List of University of Chicago alumni

This list of University of Chicago alumni consists of notable people who graduated or attended the University of Chicago. The alumni of the university include graduates and attendees. Graduates are defined as those who hold bachelor's, master's, or Ph.D. degrees from the university, while attendees are those who studied at the university but did not complete the program or obtain a degree. Honorary degree holders and auditors of the university are excluded. Summer session attendees are also excluded from the list since summer terms are not part of the university's formal academic years.

Nobel laureates Luis Alvarez (A.B. 1932, S.M. 1934, Ph.D. 1936) – Physics, 1968 Emily Green Balch (attended) – Peace, 1946NNDB list of notable people affiliated with the University of Chicago. Moungi Bawendi (Ph.D. 1988) – Chemistry, 2023 Gary Becker (A.M. 1953, Ph.D. 1955) – Economics, 1992 Saul Bellow (X. 1939) – Literature, 1976 Bruce A. Beutler (M.D. 1981) – Medicine, 2011 Herbert Brown (S.B. 1936, Ph.D. 1938) – Chemistry, 1979 James M. Buchanan (Ph.D. 1948) – Economics, 1986 Owen Chamberlain (Ph.D. 1949) – Physics, 1959 James Cronin (S.M. 1953, Ph.D. 1955) – Physics, 1980 Clinton Davisson (S.B. 1909) – Physics, 1937 Eugene Fama (M.B.A. 1963, Ph.D. 1964) – Economics, 2013 Jerome Friedman (A.B. 1950, S.M. 1953, Ph.D. 1956) – Physics, 1990 Milton Friedman (A.M. 1933) – Economics, 1976 Claudia Goldin (Ph.D. 1972) – Economics, 2023 John B. Goodenough (Ph.D. 1952) – Chemistry, 2019 John M. Jumper (Ph.D. 2017) – Chemistry, 2024 Tsung-Dao Lee (Ph.D. 1950) – Physics, 1957 Robert Lucas Jr. (A.B. 1959, Ph.D. 1964) – Economics, 1995 Harry Markowitz (A.B. 1947, A.M. 1950, Ph.D. 1955) – Economics, 1990 Robert Mulliken (Ph.D. 1921) – Chemistry, 1966 Paul Romer (S.B. 1977, Ph.D. 1983) – Economics, 2018 Irwin Rose (S.B. 1948, Ph.D. 1952) – Chemistry, 2004 F. Sherwood Rowland (S.M. 1951, Ph.D. 1952) – Chemistry, 1995 Paul Samuelson (A.B. 1935) – Economics, 1970 Myron Scholes (M.B.A. 1964, Ph.D. 1969) – Economics, 1997 Herbert A. Simon (A.B. 1936, Ph.D. 1943) – Economics, 1978 George E. Smith (Ph.D. 1959) – Physics, 2009 Roger Sperry (Ph.D. 1941) – Medicine, 1981 Jack Steinberger (S.B. 1942; Ph.D. 1949) – Physics, 1988 George Stigler (S.B. 1942, Ph.D. 1949) – Economics, 1982 Edward Lawrie Tatum (X. 1931) – Medicine, 1958 Daniel Tsui (S.M. 1963, Ph.D. 1967) – Physics, 1998 James Dewey Watson (S.B. 1947) – Medicine, 1962 Frank Wilczek (A.B. 1970) – Physics, 2004; MacArthur Fellow (1982) Chen Ning Yang (Ph.D. 1948) – Physics, 1957

Government Heads of state or of government Hastings Banda (Ph.B. 1931) – prime minister of Malawi (1964–1966, 1966–1994) William Lyon Mackenzie King (A.M. 1897) – prime minister of Canada (1935–1948) Lien Chan (Ph.D. 1965) – premier of the Republic of China (1993–1997) Álvaro Magaña (A.M. 1955) – president of El Salvador (1982–1984) Geoffrey Palmer (J.D. 1967) – prime minister of New Zealand (1989–1990) Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (A.B. 1952) – president of Bolivia (1993–97, 2002–2003)

Other government officials Shimon Agranat (J.D. 1929) – president of the Supreme Court of Israel (1965–1976) Saul Alinsky (Ph.B. 1930) – labor organizer and political activist Daniel Ankeles (A.B. 2004) – member of the Maine House of Representatives (2022–present) Bernard W. Aronson (A.B. 1967) – United States assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs (1989–1993) John Ashcroft (J.D. 1967) – attorney general of the United States (2001–2005) David Axelrod (A.B. 1977) – author and former senior advisor to President Barack Obama Kwamena Bentsi-Enchill (J.S.D.) – judge and academic; justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana (1971–1972) Paul Bloom (1939–2009) – lawyer who recovered $6 billion for the United States Department of EnergyMartin, Douglas. "Paul L. Bloom, Who Tackled Overcharging by Oil Companies, Dies at 70", The New York Times, October 13, 2009. Accessed October 27, 2009. Robert H. Bork (A.B. 