100 Notable alumni of
CUNY Hunter College
Updated:
CUNY Hunter College is 308th in the world, 128th in North America, and 121st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from CUNY Hunter 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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Vin Diesel
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Studied creative writing
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm directoractorvoice actorstunt performer
- Biography
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Mark Sinclair Vincent, known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and filmmaker. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise.
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Rhea Perlman
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorwriterfilm actorchildren's writer
- Biography
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Rhea Jo Perlman is an American actress and author. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the popular sitcom Cheers (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for 10 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress, winning four, and was nominated for a record six Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also appeared in films, including Canadian Bacon (1995), Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012), Poms (2019), and Barbie (2023). In 2025, Perlman had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face.
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Ellen Barkin
- Occupations
- television actorstage actorfilm producerfilm actor
- Biography
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Ellen Rona Barkin is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film Diner, and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as Tender Mercies (1983), Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), The Big Easy (1986), Johnny Handsome, and Sea of Love (both 1989).
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Bobby Darin
- Occupations
- singerjazz musicianfilm actorsongwriteranimator
- Biography
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Walden Robert Cassotto, known by the stage name Bobby Darin, was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed pop, swing, folk, rock and roll and country music.
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Harry Connick Jr
- Occupations
- film producerfilm actortelevision actorconductorrecording artist
- Biography
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Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and former television host. As of 2019, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16 million in certified sales. He has had seven top 20 U.S. albums, and ten number-one U.S. jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in U.S. jazz chart history as of 2009.
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Julianne Nicholson
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Julianne Nicholson is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the film August: Osage County (2013) and the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2006–2009), Masters of Sex (2013–2014), Eyewitness (2016), Mare of Easttown (2021), Paradise and Hacks (both in 2025), the latter three of which earned her nomination for Primetime Emmy Awards, winning two for Mare of Easttown and Hacks.
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Edward Burns
- Occupations
- television directoractorwriterfilm actorfilm producer
- Biography
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Edward Fitzgerald Burns is an American actor and filmmaker. He rose to fame with The Brothers McMullen (1995), his low-budget independent film that became successful worldwide. His other film appearances include Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Holiday (2006), 27 Dresses (2008), Man on a Ledge (2012), Friends with Kids (2012), and Alex Cross (2012). Burns directed films such as She's the One (1996), Sidewalks of New York (2001), and The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (2012). On television, he appeared as Bugsy Siegel in the TNT crime drama series Mob City and as Terry Muldoon in TNT's Public Morals.
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Michael Massee
- Occupations
- voice actortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Michael Groo Massee was an American actor. Active on screen for three decades, he frequently portrayed villainous characters. His film roles include Funboy in the dark fantasy The Crow (1994), Newton in the horror anthology Tales from the Hood (1995), Andy in the neo-noir Lost Highway (1997), and the Gentleman in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and its 2014 sequel. Massee also voiced Bruce Banner in the first two entries of Marvel Animated Features in 2006. On television, he played Ira Gaines on the first season of the Fox action drama 24 (2001–2002), Isaiah Haden on the NBC fantasy mystery Revelations (2005), Dyson Frost on the ABC science fiction drama FlashForward (2009–2010), and Charles Hoyt on the TNT police procedural Rizzoli & Isles (2010–2013).
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Dascha Polanco
- Occupations
- television actorexotic danceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Dascha Yolaine Polanco is a Dominican actress. She is known for portraying the role of Dayanara "Daya" Diaz on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, and for the role of Cuca in the 2021 film In the Heights.
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Natasha Leggero
- Occupations
- television actorcomedianvoice actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Natasha Leggero is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series The 70s House in 2005, and as a regular roundtable panelist on Chelsea Handler's late-night talk show Chelsea Lately from 2008 to 2014.
