39 Notable alumni of
Calvin College
Updated:
Calvin College is 1235th in the world, 446th in North America, and 418th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 39 notable alumni from Calvin College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Betsy DeVos
- Occupations
- officialinternational forum participantpoliticianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Elisabeth Dee DeVos is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. DeVos is known for her conservative political activism, and particularly her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools. She was Republican national committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, and again from 2003 to 2005. She has advocated for the Detroit charter school system and she is a former member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. She has served as chair of the board of the Alliance for School Choice and the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter PAC.
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Paul Schrader
- Occupations
- film directorfilm criticscreenwriterdirector
- Biography
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Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first became widely known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scorsese, writing or co-writing Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Schrader is more prolific as a director: his 22 films include Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Light Sleeper (1992), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017), with the last of these earning him his first Academy Award nomination. Schrader's work frequently depicts "man in a room" stories which feature isolated, troubled men confronting an existential crisis.
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Marc Evan Jackson
- Occupations
- television actorpodcasteractorvoice actorcomedian
- Biography
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Marc Evan Jackson is an American comedian and actor. Some of his roles include Sparks Nevada in the Thrilling Adventure Hour, Kevin Cozner in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (he also hosts a podcast based on the sitcom, titled Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Podcast), Trevor Nelsson in Parks and Recreation, Dr. Murphy in 22 Jump Street, Steve Woodward in Kong: Skull Island, Shawn in The Good Place (also hosting The Good Place: The Podcast), and Bradford Buzzard in the Disney series DuckTales.
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Richard DeVos
- Occupations
- entrepreneurmerchantphilanthropist
- Biography
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Richard Marvin DeVos Sr. was an American billionaire businessman, co-founder of Amway with Jay Van Andel (company restructured as Alticor in 2000), and owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team. In 2012, Forbes magazine listed him as the 60th wealthiest person in the United States, and the 205th richest in the world, with an estimated net worth of $5.1 billion.
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Wayne Huizenga
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr. was an American businessman. He founded AutoNation and Waste Management Inc., and was the owner or co-owner of Blockbuster Video, the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL), the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Florida Marlins (now Miami Marlins) of Major League Baseball (MLB).
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Alvin Plantinga
- Occupations
- theologianuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Alvin Carl Plantinga is an American analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving epistemic justification), and logic.
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Jay Van Andel
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Jay Van Andel was an American billionaire businessman, best known as co-founder of the Amway Corporation, along with Richard DeVos.
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Peter Kreeft
- Occupations
- writertheologianuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Peter John Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he is the author of over eighty books on Christian philosophy, theology and apologetics. He also formulated, together with Ronald K. Tacelli, Twenty Arguments for the Existence of God in their Handbook of Christian Apologetics.
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Bill Huizenga
- Enrolled in Calvin College
- In 1991 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- administratorcongressional staffbusiness executivepolitician
- Biography
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William Patrick Huizenga is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 4th congressional district, serving in Congress since 2011. The district, numbered as the 2nd district from 2011 to 2023, covers much of the southwestern corner of the state, including Kalamazoo, Holland and Battle Creek.
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M.I Abaga
- Occupations
- rappersongwriterrecord producer
- Biography
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Jude Lemfani Abaga, commonly known by his stage name M.I Abaga, is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He gained recognition in 2006 with the popularization of his track "Crowd Mentality" in his home city of Jos. His debut studio album, Talk About It, was introduced in 2008, followed by MI 2: The Movie in 2010. Subsequently, he unveiled his third studio album, The Chairman, four years later. Additionally, Abaga released the playlist Rendezvous in February 2018, followed by A Study On Self Worth: Yxng Dxnzl, in August of the same year. He released "The Guy" album in 2022.
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Cornelius van Til
- Occupations
- theologianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Cornelius Van Til was a Dutch-American Reformed theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics.
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Patricia Rozema
- Occupations
- film directorscreenwriterfilm editordirector
- Biography
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Patricia Rozema is a Canadian film director, writer and producer. She was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave.
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Nicholas Wolterstorff
- Occupations
- theologianphilosopher
- Biography
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Nicholas Paul Wolterstorff is an American philosopher and theologian. He is currently Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University. A prolific writer with wide-ranging philosophical and theological interests, he has written books on aesthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophy of education. In Faith and Rationality, Wolterstorff, Alvin Plantinga, and William Alston developed and expanded upon a view of religious epistemology that has come to be known as Reformed epistemology. He also helped to establish the journal Faith and Philosophy and the Society of Christian Philosophers.
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Helen DeVos
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Helen June DeVos was an American philanthropist and political donor. She was the wife of Richard DeVos, co-founder of Amway beauty and home care products company and owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team. She was the mother-in-law of U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.
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Vern Ehlers
- Enrolled in Calvin College
- Studied in 1952-1956
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Vernon James Ehlers was an American physicist and politician who represented Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 until his retirement in 2011. A Republican, he also served eight years in the Michigan Senate and two in the Michigan House of Representatives.
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William Frankena
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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William Klaas Frankena was an American moral philosopher. He was a member of the University of Michigan's department of philosophy for 41 years (1937–1978), and chair of the department for 14 years (1947–1961).
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James Kennedy
- Occupations
- journalisthistoriancolumnistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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James Carleton Kennedy is an American historian. He is the son of E.W. (Bill) and Nella Kennedy. The elder Dr. Kennedy was for years an eminent professor of religion at Northwestern College (Iowa).
