List of Barnard College people

Academics and scientists

Natalie Angier (1978), author, science journalist for the New York Times, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting

Jacqueline Barton (1974), Caltech chemist and MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant" winner

Hazel Bishop (1929), chemist and inventor of innovative cosmetics

Marian Chertow (1977), academic specializing in environmental resource management

Frances Gardiner Davenport, historian

Carol Dweck (1967), professor of psychology at Stanford University

Firth Haring Fabend (1959), novelist and historian

Jessica Garretson Finch (1893), author, suffragette, founding President of Finch College

Ellen V. Futter (1971), President of Barnard College and the American Museum of Natural History

Lynn Garafola (1968), dance historian

Virginia Gildersleeve (1899), Dean of Barnard College and delegate to the charter conference of the United Nations in 1945

Rebecca Goldstein (1972), philosopher, biographer, and novelist

Monica Green medieval historian

Maxine Greene (1938), educator, philosopher, activist; past president of the American Educational Research Association

Patricia Greenspan (1966), professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park

Evelyn Byrd Harrison (1941), classical scholar, archaeologist, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Evelyn Hu (1969), Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at Harvard University

Karla Jay (1968), pioneer of lesbian and gay studies

Mirra Komarovsky (1926), sociologist; pioneer in the sociology of gender

Mabel Lang (1939), archeologist and professor at Bryn Mawr College

Janna Levin (1988), cosmologist

Rita Gunther McGrath (1981), business book author; Professor at Columbia Business School

Eileen McNamara (1974), professor of journalism at Brandeis University; formerly Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist of the The Boston Globe

Margaret Mead (1923), anthropologist

Elsie Clews Parsons (1896), first woman elected President of the American Anthropological Association

Helen Perlstein Pollard (1967), archaeologist, ethnologist, Mesoamericanist scholar, professor of anthropology at MSU

Helen Ranney (1941), first woman to lead a university department of medicine in the U.S., be president of the Association of American Physicians, or serve as a Distinguished Physician of the Veterans Administration

Ida Rolf (1916), biochemist, founder of Rolfing Structural Integration

Ora Mendelsohn Rosen (1956), cell biology researcher

Louise Rosenblatt (1920s), influential literary theorist and educator

Anna Schwartz (1933), economist

Vivian Sobchack (1961), cultural critic

Maya Soetoro-Ng (1993), educator; half-sister of President Barack Obama

Amy Sueyoshi (1993), historian and academic

Merryl Tisch (1977), educator, Chancellor, New York State Board of Regents; wife of James S. Tisch, heir to the Loews Corporation

Beatrice Warde (1920s), calligrapher, librarian, researcher on type matters and influence upon 20th century typography

Irene J. Winter (1960), American art historian

Actresses and performers

Sissy Biggers (1979), host of Ready.. Set... Cook! 1996-2000

Clara Bryant (2007), actress

Catherine de Castelbajac (1975), model and fashion journalist

Jill Eikenberry (1968), actress

Denise Faye (1996), director, choreographer, actress

Greta Gerwig (2006), actress

Jaime Gleicher (2010), reality star

Lauren Graham (1988), actress, played Lorelai Gilmore on TV show Gilmore Girls

Sprague Grayden (2000s), actress, played Judith Montgomery on Joan of Arcadia

Alexandra Guarnaschelli (1991), celebrity chef at Butter Restaurant in New York City, television personality

Shari Lewis (dropped out - 1950s), ventriloquist, puppeteer, television show host

Peggy McCay (1949), actress

Julie Mond (2000s), actress

Cynthia Nixon (1988), actress, played Miranda Hobbes on TV show Sex and the City

Chelsea Peretti (2000), actress, writer for TV show Parks and Recreation

Lee Remick (dropped out - 1953), actress

Ariane Rinehart (2015), actress, played Liesl on The Sound of Music Live!

