Since Denison University in Granville, Ohio, was founded in 1831, there have been many individuals associated with Denison who are worthy of note including presidents of the university and alumni who have gone on to work in academia, business, arts and entertainment, government, literature, religion, science, and sports. In total, Denison has about 37,000 living alumni throughout the world.
Notable alumni include actors Steve Carell, Hal Holbrook, and Jennifer Garner; SNL comedian Alex Moffat; entertainer John Davidson; Hall of Fame college football coach Woody Hayes; ESPN president George Bodenheimer; Turner Broadcasting System Senior Vice President James Anderson; drag queen and LGBT activist Nina West, former member of Turkish Parliament and current consultant to The Coca-Cola Company Mehmet Cem Kozluformer; United States Senator Richard Lugar; Indy car racer Bobby Rahal; playwright Jeffrey Hatcher; artist Ned Bittinger; author Pam Houston, James Frey; former Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner; criminologist and father of "evidence-based policing" Lawrence Sherman; former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro; former Princeton University President William Bowen; folklorist, oral historian, author, and podcast host Douglas A. Boyd; professor of religion at Goucher College and theologian at the Washington National Cathedral Kelly Brown Douglas; Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of the Washington National Cathedral; and George Stibitz, one of the fathers of modern digital computing.
Presidents of Denison University The following persons have led Denison University as president since its founding in 1831:
ImagePresidentTerm startTerm end1John Pratt183118372Jonathan Going183718443Silas Bailey184618524Jeremiah Hall185318635Samson Talbot186318736Elisha Andrews187518797Alfred Owen187918868Galusha Anderson188718899Daniel B. Purinton1890190110Emory W. Hunt1901191211Clark W. Chamberlain1913192712Avery A. Shaw1927194013Kenneth I. Brown1940195014A. Blair Knapp1951196815Joel P. Smith1969197616Robert C. Good1976198417Andrew G. De Rocco1984198818Michele Tolela Myers1989199819Dale T. Knobel1998201320Adam S. Weinberg2013Present
Academia Cynthia Baum - clinical psychologist and academic administrator David H. Bayley - pioneer in policing research and former Distinguished Professor Emeritus, School of Criminal Justice, SUNY Albany William G. Bowen - former president of Princeton University, current president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Douglas A. Boyd - folklorist, oral historian, podcast host, and author, current director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History Richard Brandt - professor of philosophy, Swarthmore College and University of Michigan Ernest DeWitt Burton - biblical scholar George Cressey - geographer, author, and academic Frederick German Detweiler - sociologist George Amos Dorsey - ethnographer August F. Foerste - geologist, paleontologist, and science teacher Lottie Estelle Granger - president, Iowa State Teachers' Association Stephen Holmes - Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law, New York University John S. Lowe - professor and expert in energy law Roger H. Martin - 14th president of Randolph-Macon College Jeffrey Masten - Shakespeare and sexuality studies scholar, Northwestern University; Guggenheim fellow Kirtley F. Mather - geologist; professor and department chairman at Harvard University; civil libertarian and author Francis W. Shepardson - historian with the University of Chicago, first director of the Illinois Department of Registration and Education, secretary and director of the Rosenwald Fund Thomas Skidmore - historian and scholar specialized in Brazilian history Maria Tatar - John L. Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures; chair of the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University Stephen Tuttle - musicologist and former chairman of the department of music at the University of Virginia
Arts and entertainment
Ned Bittinger - portrait painter and illustrator Charlie Burg - singer-songwriter Steve Carell - screen and television actor Roe Conn - radio personality, WLS 890AM, Chicago Tom Cotter - comedian Franklin Cover - stage, screen and television actor John Davidson - stage and television actor; game show host, including Hollywood Squares Luke Ebbin - Grammy-nominated record producer, songwriter and composer Jennifer Garner - screen and television actress Kyle Gordon - comedian Jeffrey Hatcher - playwright and screenwriter Hal Holbrook - stage, screen and television actor, known for portrayal of Mark Twain John Jeffcoat - screenwriter and film director, known for Outsourced Ademir Kenović - film director and producer Andrew Levitt - drag queen known as Nina West Nancy Lynn - acrobatic pilot, killed in 2006 Culpeper Airfest crash Ann Magnuson - actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer John Malm Jr. - former manager of Trent Reznor and his band Nine Inch Nails Daniel Meyer - conductor and musical director Alex Moffat - actor and comedian P-Star (Priscilla Diaz) - rapper, actress, singer, model, director, DJ Hollis Resnik - singer and actress José Rivera - first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Academy Award John Schuck - screen, stage, and television actor Kurt Vincent - director of The Lost Arcade Nina West, drag queen
