List of West Virginia University alumni

This list of West Virginia University alumni includes notable people from published sources that previously attended West Virginia University.

Arts and entertainment

• Michael Ammar – world-renowned magician; WVU Distinguished Alumni Award winner 2003
• Miles Bell – talent manager for musicians and other performers
• Emily Calandrelli – science communicator, host and producer for Netflix's Emily's Wonder Lab and children's STEM science programming block Xploration Station
• Paul Dooley – actor, writer, comedian
• Conchata Ferrell – actress; known for playing Berta the housekeeper on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men
• Antoine Fuqua – director of Training Day, Shooter, Replacement Killers; attended, but did not graduate
• Steve Harvey – Emmy-winning host of Family Feud; attended, but did not graduate
• Cheryl Hines – actress, Curb Your Enthusiasm; attended but did not graduate
• Mike Hodge (B.A. in journalism, minor in theater) – actor and actors' labor union executive; former President of SAG-AFTRA New York local
• Taylor Kinney – actor; portrays Lt. Kelly Severide in NBC's drama Chicago Fire; stars in The Other Woman
• Don Knotts – television and movie actor
• Richard Kuranda – theatrical producer and artistic director Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Signature Theatre Company, Raue Center for the Arts
• Billy Mays – television advertiser featured on Discovery Channel's PitchMen and known for promoting several as seen on TV products; attended but did not graduate; died in 2009
• Trevor Dion Nicholas – Broadway star (known for Aladdin)
• Kathleen Noone – portrays Edna Wallace on the NBC soap opera Passions; known to have attended
• Ben Reed – actor; played quarterback for the West Virginia University football team
• John A. Russo – screenwriter and film director; co-wrote Night of the Living Dead
• Chris Sarandon – television and movie actor, voice of Jack Skellington
• David Selby – actor
• Jeremy Sheffey – former professional football player; former arena football player
• Robert Ellis Silberstein – manager of Diana Ross, Billy Preston, Meat Loaf
• Curt Wootton – star of YouTube series Pittsburgh Dad

Athletics

• Joe Alexander – American-Israeli current professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv
• Michael Baker – football player
• Terry Bowden – Yahoo sports analyst
• Tommy Bowden – former head football coach for Clemson University and Tulane University
• Wesley Brooks – basketbal coach, head coach of the Utah State Aggies women's basketball team
• John Browning – former NFL defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs
• Marc Bulger – former NFL quarterback for the St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints, and Baltimore Ravens
• Da'Sean Butler (born 1987) – basketball player for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Premier League
• Niccolò Campriani – Olympic gold- and silver medal-winning sport shooter; won gold in the men's 50 metre rifle three positions and silver in the men's 10 metre air rifle at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Jevon Carter – current NBA player for the Chicago Bulls
• Mike Compton – two-time Super Bowl Champion and former NFL guard for the Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, and Jacksonville Jaguars
• Devin Ebanks – professional basketball player
• James "Clayster" Eubanks – professional Call of Duty player, two-time Call of Duty Championship winner
• D'or Fischer (born 1981) – American-Israeli basketball player in the Israeli National League
• Mike Gansey – former basketball player in the NBA Development League; current general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Albert Gwynne, former United States national basketball team and West Virginia Mountaineers athletic trainer
• Jedd Gyorko – former second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals
• Major Harris – quarterback for West Virginia University in their 1988 undefeated season
• Roy Hawley, former athletic director for Marshall University and West Virginia University, namesake of Hawley Field
• Sue Haywood – professional mountain bike racer
• Chris Henry – former NFL wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals
• Johannes "Joe" Herber – former professional and German international basketball player
• Jeff Hostetler – Super Bowl Champion and former NFL quarterback for the Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, and New York Giants; starting quarterback in Super Bowl XXV
• Chuck Howley – former NFL linebacker for the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, and Super Bowl V MVP
• Sam Huff – former NFL linebacker; inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982
• Bob Huggins – former head coach of the West Virginia University men's basketball team and former West Virginia University basketball player
• Rodney Clark "Hot Rod" Hundley – former NBA basketball player for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers; first pick in the 1957 NBA draft
• Hal Hunter – football coach
• Bruce Irvin – Super Bowl Champion and former NFL linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks
• James Jett – Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter and former NFL wide receiver for Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders
• Adam "Pacman" Jones – NFL cornerback, currently a free agent
• Greg Jones – three-time NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, 2005 Most Outstanding Wrestler award winner, former associate head coach for the West Virginia University wrestling team, current Blackzilians wrestling coach
• Brian Jozwiak – former NFL offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs
• Ken Kendrick – owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball
• Steve Kline – former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Eugene Lamone, former NFL player, West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
• Ellis Lankster – current NFL cornerback for the New York Jets
• Ashley Lawrence – soccer player for the Canada national team
• Oliver Luck – former NFL quarterback, athletic director of West Virginia University, first commissioner of the XFL, president/general manager of the Houston Dynamo, father of Andrew Luck
• Billy Joe Mantooth – former NFL linebacker for the Houston Oilers
• Pat McAfee – former NFL punter for the Indianapolis Colts
• Casey Mitchell (born 1988) – basketball player for Elitzur Ashkelon of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Dan Mozes – 2006 Rimington Trophy winner
• Adrian Murrell – former running back for New York Jets
• Solomon Page – former NFL offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers
• Lee Patton – legendary basketball coach, WVU Sports Hall of Fame
• Tarik Phillip (born 1993) – British-American basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
• Kevin Pittsnogle – former basketball player in the NBA Development League
• Adrian Pledger (born 1976) – basketball player
• Jerry Porter – former NFL wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars
• Wil Robinson – former ABA basketball player; All-American at West Virginia
• Rich Rodriguez – former head football coach of the University of Michigan; current head football coach of the University of Arizona
• Todd Sauerbrun – former All-Pro NFL punter (five different teams)
• Owen Schmitt – former NFL fullback for the Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, and Oakland Raiders
• Floyd B. "Ben" Schwartzwalder – former head coach of the 1959 National Championship Syracuse University football team
• Heath Slater – professional wrestler, former wrestler at WVU
• Steve Slaton – former NFL running back for the Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins; current CFL running back for the Toronto Argonauts
• Geno Smith – current NFL quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks
• Dave Stephenson – former NFL guard for the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers
• Darryl Talley – West Virginia University all-time team member and former NFL linebacker for the Buffalo Bills
• Rod Thorn – former NBA and ABA basketball player and current president of Basketball Operation for the NBA
• John Thornton – former NFL defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals
• Virginia Thrasher – current WVU rifle team member and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in air rifle
• Yutaro Tsukada – professional soccer player
• Mike Vanderjagt – former NFL placekicker for the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys
• Jerry West – former NBA basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers and Hall of Famer; considered one of the greatest NBA and college basketball players of all time; is the image on the logo for the NBA
• JJ Wetherholt – 7th pick in 2024 MLB draft
• Pat White – former NFL quarterback for the Miami Dolphins
• Andrew Wright – current defender/midfielder for Morecambe F.C.
• John Writer – Olympic gold and silver medal-winning sports shooter
• Amos Zereoué – former NFL running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, and New England Patriots