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Judy Reyes
- Occupations
- film directortelevision actorfilm produceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Judy Reyes is an American actress, model, and producer, best known for her roles as Carla Espinosa on the NBC/ABC medical comedy series Scrubs (2001–2009), as Zoila Diaz in the Lifetime comedy-drama Devious Maids (2013–2016), as Annalise "Quiet Ann" Zayas in the TNT crime comedy-drama Claws (2017–2022), and as Selena Soto in ABC crime drama series High Potential (2024–). Reyes also appeared in the films All Together Now (2020), Smile (2022), and Birth/Rebirth (2023), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Performance nomination.
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Carole Radziwill
- Occupations
- journalistnovelist
- Biography
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Carole Ann Radziwiłł is an American journalist, writer, and television personality. Radziwill, best known for appearing on the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of New York City from 2012 to 2018, first worked as a journalist and producer for ABC News from 1986 to 2002. Her reporting earned her three Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and a GLAAD Media Award.
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Esther Rolle
- Occupations
- stage actordancertelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Esther Elizabeth Rolle was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Florida Evans, on the CBS television sitcom Maude, for two seasons (1972–1974), and its spin-off series Good Times, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1976. In 1979, Rolle became the first Black actress to win the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special for the television film Summer of My German Soldier.
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Audre Lorde
- Occupations
- feministwriterphilosopherpoetwomen's rights activist
- Biography
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Audre Lorde was an American writer, professor, philosopher, intersectional feminist, poet, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet" who dedicated her life and talents to confronting all forms of injustice and oppression. She believed that there could be "no hierarchy of oppressions" among "those who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children".
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Ruby Dee
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Ruby Dee was an American actress. She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed until his death in 2005. She received numerous accolades, including an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Obie Award, and a Drama Desk Award, as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1995, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2000, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
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Queen Alia of Jordan
- Occupations
- royal consort
- Biography
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Alia Baha ud-din Toukan, also known as Alia Al Hussein (Arabic: علياء الحسين), was Queen of Jordan as the third wife of King Hussein from their marriage on 24 December 1972 until her death in a helicopter crash in 1977.
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Deepti Naval
- Occupations
- writerpoetfilm directoractor
- Biography
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Deepti Naval is an Indian-American actress, director, and writer, predominantly active in Hindi cinema.
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Nick Valensi
- Occupations
- guitaristsingeractormusician
- Biography
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Nicholas Valensi is an American musician, best known for his role as lead and rhythm guitarist in the American rock band The Strokes. Since 2001, the band has released six studio albums, some of which Valensi has also contributed keyboards and backing vocals.
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Bella Abzug
- Occupations
- social activistlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Bella Abzug, nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus. She was a leading figure in what came to be known as ecofeminism.
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Hugh Downs
- Occupations
- actorcomposerjournalist
- Biography
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Hugh Malcolm Downs was an American television presenter, radio personality, author, and music composer. A regular television presence from the mid 1940s until the late 1990s, he had several successful roles on morning, prime-time, and late-night television. For several years, he held the certified Guinness World Record for the most hours on commercial network television before being surpassed by Regis Philbin, who died 24 days after he did.
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Pamela Tiffin
- Occupations
- television actormodelstage actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Pamela Tiffin Wonso was an American actress and model. She was a two-time Golden Globe Award nominee, New Star of the Year – Actress for Summer and Smoke and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for One, Two, Three. She also won a Theatre World Award for her performance in the Broadway play Dinner at Eight.
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Nikolai Fraiture
- Occupations
- musician
- Biography
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Nikolai Philippe Fraiture is an American-French musician best known as the bassist of the rock band The Strokes. Since co-founding the band in 1998, he has released six studio albums with them. Among other creative projects, Fraiture released a solo record under the name Nickel Eye in 2009 and has been the frontman of the band Summer Moon since 2016.
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Gertrude B. Elion
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- In 1937 graduated with undergraduate degree
- Occupations
- biochemistpharmacistpharmacologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs. This new method focused on understanding the target of the drug rather than simply using trial-and-error. Her work led to the creation of the anti-retroviral drug AZT, which was the first drug widely used against AIDS. Her well known works also include the development of the first immunosuppressive drug, azathioprine, used to fight rejection in organ transplants, and the first successful antiviral drug, acyclovir (ACV), used in the treatment of herpes infection.
