Natural Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Cleota Gage Fry, 1933 – mathematician and professor at Purdue University
• Mark Galassi, 1987 – physicist and computer scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Jonathan Grudin, 1972 – computer scientist
• Vivian Annabelle Johnson, 1932 – professor of Physics, Purdue University
• Daniel Kottke, 1976 – computer scientist
• Jorge M. López, 1967 – mathematician and professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
• Steven McGeady, 1980 – technologist
• Arthur Ogus, 1968 – professor of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley
• Marilyn Olmstead, 1965 – chemist, expert in small molecule crystallography
• Catherine Otto, 1975 – physician
• Keith Packard, 1986 – software developer; known for his work on the X Window System
• Norman Packard, 1977 – chaos theory physicist
• Lawrence Philips, 1976 – software engineer; developer of the Metaphone family of phonetic encoding algorithms
• Edward Ramberg (did not graduate) – physicist
• Larry Shaw, 1961 – physicist and founder of Pi Day
• Peter Shirley, 1985 – computer scientist
• John Alexander Simpson, 1940 – professor of Physics, University of Chicago, and atomic scientist on the Manhattan Project
• Susan Subak, 1982 – environmental and climate scientist
• Irena Swanson, 1987 – mathematician and professor at Reed College

Arts and entertainment

• Jacob Avshalomov, 1941 – composer
• Stella Baker, 2015 – actor
• Jody Bleyle, 1992 – singer, songwriter, musician
• Xenia Cage, 1935 – artist and musician
• Jennifer Camper, 1979 – cartoonist
• Ry Cooder, 1971 – singer, songwriter; attended Reed for one semester
• Robert Cornthwaite, 1939 – actor
• Lamar Crowson, 1948 – pianist
• Dr. Demento, born Barret Hansen, 1963 – radio personality
• Pozzi Escot, 1956 – composer
• Johanna Fateman (did not graduate) – musician
• Simone Forti (did not graduate) – choreographer
• Rob Heinsoo, 1987 – game designer
• Matt Keeslar, 2014 – actor
• Hope Lange (did not graduate) – actress
• Jayne Loader, 1973 – writer and director; produced and co-directed The Atomic Cafe
• Peter Mars, 1982 – artist
• Robert Morris, 1953 (attended two years) – sculptor
• Bill Morrison, 1985 – filmmaker, Guggenheim fellow
• Charles Munch, 1968 – painter
• Daria O'Neill, 1993 – Portland radio and TV personality
• Eric Overmyer, 1973 – screenwriter, producer, playwright
• David Reed, 1968 – artist
• Lawrence Rinder, 1983 – director of the Berkeley Art Museum
• Brian Rolland (did not graduate) – musician
• Leo Rubinfien, 1974 – photographer
• Susan Silas, 1975 – artist
• Pat Silver-Lasky 1949– screenwriter and actress
• Morgan Spector, 2002 – actor
• Kim Spencer, 1970 – television producer
• David Henry Sterry, 1978 – author, actor/comic
• Igor Vamos, 1990 – contemporary artist, member of The Yes Men
• Anne Washburn, 1991 – playwright (Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play)

Business

• Suzan DelBene, 1983 – CEO of Nimble Technology and vice president at Microsoft
• Robert Friedland, 1974 – businessman and CEO of Ivanhoe Mines
• Bill Naito, 1949 – Portland businessman, developer, and civic leader
• Emilio Pucci, 1937 – fashion designer; member of the Italian Parliament

Food and drink

• James Beard, expelled 1922/23; honorary degree 1976 – chef and cookbook author
• Mark Bitterman, 1995 – food writer and author
• Kate Christensen, 1986 – food writer and author
• Steven Raichlen, 1975 – television chef, author
• Sean Thackrey (did not graduate) – winemaker