Business
Samuel Armacost - former president, director, and CEO of BankAmerica Corporation Joe Banner - president and CEO of the Cleveland Browns Brad Blum - former CEO of Burger King George Bodenheimer - executive chairman of ESPN; former president of ESPN and ABC Sports John Canning Jr. - chairman, Madison Dearborn Partners Mark Dalton - CEO of the Tudor Investment Corporation Edward Andrew Deeds - engineer, inventor and industrialist Michael Eisner - former chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company William Esrey - former chief executive of Sprint Corporation John V. Faraci - chairman and chief executive officer of International Paper Bill Giles - chairman and part owner of Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies Mark Haines - co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Terry Jones - founder of Travelocity.com and Kayak.com
Economics
Claudia Sahm - economist; creator of the Sahm rule
Government
Richard B. Austin - judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Ruth Sarles Benedict - anti-war activist, researcher and journalist John T. Chain Jr. - retired U.S. Air Force general Robert Dold - U.S. representative for Edmund Burke Fairfield - minister, educator, and politician, including 12th lieutenant governor of Michigan Carty Finkbeiner - former mayor of Toledo, Ohio Tony P. Hall - United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and United States representative from Ohio Andrew S. Hanen - judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas Judson Harmon - 45th governor of Ohio and 41st United States Attorney General Leonard D. Heaton - former Surgeon General of the United States Army Edgar Winters Hillyer - judge, United States District Court for the District of Nevada Douglas Holtz-Eakin - former director of the Congressional Budget Office and former chief economic policy adviser to U.S. Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign Randy Hopper - former member of the Wisconsin State Senate Sue W. Kelly - former member of the United States Congress from New York Robert W. Levering - former United States congressman Richard Lugar - United States senator from Indiana; on the board of trustees George McConnaughey - chairman of FCC Kenneth E. Melson - former ATF director Jim Petro - former Ohio attorney general Jane Pringle - member of the Maine House of Representatives Lewis A. Sachs - former US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury A. W. Sheldon - associate justice, Arizona Territorial Supreme Court Erastus B. Tyler - Union Army general in the American Civil War H. Clay Van Voorhis - former US congressman Ed Weber - former US congressman Yu Tsune-chi - Chinese ambassador to Italy and Spain, United Nations delegate who took part in the San Francisco Conference Allen Zollars - justice of the Indiana Supreme Court
Literature
James Clear - author and speaker about habits James Frey - screenwriter and author; A Million Little Pieces, featured by Oprah's Book Club Michael Glaser - Poet Laureate of Maryland Pam Houston - author, speaker, teacher Lauren Shakely - poet, editor, and publisher
Religion
Roger Ames - American Anglican bishop Edgar J. Goodspeed - liberal theologian Randolph Hollerith - dean of Washington National Cathedral James Madison Pendleton - 19th-century Baptist preacher, educator and theologian
Science
Homer Burton Adkins - organic chemist John Berton - computer graphics animator and visual effects supervisor William Ernest Castle - early American geneticist William E. Forsythe - physicist Jeff Kimpel - atmospheric scientist; director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory George Stibitz - scientist, early pioneer of computer science with Bell Labs
Sports
Dan Daub - Major League Baseball player, 1892–1897 Woody Hayes - football coach of Ohio State, 1951–1978 Ken Meyer - former head coach of the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers Johnny O'Connell - professional sports car racer Bobby Rahal - Indianapolis 500 champion John Robic - assistant men's basketball coach at the University of Kentucky Nate Schmidt - assistant men's basketball coach at Iowa State University
References
External links Denison University