50 Notable alumni of
Simmons University
Updated:
Simmons University is 1241st in the world, 449th in North America, and 421st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 50 notable alumni from Simmons 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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Tipper Gore
- Occupations
- writerpoliticianphotographerpsychologist
- Biography
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Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore is an American social issues advocate. She was the second lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 through her marriage to 45th vice president Al Gore in 1970, although they separated in 2010.
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Daniel Handler
- Occupations
- novelistchildren's writermusicianaccordionistwriter
- Biography
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Daniel Handler is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions, published under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The former was adapted into a film in 2004 as well as a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019.
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Gwen Ifill
- Occupations
- journalistwriternews presenter
- Biography
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Gwendolyn L. Ifill was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program with Washington Week in Review. She was the moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and co-anchor and co-managing editor, with Judy Woodruff, of the PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. Ifill was a political analyst and moderated the 2004 and 2008 vice-presidential debates. She authored the best-selling book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
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Gregory Maguire
- Occupations
- novelistchildren's writerwriter
- Biography
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Gregory Maguire is an American novelist. He is the author of Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are inspired by classic children's stories. Maguire published his first novel, The Lightning Time, in 1978. Wicked, published in 1995, was his first novel for adults. Though unsuccessful at first, it was adapted into a popular Broadway musical in 2003.
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Suzyn Waldman
- Occupations
- sports commentatorcolor commentator
- Biography
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Suzyn Waldman is an American sportscaster and former musical theater actress. Since the 2005 season, she has been the color commentator for New York Yankees baseball, working with John Sterling on radio broadcasts, first for WCBS-AM and currently for WFAN in New York City.
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Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
- Enrolled in Simmons University
- Graduated with Master of Arts in English literature
- Occupations
- historian of Modern Agehistorianwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian specializing in early America and the history of women, and a professor at Harvard University. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute to "the silent work of ordinary people". Ulrich has also been a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. Her most famous book, A Midwife’s Tale, was later the basis for a PBS documentary film.
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Christine Darden
- Occupations
- aerospace engineermathematician
- Biography
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Christine Darden is an American mathematician, data analyst, and aeronautical engineer who devoted much of her 40-year career in aerodynamics at NASA to researching supersonic flight and sonic booms. She had an M.S. in mathematics and had been teaching at Virginia State University before starting to work at the Langley Research Center in 1967. She earned a Ph.D. in engineering at George Washington University in 1983 and has published numerous articles in her field. She was the first African-American woman at NASA's Langley Research Center to be promoted to the Senior Executive Service, the top rank in the federal civil service.
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Kristin Cashore
- Occupations
- novelistchildren's writerwriter
- Biography
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Kristin Cashore is an American young adult and fantasy writer, best known for the Graceling Realm series.
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Hal Clement
- Occupations
- astronomerwriterscience fiction writeraircraft pilotteacher
- Biography
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Harry Clement Stubbs, better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard.
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Allyson Schwartz
- Enrolled in Simmons University
- In 1970 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politiciansocial worker
- Biography
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Allyson Schwartz is an American Democratic Party politician who represented parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia in the United States House of Representatives from 2005 to 2015 and Northeast and Northwest Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania Senate from 1991 to 2005. She has finished second in a statewide Democratic Party primary twice: for United States Senate in 2000 and for Governor in 2014.
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Nnenna Freelon
- Occupations
- actorsingerjazz musician
- Biography
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Nnenna Freelon is an American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger.
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Lenore Blum
- Occupations
- computer scientistuniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
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Lenore Carol Blum is an American computer scientist and mathematician who has made contributions to the theories of real number computation, cryptography, and pseudorandom number generation. She was a distinguished career professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University until 2019 and is currently a professor in residence at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also known for her efforts to increase diversity in mathematics and computer science.
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David Ferriero
- Occupations
- librarianarchivist
- Biography
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David Sean Ferriero is an American librarian and library administrator, who served as the 10th Archivist of the United States. He previously served as the Director of the New York Public Library and as the University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University. Prior to his Duke position, he worked for 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library. Ferriero was the first librarian to serve as Archivist of the United States.
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Mackenzi Lee
- Enrolled in Simmons University
- Graduated with Master of Fine Arts in writing
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Mackenzi Lee is an American author of books for children and young adults. She writes both fiction and non-fiction about topics including sexuality and the role of women throughout history.