Government

• Josiah H. Beeman V, 1958 – United States ambassador to New Zealand
• Bud Clark (did not graduate) – mayor of Portland
• Richard Danzig, 1965 – 71st secretary of the navy
• Suzan DelBene, 1983 – United States representative from Washington state (D)
• Chris Garrett, 1996 – member of the Oregon Legislature
• Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, United States representative from Washington state
• Richard L. Hanna, 1973 – United States representative from New York (R)
• Cordelia Hood, 1936 – Office of Strategic Services and CIA agent
• Mingus Mapps, Portland, Oregon city council member
• Sheldon T. Mills, 1927 – former United States ambassador to Afghanistan
• J. Elizabeth Mitchell, 1991 – member of the Maine Legislature
• Norman Solomon (did not graduate) – candidate for the United States House of Representatives
• Howard Wolpe, 1960 – congressman (D-Michigan)

Law

• Alafair Burke, 1991 – assistant district attorney, Multnomah County, Oregon; professor of Law, Hofstra University; crime and mystery writer
• Chris Garrett, 1996 – justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• George M. Joseph, 1951 – chief judge, Oregon Court of Appeals
• Katya Komisaruk, 1978 – civil rights lawyer
• Berkeley Lent, 1948 – chief justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Michael E. Levine, 1962 – senior lecturer at the New York University School of Law; dean emeritus of the Yale School of Management
• Paul Alan Levy, 1973 – attorney at Public Citizen specializing in Internet-related free speech issues
• Hans A. Linde, 1947 – justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Jessica Litman, 1974 – professor of Law at the University of Michigan, legal advisor
• Alex J. Martinez, 1973 – chief justice, Colorado Supreme Court
• Gus J. Solomon (did not graduate) – US district judge, District of Oregon
• Fay Stender (did not graduate) – lawyer and prisoners' rights advocate
• Jacob Tanzer (did not graduate) – justice, Oregon Supreme Court

Literature

• Tamim Ansary, 1970 – author of West of Kabul, East of New York
• Doon Arbus, 1967 – writer and journalist, daughter of Diane Arbus
• Alison Baker, 1975 – writer
• Mary Barnard, 1932 – modernist poet and translator of Greek poet Sappho
• Margaret Bechard, 1976 – science fiction writer
• Don Berry, 1931 – writer
• Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, 1969 – poet
• Lee Blessing, 1971 – playwright
• Hob Broun, 1972 – author who became paralyzed and wrote two books by puffing air through a tube
• Alafair Burke, 1991 – author
• Robert Chesley, 1965 – playwright, novelist, and composer
• Kate Christensen, 1986 – novelist, winner of 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
• Gordon Dahlquist, 1984 – playwright, novelist
• William Dickey, 1951 – poet
• Katherine Dunn, 1969 – journalist and author of Geek Love
• Elana Dykewomon, ca. 1971 – author
• Elyssa East, 1994 – novelist
• David Eddings, 1954 – writer
• Scott Ellsworth, 1976 – writer and historian
• Nancy Farmer, 1963 – novelist, winner of National Book Award for Young People's Literature
• Elyse Fenton, 2003 – poet
• Janet Fitch, 1978 – novelist, White Oleander, Paint It Black, and The Revolution of Marina M
• Debra M. Ginsberg, 1984 – author
• Shadab Zeest Hashmi, 1995 – poet
• Ernest Haycox (did not graduate) – author
• Roger Hobbs, 2011 – author of Ghostman and Vanishing Games
• Laleh Khadivi, 1998 – author and writer
• Caroline B. Miller, 1959 – author
• Lisa Dale Norton, 1976 – author
• Steven Raichlen, 1975 – author and writer
• Howard Rheingold, 1968 – writer
• M. C. Richards, 1938 – poet
• David Romtvedt, 1972 – poet
• Mary Rosenblum, 1975 – author
• Vern Rutsala, 1956 – poet and writer
• Tina Satter, 2004 – playwright
• Leslie Scalapino, 1966 – poet, publisher, and playwright
• Genny Smith, 1943 – naturalist, activist, publisher
• Gary Snyder, 1951 – Pulitzer Prize winner and poet
• Vanessa Veselka, 2010 – novelist
• Sally Watson, 1950 – writer
• Lew Welch, 1950 – poet
• Philip Whalen, 1951 – poet

