List of Oregon State University alumni

This is a list of notable alumni of Oregon State University, a university in Corvallis, Oregon in the United States. The university traces its roots back to 1856 when Corvallis Academy was founded. It wasn't formally incorporated until 1858 when the name was changed to Corvallis College, and wasn't chartered until 1868. In 1890 the school became known as Oregon Agricultural College, in 1927 it was known as Oregon State Agricultural College, and the current name was adopted in 1961. Alumni from each of these eras may be included on the list, and more than 200,000 people have attended the university since its founding.[1]

Corvallis College's first graduating class was in 1870, and consisted of three people.

Science, engineering, and academics

Linus Pauling

William Oefelein

Donald Pettit

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Holly Barnard	?–2009	Professor of Geography at University of Colorado Boulder and founder of the Critical Zone Laboratory	[2]
Philip Emeagwali	1974–1977	1989 Gordon Bell Prize winner	[3]
Paul H. Emmett	1917–1922	Manhattan Project research staff member and member of the United States National Academy of Sciences	[4]
Douglas Engelbart	?–1948	Inventor of the computer mouse	[1]
Wayne L. Hubbell	?–1965	Led development of site-directed spin labeling (SDSL); member of the National Academy of Sciences	[5]
Donald M. Kerr	?–1969	Wildlife biologist and founder of the High Desert Museum	[6]
Ann Kiessling	?-1971	Reproductive biologist and leading stem cell researcher
Octave Levenspiel^‡	?–1991	Emeritus Professor of chemical engineering at Oregon State University, author of five books, and member of the National Academy of Engineering	[7]
Linus Pauling^‡	1917–1922	1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 1962 Nobel Peace Prize recipient; the only person ever to win two unshared Nobel Prizes	[1]
Glenn Odekirk	1923–1927	Hughes Aircraft Aerospace Engineer, helped design the H-4 Hercules	[8]
William Oefelein	?–1988	NASA astronaut	[9]
Donald Pettit	?–1978	NASA astronaut	[10]
J. Michael Scott	?–1973	Ornithologist (research scientist), Peace Corps volunteer	[11]
Michael Waterman	early 70s	Computational biologist; professor of biological science, mathematics, and computer science at the University of Southern California; elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1995), the National Academy of Sciences (2001) and the National Academy of Engineering (2012); elected Foreign Member of the French Academy of Sciences (2005) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2013)	[12]

Politics and diplomacy

Cecil D. Andrus

John Ensign

Douglas McKay

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Cecil D. Andrus	1952	Governor of Idaho (1971–1977, 1987–1995) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1977–1981)	[1]
Earl I. Anzai	?–1964	Attorney General of Hawaii (1999–2002)	[13]
Brad Avakian	?–1984	Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (2008– )	[14]
Rod Chandler	?–1968	U.S. Representative of Washington (1983–1993)	[15]
Charles Crookham	1941–1943	Attorney General of Oregon (1992–1993)	[16]
John Ensign	?–1981	U.S. Representative of Nevada (1995–1999); Nevada U.S. Senator (2001—2011)	[17]
John Hubert Hall	?–1923	Governor of Oregon (1947–1949); member of the Oregon House of Representatives (1936–1947)	[1]
Julia Butler Hansen	1924–1926	U.S. Representative of Washington (1960–1974)	[18]
Darlene Hooley	?–1961	U.S. Representative of Oregon (1997—2009)	[19]
Hector Macpherson, Jr.	1936-1940	Oregon State Senator (1971-1974)	[20]
Douglas McKay	?–1917	Governor of Oregon (1949–1952) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1953–1956)	[1]
Paul Peek	?–?	California Secretary of State (1940–1943); Speaker of the California State Assembly (1939)	[21]
Pou Sohtireak	?–1980s	Cambodian Minister for Industry, Mines and Energy	[22]
Norris Poulson	1923	U.S. Representative of California (1943–1945, 1947–1955); mayor of Los Angeles, California (1953–1961)	[23]
Frederick Steiwer	?–1902	Oregon U.S. Senator (1927–1937)	[24]
Lowell Stockman	?–1922	U.S. Representative of Oregon (1943–1953)	[25]
Jolene Unsoeld	1949–1951	U.S. Representative of Washington (1989–1995)	[26]
Robert M. Veatch	1868-1871	Oregon Representative (1883-1886), Senator (1887-1892), and mayor of Cottage Grove, Oregon	[27]
James K. Weatherford	1868-1872	Oregon Representative, Speaker of the House (1876), Senator, and mayor of Albany, Oregon	[28]
Mary Carlin Yates	?–1968	U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Burundi and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana	[1]
Irwandi Yusuf	1993	Governor of Indonesian province of Aceh	[29]

