Hamilton College is a private, independent liberal arts college located in Clinton, New York. It has been coeducational since 1978, when it merged with Kirkland College.
Below is a non-comprehensive list of Hamiltonians who have made notable achievements or contributions in their chosen fields.
Notable alumni
Law, government, and public affairs
Legislative branch David Jewett Baker, class of 1816 - U.S. senator from Illinois Matt Cartwright, class of 1983 - U.S. representative from Pennsylvania Michael Castle, class of 1961 - 69th governor of Delaware, U.S. representative from Delaware, 2010 Senate candidate (graduation speaker 2004) Thomas Treadwell Davis, class of 1831 - U.S. representative from New York Victoria Doudera, class of 1983 - state representative in Maine Joseph Irwin France, class of 1895 - U.S. senator from Maryland Abijah Gilbert, class of 1822 - U.S. senator from Florida Joseph Roswell Hawley, class of 1847 - served two terms in the United States House of Representatives; four-term U.S. senator from Connecticut; 42nd governor of Connecticut John N. Hungerford, class of 1846 - U.S. representative from New York (1877–79) Irving Ives, class of 1919 - U.S. senator from New York Oliver A. Morse, class of 1833 - U.S. representative from New York (1857–1859), and co-founder of the Alpha Delta Phi literary society (now a national fraternity) Henry B. Payne, class of 1832 - U.S. senator from Ohio Theodore M. Pomeroy, class of 1842 - U.S. representative from New York Glenni William Scofield, class of 1840 - U.S. representative from Pennsylvania Charles B. Sedgwick - United States congressman from New York Gerrit Smith - Hamilton's first valedictorian (1818); U.S. House of Representatives 1853–54; a founder of the Republican Party; three-time candidate for president; donated $10,000 to Hamilton just before his death
Executive branch Drew S. Days, III, class of 1963 - United States solicitor general, 1993–1996; later Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law at Yale Law School Michael Dubke, class of 1992 - former White House communications director and former executive director of the Ripon Society Victor H. Metcalf, Law School class of 1868 - US secretary of the Navy (1906–08) William Henry Harrison Miller, class of 1861 - United States attorney general, 1889–1893 Ralph Oman, class of 1962 - copyright law luminary Elihu Root, class of 1864 - United States secretary of state, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912 James S. Sherman, class of 1878 - vice president of the United States Tom Vilsack, class of 1972 - United States secretary of agriculture; 40th governor of Iowa Jim Walden, class of 1988 - lawyer, former federal prosecutor with the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York
Judicial branch Charles F. Amidon, class of 1882 - judge for the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota Charles Holland Duell, class of 1871 - judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Randolph Moss, class of 1983 - judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia David Aldrich Nelson, class of 1954 - judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Alfred W. Newman, class of 1857 - Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Charles Prentiss Orr, class of 1879 - judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Glenni William Scofield, class of 1840 - judge of the United States Court of Claims Augustus Sherrill Seymour, class of 1857 - judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Roger Gordon Strand, class of 1955 - judge for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Amos Madden Thayer, class of 1862 - judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit John Curtiss Underwood, class of 1832 - lawyer, abolitionist politician, judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia William James Wallace, class of 1857 - judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Hiram Wilson, class of 1832 - judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
Diplomats John B. Emerson, class of 1975 - United States ambassador to Germany (2013 - present) Philip Jessup, class of 1917 - diplomat, international law scholar, ambassador Sol Linowitz, class of 1935 - attorney, diplomat; negotiated return of the Panama Canal William H. Luers, class of 1951 - U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1983–86); U.S. ambassador to Venezuela (1978–1982) Arnold Raphel, class of 1964 - U.S. ambassador to Pakistan (1987–88) Edward S. Walker, Jr., class of 1962 - former ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, Middle East Institute president, Hamilton professor Frederick Hampden Winston (1830–1904), attorney, minister to Persia (1885–86)
State and city politicians, attorneys, activists, and other Dean Alfange, class of 1922 - politician; founding member of the Liberal Party of New York; Greek-American; Zionist activist Ashton Applewhite, Kirkland class of 1974 - writer and anti-ageism activist Mary Bonauto, class of 1983 - gay rights activist and attorney; successfully argued the Obergefell v. Hodges case that overturned state bans on same-sex marriage in 2015 Archibald W. Campbell, class of 1855 - lawyer, journalist, and abolitionist George W. Clinton, class of 1825 - mayor of Buffalo, district attorney of Ontario County, United States attorney for the Northern District of New York, judge of the Buffalo Superior Court Steve Culbertson, class of 1979 - president and chief executive officer at Youth Service America Bruce Cutler, class of 1970 - criminal defense lawyer; attorney for John Gotti and Louis Eppolito Angela Davis, Hamilton College Junior Year in France Program (1963-64 academic year) - Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author George T. Downing, attended Marc Elias, class of 1990 - voting rights attorney, founder of Democracy Docket