Authors

• Maggie Anderson – poet
• Allen Appel – writer
• Matt Carson – novelist
• Stephen Coonts – New York Times bestselling author
• Paul Russell Cutright – historian and biologist
• Chip Ingram – Christian writer
• Chuck Kinder – novelist
• Ann Pancake – author
• Jayne Anne Phillips – Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Business

• Heather Bresch – CEO of Mylan, Inc.
• John Chambers – president and CEO of Cisco Systems
• Karen S. Evans – de facto CIO of the United States under President George W. Bush
• Ken Kendrick – owner of Arizona Diamondbacks of MLB; billionaire
• Maggie Hardy Magerko – president of 84 Lumber Company and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort (attended for two years but did not graduate)

Education

• Charles E. Bayless – president of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology
• Todd H. Bullard – former president of Potomac State College and Bethany College
• Margaret Buchanan Cole – mathematician, retired professor emeritus from WVU
• Joseph DiSarro (Ph.D.) – professor and chair in the Department of Political Science at Washington & Jefferson College
• Wanda Franz (Ph.D.) – professor and anti-abortion activist
• Mary McClung – professor of theatrical costume design and puppetry at West Virginia University
• Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa'i – Nigeria's minister of education
• Steven E. Shreve – university professor emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University
• Patrick Vaughan – historian and professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland
• Charles M. Vest – president emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Journalists

• Frank Kearns (died 1986) – foreign correspondent and broadcast journalist with CBS News 1953–1971; WVU professor of Journalism 1971–1983
• Frank Lovece
• Asra Nomani
• Michael Tomasky – editor in chief of Democracy, editor of The New Republic
• Ken Ward Jr. – reporter for the Charleston Gazette-Mail; 2018 MacArthur Fellow

Military

• Ret. Gen. Earl E. Anderson – Marine Corps general
• Corporal Thomas W. Bennett – US Army conscientious objector corporal who served as a combat medic
• Ret. Gen. Bantz J. Craddock – United States Army, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe
• Brig. Gen. Frank Kendall Everest, Jr – test pilot and pioneer of rocket aircraft
• Gen. Robert H. Foglesong – retired commander, US Air Force in Europe; former president of Mississippi State University
• MG George T. Garrett – US Army major general