Journalism and media

• Adrian Chen, 2009 – journalist and former staff writer at The New Yorker
• Jim Compton, 1964 – journalist at PBS
• Ed Cony, 1948 – editor of The Wall Street Journal, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1961
• Barbara Ehrenreich, 1963 – journalist, political activist, author of Nickel and Dimed
• Peter S. Goodman, 1989 – reporter for the New York Times and author of Past Due: The End of Easy Money and the Renewal of the American Economy
• Michelle Nijhuis, 1996 – journalist
• Adam L. Penenberg, 1986 – writer, professor of journalism at New York University
• Howard Rheingold, 1968 – writer, critic, and virtual media theorist
• Arun Rath, 1994 – correspondent for NPR and WGBH, former weekend host of NPR's All Things Considered
• Robert Richter, 1951 – documentary filmmaker and Academy Award winner
• Sheila Rogers, 1980 – columnist and TV producer for The Late Show With David Letterman
• Anya Schiffrin, 1984 – business journalist and author of Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative Reporting from Around the World
• Robert Smith, 1989 – journalist, host of NPR's Planet Money.
• Gary Wolf, 1983 – author and writer for Wired
• Peter Zuckerman, 2003 – journalist and author

Inventors and innovators

• Richard Crandall, 1969 – computer scientist who developed the irrational base discrete weighted transform used in finding large prime numbers
• Steve Jobs, 1976 (attended as a freshman, did not graduate) – Apple co-founder and former CEO; Pixar co-founder and former CEO
• Ken Koe, 1945 – co-inventor of Zoloft
• Peter Norton, 1965 – creator of Norton Utilities
• Pamela Ronald, 1982 – geneticist and developer of flood-tolerant rice
• James Russell, 1953 – inventor of the compact disc
• Larry Sanger, 1991 – co-founder of Wikipedia
• Bernard Smith, 1948 – sailboat designer
• John Sperling, 1948 – founder of the University of Phoenix
• C. Howard Vollum, 1936 – founder of Tektronix; inventor of the edge-triggered oscilloscope

Other

• Greta Christina, 1983 – blogger
• Mike Davis (did not graduate) – activist and scholar
• Randall Giles (did not graduate) – composer
• Max Gordon, 1924 – owner of the Village Vanguard
• Mukunda Goswami, 1961 – Hare Krishna guru
• Christopher Langan – "America's smartest man;" won a scholarship to Reed after earning a perfect SAT score, but dropped out
• Murray Leaf, 1961 – anthropologist
• Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 2016 – human rights activist
• Joann Osterud, 1968 – aviator and stunt pilot
• Harry Wayland Randall, 1936 – member of international brigades in Spanish Civil War
• Aaron Rhodes, 1971 – human rights advocate
• Helen Sandoz – lesbian activist
• Peter Stafford (did not graduate) – author and writer
• Sumner Stone, 1967 – typeface designer
• Michael Teitelbaum, 1966 – program director and demographer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• Donald Niven Wheeler, 1936 – political activist

Fictional alumni

• Erlich Bachmann, from HBO's Silicon Valley
• John William Barry from David Guterson's 2008 novel The Other
• Bill McKay, portrayed by Robert Redford in the 1972 film The Candidate
• Donald "Don" Miller in his semi-autobiographical 2003 book Blue Like Jazz and (portrayed by Marshall Allman) in the 2012 Blue Like Jazz film
• Harald Petersen, Reed '27 from Mary McCarthy's 1963 novel The Group
• Japhy Ryder from Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums (based on Reed alum Gary Snyder)
• Hunter Scangarelo (did not graduate), friend of Meadow Soprano in the 1999–2007 television series The Sopranos
• Sierra from Charmed Thirds, Megan McCafferty's 2006 novel in the Jessica Darling series
• Lambert "Sharkey" Somers, from Judy Blume's 1998 novel Summer Sisters

Faculty

• Kimberly Clausing – economist, deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis at the United States Department of the Treasury
• William J. Connell – historian
• Paul Douglas – US senator from Illinois
• David J. Griffiths – physicist
• Daniel Reisberg – psychology
• Darius Rejali – Iranian-American political scientist, specialist on the political uses of torture

Administration

• Paul Bragdon – college president 1971–1988

References