The following is a list of notable people associated with the University of Southern Mississippi, located in the American city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Alumni Politics and government
Media and the arts
Natalie Allen '84 – CNN International Anchor, CNN Newsroom, Southern Miss Alumni Award winnerSouthern Miss Alumni Award Winner Mary Ryan Brown – comedian and internet personality Jimmy Buffett '69 – singer, songwriter, and author Trishelle Cannatella – reality television personality Cat Cora – celebrity chef, Iron Chef America on Food Network M.C. Gainey – actor, Sideways, Con Air, Django Unchained, Lost Victor Gischler, PHD – novelist, comic book writer Gary Grubbs '72 – actor, JFK, The Astronaut's Wife, The O. C., Will & Grace Ed Hinton '70 – sportswriter for ESPN.com Eddie Hodges (B.S. Psychology '73, M.S. Counseling '75) – former child actor, The Music Man on Broadway, numerous movie and TV roles; pop singer and songwriter; mental health counselor John Holman '83 – short story writer, novelist, and academic Cooper Huckabee – actor Clifton Hyde – musician, Blue Man Group Ted Jackson – Pulitzer Prize-winning photo journalist, New Orleans Times-Picayune Nan Kelley – host of Grand Ole Opry Live, GAC Network; Miss Mississippi Tom Malone – musician, CBS Orchestra, Late Show with David Letterman, Blues Brothers Band Ed McGowin – painter and sculptor Whitney Miller '11 – winner of the first MasterChef title from season one of the Fox television show; author of cookbook Michael Holloway Perronne – novelist Patrik-Ian Polk '94 – producer, filmmaker, and artist Sally-Ann Roberts – anchor for WWL-TV in New Orleans Jameson Rodgers – country music singer, songwriter Phillip Sandifer – singer/songwriter Chuck Scarborough – Emmy award-winning anchor at WNBC-TV in New York City; author David Sheffield '72 – comedy writer; screenwriter for Saturday Night Live, wrote screenplays including Police Academy II and Coming to America Dalton Smith '59 – Grammy Award-winning trumpeter with Stan Kenton Michael Farris Smith '02 – writer, novelist Tom Smith '79 – musician, Jazz Education Hall of Fame Ugly God – rapper, songwriter, record producer; featured on the 2017 XXL Freshman list Steve Wiest '80 – musician, jazz trombonist with Maynard Ferguson; Grammy-nominated composer, arranger; director of the One O'Clock Lab Band Michael Williams – filmmaker, producer and screenwriter Clymer Wright – editor of Fort Bend Reporter in Fort Bend County, Texas; later conservative political activist in Houston William Garrett Wright – poet
Military Major General Jeffery Hammond 1978, 1986 – led one of the initial battalions into Bosnia in enforcement of the Dayton Peace Accords, served as the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, where he served 33,000 troops of the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division Baghdad Colonel Ronald J. Rabin – commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry from the ROTC program at Mississippi Southern College (now the University of Southern Mississippi) Major General Walter H. Yates, Jr. – multiple military decorations
Science and technology Roger Brent '73 – systems biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Robert Hyatt '83 – author of Cray Blitz, a world chess champion computer program Jimmy Mays '79 – professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee Robert L. Stewart '64 – former NASA astronaut; retired Army brigadier general
Sports figures
Others Lloyd Donald Brinkman '52 (1929–2015) – businessman, cattle breeder, civic leader and art collector Mary S. Graham – president of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Frances E. Lee – professor of Politics, Princeton University Hannah Roberts – Miss Mississippi 2015 and 1st runner-up for Miss America 2016
Faculty Gordon Gunter (1909–1998) – director (1955–1971) and director emeritus (1971–1979) of the university′s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs; influential fisheries scientist who pioneered the study of fisheries in the northern Gulf of Mexico Frances A. Karnes (1937–2025) – professor and director of the Frances A. Karnes Center for Gifted Studies William K. Scarborough – professor emeritus of History
References