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Kunle Olukotun
- Born in
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United Kingdom - Occupations
- computer scientistuniversity teacheracademicelectrical engineerinventor
- Biography
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Oyekunle Ayinde "Kunle" Olukotun is a British-born Nigerian computer scientist who is the Cadence Design Systems Professor of the Stanford School of Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Pervasive Parallelism Lab. Olukotun is known as the “father of the multi-core processor”, and the leader of the Stanford Hydra Chip Multiprocessor research project. Olukotun's achievements include designing the first general-purpose multi-core CPU, innovating single-chip multiprocessor and multi-threaded processor design, and pioneering multicore CPUs and GPUs, transactional memory technology and domain-specific languages programming models. Olukotun's research interests include computer architecture, parallel programming environments and scalable parallel systems, domain specific languages and high-level compilers.
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Julia Scheeres
- Occupations
- writerjournalist
- Biography
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Julia Scheeres is a journalist and nonfiction author. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Scheeres received a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a master's in journalism from the University of Southern California. Now living and working in San Francisco, California, she has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired News, and LA Weekly. She is a 2006 recipient of the Alex Awards.
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Richard Gaffin
- Years
- 1936-.. (age 88)
- Occupations
- theologian
- Biography
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Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. is a Calvinist theologian, Presbyterian minister, and was the Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2008. He became the Professor Emeritus, Biblical and Systematic Theology in 2008.
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Keith DeRose
- Years
- 1962-.. (age 62)
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Keith DeRose is an American philosopher teaching at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is currently Allison Foundation Professor of Philosophy. He taught previously at New York University and Rice University. His primary interests include epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, and history of modern philosophy. He is best known for his work on contextualism in epistemology, especially as a response to the traditional problem of skepticism.
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Oets Kolk Bouwsma
- Years
- 1898-1978 (aged 80)
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Oets Kolk Bouwsma was an American analytic philosopher.
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Delwin Vriend
- Occupations
- LGBTQI+ rights activist
- Biography
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Delwin Vriend is a Canadian teacher who was at the center of a landmark provincial and federal legal case, Vriend v. Alberta, concerning the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected human right in Canada.
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Niala Boodhoo
- Born in
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United States - Enrolled in Calvin College
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in psychology and philosophy
- Occupations
- radio producerjournalist
- Biography
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Niala Boodhoo is an American journalist, Knight-Wallace Fellow and the host of Axios Today.
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John R. Huizenga
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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John Robert Huizenga was an American physicist who helped build the first atomic bomb and who also debunked University of Utah scientists' claim of achieving cold fusion.
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David M. VanDrunen
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 53)
- Occupations
- theologian
- Biography
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David M. VanDrunen is the Robert B. Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at Westminster Seminary California. VanDrunen was the 2004 recipient of the Acton Institute's Novak Award, a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in 2009, and a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for the 2016–2017 academic year.
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Niko Giantsopoulos
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
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Nikolaos Giantsopoulos is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper.
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John Witte, Jr
- Occupations
- university teacherlegal historian
- Biography
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John Witte Jr. is a Canadian-American academic. He is a Robert W. Woodruff University Professor and a McDonald Distinguished Professor at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, and is director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion there.
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James Wyngaarden
- Occupations
- physician
- Biography
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James Barnes Wyngaarden was an American physician, researcher and academic administrator. He was a co-editor of Cecil Textbook of Medicine, one of the leading internal medicine texts, and served as director of National Institutes of Health between 1982 and 1989.
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Kenneth Ryskamp
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Kenneth Lee Ryskamp was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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Michael S. Groen
- Years
- 1964-.. (age 60)
- Enrolled in Calvin College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in engineering
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Michael S. Groen is a retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant general who last served as the Commander of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. Previously, he was the Deputy Chief of Computer Network Operations of the National Security Agency.
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John Kooiker
- Occupations
- politicianteacher
- Biography
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John J. Kooiker is an American politician affiliated with the Republican Party who served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2015 to 2017. He was elected from the fourth district.
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Joseph Gibbons
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Joseph A. "Joe" Gibbons is a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, representing the 105th District from 2006 to 2012 and the 100th District, which includes eastern Broward County and eastern Miami-Dade County, from 2012 to 2014.
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Ken Rozenboom
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ken Rozenboom is the Iowa State Senator from the 19th District. A Republican, he has served in the Iowa Senate since being elected in 2013. Born and raised in Oskaloosa, Iowa Rozenboom graduated Pella Christian High School before attending Calvin College in Michigan. After college, he returned home to work on the family farm along with also working as a sales production manager. He stepped into politics when he became Mahaska County Supervisor in 2010, going on to serve two years until 2012. He currently resides in Oskaloosa with his wife Becky. They have two children and four grandchildren.
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Lindsay J. Whaley
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- linguist
- Biography
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Lindsay J. Whaley is a professor of linguistics and classics at Dartmouth College
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David DeGraaf
- Enrolled in Calvin College
- Graduated with bachelor's degree
- Occupations
- handball player
- Biography
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David Warren DeGraaf is an American former handball player who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics.
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William Garvelink
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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William John Garvelink is an American diplomat and former United States Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo appointed by George W. Bush on May 30, 2007, and sworn in on October 22, 2007.
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Edgar Fredricks
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Edgar J. Fredricks was a Republican member of the Michigan Legislature from 1975 through 1990.
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Melvin DeStigter
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Melvin John DeStigter was a Republican member, assistant clerk, and clerk of the Michigan House of Representatives, totaling just over three decades of service to the chamber.