Music

• Velvet Brown – tuba soloist, music educator
• Jay Chattaway – Star Trek music score writer and film composer
• Little Jimmy Dickens – country music singer
• Nancy Galbraith – internationally acclaimed composer
• Charles Wesley Godwin – new-age folk/country singer/songwriter
• Fuzzy Knight – writer of the WVU Fight Song and country-western actor
• Scott Krippayne – singer/songwriter
• Kathy Mattea – country music singer
• James Valenti – tenor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York

Politics

• Victor A. Arredondo – former minister of education at the State of Veracruz, Mexico, 2004–2010
• Carl George Bachmann – United States congressman, Republican minority whip 1931–1933
• Clark S. Barnes – West Virginia Senate, District 15, 2004–present
• William Wallace Barron – 26th governor of West Virginia
• Irene Berger – United States district judge for the Southern District of West Virginia
• Frank L. Bowman – politician who represented West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives
• Eric Brooks – West Virginia House of Delegates
• Virginia Mae Brown – first woman to head the Interstate Commerce Commission
• Becky Cain – past president of the League of Women Voters
• Fred H. Caplan – former justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
• Geno Chiarelli – West Virginia state delegate
• William G. Conley – 18th governor of West Virginia
• William Harrison Courtney – special assistant to President Clinton
• Joseph M. Devine – governor of North Dakota 1898–1899
• Karen S. Evans – CISA advisor and author
• David Ginsburg (1912–2010) – presidential adviser and executive director of the Kerner Commission
• William E. Glasscock – 13th governor of West Virginia
• Howard Mason Gore – 17th governor of West Virginia
• Kathleen M. Hawk – director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Robert Lynn Hogg – represented West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, 1930–1933
• Brad Hoylman – sitting New York state senator representing the 27th District, which includes Midtown, Times Square, and Greenwich Village of lower Manhattan
• Nancy Jacobs – Maryland state senator (1973)
• Sen. Harley M. Kilgore – chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization during World War II
• Tim Mahoney – United States congressman from Florida
• Joe Manchin – 34th governor of West Virginia; United States senator from West Virginia
• William C. Marland – 24th governor of West Virginia
• Edward F. McClain – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Darrell McGraw – former West Virginia attorney general, former chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court
• Andy McKenzie – former West Virginia senator and mayor of Wheeling, West Virginia
• Carlos Eduardo Mendoza – United States district judge for the Middle District of Florida
• M. Blane Michael – circuit judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Alan Mollohan – United States congressman
• Arch A. Moore, Jr. – 28th and 30th governor of West Virginia
• Ephraim F. Morgan – 16th governor of West Virginia
• Matthew M. Neely – 22nd governor of West Virginia
• Asra Nomani – former Wall Street Journal reporter, author and Islamic reform and feminism activist
• Corey Lee Palumbo – West Virginia Senate, District 17, 2009–present and West Virginia House of Representatives 2003–2009
• Mike Pantelides – mayor of Annapolis, Maryland
• Tom Pridemore – West Virginia House of Delegates and football player
• Jeff Pyle – Pennsylvania state representative
• Stuart F. Reed – politician who represented West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives
• Clay Riley – West Virginia state delegate
• Nelson Stamler – New Jersey state senator, assemblyman, judge, and prosecutor
• Virginia Starcher – member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, 1986–1990
• Paul S. Stull – member of the Maryland House of Delegates
• William S. Thompson – United States attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia
• John G. Trueschler – former member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1979)
• Cecil H. Underwood – youngest (25th) and oldest (32nd) governor of West Virginia
• Christopher C. Wilkes – judge, West Virginia Circuit Court

Royalty

• Princess Sarah Culberson – Mende princess and philanthropist

Science and technology

• Ann Bartuska – ecologist and biologist, senior advisor at Resources for the Future and former Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at United States Department of Agriculture
• James M. Bobbitt – chemist and professor at the University of Connecticut
• Emily Calandrelli – science communicator; host of science programs and author of science books for children
• Dianne Dorland – engineer and first female president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Frances Harshbarger (1902–1987) – mathematician
• Steven C. Hayes – psychologist
• Katherine Johnson – mathematician, NASA computer scientist, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Robert Kerns – psychologist
• Jon McBride – NASA astronaut
• Kim Weaver – astrophysicist

Other

• Cynthia Germanotta – philanthropist, co-founder of Born This Way; Lady Gaga's mother
• Patsy Ramsey – mother of JonBenet Ramsey; Miss West Virginia 1977

See also

• List of people from Morgantown, West Virginia
• List of presidents of West Virginia University

References