Joan Rivers (1954), star comedian, TV host

Christy Carlson Romano (2000s), actress

Frankie Shaw (2000s), actress

Vinessa Shaw (dropped out - 1990s), actress, 40 Days and 40 Nights

Sasha Soreff (1994), choreographer

Zuzanna Szadkowski (2001), actress, played Dorota on TV show Gossip Girl

Sophia Takal (2007), actress and director

Twyla Tharp (1963), choreographer, dancer

Sarah Thompson (1990s), television actress

Donna Vivino (2000), actress and singer

Jane Wyatt (1932), actress

Franziska Boas (1923), dancer, percussionist and dance therapist

Architects

Norma Merrick Sklarek (1950), first black woman to be licensed as an architect in the United States

Christine Wang (1989), architect, curator and artist.

Artists

Sarah Charlesworth (1969), photographer and conceptual artist

Maud Morgan, modern artist

Josephine Paddock, painter

Jane Teller, sculptor

Mierle Laderman Ukeles, performance artist

Athletes

Stacey Borgman (1993), member of crew team for the United States at the 2004 Olympics

Gloria Callen (1946), swimmer

Abby Marshall (2014), chess player; won 2009 Denker Tournament of High School Champions

Erinn Smart (2001), fencer for the United States at the 2004 Olympics silver medalist in team foil fencing at the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Robin Wagner (1980), figure-skating coach

Businesswomen

Susan Mary Alsop, Washingtonian socialite; wife of journalist Joseph Alsop

Erica Bell (2007), co-founder of e-commerce website Hukkster

Patricia Duff, founder of NGO The Common Good, ex-wife of Ronald Perelman

Eileen Ford (1943), co-founder of Ford Models, one of the world's oldest and most influential modeling agencies

Anjli Jain (2003), executive director of CampusEAI Consortium

Liz Neumark (1977), founder and CEO of New York catering company Great Performances.

Sheila Nevins (1960), president of HBO documentary films; winner of 27 Primetime Emmy Awards and 3 Peabody Awards

Joan Whitney Payson, co-founder and majority of owner of the New York Mets

Azita Raji (graduated 1983), investment banker, United States Ambassador to Sweden

Helen Rogers Reid (1903), newspaper publisher, president of the New York Herald Tribune

Alexis Stewart (1987), daughter of Martha Stewart; TV host and radio personality

Martha Stewart (1964), business magnate, entrepreneur, homemaking advocate

Elizabeth Wiatt (1967)

Mita Nambiar (1996), business analyst, USG

Journalists

Natalie Angier (1978), author and science writer for the New York Times; won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting in 1991

Jami Bernard (1978), film critic for The New York Post and The New York Daily News, founder of Barncat Publishing Inc.; author whose books include a memoir of surviving breast cancer

Fatima Bhutto, social activist, writer, and niece of Benazir Bhutto

Suzanne Bilello (1977), author who with Rose Marie Arce (Barnard class of 1986) was a member of a Newsday team in 1992 that shared the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting

Katherine Boo (1988), recipient of Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2000 and the MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant"

Mona Charen, nationally syndicated columnist, political analyst, and author

Liz Clarke (1983), journalist for The Washington Post, co-host of The Tony Kornheiser Show

Herawati Diah (1941), Indonesian journalist

Deborah Feyerick (1987), American journalist and CNN correspondent

Laura Flanders (1984), correspondent for Air America and host of "GritTV"

Sylvana Foa (1967), first female news director of an American television network; first Spokeswoman for Secretary General of the United Nations

Alexis Gelber (1974), former president of the Overseas Press Club

Piri Halasz, correspondent Time Magazine and art critic

Maria Hinojosa (1984), correspondent for CNN; NOW on PBS; host of NPR's Latino USA

Cathy Horyn, fashion journalist, New York Times fashion critic

Freda Kirchwey (1915), journalist, editor and publisher of The Nation

Alex Kuczynski (1990), style reporter for The New York Times, daughter of Peruvian president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

Courtney E. Martin (2002), American feminist author and editor of the feminist blog Feministing

Judith Miller (1969), former correspondent for New York Times who reported on the story of Iraq's alleged WMD program; Aspen Strategy Group member

Nonnie Moore (c. 1946), fashion editor at Mademoiselle, Harper's Bazaar and GQ.