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Eliot Engel
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- In 1969 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in history
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Eliot Lance Engel is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering portions of the north Bronx and southern Westchester County.
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Pauli Murray
- Occupations
- priestlawyeruniversity teacherreligious leaderwriter
- Biography
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Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray was an American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray's work influenced the civil rights movement and expanded legal protection for gender equality.
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Bess Myerson
- Occupations
- politicianmodeltelevision actorbeauty pageant contestantactor
- Biography
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Bess Myerson was an American politician, model, and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was Jewish. Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an affirmation of the Jewish place in American life. She was a heroine to parts of the Jewish community, where "she was the most famous pretty girl since Queen Esther".
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Evan Hunter
- Occupations
- novelistchildren's writerscience fiction writerauthorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Evan Hunter was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of the 87th Precinct novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which are considered staples of police procedural genre.
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Ned Vizzini
- Occupations
- writerchildren's writernovelisteditorial columnist
- Biography
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Edison Price Vizzini was an American writer. He was the author of four books for young adults, including It's Kind of a Funny Story (2006), which NPR placed at #56 in its list of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" and which is the basis of the film of the same name.
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Patricia Bath
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Studied in 1964
- Occupations
- physicianresearcherinventorophthalmologist
- Biography
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Patricia Era Bath was an American ophthalmologist and humanitarian. She became the first female member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a postgraduate training program in ophthalmology, and the first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American to serve as a resident in ophthalmology at New York University. She was also the first African-American woman to serve on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center. Bath was the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. A holder of five patents, she founded the nonprofit American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington, D.C.
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Terry Carter
- Occupations
- television actortelevision directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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John Everett DeCoste, known professionally as Terry Carter, was an African-American actor and filmmaker, known for his roles as Sgt. Joe Broadhurst on the television series McCloud and as Colonel Tigh on the original Battlestar Galactica.
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Jeanne Cagney
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Jeanne Carolyn Cagney was an American film, stage, and television actress.
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Ellen Cleghorne
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Ellen Leslye Cleghorne is an American actress and comedian. Cleghorne is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1991 to 1995. She was the sketch comedy show's second African-American female repertory cast member, succeeding Danitra Vance in its eleventh season, and the first African-American female cast member to stay for more than one season. She returned for its 40th anniversary special on February 15, 2015. Cleghorne was ranked the 69th greatest Saturday Night Live cast member by Rolling Stone magazine.
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Jake Hurwitz
- Occupations
- podcastertelevision actorfilm directoractor
- Biography
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Jacob Penn Cooper Hurwitz is an American comedian, writer, actor, and member of the comedy duo Jake and Amir. He was hired by the comedy website CollegeHumor after becoming an intern there in 2006, and has written and appeared in original videos for the website, as well as contributing articles which have been published both online and in print. He also starred in The CollegeHumor Show, an MTV sitcom that ran for one season in 2009. Outside of CollegeHumor, Hurwitz has hosted Myspace's BFF series.
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Jared Bernstein
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- writereconomistjournalistpolitician
- Biography
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Jared Bernstein is an American government official who was the chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers. He is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama administration. In 2008, Michael D. Shear described Bernstein as a progressive and "a strong advocate for workers".
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Mildred Dresselhaus
- Occupations
- university teacherengineerphysicist
- Biography
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Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus, known as the "Queen of Carbon Science", was an American physicist, materials scientist, and nanotechnologist. She was an institute professor and professor of both physics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also served as the president of the American Physical Society, the chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the director of science in the US Department of Energy under the Bill Clinton Government. Dresselhaus won numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fermi Award, the Kavli Prize and the Vannevar Bush Award.
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Paula Trueman
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Paula Trueman was an American film, stage and television actress.
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Gary Shteyngart
- Occupations
- novelistwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Gary Shteyngart is a Soviet-born American writer. He is the author of six novels (including The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story, Vera, or Faith), and a memoir. Much of his work is satirical.
