This article lists notable alumni and students of the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
Art
- Diana al-Hadid â sculptor and installation artist (MFA 2005)
- Hannah Altman â photographer (MFA 2020)
- Chino Amobi â contemporary artist, musician and painter
- Fahmida Azim â Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator
- Sam Bass â motorsports artist
- Trudy Benson â abstract artist (BFA 2007)
- Nell Blaine â landscape painter
- Noah Bradley â fantasy artist known for Dungeons & Dragons
- Loryn Brazier â painter, known for her portraits of Virginia politicians
- James Bumgardner â painter, multimedia artist, RPI, VCU art faculty (BFA 1955)
- Lauren Clay â sculptor known for her large fantasy inspired installations
- Daryl Cobb â children's book illustrator
- Tony Cokes â visual artist and educator (MFA 1985)
- Bonnie Collura â artist known for figurative multi-media sculptures, textiles and installations
- Rose Datoc Dall â painter (BFA 1990)
- Assil Diab â Sudanese graphic designer
- Paul DiPasquale â sculptor known for designing several public sculptures in Virginia, including the Arthur Ashe Monument on Richmond's Monument Avenue and King Neptune on Virginia Beach's boardwalk
- Tara Donovan â sculptor (MFA 1999)
- Rama Duwaji â animator, illustrator and ceramist, First Lady of New York City (BFA 2019)
- Torkwase Dyson â painter (BFA 1999)
- Joseph Craig English â printmaker (BFA 1970)
- Moses Jacob Ezekiel â sculptor (1866âÂÂ68)
- Tarfia Faizullah â poet
- Colette Fu â photographer, book artist and paper engineer, known for her pop-up books
- Judith Godwin â abstract painter
- Emmet Gowin â photographer and portraitist
- Donwan Harrell â fashion designer, founder of Prps and Akademiks (BFA 1989)
- Sylvia Harris â graphic designer known for designing the U.S. Census and as a pioneer in social impact design
- Sally Heller â artist known for her large installations
- Lisa Hoke â sculptor and installation artist (BFA 1978)
- Brian Hubble â illustrator
- Katie Hudnall â artist known for woodworking
- Sterling Hundley â illustrator and painter (BFA 1998)
- Anna Journey â poet
- Michael Kaluta â comic book artist
- Abby Kasonik â painter (BFA 1998)
- Dawn Kasper â interdisciplinary artist
- Matt Kenyon â new media artist
- Ana Ines Barragan King â founder of the Latin Ballet of Virginia
- Mia LaBerge â oil painter
- Abigail Larson â fantasy artist
- Nate Lewis â cut paper sculptor (BS 2009)
- Whitney Lynn â sculptor and performance artist (BFA 2004)
- Philip B. Meggs â graphic designer and historian of design (BFA 1964, MFA 1971)
- Wiley Miller â cartoonist
- Eric Millikin â conceptual, internet, video and performance artist (MFA 2021)
- Ayanah Moor â conceptual artist
- Lois Morrison â book artist
- Charlotte Moss â interior designer, author and philanthropist
- Mel Odom â book cover artist
- G. Byron Peck â mural artist
- Jon Pineda â poet
- Kevin Powers â poet
- Alston Purvis â graphic designer and author
- Beatrice Riese â artist and art collector
- Rob G. â comic book artist
- Anne Savedge â photographic artist
- Steve Segal â Pixar animator
- Mark Sloan â museum curator
- Janice Smith â furniture maker (BFA 1976)
- Ron Smith â poet
- Carol Sutton â painter and sculptor (BFA 1967)
- Alice Tangerini â botanical illustrator
- Kevin Tinsley â comic book illustrator
- Allison Titus â poet
- Alessandra Torres â performance and installation artist (MFA 2006)
- Phil Trumbo â art director and graphic designer
- Betony Vernon â jewelry designer
- Charles Vess â fantasy and comics illustrator (BFA 1974)
Business
Government
Media
- Mamé Adjei â runner-up of America's Next Top Model cycle 22
- David Baldacci â author, best known for his novel Absolute Power (1996)
- Greg Barrett â journalist and public speaker
- Macon Blair â actor and Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning filmmaker, known for his collaborations with Jeremy Saulnier
- Cocoa Brown â actress
- Reilly Brown â comic book illustrator and writer, known for his work on Cable & Deadpool
- Caressa Cameron â 2010 Miss America
- Paris Campbell Grace â TikToker, singer, and comedian
- Daryl Cobb â author, national children's educational presenter
- Chad L. Coleman â actor
- Andrea Detwiler â 2006 Daytime Emmy winner
- Stephen Furst â actor and director, known as "Flounder" in the National Lampoon classic Animal House (1978) as well as TV series St. Elsewhere and Babylon 5
- Jason Butler Harner â Broadway, television, and film actor; performed in original production of Coast of Utopia; was in Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated film Changeling
- Jennifer A. Johnson â chief editor of the journal Sexualization, Media, and Society