Mary Ellis Peltz, music critic, poet, and first chief editor of Opera News

Anna Quindlen (1974), author and columnist for Newsweek who won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992

Atoosa Rubenstein (1993), founder of CosmoGirl and editor-in-chief of Seventeen; youngest ever editor of a teen magazine

Susan Stamberg (1959), special correspondent, NPR's Morning Edition

Jeannette Walls, gossip columnist for MSNBC; author of The Glass Castle

Lis Wiehl (1983), legal analyst for Fox News

Ellen Willis (1960s), essayist and pop music critic

Musicians, singers, and composers

Laurie Anderson (1969), musician, NASA's first artist-in-residence

Louise Post, lead singer and guitarist of alternative rock band Veruca Salt

Roxanne Seeman (1975), songwriter

Jeanine Tesori (1983), Broadway composer

Suzanne Vega (1981), singer-songwriter, "Luka", "Tom's Diner"

Playwrights, screenwriters, and directors

Jamie Babbit (1993), director But I'm a Cheerleader, Itty Bitty Titty Committee, television shows including Gilmore Girls, Alias (TV series), and Ugly Betty

Helen Deutsch (1927), screenwriter, Lili, National Velvet, King Solomon's Mines

Delia Ephron (1966), author, screenwriter, playwright, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, You've Got Mail

Gina Gionfriddo (1991), playwright

Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal (1966), screenwriter

Kait Kerrigan (2003), playwright

Annie Leonard (1986), activist and director, The Story of Stuff

Ntozake Shange (1970), playwright

Linda Yellen (1969), Emmy Award-winning director, Northern Lights ; producer, Playing for Time

Political, social and judicial figures

Akiko Yuge (1975), United Nations Development Programme Representative of Japan

Ann Aldrich (1948), judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Grace Lee Boggs (1935), author and political activist

Margot Botsford (1969), associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Claire C. Cecchi (1986), judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum (1952), United States District Court judge

Ronnie Eldridge (1952), activist, businesswoman, politician, and television host

Muriel Fox (1948), public relations executive who in 1966 co-founded the National Organization for Women and led the communications effort that introduced the modern women's movement to the media of the world

Paula Franzese (1980), professor of real property law at Seton Hall Law School

Helen Gahagan (1924), United States House of Representatives Congresswoman from California

E. Susan Garsh (1969), associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court

Helene D. Gayle, M.D., M.P.H. (1970), president and CEO of CARE USA and chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

Nancy Gertner (1967), Judge on United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Ellen F. Golden (1968), Director, Women's Business Center, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Wiscasset, Maine

Cheryl Halpern, chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Patricia McMahon Hawkins (attended), United States Ambassador to Togo from 2008 to 2011

Allegra "Happy" Haynes (1975), Denver politician who served on the Denver City Council

Susan Herman (1968), President of the American Civil Liberties Union; Professor at Brooklyn Law School

Jessie Wallace Hughan (1898, Phi Beta Kappa), United States Senate candidate, author, teacher, founder of Alpha Omicron Pi fraternity

Miriam Hughes, United States Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia

Marian Blank Horn (1965), judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims

Mila Jasey (1972), member of the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 27th Legislative District

Judith Kaye (1958), first woman in highest position in state judiciary, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals

Katherine Kazarian (2012), American politician and member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives

Claire R. Kelly (1987), judge on the United States Court of International Trade

Jeane Kirkpatrick (1948), first woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Wilma B. Liebman (1971), Chair, National Labor Relations Board

