This List of Haverford College people includes alumni and faculty of Haverford College. Haverford is a smaller college and has a smaller alumni population than its peers. Because expansion occurred in the 1980s, most of Haverford's alumni are still quite young. Despite this, as of 2010, Haverford alumni include four Nobel Prizes, four MacArthur Fellows, 20 Rhodes Scholarships, 10 Marshall Scholarships, nine Henry Luce Fellowships, 56 Watson Fellowships, two George Mitchell Scholarship, two Carnegie Endowment Junior Fellowships, two Churchill Scholars, one Gates Cambridge Scholar, 13 All Americans, and 23 NCAA post-graduate winners.
Business and industry
Charlie Apt '84, co-owner of Ciao Bella Gelato Company
Iwao Ayusawa, Japanese labour relations author
Harlan Jacobson '71, American Film Critic
Beverly Ortega Babers '84, Chief Administrative Officer of United States Mint
Emily Best '02, founder of crowdfunding platform Seed&Spark
Josh Byrnes '92, senior vice president of baseball operations, Los Angeles Dodgers
Michael E. Dunn '85, Chairman and CEO of Prophet
William S. Halstead '26, inventor in national and international communication; held more than 80 patents in radio and television development
Alex Karp '89, co-founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies
Eric Kuhn '93, CEO of Varsity Books and FoundersCard
James Kuo '86, bio-medical entrepreneur; CEO of BioMicro Systems
Andrew L. Lewis, Jr. '53, former Chairman and CEO of Union Pacific Corporation
Gerald M. Levin '60, former Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Officer
Eugene Ludwig '68, Chairman and CEO of Promontory Financial Group; former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency
Howard Lutnick '83, Chairman and CEO of the Cantor Fitzgerald Company
Robert MacCrate '43, Sullivan & Cromwell Vice Chairman; legal education reformer
J. Howard Marshall '26, Texan billionaire oil tycoon who married Anna Nicole Smith in his late 80s
John Morse '73, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster
Scott Haycock '98, Kappa Sig 2001 Fantasy Runner Up
Tony Petitti '83, CEO of MLB Network
Henry Ritchotte '85, COO of Deutsche Bank
Jane Silber '85, CEO of Canonical, maintainers of the Ubuntu operating system
Ken Stern '85, CEO of NPR
Arn Tellem '76, Principal, Management Wasserman Media Group
John C. Whitehead '43, former Co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs, deputy U.S. Secretary of State under Reagan and later chairman of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; namesake of Whitehead Campus Center
Barry Zubrow '75, former Chief Risk Officer at JP Morgan Chase; former Chief Administrative Officer at Goldman Sachs
Higher education and academia
Anthony Amsterdam '57, MacArthur Fellow, University Professor of Law, NYU
Robert Bates '64, Eaton Professor of Science of Government, Harvard University
Terry Belanger '63, 2005 MacArthur Fellow, University Professor and Director of Rare Book School, University of Virginia
Douglas C. Bennett '68, former provost of Reed College, and former president of Earlham College
Tristram Potter Coffin '43, former professor of English and founder of the Folklore department at the University of Pennsylvania
Stephen G. Emerson '74, Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Clyde ’56 & Helen Wu Professor in Immunology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and former President, Haverford College (2007–2011)
Peter Bacon Hales '72, Professor of Art History and director of the American Studies Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Akira Iriye '57, Professor of History at Harvard University, President of American Historical Society
Fredric Jameson '54, Marxist cultural and literary critic, William A. Lane Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University
Garry W. Jenkins '92, Dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
Christoph M. Kimmich '61, former president of Brooklyn College
Bruce Lincoln '70, author of Holy Terrors; professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School
Stephen J. Lippard '62, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
George Marsden '59, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame (1992-2008), winner of the Bancroft Prize and Merle Curti Award for Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Yale University Press, 2004)
Marc Melitz '89, Professor of Economics, Harvard College
Robert Mong '71, President, University of North Texas at Dallas