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Mary Jo Foley
- Occupations
- journalistpodcastermagazine writernon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Mary Jo Foley is an American freelance technology writer, author, podcaster and news editor. She regularly writes news, previews, and reviews for Microsoft's strategy, products and technology. Foley has been covering news on Microsoft Windows, and previously on Unix-related technology, since 1983, for publications including ZDNet, eWeek, Baseline, Redmond magazine, PC Magazine, and Directions on Microsoft.
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Mark Pendergrast
- Occupations
- journalistwriterlibrarian
- Biography
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Mark Pendergrast is an American independent scholar and author of fourteen books, including three children's books. His books are mainly non-fiction and cover a wide range of topics, most notably repressed memories. He is a volunteer with the National Center for Reason and Justice, a non-profit organization that advocates for people who are falsely accused or convicted of crimes.
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Elinor Lipman
- Occupations
- novelist
- Biography
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Elinor Lipman is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist.
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Nathalie Handal
- Occupations
- playwrightnon-fiction writerpoet
- Biography
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Nathalie Handal is a French-American poet, writer and professor, described as a “contemporary Orpheus.” A New Yorker and a quintessential global citizen, she has published 10 prize-winning books, including Life in a Country Album. She is praised for her “diverse, and innovative body of work.”
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Nancy Ip
- Occupations
- justice of the peacebiologistpoliticianneuroscientist
- Biography
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Nancy Chu Ip Yuk-yu, also known as Nancy Y. Ip in academic publications, is a Hong Kong neuroscientist. She is serving as the 5th President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) since 19 October 2022. She had served as the Vice-President of Research and Development, the Morningside Professor of Life Science, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at the HKUST. Since December 2022, Ms. Ip has also served as the a deputy from the Hong Kong delegation to the National People's Congress and received the largest number of votes from the 1273 member Electoral Committee which elects delegates, receiving 1254 votes
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Adela Raz
- Years
- 1986-.. (age 38)
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticiancivil servant
- Biography
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Adela Raz is an Afghan politician who served as the last ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States from July 2021 to February 2022. Raz was also the first woman to hold the office of Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations.
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Katie Moussouris
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- security researcherentrepreneurwriter
- Biography
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Katie Moussouris is an American computer security researcher, entrepreneur, and pioneer in vulnerability disclosure, and is best known for her ongoing work advocating responsible security research. Previously a member of @stake, she created the bug bounty program at Microsoft and was directly involved in creating the U.S. Department of Defense's first bug bounty program for hackers. She previously served as Chief Policy Officer at HackerOne, a vulnerability disclosure company based in San Francisco, California, and currently is the founder and CEO of Luta Security.
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Jane Hinton
- Years
- 1919-2003 (aged 84)
- Enrolled in Simmons University
- Studied in 1939
- Occupations
- scientistveterinarian
- Biography
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Jane Hinton was a pioneer in the study of bacterial antibiotic resistance and one of the first two African-American women to gain the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (1949). Prior to her veterinary medicine studies at the University of Pennsylvania, she had been a laboratory technician at Harvard, co-developing the Mueller–Hinton agar, a culture medium that is now commonly used to test bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. She later practiced as a small animal veterinarian in Massachusetts, and then as a federal government inspector. Hinton was the daughter of William Augustus Hinton, a microbiologist and the first African-American professor at Harvard University.
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Harriette L. Chandler
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Harriette L. Chandler is an American politician who was the 94th President of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts State Senator for the 1st Worcester district, which includes parts of the city of Worcester, where she resides, and the towns of Boylston, Holden, Princeton, and West Boylston, and parts of Clinton and Northborough. She is a Democrat who has served since January 2001. From 1995 to 2001 she was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature, she was a member of the Worcester school committee from 1991 to 1994. She is the first woman from Worcester ever to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate.
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Paul Sullivan
- Years
- 1957-2007 (aged 50)
- Occupations
- presenterjournalistradio personality
- Biography
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Paul Harold "Sully" Sullivan was an accomplished radio talk-show host of "The Paul Sullivan Show" on WBZ radio. He was best known for his blue-collar politics and plebeian attitude.