Hope Portocarrero (1950s), first lady of Nicaragua, the wife of Anastasio Somoza Debayle

Paula Reimers (1969), Rabbi, political activist for Palestinian rights, gender equity, and religious freedom

Sheila Abdus-Salaam (1973), judge of the New York Court of Appeals

Rosalyn Richter (1976), associate justice of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Judicial Department

Jessica Stern (1985), American policy consultant on terrorism who served on the United States National Security Council under Bill Clinton

Anna Diggs Taylor (1954), United States District Court judge

Kang Tongbi (1907), daughter of Kang Youwei and political activist, member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Helene White (1975), judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Constance H. Williams (1966), Pennsylvania state senator from 2001 to 2009; daughter of Leon Hess, founder of the Hess Corporation

Religious figures

Sara Hurwitz (1999), first woman to serve in the Orthodox Jewish clergy

Spies

Marion Davis Berdecio (1943), accused Soviet spy in U.S. State Department, comrade of Coplon and Wovschin

Judith Coplon (1943), Soviet spy in U.S. Justice Department whose convictions were overturned on technicalities

Juliet Stuart Poyntz (1907), involved in intelligence activities for the Soviet OGPU; founding member of the Communist Party USA

Flora Wovschin (1943), Soviet spy in U.S. State Department, stepdaughter of Columbia professor/Soviet spy Enos Wicher

Writers

Léonie Adams (1923), poet

Joan Abelove (1966), writer

Mary Antin (1902), author of the immigrant experience

Charlotte Armstrong (1925), writer

Jami Bernard (1978), writer and film critic

Fatima Bhutto (2004), Pakistani poet and writer

Ann Brashares (1989), author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Sasha Cagen (1996), writer

Hortense Calisher (1932), writer

Diana Chang (1949), pioneering Asian-American novelist

Cassandra Clare (1995), author of The Mortal Instruments

Rachel Cohn (1989), author of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Gingerbread

Nadine Jolie Courtney (2002), Bravo TV personality Newlyweds: The First Year and author of Beauty Confidential and Confessions of a Beauty Addict

Elise Cowen (1956), poet of the Beat Generation

Galaxy Craze (1993), novelist

Susan Daitch (1977), short story writer

Edwidge Danticat (1990), writer

Thulani Davis (1970), novelist

Tory Dent (1981), poet and HIV/AIDS activist

Babette Deutsch (1917), author, poet, translator and critic

Francine du Plessix Gray (1952), Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer

Hallie Ephron (1969), novelist

Cristina García (1983), author of Dreaming in Cuban

Mary Gordon (1971), writer

Indrani Aikath Gyaltsen (1970s), writer

Monique Raphel High (1969), novelist

Patricia Highsmith (1940), author of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Anne Hollander (1952) historian of fashion

Helen Hoyt (1900s), poet

Zora Neale Hurston (1928), Harlem Renaissance writer

Elizabeth Janeway (1935), author and critic

Joyce Johnson (1955), writer

June Jordan (1955), writer and activist

Erica Jong (1963), writer

Alexa Junge (1984), writer for The West Wing and Friends

Joan Kahn (late 1930s), mystery editor and anthologist; also novelist and children's writer

Lily Koppel (2003), author of The Red Leather Diary and The Astronaut Wives Club (book) and an in-progress novel, writer, New York Times

Jhumpa Lahiri (1989), Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies

Jane Leavy (1974), sports biographer

Faith McNulty (1920s, attended one year), writer

Daphne Merkin (1975), literary critic, essayist, and novelist

Alice Duer Miller (1899), writer and advisory editor of The New Yorker

Diana Muir (1975), writer and historian

Alana Newhouse (1997), writer and editor of Tablet Magazine

Alice Notley (1967), poet

Sigrid Nunez (1972), novelist

Iris Owens (1929-2008), novelist

Edie Parker (1940s), author; first wife of Jack Kerouac

Helena Percas de Ponseti (1940), writer, essayist, scholar, and professor

Chelsea Peretti (2000), writer and comedian

Marisha Pessl (2000), author of Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Belva Plain (1939), writer