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Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
- Occupations
- physicianphysicistuniversity teacherbiophysicist
- Biography
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Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally) for development of the radioimmunoassay technique. She was the second woman (after Gerty Cori), and the first American-born woman, to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
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Sonia Sanchez
- Occupations
- writerplaywrightanthologistschool teacherpoet
- Biography
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Sonia Sanchez is an American poet, writer, and professor. She was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and has written more than a dozen books of poetry, as well as short stories, critical essays, plays, and children's books. In the 1960s, Sanchez released poems in periodicals targeted towards African-American audiences, and published her debut collection, Homecoming, in 1969. In 1993, she received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and in 2001 was awarded the Robert Frost Medal for her contributions to the canon of American poetry. She has been influential to other African-American poets, including Krista Franklin. Sanchez is a member of The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.
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Alexander Dvorkin
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Studied in 1978-1980
- Occupations
- church historianOrthodox theologianmedievalistreligious studies scholarradiographer
- Biography
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Alexander Leonidovich Dvorkin is a Russian anti-cult activist. From 1999 to 2012 he was professor and head of the department of the study of new religious movements (cults) at Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University. He is currently professor of department of missiology at that university.
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Eleanor Clift
- Occupations
- punditauthorjournalist
- Biography
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Eleanor Irene Clift is an American political journalist, television pundit, and author. She is a contributor to MSNBC and blogger for The Daily Beast. She is best known as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group. Clift is a board member at the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).
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Diana Baumrind
- Occupations
- psychologist
- Biography
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Diana Blumberg Baumrind was an American clinical and developmental psychologist known for her research on parenting styles and for her critique of the use of deception in psychological research.
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Lawrence Weiner
- Occupations
- muralistillustratorphotographerauthorvideo installation artist
- Biography
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Lawrence Charles Weiner was an artist born and raised in New York City. One of the central figures in the formation of Conceptual Art in the 1960s, Lawrence Weiner explored the potentials of language as a sculptural medium. For him language could be presented in any format able to discourse with typical art subjects such as: language installed on a wall, printed as text in a book or catalog, spoken or performed in a film, spoken aloud in conversation, simply remembered, et cetera; as Lawrence explains in 1970:
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Eugenie Clark
- Occupations
- marine biologistzoologistichthyologist
- Biography
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Eugenie Clark, popularly known as The Shark Lady, was an American ichthyologist known for both her research on shark behavior and her study of fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. Clark was a pioneer in the field of scuba diving for research purposes. In addition to being regarded as an authority in marine biology, Clark was popularly recognized and used her fame to promote marine conservation.
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Esther Lederberg
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Studied in 1942
- Occupations
- geneticist
- Biography
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Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg was an American microbiologist and a pioneer of bacterial genetics. She discovered the bacterial virus lambda phage and the bacterial fertility factor F, devised the first implementation of replica plating, and furthered the understanding of the transfer of genes between bacteria by specialized transduction.
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Janet MacLachlan
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Janet Angel MacLachlan was an American actress who had roles in such television series as The Rockford Files, The Invaders Alias, All in the Family and The Golden Girls. She is best remembered for her key supporting part in the film Sounder (1972) where she portrayed Camille Johnson, a young teacher. MacLachlan worked with numerous well-known actors and actresses and celebrities such as Bill Cosby, Jim Brown, James Earl Jones, Maya Angelou and Morgan Freeman.
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Charles Barron
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Charles Barron is an American activist and politician who served in the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn's 42nd district from 2022 to 2023. He previously held the same seat from 2002 to 2013, and served in the New York Assembly from the 60th district between 2015 and 2022.
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Robert A. Daly
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
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Robert Anthony Daly is an American business executive who has led organizations such as CBS Entertainment, Warner Bros., Warner Music Group, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Elliot Tiber
- Occupations
- writerpainterlibrettistscreenwriter
- Biography
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Elliot Michael Tiber was an artist, professor, and screenwriter who wrote a memoir about the Woodstock Festival held in Bethel, New York in 1969. He claimed responsibility for the relocation of the festival after a permit for it was withdrawn by the zoning board of a nearby town.