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Ruth Winifred Howard
- Occupations
- psychologistsocial worker
- Biography
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Ruth Winifred Howard was an American psychologist. She is best known for her psychological work concerning students with special needs at Children's Provident Hospital School. She is one of the first African American women to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology. Howard was an active participant in the American Psychological Association, the International Council of Women Psychologists, the American Association of University Women, the National Association of College Women (an African American-based group), and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She also received instruction from Florence Goodenough.
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Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee
- Occupations
- physiciangynaecologistobstetrician
- Biography
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Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee was an American obstetrician and civil rights activist.
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Mary Elizabeth Wood
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Mary Elizabeth Wood was an American librarian and missionary, best known for her work in promoting Western librarianship practices and programs in China. She is credited with the foundation of the first library school in China, the Boone Library School, as well as spurring the development of Chinese librarianship as a modern profession.
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Gail Levin
- Occupations
- essayistcuratorphotographerwomen's rights activistartist
- Biography
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Gail Levin is an American art historian, biographer, artist, and a Distinguished Professor of Art History, American Studies, Women's Studies, and Liberal Studies at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is a specialist in the work of Edward Hopper, feminist art, abstract expressionism, Eastern European Jewish influences on modernist art and American modernist art. Levin served as the first curator of the Hopper Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
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Margaret Curtis
- Years
- 1883-1965 (aged 82)
- Occupations
- social workertennis playergolfer
- Biography
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Margaret Curtis was an American golf and tennis champion and lifelong social worker.
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Madeleine M. Joullié
- Enrolled in Simmons University
- In 1949 graduated with Bachelor of Science in chemistry
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Madeleine M. Joullié is an American-Brazilian organic chemist. She was the first woman to join the University of Pennsylvania chemistry faculty as well as the first female organic chemist to be appointed to a tenure track position in a major American university. She was one of the first affirmative action officers at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a distinguished record as a teacher of both undergraduate and graduate-level organic chemistry, and as a mentor of students.
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Alice Wolf
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Alice K. Wolf was an Austrian-born American politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1996 to 2013, representing the 25th Middlesex District.
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Courtney Young
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Courtney Young is an American librarian and scholar, who served as the president of the American Library Association for the 2014–2015 year. On June 30, 2015, her term as ALA President ended, and she passed the title on to Sari Feldman.
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Dorothy Walcott Weeks
- Occupations
- mathematicianphysicist
- Biography
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Dorothy Walcott Weeks was an American mathematician and physicist. Weeks was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned degrees from Wellesley College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Simmons College. Weeks was the first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Ruth Edmonds Hill
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- voice actor
- Biography
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Ruth Edmonds Hill was an American scholar, oral historian, oral storytelling editor, journal editor, educator, historic preservation advocate. Her oral history office is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is an iconic figure among oral storytellers, particularly in the United States but also abroad, and has advised storytellers' organizations. Her spouse is Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill who is also known as Brother Blue. Ruth Edmonds Hill is sometimes known as Sister Ruth. Ruth Edmonds Hill is the daughter of Florence Edmonds of western Massachusetts, whose life story is chronicled and has been critically analyzed as part of African-American oral history. Hill has degrees from Simmons College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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Kathy Brodsky
- Years
- 1945-.. (age 79)
- Occupations
- children's writerwriter
- Biography
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Kathy Brodsky is an American author and poet. She has written seventeen books, sixteen of which are children's books, and one that is a collection of 65 poems reflecting her observations and insights about life. She was the writer-in-residence at the Pierce School in Bennington, New Hampshire, and at the Harold Martin School in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.
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Vivian G. Harsh
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Vivian Gordon Harsh was an American librarian. Harsh is noted as the Chicago Public Library (CPL) system's first African American librarian, being assigned to the position on February 26, 1924. Harsh served as a librarian for 34 years until retiring in 1958. During her career, she began an extensive archive on African American history and culture, which is now known as, the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, at the CPL.
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Arthur Curley
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Arthur Curley was an American librarian who was listed as one of the 100 most important library leaders of the 20th century by journal American Libraries.
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Beatrice Corliss
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Beatrice Keene Corliss (October 21, 1910 – January 12, 1995) was an American politician who served as the first female Mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts.