George Mosse '41, University of Wisconsin - Madison John C. Bascom Professor of European History and Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies, concurrently holding the Koebner Professorship of History at Hebrew University; first research historian in residence at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Ken Nakayama '62, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Adam Zachary Newton '80, Professor of English, Yeshiva University
Frank J. Popper '65, Professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University and the Princeton Environmental Institute at Princeton University; known for proposing the Buffalo Commons and coining the term "locally unwanted land use" (LULU)
Hunter R. Rawlings III '66 Classics, 10th President of Cornell University from 1995-2003 (made interim president again in 2005), former President of University of Iowa
Fred Rodell '26, LL.D. '73; professor, 1933-1973, at Yale Law School; proponent of legal realism
Andrew M. Shanken '90, professor of architectural history at University of California, Berkeley' author of 194X: Architecture, Planning, and Consumer Culture on the American Home Front
Edward A. Shanken '86, University of Amsterdam, author of Art and Electronic Media
Ed Sikov '78, film scholar and author of Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers and On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder
Eric Tagliacozzo '89, Professor of Southeast Asian History, Cornell University
David Thornburgh '81, Executive Director, Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania (2008–present)
Eric Wertheimer '86, Arizona State University, Professor of English and American Studies, Associate Vice Provost
Louis Round Wilson attended 1895-98, academic librarian at the University of North Carolina; founder of the University of North Carolina Press; founder of the library science school at the University of Chicago; President of the American Library Association
Carl B. Allendoerfer '34, mathematician and former chair of University of Washington mathematics department
David Scull Bispham 1876, baritone; Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden soloist; author of A Quaker Singer's Recollection, 1920
John G. Bullock 1874, photographer; founding member of the Photo-Secession with Alfred Steiglitz
William Carragan 1958, musicologist noted for his work on Anton Bruckner, and for contributions to physics
Chevy Chase ex-'66, attended for one semester, comedian and actor
Roger Director 1971, scriptwriter for TV shows, including Moonlighting and Hill Street Blues; nominated for two Emmys; consulting producer for NCIS, Wolf Lake; wrote Dream in Blue about the New York Giants football team, and A Place to Fall: A Novel
Deborah Colette Freedman 1990, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist; voted "One of the 50 to Watch" by the Dramatist's Guild; co-wrote thriller The Thirteen Hallows; wrote several novels, The Affair, The Consequences, Anomalies, Sister Cities
Robert E. Hecht 1941, collector, dealer and expert in antiquities
Mark Hudis 1990, former co-executive producer of True Blood, former writer and co-executive producer of Nurse Jackie, former executive producer of That '70s Show
Harlan Jacobson 1971, film critic, lecturer and author
Julius Katchen 1947, concert pianist, recognized by Eugene Ormandy at his debut concert playing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D-Minor (age 10)
Daniel Dae Kim 1990, film and stage actor; Hawaii Five-0, Lost, The Andromeda Strain; holds an MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts; winner of Screen Actors Guild Awards for Lost and Crash; named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2005 by People magazine
Ken Ludwig 1972, Tony Award-winning playwright of Lend Me a Tenor and Crazy for You and a lawyer (of counsel) for Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Andrew Millstein 1984, General Manager of Walt Disney Animation Studios
Judd Nelson ex-'82, actor, did not graduate
Craig Owens '71, art critic and theorist
Maxfield Parrish (attended 1888-1891), painter
Rand Ravich 1984, writer, director, and producer
Peter Rockwell 1958, sculptor and art historian; sculpture restorer; one of his works appears on Haverford campus; son of artist-illustrator Norman Rockwell
George Segal ex-'55, actor, attended
Gregory Whitehead '78, audio artist, media philosopher, award-winning radio playwright and documentary producer.