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Bel Kaufman
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Studied in 1934
- Occupations
- writernovelistuniversity teachersecondary school teacher
- Biography
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Bella Kaufman was an American teacher and author, well known for writing the bestselling 1964 novel Up the Down Staircase.
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Robert C. Weaver
- Occupations
- university teachereconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Robert Clifton Weaver was an American economist, academic, and political administrator who served as the first United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1966 to 1968, when the department was newly established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Weaver was the first African American to be appointed to a US Cabinet-level position.
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Dreya Weber
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Dreya Weber is an American actress, producer, director, and aerialist.
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Liz Moore
- Years
- 1983-.. (age 43)
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Liz Moore is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer. She is a Professor of English at Temple University where she directs the MFA program in Creative Writing. After a brief time as a musician in New York City, which inspired her first novel, Moore shifted her focus to writing. She received the 2015 Rome Prize in Literature from the American Academy in Rome, and her 2012 novel Heft was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her novel Long Bright River was adapted into a miniseries for Peacock.
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Juliya Chernetsky
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Juliya Chernetsky Denning, is a television personality best known for her stage name Mistress Juliya and the popularity on the music-themed network Fuse.
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Roya Hakakian
- Occupations
- human rights defenderfilm directorjournalistpoetreporter
- Biography
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Roya Hakakian is an Iranian American Jewish writer, journalist, and political commentator. Born in Iran, she came to the United States as a refugee and is now a naturalized citizen. She is the author of several books, including an acclaimed memoir in English called Journey from the Land of No (Crown), Assassins of the Turquoise Palace (Grove/Atlantic), and A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious (Knopf).
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Joan Banks
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Joan Banks was an American film, television, stage, and radio actress (described as "a soapbox queen"), who often appeared in dramas with her husband, Frank Lovejoy.
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Martina Arroyo
- Occupations
- music educatorsocial workeropera singer
- Biography
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Martina Arroyo is an American operatic soprano who had a major international opera career from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success.
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Mary Grace Quackenbos
- Occupations
- juristUnited States Attorneylawyerpolice officer
- Biography
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Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston was the first female Special Assistant United States Attorney. She was a graduate of the New York University School of Law and was a leader in exposing peonage in the American South. She was also known for a short time as "Mrs. Sherlock Holmes", starting with her work solving the cold case of Ruth Cruger who disappeared in New York in 1917.
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Laura Gibson
- Occupations
- singersongwritercomposer
- Biography
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Laura Anne Gibson is an American singer-songwriter. She currently records for the U.S. independent label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's most recent album Goners was released October 26, 2018.
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Suzanne Kaaren
- Occupations
- modelstage actordanceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Suzanne Kaaren was an American B-movie actress and dancer who starred in stock film genres of the 1930s and 1940s: horror films, westerns, comedies, and romances.
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Viola Harris
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Viola Harris was an American actress known for roles in television, theater, and film from the 1950s to the 2010s.
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Ron Rothstein
- Occupations
- basketball coachbasketball player
- Biography
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Ronald L. Rothstein is an American former professional basketball coach and college basketball player, who has led many different NBA teams. He served as the first head coach for the Miami Heat, and later coached the Detroit Pistons. He has also coached in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2007–08, he also filled in for Pat Riley as an interim coach for the Heat.
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Pearl Primus
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- dancerchoreographeranthropologist
- Biography
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Pearl Eileen Primus was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the need to promote African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance. Primus' work was a reaction to myths of savagery and the lack of knowledge about African people. It was an effort to guide the Western world to view African dance as an important and dignified statement about another way of life.
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Phil Klay
- Occupations
- veteranshort story writerwriter
- Biography
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Phil Klay is an American writer. He won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014 for his first book-length publication, a collection of short stories, Redeployment. In 2014 the National Book Foundation named him a 5 under 35 honoree. His 2020 novel, Missionaries, was named as one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year as well as one of The Wall Street Journal's Ten Best Books of the Year.