Clarence L. Fisher, class of 1900 - businessman, real estate and timber, member New York State Assembly Bela Hubbard, class of 1834 - Michigan pioneer, writer, geologist, lawyer, lumberman William A. Jacobson, class of 1981 - conservative commentator and clinical professor at Cornell Law School Ron Kim, class of 2001 - member of New York State Assembly and first Korean-American elected in New York State Bob Moses, class of 1956 - civil rights activist; Algebra Project James Noxon, studied 1834-36, then transferred to Union College - New York state senator, member New York State Supreme Court Bill Purcell, class of 1976 - mayor of Nashville Dan Siegel, class of 1967 - labor attorney and civil rights activist Lloyd Paul Stryker, class of 1906 - noted criminal defense lawyer; defended Alger Hiss Christie Vilsack, Kirkland class of 1972 - literacy advocate and politician; former First Lady of Iowa Theodore Dwight Weld - abolitionist; never enrolled as a student, but about 1825 he stayed at the College in the suite of tutor William Kirkland, attended classes, and was "something of a leader among the students" Hiram Wilson, class of 1832 - abolitionist, educator, worked with Josiah Henson to establish the British-American Institute, delegate to the 1843 World Anti-Slavery Convention
Literature and journalism Samuel Hopkins Adams, class of 1891 - author and investigative journalist Henry Allen, class of 1963 - critic who won Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (most prominently associated with The Washington Post) Albert Barnes, class of 1820 - theologian Josh Billings, class of 1840 (did not graduate) - pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw Terry Brooks, class of 1966 - fantasy author Peter Cameron, class of 1982 - novelist and short-story writer Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, class of 1835 - educator and author Alf Evers, class of 1928 (did not graduate) - historian Amanda Filipacchi, class of 1988 - author of Nude Men, Vapor, and Love Creeps Michael Greenspan, class of 1969 - CNN correspondent and documentary filmmaker James Grinwis - poet Michael Patrick Hearn, class of 1972 (transferred to Bard College) - literary critic and man of letters Bill Henderson, class of 1967 - author and publisher; founder of Pushcart Press George Wheeler Hinman, class of 1884 - newspaper publisher and writer, President of Marietta College Harry Kondoleon, class of 1977 - author and playwright, Obie Award winner Chester Sanders Lord, managing editor, New York Sun; regent of the University of the State of New York Sarah J. Maas, class of 2008 - author of best-selling fantasy series Thomas Meehan, class of 1951 - wrote the books for the musicals Annie and The Producers Peter Meinke, class of 1955 - poet and author John Nichols, class of 1962 - author of The Milagro Beanfield War and The Sterile Cuckoo Steve Orlando, class of 2008 - comic book writer Ezra Pound, class of 1905 - poet, modernist polemicist, critic Preeta Samarasan, class of 1998 - Malaysian author writing in English Clinton Scollard, class of 1881 - poet Kamila Shamsie, class of 1995 - novelist Evan Smith, class of 1987 - Texas Tribune CEO and editor-in-chief Mark T. Sullivan, class of 1980 - author of mystery, suspense and historical fiction novels Charles Dudley Warner, class of 1851 - attorney, essayist, and editor; collaborated with Mark Twain on The Gilded Age, Hamilton awarded him the honorary degree Doctor of Letters Alexander Woollcott, class of 1909 - critic and commentator; early contributor to The New Yorker; member of the Algonquin Round Table Steve Wulf, class of 1972 - magazine journalist, editor, and book writer; former executive editor at ESPN The Magazine; worked for publications including Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, The Economist, and Time
Scientists, physicians, psychologists, engineers, mathematicians, and other researchers Lauren Ackerman, class of 1927 - physician and pathologist, championed the subspecialty of surgical pathology in the mid-20th century Richard Scott Conley - dental academic Edward L. Deci, class of 1964 - psychologist known for studies of human motivation ("self-determination theory") Paul Greengard, class of 1948 - neuroscientist awarded Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2000 Edward Skinner King, class of 1887 - astronomer and developer of the King Tracking Rate Garret Kramer, class of 1984 - sports psychologist William Howell Masters, class of 1938 - physician and research pioneer in the fields of hormone replacement therapy and sexology; co-author (with Virginia E. Johnson) of Human Sexual Response (1966) John Christopher Muran, class of 1984 - clinical psychologist and psychotherapy researcher Jonathan Schooler, class of 1981 - psychologist who developed the theory of verbal overshadowing B.F. Skinner, class of 1926 - behavioral psychologist considered the most influential psychologist of the 20th century Augustus William Smith, class of 1825 - mathematician and astronomer Lawrence Weed, class of 1945 - academic physician and inventor of the problem-oriented medical record Edward J. Wickson - class of 1868 - agronomist and researcher at University of California, Berkeley
Academics and scholars (not otherwise listed) Robert Livingston Allen - linguist credited with developing "sector analysis" (professor at Columbia University) David K. Backus - financial economist (Heinz Riehl Professor at New York University's Stern School of Business) John J. Donohue III - law and economics scholar (professor at Yale Law School and Stanford Law School) Theodore William Dwight - pioneering legal educator who served on Hamilton faculty before serving as founding dean at Columbia Law School Benjamin A. Elman - sinologist, Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University Samih Farsoun - influential Arab Studies scholar