Government, diplomacy, and law
Richard G. Andrews '77, Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
Thomas Barlow '62, former Democratic member of Congress from Kentucky
Gary Born '78, International Arbitrator and Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Robert Braucher '36, former Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Charles Canady '76, former Republican member of Congress; Florida Supreme Court Justice; coined the term "partial-birth abortion"
Ron Christie '91, former special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney
Richard M. Cooper '64, Rhodes Scholar, former chief counsel for Food and Drug Administration, Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP
Henry S. Drinker, Jr. 1900, managing partner and namesake of Drinker Biddle & Reath law firm; counsel to University of Pennsylvania; musicologist and chamber music enthusiast; ethics scholar
Harold Evans 1907, Philadelphia lawyer, active in AFSC, U.N.-appointed first mayor of Jerusalem (1948), argued before Supreme Court in Hirabayashi v. United States (1943)
Mark Geragos '79, defense attorney for Winona Ryder and Michael Jackson
Peter J. Goldmark '67, Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands
Oscar Goodman '61, former Mayor of Las Vegas, former criminal defense attorney
David F. Hamilton ’79, Judge, U.S. Court Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Mark D. Levine '91, New York City Councilmember
Andrew Lewis '53, former CEO Union Pacific, Secretary of Transportation under Ronald Reagan
Kermit Lipez ‘63, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Eugene Ludwig '68, former US Comptroller of the Currency, partner of Covington & Burling LLP
Charles Mathias '44, former Republican Congressman and Senator from Maryland
Robert MacCrate '43, Sullivan & Cromwell Vice Chairman and legal education reformer
Koichiro Matsuura '61 Economics, former Japanese Ambassador to France, 1999-now, Director-General of UNESCO
Jim Moody '67, former Democratic member of Congress from Wisconsin
Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker 1908, Nobel Laureate (1959); member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; chairman of the British Labour Party; architect of the League of Nations; Olympian and captain of Great Britain's Chariots of Fire Olympic track team
Jeffrey B. Pine '76, Attorney General of Rhode Island 1993-1999
Amy Pope '96, White House Counterterrorism Advisor
Stephen H. Sachs '54, lawyer; former Attorney General of Maryland; US Attorney for the District of Maryland, where he prosecuted the Catonsville Nine
Rob Simmons '65, former Republican Congressman of Connecticut
Russell Stetler '66, National Mitigation Coordinator for capital cases, Federal Public Defender network, based in San Francisco
Christopher Van Hollen '47, former United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from 1972 to 1976
Zachary Werrell '13, campaign manager for Dave Brat's primary victory over Eric Cantor, one of the biggest upsets in American political history
John Carroll 1963, former executive vice president and editor of The Los Angeles Times; first Knight Visiting Lecturer at Harvard's Shorenstein Center
David Espo 1971, AP Special Correspondent; former chief AP Congressional correspondent
Dirck Halstead 1958, photojournalist
Adi Ignatius 1981, Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Business Review
Joshua Kurlantzick 1998, journalist and author, special correspondent for The New Republic
Daniel Lathrop 1999, investigative reporter, projects data editor at The Dallas Morning News
Allen Lewis 1940, Philadelphia Inquirer baseball writer, inductee into the writers' wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Josh Mankiewicz 1977, correspondent for Dateline NBC
Tom Masland 1972, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek international correspondent
Felix Morley 1915, journalist and author; editor 1933-1940 of the Washington Post; winner of 1936 Pulitzer Prize for "distinguished editorial writing during the year"
Robert Neuwirth 1981, philosophy, author of Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World
Michael Paulson 1986, New York Times theater reporter, formerly religion reporter; was city editor (and formerly religion reporter), Boston Globe, co-winner, 2003, of Pulitzer Prize for public service, for coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston; four-time winner, Wilbur Award for religion writing
Norman Pearlstine 1964, former Editor-in-Chief of Time; senior advisor at the Carlyle Group
Dan Primack, '99, Senior editor of Fortune Magazine
Bethlehem Shoals, founder of FreeDarko; author of The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac and The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History; editor-in-chief of The Classical
Dennis Stern 1969, Senior Vice President, New York Times
David Wessel 1975, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio economics correspondent
Juan Williams 1976 Philosophy, Fox News Channel senior correspondent
Stanley Kurtz 1975, Conservative commentator and senior fellow at Ethics and Public Policy Center
Literature and writing
Tamar Adler '99, author of An Everlasting Meal
Lloyd Alexander (attended ca. 1940, did not graduate), Newbery Medal-winning author
Nicholson Baker 1979, novelist, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
Dave Barry '69 English, Pulitzer Prize–winning humor columnist
John Dickson Carr '29, author of detective stories; also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn
Frank Conroy '58, author, late director of the Iowa Writers Workshop
Robert Flynn, 1990, Editor in Chief of Getty Publications
Roy Gutman '66, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author
Evan Jones '49, poet, playwright, and screenwriter
Richard Lederer '59, author known for books on wordplay and the English language
Richard Lingeman '53, Senior Editor of The Nation; author of many books on literary, historical and linguistic topics
Stephen W. Meader 1913, author of over forty novels for young readers
Christopher Morley 1910, novelist, poet, essayist, Rhodes scholar
Norman Pearlstine '64, former editor-in-chief of Time magazine; Chief Content Officer at Bloomberg L.P.