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Winston Tabb
- Occupations
- librarianlibrary scientist
- Biography
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Winston Tabb was the Sheridan Dean of University Libraries and Museums at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland from September 2002 to December 2022.
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Laura Mary Bragg
- Occupations
- librarianexhibition curatorbotanical collector
- Biography
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Laura Mary Bragg was an American museum director who became the first woman to run a publicly funded art museum in America when she was named the director of the Charleston Museum in 1920. She later directed the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts and advised on the reorganization of the Valentine Museum in Virginia. She is also known for developing a widely copied form of traveling museum exhibition for schools called a "Bragg Box."
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Robert Gibbons
- Occupations
- poet
- Biography
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Robert Gibbons is an American poet, prose writer, and editor.
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Ann Wolpert
- Years
- 1943-2013 (aged 70)
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Ann Josephine Wolpert was an American librarian who was a pioneer in digital libraries. As director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries from 1996 to 2013, she was instrumental in a variety of projects, including leading an initiative between MIT and Hewlett Packard to develop the DSpace digital repository system, and supporting MIT OpenCourseWare, one of the earliest large-scale projects to provide open access to university course materials. She also championed MIT's adoption of an open access mandate in 2009, the first of its kind in the United States.
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Thomas J. Galvin
- Years
- 1933-2004 (aged 71)
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Thomas J. Galvin was an American librarian and academic. Galvin held a bachelor's degree in English from Columbia University and a master's in library science from Simmons College as well as a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. From 1962 to 1972, he held a series of combined faculty and leadership positions at the graduate school of library and information science at Simmons College, ultimately being named associate dean and professor. He was then made dean of the school of library and information science at the University of Pittsburgh from 1974 to 1985.
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Frances Keegan Marquis
- Biography
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Frances Keegan Marquis was an American women's army captain, World War II veteran, and feminist activist. In 1943, she became the first commander of a women's expeditionary force, the 149th WAAC Post Headquarters Company, which served in General Eisenhower's North African headquarters. Before her military service, she held management posts in women's organizations; afterwards, she did volunteer work for women's groups, including serving as a United Nations observer for Altrusa International.
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Douglas W. Petersen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Douglas W. Petersen was an American politician who served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources from 2007 to 2009 and represented the 8th Essex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1991 to 2007. In 2007, Petersen upset residents of Lynn, Massachusetts after he stated at a Swampscott School Committee meeting that Swampscott children would "be captains of industry" who would one day need good employees "so we have to educate Lynn kids". He was born on Long Island and lived in Marblehead at the time of his death.
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Deborah Blumer
- Years
- 1941-2006 (aged 65)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Deborah D. Blumer was a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Framingham. She served in the House from 2001 until her death.
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Ethelwyn Manning
- Years
- 1885-1972 (aged 87)
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Ethelwyn Manning was the second Chief Librarian of the Frick Art Reference Library. During World War II, she assisted the Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) on Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas, later known as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA).
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Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty
- Born in
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United States - Enrolled in Simmons University
- Graduated with master's degree
- Occupations
- librarianadministrator
- Biography
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Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty is an American librarian and administrator. An archives and special collections expert, Evangelestia-Dougherty was the executive director of the Chicago-based Black Metropolis Research Consortium from 2011 to 2013 and the director of collections and services at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from 2013 to 2015. She became the first director of the combined Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, the world's largest museum library system, December 6, 2021.
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Susan Nutter
- Enrolled in Simmons University
- In 1968 graduated with Master of Science in library science
- Occupations
- librarian
- Biography
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Susan Keene Nutter was the vice provost and director of the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries where she worked for thirty years. While she was director, in 2000, NCSU Libraries received the first Association of College and Research Libraries Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. She was instrumental in the planning, development, and construction of NCSU’s Hunt Library. Called her "signature accomplishment," it was awarded the Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries in 2014. Before Susan's tenure NCSU Libraries "ranked near the bottom among North American research libraries." In 2016 they won the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Service which Nutter accepted on the libraries' behalf from Michelle Obama at the White House.
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James M. Matarazzo
- Occupations
- deanprofessorlibrarian
- Biography
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James M. Matarazzo was an American academic and librarian who taught at Simmons University for almost 50 years. He was a national and global leader in the field of special libraries.
