33 Notable alumni of
Georgia Southern University
Updated:
Georgia Southern University is 1371st in the world, 481st in North America, and 451st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 33 notable alumni from Georgia Southern University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Walton Goggins
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorfilm actorphotographerfilm producer
- Biography
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Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. is an American actor. He has starred in various television series, including The Shield (2002–2008), Justified (2010–2015), Vice Principals (2016–2017), The Righteous Gemstones (2019–2025), Invincible (2021–present), Fallout (2024–present), and The White Lotus (2025). He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Justified and The White Lotus, and for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Fallout.
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Druski
- Occupations
- comedian
- Biography
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Drew Desbordes, known professionally as Druski, is an American comedian, actor, and influencer. He is known for his sketch comedy, Coulda Been Records, and collaborations with various musicians in their music videos, including Jack Harlow, Drake, Lil Yachty, and others.
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Cole Swindell
- Occupations
- songwritersinger-songwriterrecording artistsinger
- Biography
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Colden Rainey Swindell is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released four albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville. He has released thirteen singles, eight of which have reached number one on the Hot Country Songs and/or Country Airplay charts. Five more singles have reached the Top 10. Swindell is known for hits such as “Chillin’ It,” “You Should Be Here,” “Flatliner,” “Never Say Never,” and “She Had Me At Heads Carolina.”
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Patrika Darbo
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Patrika Darbo is an American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1988 romantic comedy film It Takes Two and later appeared in The 'Burbs, Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will? (1990), Spaced Invaders (1990), Leaving Normal (1992), In the Line of Fire (1993) and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Darbo played Roseanne Barr in the 1994 biographical television film Roseanne & Tom: Behind the Scenes.
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Mychael Knight
- Occupations
- fashion designer
- Biography
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Michael Anthony Knight Jr. was an American fashion designer.
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Ghazala Hashmi
- Enrolled in Georgia Southern University
- 1982-1986 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in English studies
- Occupations
- academicpolitician
- Biography
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Ghazala Firdous Hashmi is an American politician serving as the 43rd lieutenant governor of Virginia since 2026. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a Virginia state senator for the 15th district from 2020 to 2026. She is the first Asian-American and Muslim elected to statewide office in Virginia, along with being the first Muslim woman to win statewide office anywhere in the United States.
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Adrian Peterson
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Adrian Nicholas Peterson is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) and United Football League (UFL). He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round of the 2002 NFL draft, playing eight seasons for Chicago. Then he played for the Virginia Destroyers in the UFL. He played college football for the Georgia Southern Eagles, where he set numerous school, Southern Conference, and NCAA Division I-AA records, as well as winning two I-AA National Championships and receiving the Walter Payton Award for most outstanding player in I-AA football. He is currently serving as the director of student-athlete development for Georgia Southern.
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Casey Cagle
- Occupations
- politicianbanker
- Biography
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Lowell Stacy "Casey" Cagle is an American politician who served as the 11th lieutenant governor of Georgia from 2007 to 2019.
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Van R. Johnson
- Born in
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United States - Occupations
- columnistpolitical punditpoliticiantalk show hostradio personality
- Biography
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Van R. Johnson II is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Savannah, Georgia since 2020. He is the fourth African-American mayor in the city's history. Before becoming Mayor, he served four terms as Alderman for the Savannah City Council's 1st District.
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Jen Jordan
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Jennifer Lyn Auer Jordan is an American lawyer and politician who represented District 6 in the Georgia State Senate from 2017 to 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She was the party's nominee for Attorney General of Georgia in the 2022 election, losing to Republican incumbent Chris Carr.
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Julius Jenkins
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Julius Jenkins is an American professional basketball player, who most recently played for Science City Jena of the Basketball Bundesliga.
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Charlie Norwood
- Enrolled in Georgia Southern University
- In 1964 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- dentistbusiness executivepolitician
- Biography
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Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until his death in 2007. At the time of his death, Norwood was the representative of the 10th district of Georgia.
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Keisha Waites
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Keisha Sean Waites is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, she served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2012 to 2017, representing southeast Atlanta, College Park, East Point, Hapeville, Forest Park, Hartsfield Jackson Airport, Porsche Headquarters and parts of Clayton and DeKalb counties. She also served as a member of Atlanta City Council for Post 3 At-Large from 2022 to 2024.
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Jason Burnell
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Jason Scott Burnell is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Brescia of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. He played college basketball for Jacksonville State.
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Victor Roache
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Almon Victor Roache is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He was selected in the 1st round, 28th overall, by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft, but never played in the majors after 6 seasons in Minor League Baseball.