Logan Pearsall Smith attended 1881-1884, man of letters, author of Trivia
Lara Wozniak '90, Editor of Finance Asia; former Money Editor for Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong)
Charles D. Cohen '83, author of several Random House books about Dr. Seuss, including the 400-page, 700-image visual biography The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss (2004)--chosen by Time magazine's Richard Corliss as the "Pop Culture Book of the Year"; two collections of "lost" Dr. Seuss stories that hadn't been seen in over half a century: The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) and Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories (2014), both of which debuted at #1 on the New York Times' best-selling Children's Picture Books list.; and special anniversary editions of two classics: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! A 50th-Anniversary Retrospective (2007) and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories: A 50th-Anniversary Retrospective (2008).
Robert C. Bollinger '79, professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and director of the Center for Clinical Global Health Education
James Dahlberg '62, professor of biomolecular chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Thomas Dawber 1933, first director of Harvard Medical School's Framingham Heart Study, one of the most important population studies that led to the knowledge that diabetes, cholesterol and tobacco are risk factors for heart disease
Stephen Desiderio '74, professor of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, director of Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Alan Gerry, Chair of Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School
William H. Harris '49, orthopedic surgery pioneer; namesake of the Harris Hip Score
John R. Hogness '43, former dean of school of medicine and president of University of Washington; first President of the Institute of Medicine
Thomas S. Inui '65, founder and Paul C. Carbot Professor of Harvard Medical School Ambulatory Care and Prevention Division
Jon Kabat-Zinn '64, mindfulness meditation
James H. McKerrow '68, Robert E. Smith Endowed Chair in Experimental Pathology, UCSF; former head of Biomedical Research Graduate Program, UCSF; practitioner and researcher
Raymond Rocco Monto '82, orthopedic surgeon, researcher, writer; winner of the 2012 Jacques Duparc EFORT research award, President of Nantucket Cottage Hospital
Kari Nadeau '88, allergy expert; director of the Nadeau Laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine
Jordan Pober '71, Professor of Immunology and Dermatology, Yale School of Medicine
Jonathan Rhoads '28, former Chairman of Surgery at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, President of American College of Surgeons
Robert T. Sataloff '71, MD and DMA, otolaryngologist at Drexel University College of Medicine; former Choral Director at Thomas Jefferson University; teaches at Academy of Vocal Arts and Curtis Institute of Music
Joel Selanikio ’86 Sociology, pediatrician, epidemiologist, social entrepreneur, technologist; winner of the 2005 Haverford College award, and 2009 Lemelson-MIT award for sustainability in 2009, for his work in creating technology for global health; named by Forbes magazine in 2009 as one of nine most powerful innovators; former adviser to Tommy Thompson' former Secretary of Health and Human Services
James Tyson 1860, Dean of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Jeffrey E. Dunn '83, Professor of Neurology; Chief, Clinical Neuroimmunology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Roger Bacon (physicist) '51 Physics, inventor of carbon fiber in 1958
Stephen J. Lippard '62, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry, MIT
John F. Paulson '51 Chemistry and Physics, Harold Brown Award 1986
Theodore William Richards class of 1885, Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 1914), first American to win a Nobel in Chemistry
Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. '63 Physics, Nobel laureate (Physics, 1993), Dean of Faculty at Princeton University
Philip M. Whitman class of 1937, mathematician, solved the word problem for free lattices
Social action, philanthropy, and community service
Henry J. Cadbury 1903, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Steve Cary 1937, Quaker and former president of the American Friends Service Committee, Nobel laureate as representative of the AFSC for their work during World War II
Deirdre V. Cryor 1988, President, St. Mary’s Academy (Englewood, CO) (2005–present)
David Ellis 1958, former president of Boston Museum of Science
David M. Felsen 1966, Headmaster, Friends' Central School (Philadelphia, PA)
Norman Hill 1956, civil rights activist, Black labor leader
Ta Chun Hsu 1942, former president of The Starr Foundation (1969-1999)
Jonathan Huxtable 1993, Founding Head of School, Harford Friends School (Street, MD)
Rufus Jones 1885, author, philosopher and founder of the American Friends Service Committee
Tom Kessinger 1963, 1965, General Manager of the Aga Khan Foundation (1996–2014)
Ghebre Selassie Mehreteab 1972, co-founder and CEO of NHP Foundation (1987-2009), a leading creator of affordable housing and prevention of foreclosure for low-income families
Terence Pell 1976, President of Center for Individual Rights, a leading conservative legal advocacy organization
Robert Schwartz 1971 (LL.D. (hon.) 2011), co-founder and executive director of Juvenile Law Center (winner of 2008 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions)
Howard Thurman c.1930 (special student), African-American theologian and preacher, pacifist and social activist, co-founder of Fellowship of Reconciliation and of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples
Vincent Warren 1986, Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights, a leading progressive legal advocacy organization
Sports and athletics
Edward "Eddie" Andujar '79, world welterweight champion (PKA) in full-contact karate, retired 1977
Josh Byrnes '92, senior vice president of baseball operations, San Diego Padres; former general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks
Thomas Glasser 1982, gold medalist in the 4x400 meter relay at the 1981 Maccabiah Games; died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
Thad Levine '94, Assistant General Manager of the Texas Rangers
Stuart Levitt 1963, NCAA College Division Champion in Men's Javelin, 1963; All-American; gold medalist in javelin at the Maccabiah Games, winner Penn Relays 1963
Seamus McElligott '91, five-time national track champion; 1990 national Division III cross country champion; last Division III athlete to earn Division I All-American status
Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker 1908, ran for Great Britain in the Olympic games in 1912, 1920 (silver medalist at 1500 meters), and 1924; team captain at the Paris games, and the team's exploits were made famous as the Chariots of Fire Olympic track team
Karl Paranya '97, first NCAA Division III runner to run a sub-four minute mile and world record holder in the indoor 4x800 relay race
Tony Petitti '83, President and Chief Executive Officer, MLB Network
Ronald M. Shapiro '64, attorney and sports agent, Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler;past clients include Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr., Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, Kirby Puckett, and Eddie Murray
Arn Tellem '76, attorney and sports agent; clients have included Tracy McGrady, Jason Giambi, and Pau Gasol
Dick Voith '77, All-American basketball player; economist at Econsult; adjunct professor at the Wharton Business School
Brian Callahan, former lacrosse player in Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections
Stephen Collins, U.S. Congressman in State of Play
Dale Cooper, FBI detective in David Lynch's Twin Peaks
Astrid Farnsworth, FBI agent in Fringe
Cal McCaffrey, D.C. reporter in State of Play
Professor Gary Shepherd of the TV series thirtysomething was an untenured professor at the college.