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Ada Louise Huxtable
- Occupations
- biographercuratorwriterart historiannewspaperperson
- Biography
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Ada Louise Huxtable was an American architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the urban environment. In 1970, she was awarded the first ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In 1981, she was named a MacArthur Fellow. Architecture critic Paul Goldberger, also a Pulitzer Prize-winner (1984) for architectural criticism, said in 1996: "Before Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture was not a part of the public dialogue." "She was a great lover of cities, a great preservationist and the central planet around which every other critic revolved," said architect Robert A. M. Stern, dean of the Yale University School of Architecture.
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Ruth Teitelbaum
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineerprogrammermathematician
- Biography
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Ruth Teitelbaum was an American computer programmer and mathematician who was one of the first computer programmers in the world. Teitelbaum was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer.
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Francisco Costa
- Occupations
- fashion designer
- Biography
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Francisco Costa is a Brazilian designer and the Women's Creative Director of Calvin Klein Collection. Costa won the Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) award for Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2006 as well as in 2008. Costa also won the National Design Award in 2009 in the category of Fashion Design. More recently he launched a beauty concept called Costa Brazil inspired by his native Brazil (www.livecostabrazil.com).
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Matt Blaze
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- computer scientistuniversity teachercryptographer
- Biography
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Matt Blaze is an American researcher who focuses on the areas of secure systems, cryptography, and trust management. He is currently the McDevitt Chair of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown University, and is on the board of directors of the Tor Project.
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Maurice Berger
- Occupations
- art historiancuratorjournalist
- Biography
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Maurice Berger was an American cultural historian, curator, and art critic, who served as a Research Professor and Chief Curator at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Berger was recognized for his interdisciplinary scholarship on race and visual culture in the United States.
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Virginia O'Hanlon
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- 1906-1910 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
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Laura Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas was an American educator best known for writing a letter as a child to the New York newspaper The Sun that inspired the 1897 editorial "Is There a Santa Claus?". The editorial, by Francis Pharcellus Church, contains the line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", and brought attention to O'Hanlon for the rest of her life. Historian Gerald Bowler called it "the most famous editorial in history."
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Ora Namir
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Ora Namir was an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as a member of the Knesset from 1974 until 1996, as well as holding the posts of Minister of the Environment and Minister of Labour and Social Welfare during the 1990s. She later became the country's ambassador to China and Mongolia.
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Regina Resnik
- Occupations
- opera singeropera directorpedagoguemusic educatormusician
- Biography
-
Regina Resnik was an American opera singer who had an active international career that spanned five decades. She began her career as a soprano in 1942 and soon after began a lengthy and fruitful relationship with the Metropolitan Opera that spanned from 1944 until 1983. Under the advice of conductor Clemens Krauss, she began retraining her voice in the mezzo-soprano repertoire in 1953 and by 1956 had completely removed soprano literature from her performance repertoire.
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Edna Mae Robinson
- Years
- 1915-2002 (aged 87)
- Occupations
- actordancermusical theatre actor
- Biography
-
Edna Mae Robinson was an American dancer, actress, and activist. She was a dancer at the Cotton Club and toured Europe with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. She later became a public figure when she married the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, appearing on the first cover of Jet magazine in 1951. Robinson made her Broadway debut in an all-black version of Born Yesterday in 1953.
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Julius von Bismarck
- Occupations
- researcherperformance artistartistinstallation artistvideo artist
- Biography
-
Julius von Bismarck is a German artist currently living and working in Berlin, Germany. He attended the Berlin University of the Arts and the Hunter College in New York City.
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Tony Avella
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Anthony Avella Jr. is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 11th district in northeast Queens from 2011 to 2019. The district included the mostly affluent neighborhoods of College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Floral Park, Beechhurst, Malba and Auburndale. Avella also served as a member of the New York City Council from 2002 to 2009, representing some of the same Queens neighborhoods in District 19. Avella is a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of Democratic state senators who allied themselves with Senate Republicans. He was also a losing candidate in the 2009 New York City mayoral election, the 2013 Queens Borough President election, and the 2017 New York City mayoral election.