1948, J.D. 1953) – attorney general of the United States (1973–1974); United States Court of Appeals judge (1982–1988) Marvin Braude (A.B. 1941) – member of Los Angeles City Council (1965–1997) Lisa Brown (J.D. 1986) – White House staff secretary (2009–2011) William Holmes Brown (J.D. 1954) – parliamentarian of the United States House of Representatives (1974–1994) Charles W. Bryan (1867–1945) – 20th and 23rd governor of Nebraska Lindsey Burke (A.M. 2012) – lawyer and member of the Kentucky house of representatives (2023–present) John E. Cashman (J.D.) – member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 1st district (1923–1938, 1941–1946) Ahmed Chalabi (Ph.D. 1969) – interim Oil Minister and deputy prime minister of Iraq Elizabeth Cheney (J.D. 1996) – member of the United States House of Representatives from Wyoming (2017–2023) and daughter of former U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney Ramsey Clark (A.M. 1950, J.D. 1951) – attorney general of the United States (1967–1969) Benjamin V. Cohen (Ph.B 1914, J.D. 1915) – member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's brain trust James Comey (J.D. 1985) – seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Lycurgus Conner (A.B., J.D.) – member of the Illinois House of Representatives (1961–1963) Richard Cordray (J.D. 1986) – 1st director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 49th attorney general of Ohio, 46th treasurer of Ohio Jon S. Corzine (M.B.A. 1973) – governor of New Jersey (D) (2006–2010); United States senator (D-NJ) (2001–2006); former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs; University trustee Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (X. 1933) – general of the United States Air Force (1954); assistant secretary of transportation under Richard Nixon Francisco Gil Diaz (Ph.D. 1972) – former secretary of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico (2000–2006) James I. Dolliver (J.D. 1921) – Republican U.S. representative from Iowa's 6th congressional district (1945–1957) Jon Dudas (J.D.) – former director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, under secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Frank H. Easterbrook (J.D. 1973) – circuit judge, United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Allison H. Eid (J.D. 1991) – 95th justice of the Colorado Supreme Court Troy Eid (J.D. 1991) – United States attorney for the District of Colorado (2006–2009) Harvey Feldman (A.B. ?, A.M. 1954) – drafter of the Taiwan Relations Act, United States ambassador to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (1979–1981) Noel Francisco (A.B. 1991, J.D. 1996) – 47th solicitor general of the United States Jerome Frank (A.B. 1909, J.D. 1912) – legal philosopher, judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Stanton Friedman (S.B. 1955, S.M. 1956) – nuclear physicist, UFOlogist Douglas H. Ginsburg (J.D. 1973) – chief judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Jackie Goldberg (M.A.T. 1973) – California State Assembly member (2000–2006) Anastasia Golovashkina (A.B. 2015) – social media director for Elizabeth Warren's 2020 presidential campaign Paulo Guedes (Ph.D. 1978) – Brazilian Minister of the Economy Avril Haines (A.B. 1992) – deputy director of the CIA (2013–2015), deputy National Security advisor (2015–2017), director of National Intelligence (2021–2025), president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2026–present) Alexander Hoehn-Saric (A.B. 1991) – chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (2021–2025) William J. Holloway (A.B. 1910) – 8th governor of Oklahoma (1929–1931) James Hormel (J.D. 1958) – United States ambassador to Luxembourg (1999–2001) Constance Horner (A.M. 1967) – member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (1993–1998); public official in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, independent director of Pfizer, Prudential Financial, and Ingersoll Rand Emily Hunt (A.B. 2001), Adviser to the UK government