Richard J. Bernstein, Professor of Philosophy (1966–1989); author of John Dewey (1966); Dean of Graduate Studies, New School of Social Research
Curt Cacioppo, Professor of Music; contemporary composer
Roberto Castillo-Sandoval, Associate Professor of Spanish; Chilean author
John Royston Coleman, President 1967-77; labor economist; author of Blue-Collar Journal; host of CBS program "Money Talks", later president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
William C. Davidon, professor of physics and mathematics (1961-1991); peace and justice activist
Julio de Paula, Professor of Chemistry (1989–2005); co-author of popular textbook Physical Chemistry with Peter Atkins of Oxford; Dean of Lewis and Clark College (2005- )
Jerry P. Gollub, Professor of Physics; member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1992, and the only member teaching at a liberal arts institution
Elihu Grant, writer, Professor of Biblical Literature (1917-1938)
Ruth Levy Guyer, Visiting Professor for General Studies; teaches bioethics; frequent contributor on NPR
Elaine Tuttle Hansen, Provost of Haverford College 1995-2002; President of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine
Dale Harper Husemoller, topologist; author of Fibre Bundles and Elliptic Curves of Springer Verlag math textbook series; studied under Lars Ahlfors
Anita Isaacs, Benjamin Collins Professor of Social Sciences; Professor of Political Science
Rufus Jones, professor of philosophy (1893-1934); Quaker mystic; co-founder of American Friends Service Committee
Roger Lane, Benjamin R. Collins Research Professor in history; winner of the Bancroft Award from Columbia University and the Best Book Award from the Urban History Association
Ariel G. Loewy, late founder of Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (1954–2000); discoverer of Factor XIII
Lucius T. Outlaw, Professor of Philosophy (1980–2000), scholar of W. E. B. Du Bois; Director of African American Studies, Vanderbilt University (2001- )
Harry C. Payne, Provost and Professor of European History (1985–1988); Acting President (1987–1988); President of Williams College (1994–2005)
Ira De Augustine Reid, Professor and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology and first tenured black faculty member (1948-1966), scholar of black urban and immigrant life in the United States
Michael Sells, Guest Professor of Comparative Religions at Haverford (1984-2005); author of Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations; Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago
Ronald F. Thiemann, Chairman of Religion (1975–1985), Dean of Harvard Divinity School (1986–1998)
Josiah ("Tink") Thompson, Professor of Philosophy (1965-1976); biographer and scholar of Søren Kierkegaard; expert on assassination of John F. Kennedy (author of Six Seconds in Dallas); left academia to become a private investigator in San Francisco; author of memoir Gumshoe
Joseph A. Tolliver, Dean of Students 1998-2006; vice president of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York
Cornel West, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (1987–88), currently Professor of Religion at Princeton University
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, author and psychoanalyst, former student and biographer of Hannah Arendt
Haverford College invites distinguished members of society to speak at academic convocations and at commencement. There are three to four honorary degree recipients at commencement, and it is tradition that one of the recipients be a Quaker. The college awards Litt.D, Sci.D, LL.D, D.MA, D.FA, and D.H.A honoris causa.
A complete list of honorary degree recipients since 1858 is available online.
Prominent recipients include:
2011: Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese American former NBA basketball player and humanitarian
Bob Schwartz '71, founder of Juvenile Law Center
Judy Wicks, restaurateur and local food activist
2010: Bob Herbert, columnist for The New York Times
2008: Anna Deavere Smith, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-nominated actress, playwright, and professor
2007: Ghebre Selassie Mehreteab, '72, CEO of The NHP Foundation, builder of affordable housing
Barbara Ehrenreich, columnist essayist; author,
Nickel and Dimed
2006: Koichiro Matsuura '61, Director-General of UNESCO
2005: Molly Ivins
Dave Matthews, Grammy-winning lead vocalist and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band
Juan Williams '76, Emmy Award–winning writer; radio and television correspondent; senior correspondent of National Public Radio
2004: Jane Goodall, English primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
Paul Krugman, economist and a columnist for
The New York Times
2002: Bill Cosby, actor, comedian, television producer, and activist (degree rescinded in 2016)
2001: Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist and poet; author of Things Fall Apart
2000: Madeleine L'Engle, writer best known for her children's books, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time
Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary theorist and outspoken Palestinian activist
1999:Daniel Schorr, broadcast journalist
1998: Wynton Marsalis, jazz musician
1993: Arthur Ashe, tennis player and humanitarian; winner of three Grand Slam titles
1992: Thomas L. Friedman, journalist, author, three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize
1991: Dave Barry '69, humorist
Catharine MacKinnon, feminist legal scholar
Freeman Dyson, physicist and mathematician
1989: Audre Lorde, writer, poet, and activist
1985: Elie Wiesel, Romania-born novelist, political activist, and Holocaust survivor; author of Night
1983: Paul Simon, United States Senator from Illinois
1982: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former South African politician who has held several government positions and headed the African National Congress' Women's League
1981: Rosa Parks, civil rights activist
Chambon-sur-Lignon, France, town in France that harbored thousands of Jews during the Holocaust
1980: John Royston Coleman, labor economist; author of Blue-Collar Journal; former president
1979: Tony Taylor, second baseman and coach