Ariana Reines (2002), poet

Lionel Shriver(1978), novelist and 2005 Orange Prize winner

Dean Spade (1997), writer, activist, lawyer, Assistant Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law

Joan Vollmer (1943), Beat poet, partner of William S. Burroughs

Cecily Wong (1910), writer

Julie Zeilinger (2015), blogger and feminist writer

Fictional alumnae

In the 1992 Woody Allen film Husbands and Wives, Juliette Lewis' character, Rain, is a Barnard student.

In the 2005 Sigrid Nunez novel The Last of Her Kind, heroines Georgette George and Ann Drayton meet in 1968 as freshmen roommates at Barnard.

In the television series Mad Men, the character Rachel Menken is a Barnard graduate.

In the 2015 film Mistress America, the lead character Tracy Fishko is a freshman at Barnard.

Notable faculty

Nadia Abu El Haj, anthropologist

Robert Antoni, Commonwealth Writers Prize–winning author

Randall Balmer, author and historian of American religion

Dave Bayer, mathematician; actor and math consultant for the film A Beautiful Mind; one of few holders of an Erdős-Bacon number

Ruth Benedict, anthropologist

Jenny Boylan, writer

Frank Brady, leading figure in international chess

Harriet Brooks, physicist

Demetrios James Caraley, Editor of the Political Science Quarterly; President of the Academy of Political Science

John Cheever (1956–1957), Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and short story writer

Dennis Dalton (1969–2008), political scientist; renowned nonviolence proponent; scholar of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Michael X. Delli Carpini (1987–2003), political scientist, Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania

Mortimer Lamson Earle, classicist

Theodor Gaster

Virginia Gildersleeve

Katie Glasner, former Twyla Tharp dancer

Mary Gordon, writer

Elizabeth Hardwick, writer; co-founder of The New York Review of Books; wife of Robert Lowell

Ken Hechler, U.S. Congressman from West Virginia

Rebecca Jordan-Young, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, author of Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences

Charles Knapp, Ph.D., philologist and classical scholar

Janna Levin, physicist

David Macklovitch, musician

Perry Mehrling, economic historian

Gabriela Mistral, first Latin American Nobel Prize winner for Literature

Samuel Alfred Mitchell, astronomer

Raymond Moley (1923–1933), proponent and later critic of the New Deal

Frederick Neuhouser, philosopher

Sigrid Nunez, novelist

Elaine Pagels (1970–1982), scholar of early and gnostic Christianity

Alan F. Segal, ancient Judaism and origins of Christianity; author of Life after Death, and Paul the Convert

Edmund Ware Sinnott, botanist

Dolph Sweet, actor

Elie Wiesel (1997–1999), Nobel Peace Prize–winning writer and activist

Ashley Tuttle, former principal dancer at ABT and Tony nominated actress

Recipients of the Medal of Distinction

The Barnard Medal of Distinction is the College's highest honor.

1977

Joan Mondale

1978

Samuel R. Milbank

Richard Rodgers

Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger '14

1979

Adelyn Dohme Breeskin

Helen Gahagan Douglas '24

Eleanor Thomas Elliott '48

William Am Marstellar

Toni Morrison

Francis T.P. Plimpton

1980

Dorothy Height

Julius S. Held

Mary Dublin Keyserling '3

Margaret Mahler

Alan Pifer

Henriette H. Swope '25

1981

Robert L. Hoguet

Elizabeth Janeway '35

Beverly Sills

1982

Carol Bellamy

Raymond J. Saulnier

Twyla Tharp '63

1983

Mario Cuomo

Vernon Jordan, Jr.