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Robert Holden
- Occupations
- graphic designerpolitician
- Biography
-
Robert F. Holden is an American professor, graphic designer, and a former New York City Council member from the 30th district, representing the neighborhoods of Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, and parts of Woodside and Woodhaven in the borough of Queens.
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Rosalyn Drexler
- Occupations
- playwrightartistwriterpainterprofessional wrestler
- Biography
-
Rosalyn Drexler was an American visual artist, novelist, Obie Award-winning playwright, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and professional wrestler. Although she had a polymathic career, Drexler is perhaps best known for her pop art paintings and as the author of the novelization of the film Rocky, under the pseudonym Julia Sorel. Drexler lived and worked in New York City, New York.
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Anissa Naouai
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
-
Anissa Naouai is an American journalist and former television presenter. She is the CEO of Maffick Media, a Berlin-based digital media company
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Aaron Elkins
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
-
Aaron Elkins is an American mystery writer. He is best known for his series of novels featuring forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver—the 'skeleton detective'.
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Theodora Lacey
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
-
Theodora Smiley Lacey is an American civil rights activist and educator. She helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott, fought for voting rights and fair housing, and helped lead the effort to integrate schools in New Jersey.
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Beatrice Mintz
- Occupations
- embryologistgeneticistbiologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Beatrice Mintz was an American embryologist who contributed to the understanding of genetic modification, cellular differentiation, and cancer, particularly melanoma. Mintz was a pioneer of genetic engineering techniques and was among the first scientists to generate both chimeric and transgenic mammals.
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Jeffrey L. Gurian
- Occupations
- historiandentistscreenwriter
- Biography
-
Jeffrey L. Gurian is an American dentist and comedian.
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Martin Garbus
- Occupations
- lawyerauthor
- Biography
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Martin Garbus is an American attorney.
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Bonnie Schneider
- Occupations
- weather presenter
- Biography
-
Bonnie Schneider is a national television meteorologist and the author of Extreme Weather, published by Palgrave Macmillan. She appears on The Weather Channel. She previously worked for Headline News, and Bloomberg Television.
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Edna F. Kelly
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- In 1928 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Edna Flannery Kelly was an American politician who served ten terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York from 1949 to 1969.
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Jeremy Bernard
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Jeremy Mill Bernard served as the White House social secretary. Bernard was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama on February 25, 2011. He was the first male, as well as the first gay individual, to serve as the White House social secretary.
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Evelyn Lear
- Occupations
- film actormusicianopera singer
- Biography
-
Evelyn Shulman Lear was an American operatic soprano. Between 1959 and 1992, she appeared in more than forty operatic roles, appeared with every major opera company in the United States and won a Grammy Award in 1966. She was well known for her musical versatility, having sung all three main female roles in Der Rosenkavalier. Lear was also known for her work on 20th century pieces by Robert Ward, Alban Berg, Marvin David Levy, Rudolf Kelterborn and Giselher Klebe. She was married to the American bass-baritone Thomas Stewart until his death in 2006.
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J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner
- Occupations
- actorradio personalitypsychologist
- Biography
-
Dr. J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner aka Dr. Buzz is a licensed forensic psychologist who provided commentary for the TV series CopyCat Killers.
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Arlie Petters
- Occupations
- university teachermathematicianphysicist
- Biography
-
Arlie Oswald Petters, MBE is a Belizean-American mathematical physicist, who is the Benjamin Powell Professor of mathematics and a professor of physics and economics at Duke University. Petters became the provost at New York University Abu Dhabi effective September 1, 2020. Petters's research is focused on problems connected to the interplay of gravity and light and employing tools from astrophysics, cosmology, general relativity, high energy physics, differential geometry, singularities, and probability theory. His monograph "Singularity Theory and Gravitational Lensing" developed a mathematical theory of gravitational lensing. Petters was also the dean of academic affairs for Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and associate vice provost for undergraduate education at Duke University (2016-2019).
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Adolfo Carrión, Jr
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Adolfo Carrión Jr. is an American businessman and former elected official from City Island. He served one term as a member of the New York City Council, representing the 14th district. He served for seven years as the borough president of the Bronx, for a year and five months as the first director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs in the Obama administration, and then for nearly two years as Regional Administrator for HUD's New York and New Jersey Regional Office. He left HUD in February 2012.
