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 +NameYear/degreeNotabilityJulia Adams1980Margaret H. Marshall Professor of Sociology at Yale UniversityJon Appleton1961Composer; Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music at Dartmouth College; visiting professor of Music at Stanford UniversityKarl W. Aschenbrenner1934Philosopher; professor emeritus at University of California, BerkeleyLouis T. BenezetM.A. 1939President of Allegheny College, Colorado College, Claremont Graduate University, and State University of New York at AlbanySacvan BercovitchN/AWriter and cultural critic; professor of American Literature, Harvard University (did not graduate)Walter BernsN/AProfessor of political philosophy and constitutional law at Yale University, and Cornell University; resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute; recipient of the National Humanities Medal in 2005 (did not graduate)Charles Bigelow1967Type designer and historian; professor of Type Design and Writing, Rochester Institute of TechnologyJonathan Boyarin1977Anthropologist; Thomas and Diann Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, departments of Anthropology and Near Eastern Studies at Cornell UniversityJames J. Brady1934Physicist; professor emeritus at Oregon State University and fellow of American Institute of PhysicsRobert Brenner1964Marxist economic historian; professor of History, UCLA; director of the Center for Social Theory and Comparative HistoryJoan Bresnan1966Linguist; architect of lexical functional grammar; Sadie Dernham Patek Professor in Humanities Emerita at Stanford UniversityRobert A. Brightman1973Anthropologist; Greenberg Professor of Native American Studies, Reed CollegePeter Child1975Composer, teacher, and musical analyst; professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and composer in residence with the New England PhilharmonicJessica Coon2004Linguistics professor at McGill University, Canada Research Chair in syntax and indigenous languagesGalen Cranz1966Professor emerita of Architecture at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, BerkeleyAnn Cvetkovich1980Professor in the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at Carleton University; Ellen Clayton Garwood Centennial Professor of English and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at AustinShannon Lee Dawdy1988Professor of Anthropology and of Social Sciences, University of ChicagoKai T. Erikson1953President, American Sociological Association and professor at Yale UniversityElizabeth Warnock Fernea1950Anthropologist and filmmaker; chairwoman of the Woman's Studies Program at the University of Texas at AustinJanet Fitch1978Writer and professor of writing at the University of Southern California and Pomona CollegeNeil Fligstein1973Sociologist; Class of 1939 Chancellor's Professor at the University of California, BerkeleyDavid H. French1939Anthropologist and linguistVictor Friedman1970Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Balkan and Slavic Linguistics, University of ChicagoPeter Gordon1988Intellectual historian; Amabel B. James Professor of History at Harvard UniversityDavid Grusky1980Sociologist; Barbara Kimball Browning Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford UniversityTed Robert Gurr1957Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University and Distinguished University Professor emeritus at the University of MarylandLoyd Haberly1919Poet; dean, Fairleigh Dickinson UniversityPeter Dobkin Hall1968Professor of History and Theory in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, City University of New York, and senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Hauser Center for Nonprofit OrganizationsCarol Heimer1973Professor of Sociology, Northwestern UniversityDavid Hoggan1945Historian; professor at LMU Munich, San Francisco State College, the University of California at Berkeley, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Carthage College; known for promotion of Holocaust denialDell Hymes1950Anthropologist and linguist; dean of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; president of the American Folklore Society, Linguistic Society of America, and American Anthropological AssociationMaurice Isserman1973Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History, Hamilton CollegeDon Kates1962Criminologist and lawyerGail M. Kelly1955Anthropologist, professor emerita at Reed CollegeWallace T. MacCaffrey1942Historian of Elizabethan England; chaired the Harvard University history department twiceBrendan McConville1987Historian of early America; professor of History at Boston UniversityWilliam D. McElroy1939Biochemist; chancellor, University of California, San Diego; former director, National Science Foundation; president of the American Association for the Advancement of ScienceDennis B. McGilvray1965Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado at BoulderLisa Nakamura1987Coordinator of Digital Studies; Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor in the Department of American Cultures at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborChristopher Newfield1980Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Santa BarbaraKaori O'Connor1968AnthropologistChristopher Phelps1988Political and intellectual historian; professor of History, University of NottinghamRay Raphael1965HistorianDiane Silvers RavitchN/AHistorian and U.S. assistant secretary of education; professor of History, New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; senior fellow, Brookings Institution (did not graduate) Barbara ReskinN/A S. Frank Miyamoto Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington (did not graduate)Lawrence Rinder1983Dean of Graduate Studies at the California College of the Arts; former curator of Contemporary Art at the Whitney MuseumStephen Shapin1966Franklin L. Ford Research Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University; winner of the 2014 George Sarton Medal of the History of Science SocietyRobert E. Slavin1972Psychologist; director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University; cooperative learning, project Success for AllGeorge Steinmetz1980Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Sociology and Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of MichiganRobert K. Thomas N/ALiterary critic; professor of English and academic vice president, Brigham Young University (did not graduate)Katherine Verdery1970Julien J. Studley Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor, Anthropology Program, City University of New York Graduate CenterJon Westling1964President emeritus and professor of History at Boston UniversityRichard Wolin1974Intellectual historian; Distinguished Professor of History and Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center

Economics

+NameYear/degreeNotabilityYoram Bauman1995Economist and stand-up comedianDorothy Brady1925Economist and mathematician; professor of Economics, University of PennsylvaniaRobert A. Brady1923Chief of the Standards Division, Consumers Advisory Board, National Recovery Administration, and member of the National Resources Planning Board during the New Deal; a founder of the Consumers Union; professor of Economics, University of California, BerkeleyKalman J. Cohen1951Professor of Economics, Duke UniversityRose FriedmanN/AEconomist and author; wife of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman (did not graduate, left in 1930 after her sophomore year)Mason Gaffney1948Economist; critic of neoclassical economics; director of the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation; professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles and RiversideLewis Webster Jones1921Economist for the League of Nations; president of Bennington College, University of Arkansas, and Rutgers UniversityDale W. Jorgenson1955Economist; professor at Harvard University; past president of the American Economic Association and the Econometric Society; chairman of Section 54, Economic Sciences, of the National Academy of Sciences; winner of the AEA's John Bates Clark Medal in 1971John V. Krutilla1949Economist; known for developing the concept of existence value; winner of the 1990 Volvo Environment Prize in 1990Michael Rothschild1963William Stuart Tod Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University; known for introducing the concept of the mean-preserving spread with co-author Joseph StiglitzRoss StarrN/AProfessor of Economics, University of California, San Diego (did not graduate)Nicolaus Tideman1965Senior staff economist for the president's Council of Economic Advisors; professor of economics at Virginia Tech, Harvard Kennedy School, University of Buckingham, and the American Institute for Economic Research; developed the ranked-pairs voting system

Philosophy +NameYear/degreeNotabilitySally Haslanger1977Ford Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2015 Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam; recipient of the American Philosophical Association's 2014 Joseph B. Gittler AwardLisa Kemmerer1988Author and professor of philosophy and religion at Montana State University BillingsEric T. Olson1986Professor of Philosophy, University of Sheffield; taught at Cambridge UniversityJay Rosenberg1963Taylor Grandy Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSydney Shoemaker1953Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy at Cornell UniversityGuy Sircello1953Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine and scholar of aestheticsTom Wasow1967Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy, emeritus, at Stanford University; co-founder of the Center for the Study of Language and InformationAllen W. Wood1964Professor of philosophy at Cornell University, Yale University, and Stanford University; Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor emeritus, Indiana University

Psychology and neuroscience