under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2023. Harold LeClair Ickes (A.B. 1897, J.D. 1907) – United States secretary of the interior (1933–1946) Fred Ikle (A.M. 1948, Ph.D. 1950) – former under secretary of Defense for Policy; director of U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1973–1977) Peter Jambrek (Ph.D. 1971) – president of the Constitutional Court (1991–1993) and Minister of the Interior of Slovenia (2000), member of the European Court for Human Rights (1993–1999) Raymond A. Joseph (A.M. 1963) – twice in charge of the Haiti Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1990–1991 and 2004–2010) Patricia Kabbah (A.M. 1963) – former first lady of Sierra Leone Anne Kaiser (A.B. 1990) – member of the Maryland House of Delegates, 2003–present Harold C. Kessinger – newspaper editor and publisher, lecturer, and Illinois state legislator Zalmay Khalilzad (Ph.D. 1979) – U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2007–2009); former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Ro Khanna (A.B. 1998) – member of the United States House of Representatives from California's 17th district (2017–present) Koh Tsu Koon (Ph.D. 1977) – third chief minister of the State of Penang, Malaysia (1990–2008) Andy Kim (A.B. 2004) – member of the United States Senate from New Jersey (2024–present), United States House of Representatives (2019–2024), and former national security adviser for Barack Obama Amy Klobuchar (J.D. 1985) – United States Senate (D-MN) (2007–present) Larry Krasner (A.B. 1983) – district attorney of Philadelphia since 2018 and former federal public defender Alexander Krasnoshchyokov (J.D. 1912) – Soviet politician, first chairman of the Government of the Far Eastern Republic Jewel Lafontant (J.D. 1946) – United Nations delegate Brad Lander (A.B. 1991) – 45th New York City comptroller and former New York City Council member, 39th district Rex E. Lee (J.D. 1963) – 37th solicitor general of the United States Thomas Rex Lee (J.D. 1991) – professor and former associate justice of the Utah Supreme Court (2010–2022) Edward Levi (A.B. 1932, J.D. 1935) – attorney general of the United States (1975–1977) Paul Alan Levy (J.D. 1976) – attorney at Public Citizen specializing in Internet-related free speech issues Lori Lightfoot (J.D. 1989) – mayor of Chicago (2019–2023) Lien Chan (Ph.D. 1965) – vice president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under President Lee Teng-hui (1996–2000) Justin Yifu Lin (Ph.D. 1986) – senior vice president and first chief economist from a developing country for the World Bank (2008–present) Robert Todd Lincoln (J.D. 1867) – 35th United States secretary of war T. D. A. Lingo (S.B., S.M.) – folk singer, radio personality, and brain researcher Ochola Ogaye Mak'Anyengo – Kenyan trade unionist and politician Jack Markell (M.B.A. 1985) – governor of Delaware (2009–2017) Antonio Martino (M.B.A. 1968) – Italian Minister of Defence (2001–2006), minister of foreign affairs (1994–1995), and scholar Michael W. McConnell (J.D. 1979) – circuit judge, United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals David M. McIntosh (J.D. 1983) – member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd district, President of the Club for Growth Mei Ju-ao (J.D. 1928) – Chinese judicial delegate to the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal Marco Antonio Mena Rodríguez – governor-elect of Tlaxcala Abner J. Mikva (J.D. 1951) – Illinois congressman (1956–1966); United States congressman (1969–1973, 1975–1979); United States Court of Appeals judge (1979–1994) Patsy Mink (J.D. 1951) – United States House of Representatives (D-HI) (1965–1977, 1990–2002) Carol Moseley Braun (J.D. 1972) – United States Senate (D-IL) (1992–1998); United States ambassador (1999–2001) Richard A. Mugalian – Illinois state representative and lawyerIllinois Blue Book 1979–1980 Biographical Sketch of Richard A. Mugalian, pg. 71 Eliot Ness (A.B. 1925) – United States Treasury and Bureau of Prohibition agent, head of The Untouchables