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Al Santos
- Occupations
- screenwritermodeltelevision actorfilm producerfilm actor
- Biography
-
Alfredo Santos is an American actor and former model. Born in New York City, Santos studied Sciences at Hunter College. He is best known for playing the character of Johnny Bishop in the WB TV series Grosse Pointe.
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Soia Mentschikoff
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
-
Soia Mentschikoff was a Russian American lawyer, law professor, legal scholar and law school dean, best known for her work in the development and drafting of the Uniform Commercial Code. She served as dean of University of Miami School of Law. She was also the first woman to teach at Harvard Law School.
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Emma Sheridan Fry
- Occupations
- playwrightteacherstage actoreducatortheatrical producer
- Biography
-
Emma Sheridan Fry was an American actress, playwright, and teacher. She started her career as a stage actress and after retiring from that, she became a writer for various periodicals and wrote plays. In 1903, she established the Children's and Young People's Theatre in New York City. Also in that city, she served as director of the Children's Educational Theatre and the Educational Players, as well as teaching at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Fry died in 1936.
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Erich Jarvis
- Occupations
- neuroscientistresearcher
- Biography
-
Erich Jarvis is an American professor at Rockefeller University. He is the head of a team of researchers who study the neurobiology of vocal learning, a critical behavioral substrate for spoken language. By studying animals including songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds, his research attempts to show that bird groups have similar learning abilities to humans in the context of sound, such as learning new sounds and then passing on vocal repertoires from one generation to the next. Jarvis focuses on the molecular pathways involved in the perception and production of learned vocalizations, and the development of brain circuits for vocal learning.
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Elizabeth Gertrude Britton
- Occupations
- curatorscientific collectorbryologistbotanical collectorbotanist
- Biography
-
Elizabeth Gertrude Britton was an American botanist, bryologist, and educator. She and her husband, Nathaniel Lord Britton, played a significant role in the fundraising and creation of the New York Botanical Garden. She was a co-founder of the precursor body to the American Bryological and Lichenological Society. She was an activist for the protection of wildflowers, inspiring local chapter activities and the passage of legislation. Elizabeth Britton made major contributions to the literature of mosses, publishing 170 papers in that field.
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Chitra Ganesh
- Occupations
- printmakerartist
- Biography
-
Chitra Ganesh is an American visual artist. Her work across media includes charcoal drawings, digital collages, films, web projects, photographs, and wall murals. Ganesh draws from mythology, literature, and popular culture such as comics and anime to reveal feminist and queer narratives from the past and to imagine new visions of the future.
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Garance Franke-Ruta
- Occupations
- journalistauthor
- Biography
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Garance Franke-Ruta is the executive editor of Inside Philanthropy. She has worked as executive editor of GEN by Medium, Washington editor of Yahoo News and editor in chief of Yahoo Politics, Voices columnist and politics editor of The Atlantic Online, national web politics editor for the Washington Post, senior editor at the American Prospect and senior writer at the Washington City Paper, D.C.'s alternative weekly newspaper. Her work has also appeared in Medium magazine, New York, The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Slate, Salon, The Washington Monthly, Legal Affairs, Utne Reader and National Journal. After first attending Hunter College, she transferred to Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1997.
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Murray Sabrin
- Occupations
- economistacademicjournalist
- Biography
-
Murray Sabrin is a professor of finance in the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College and a perennial candidate for public office in New Jersey.
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Mollie Orshansky
- Enrolled in CUNY Hunter College
- Studied in 1931-1935
- Occupations
- economistmathematicianstatistician
- Biography
-
Mollie Orshansky was an American economist and statistician who, in 1963–65, developed the Orshansky Poverty Thresholds, which are used in the United States as a measure of the income that a household must not exceed to be counted as poor.
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Norman Goldman
- Occupations
- lawyerradio personality
- Biography
-
Norman Maurice Goldman is an American attorney and a former political talk radio host.