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Fred Stokes
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Louis Fred Stokes is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Southern Eagles. He played in the NFL for the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams, Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints
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Michael P. Boggs
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Michael P. Boggs is an American lawyer who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia from 2022 until 2025. He served as an associate justice of the court starting in 2017. He is a former judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals and a former nominee to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He was appointed to the state Supreme Court by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.
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Charlton Young
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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Charlton Young is an American college basketball assistant coach at University of Miami and the former head coach of the Georgia Southern University Eagles men's basketball team, located in Statesboro, Georgia. He was the head coach of the Eagles from 2009–2013 and was the twelfth coach in the history of the program, replacing Jeff Price. The Eagles were collectively and individually successful during his four seasons as the head coach at the Statesboro, Georgia school. He led the Eagles to a second-place finish in the Southern Conference standings in 2012 as the team earned the second-best turnaround in league history. For his efforts he was honored as the Southern Conference Coach of the Year by multiple publications (including rushthecourt.net) and was a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award which is presented annually to the top Division I minority head coach. Young coached four All-Southern Conference selections including Willie Powers (all-conference third team in 2010) and Eric Ferguson (all-conference first team in 2013, all-conference first-team and All-Southern Conference Tournament team in 2012 and the All-Freshman team in 2011). The selections of Powers and Ferguson to the all-conference team in 2013 marked the first time since 2007 that multiple Georgia Southern players had earned all-conference accolades in the same season. In 2013, he led the Eagles to a victory over Virginia Tech for the first win in program history over a team from the ACC.
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James Kicklighter
- Occupations
- film director
- Biography
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James Kicklighter is an American film director, producer, and writer from Bellville, Georgia.
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Marty Pevey
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Marty Ashley Pevey is an American professional baseball manager and former Major League catcher and coach. He has been the manager of the Chicago Cubs' Triple-A affiliate, the Iowa Cubs of the International League, since 2013. Pevey stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg); he batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
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Leslie C. Smith
- Enrolled in Georgia Southern University
- Graduated with Bachelor in Business Administration in accounting
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Leslie C. Smith is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who last served as the 66th Inspector General of the United States Army. Since 2002, he has served as the vice president for leadership and education at the Association of the United States Army
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Everett Teaford
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Everett James Teaford is an American baseball coach and former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays, and in the KBO League for the LG Twins.
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Luis A. Aguilar
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Luis Alberto Aguilar is an American lawyer and former U.S. government official.
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Tookie Brown
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Quindarious Deavundre "Tookie" Brown is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Georgia Southern University and was named the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
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Tre Bussey
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Tre Bussey is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Georgia Southern University where he was named a third-team All-Southern Conference honoree.
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Björn Kjerfve
- Enrolled in Georgia Southern University
- 1965-1968 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writeroceanographer
- Biography
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Björn Kjerfve is a Swedish-American oceanographer. Kjerfve's expertise is in coastal and estuarine physical oceanography. He has served at the University of South Carolina, Texas A&M University, and the American University of Sharjah.
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Marilyn Avila
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Marilyn Avila is a former Republican member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. She first won office in the 2006 election, and she represented the state's 40th house district from 2007 until 2017. She was defeated by Democrat Joe John in the 2016 election. In 2018, she attempted to make a comeback for her old seat, but she lost again to John. She chaired the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, Commerce and Job Development Subcommittee on Science and Technology, Unemployment Fraud Task Force. Rep. Avila also sat on the Appropriations Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, Commerce and Job Development Committee, Education Committee, Ethics Committee, House Select Committee on Certificate of Need Process and Related Hospital Issues, House Select Committee on Education Reform, House Select Committee on State-Owned Assets, State Personnel Committee, and Transportation Committee.
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Ronald 'Bo' Ginn
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ronald Bryan "Bo" Ginn, was an American politician who represented Georgia's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1983.
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Charles Floyd Hatcher
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Charles Floyd Hatcher is an American politician and lawyer from the U.S. state of Georgia. He served in Congress as a Democrat.
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Isaiah Crawley
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Isaiah Deion Crawley is an American professional basketball player who last played for Dziki Warszawa of the Polska Liga Koszykówki, the top division in Poland. He played college basketball for Columbia State Community College and Georgia Southern.
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John Mohring
- Occupations
- Canadian football playerAmerican football player
- Biography
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John Mohring Jr. is an American former professional football linebacker who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for the Georgia Southern Eagles.
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Shawn Arévalo McCollough
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 55)
- Biography
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Shawn Arévalo McCollough is president and CEO of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence in Washington, DC. A former superintendent of schools, principal, and teacher, McCollough's reform efforts have been recognized by George W. Bush, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.
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William McDonald Wheeler
- Enrolled in Georgia Southern University
- Studied education
- Occupations
- accountantteacherpolitician
- Biography
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William McDonald Wheeler (July 11, 1915 – May 5, 1989) was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.