Mirra Komarovsky '26

1984

Arthur Altschul

Annette Kar Baxter '47 (posthumous)

Joseph G. Brennan

Anna Hill Johnstone '34

1985

Marian Wright Edelman

Sidney Dillon Ripley

Elizabeth Man Sarcka '17

1986

A. Bartlett Giamatti

Frances Lehman Loeb

Helen M. Ranney '41

1987

Judith Kaye '58

Sally Falk Moore '43

Rev. James Parks Morton

Ellen Stewart

1988

Augusta Souza Kappner '66

Ntozake Shange '70

Maxine Singer

1989

Joan Kaplan Davidson

Eugene Lang

Bernice Segal (posthumous)

Lottie L. Taylor-Jones

1990

Jacqueline Barton '74

Robert L. Bernstein

Jean Blackwell Hutson '35

Julie V. Marsteller '69

1991

Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum '50

Tisa Chang '63

Mamphele Ramphele delivered the 2002 Commencement address

1992

Ingrith Johnson Deyrup-Olsen '40

Fred W. Friendly

Millicent Carey McIntosh

Frank Stella

1993

Arthur Ashe (posthumous)

Elizabeth B. Davis '41

Helene Lois Kaplan '53

Bette Bao Lord

Cyrus Vance

1994

Walter Cronkite

Ellen V. Futter '71

Barbara Stoler Miller '62 (posthumous)

Arthur Mitchell

Sheila E. Widnall

1995

Madeleine Albright

Rosemary Park Anastos

Derek Bok

Sissela Bok

1996

Rita R. Colwell

Kitty Carlisle Hart

Maya Lin

Dame Anne Warburton

1997

Sarah Brady

Merce Cunningham

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

1998

Mary L. Good

Joan Ganz Cooney

David Aaron Kessler

1999

Zoe Caldwell

Abby Joseph Cohen

Esther Dyson

William T. Golden

2000

Doris Kearns Goodwin delivered the 2000 Commencement address

Hanna Holborn Gray

Annie Leibovitz

Kathie L. Olson

2001

Morris Dees

Susan Hendrickson

Maxine Greene '38

Bernice Johnson Reagon delivered the 2001 Commencement address

Barbara Novak '50

Alice Rivlin

Harold E. Varmus

2003

Susan Band Horwitz

Judith Miller '69 delivered the Commencement address

Martha Nussbaum

2004

Sylvia Earle

Louise Glück

2005

Carla D. Hayden

Amartya Sen

2006

Linda Greenhouse

Audra McDonald

Francine du Plessix Gray '52

2007

Joan Didion

Nicholas D. Kristof

Mary Patterson McPherson

Muriel Petioni

Anna Deavere Smith

2008

Thelma C. Davidson Adair

Michael Bloomberg delivered the 2008 Commencement address

Billie Jean King

David Remnick

Judith Shapiro

2009

Hillary Clinton delivered the 2009 Commencement address

Kay Murray

Indra Nooyi

Irene J. Winter '60

2010

Thelma Golden

Olympia J. Snowe

Meryl Streep delivered the 2010 Commencement address

Shirley M. Tilghman

2011

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, delivered the 2011 Commencement address

Sylvia Rhone

Roberta Guaspari

Jenny Holzer

2012

Barack Obama, President of the United States, delivered the 2012 Commencement address

Sally Chapman, Barnard Professor of Chemistry

Helene D. Gayle '76, President and CEO of CARE, USA

Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry

2013

Leymah Gbowee, recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, delivered the 2013 Commencement address

Jimmie Briggs, founder of the Man Up campaign

Elizabeth Diller, architect and designer of the High Line

Lena Dunham, creator, director, writer and star of the HBO series Girls

2014

Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation

Mahzarin Banaji, social psychologist and professor of social ethics at Harvard University

Ursula Burns, chair and chief executive officer of Xerox

Patti Smith, acclaimed musician, poet, and artist

2015

Samantha Power, academic and journalist

Simi Linton, expert on disability and the arts

Nadia Lopez, principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy

Diana Nyad, long-distance swimmer and author