- Bilal Khan â Pakistani singer and actor
- Zachary Knighton â actor, ABC series Happy Endings
- Boris Kodjoe â actor, model
- Robert Lanham â author, best known for his book The Hipster Handbook (2003)
- Valerie LaPointe â director and storyboard artist for Pixar Animation Studios
- Debbie Matenopoulos â TV host, known for co-hosting ABC's The View, The Daily 10, and TV Guide Channel's The Screening Room
- Rebekah McKendry â film director
- Wiley Miller â cartoonist and author of the comic strip Non Sequitur
- Caelynn Miller-Keyes â runner-up Miss USA 2018, Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise contestant
- Trevor Moore â comedian and founding member of The Whitest Kids U' Know
- Howard Owen â journalist, author of crime fiction and the novel Littlejohn
- Jay Pharoah â comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member
- Jon Pineda â award-winning poet and novelist
- Christopher Poole, aka moot â founder of 4chan
- Kevin Powers â novelist and poet, known for The Yellow Birds (2013), a finalist for the National Book Award
- Tom Robbins â author, best known for his novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976)
- Steve Segal â comic artist, animation director
- Ronnie Sidney, II â graphic novelist
- Robb Spewak â producer and radio personality for The Don and Mike Show and The Mike O'Meara Show
- Steve Rasnic Tem â horror fiction writer, winner of the World Fantasy, British Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards
- Phil Trumbo â film animator, artist
- Brandon Wardell â comedian and Twitter personality
- Mike Wieringo â comic book artist for Marvel and DC comics; co-creator of Image Comics series Tellos
Music
Science
- Hunter "Patch" Adams â founder of the Gesundheit! Institute and subject of the movie Patch Adams
- Arpana Agrawal â psychiatric geneticist and professor of psychiatry, 2018 Theodore Reich Young Investigator Award
- Beatriz Amendola â Urugayan-American radiation oncologist
- Meike Bartels â behavioral geneticist, known for research on the genetics of happiness
- Mary Baughman â physician, medical school professor, and clubwoman
- Baruj Benacerraf â winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Medicine, class of 1945
- Frederick Bieber â Canadian-American geneticist currently serving as senior medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, member of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University
- William Chivous Bostic Sr., class of 1905
- Kathleen T. Brady â psychiatrist
- Lorna Breen â physician
- Caroline Orr Bueno (PhD) â social and behavioral sciences researcher specializing in disinformation networks
- Georgia Chenevix-Trench â cancer researcher who investigates genetic predispositions to cancer
- Anne L. Coleman â chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Director of the Stein Eye Institute at University of California, Los Angeles
- Joseph DeJarnette â director of Western State Hospital, physician and eugenicist
- Francis L. Delmonico â surgeon, clinical professor and health expert in the field of transplantation
- Brian D'Onofrio â psychologist who researches the causes of psychopathology in children and adolescents
- Dorothy Espelage â psychologist and expert in teen violence
- Mary Cynthia Farach-Carson â biochemist, known for her work in extracellular matrix, perlecan, tissue engineering and bone metastasis
- Ann S. Fulcher â abdominal radiologist and chair of the department of radiology at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Medicine
- Isabel Garcia â dentist and academic administrator
- Nassir Ghaemi â psychiatrist, author, and professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine
- Philip C. Kendall â psychologist who produced the Coping Cat program
- Saul Krugman â medical researcher who discovered a vaccine against hepatitis B
- Feng Liu â material physicist
- Michael L. Madigan â biomedical engineer
- Benjamin Neale â statistical geneticist with a specialty in psychiatric genetics
- Eduardo D. Rodriguez â Cuban-American plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and reconstructive transplant surgeon, who is known for his contribution to the field of facial transplantation and vascularized composite allotransplantation
- Gladys Smithwick â physician and Presbyterian medical missionary in China and the Belgian Congo
- Sudhir Srivastava â chief of the Cancer Biomarkers Research Group of the Division of Cancer Prevention at the United States NCI
- Jeffery Taubenberger, M.D. â virologist
- Arpad Vass â research scientist, forensic anthropologist and professor
Sports
Other
References