Business

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Thomas J. Autzen	1905–1909	Plywood manufacturing pioneer
Mercedes Alison Bates	?–1936	Former vice president of General Mills' Betty Crocker Cooking division; first female officer of General Mills	[1]
Austen S. Cargill II	?	Heir and major shareholder of Cargill, received a PhD from Oregon State University	[1]
Peggy Cherng	1969–1971	CEO of Panda Express	[30]
Randy Conrads	?–1972	Founder of Classmates.com	[31]
Jen-Hsun Huang	?–1984	Co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA	[32]
Timothy S. Leatherman	?–1970	Inventor of the Leatherman tool	[33]
Brian McMenamin	?–1980	Co-founder of the McMenamins chain	[34]
Mike McMenamin	?–1974	Co-founder of the McMenamins chain	[34]
Bernie Newcomb	?–1965	Co-founder of E*TRADE	[1]
Don Robert	?–?	CEO of Experian	[35]
Leonard Shoen	?–?	Founder of U-Haul	[36]
John A. Young	?–1953	Former president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard	[1]

Journalism and arts

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Chris Anderson	1968–1972	Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize	[1]
John Brotherton		Soap opera actor	[1]
George Bruns	?–1936	Composer	[1]
Meghna Chakrabarti	1994-1998	Journalist and radio producer; Host of the NPR program On Point
Pinto Colvig	?–1911	Voice actor; the original Bozo the Clown	[1]
Webley Edwards	?–1927	World War II news correspondent	[1]
Kevin Hagen		Actor
Christopher Howell		Poet
Harley Jessup	?–1976	1987 Best Visual Effects Oscar winner for the film Innerspace	[1]
Chris Johns	1971-1974	Current Editor-In-Chief of National Geographic magazine
Tala Madani	1999–2004	Artist, painter featured in the 2017 Whitney Biennial	[37]
George Oppen		Winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize in poetry
Mary Oppen		Poet
Meredith Phillips		Star of ABC reality television show The Bachelorette
Mike Rich		Screenwriter
Laurie Roth		Syndicated radio talk-show host
Travis Rush		Country music singer
Bert Sperling	1968-1972	Author and researcher
Roger Werth	?–1980	1980 Pulitzer Prize in photography winner	[1]

Military

Marion Eugene Carl

Anthony E. Van Dyke

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Edward C. Allworth	?–1916	Recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor	[1]
Rex T. Barber	?–1940	World War II pilot credited with killing Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto	[1]
Marion Eugene Carl	?–1938	World War II flying ace; record-setting test pilot; United States Marine Corps (USMC) Major General	[1]
John Noble Holcomb	1967	Recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor	[1]
Anthony E. Van Dyke	?–1978	USMC Colonel and current commander of Marine forces at Henderson Hall	[38]

Olympians and historic endeavorers

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Stacy Allison	?–1984	First American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest	[1]
Dick Fosbury	?–1972	Inventor of Fosbury Flop who won gold medal in 1968 Summer Olympics
Joseph Hansen	1999–2001^†	2004 Summer Olympics gold medalist in the men's eight with coxswain rowing event	[39]
Josh Inman	1998–2003	2008 Summer Olympics bronze medalist in the men's eight with coxswain rowing event	[40]
Amy Martin	?	2000 Summer Olympics competitor in the women's eight with coxswain rowing event
Keith Monohan	?–?	Ultimate Players Association's 1996 Callahan Award winner	[41]
Gary Payton	1986–1990^†	2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist as a member of the United States men's national basketball team	[1][42][43]
Selina Scoble	?-?	2000 Summer Olympics participant for the USA women's volleyball team
Willi Unsoeld	?–1951	Led the first United States climbing expedition to the summit of Mount Everest	[1]
Robert Zagunis	?-?	1976 Summer Olympics participant in men's rowing

Athletics and sport

See List of Oregon State University athletes.

Other

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Bobby Henderson	?–2003	Creator of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism	[44]
Katharine Jefferts Schori	?–1983	Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and oceanographer	[45]
Jodi Ann Paterson	?–1998	2000 Playboy Playmate of the Year	[46]
Katherine Ann Power	?—2001	Anti-war activist, convicted of armed robbery and manslaughter (participating as a getaway driver), 14 years on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list	[47]
Sara Jean Underwood	2002–2007	July 2006 Playboy Playmate of the Month and 2007 Playmate of the Year	[48]

Legend

^†		Only represents years of which individual was a letterman for one of the university's athletic teams; may have attended additional years
^‡		Individual is both an Oregon State University alumni and a current or former faculty member

See also

• List of Oregon State University athletes
• List of Oregon State University faculty and staff
• List of people from Oregon

Notes and references

1. Edmonston Jr., George. "OSU's Famous Alumni". Oregon State University Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
2. "Fall 2005 Newsletter, Graduate School, Oregon State University". oregonstate.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
3. "Philip Emeagwali". The Black Inventor Online Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
4. "Paul H. Emmet". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
5. "Wayne L. Hubbell Summary". UCLA. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
6. "Welcome". High Desert Museum. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
7. "Octave Levenspiel". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2013-05-04. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
8. Glenn Odekirk
9. "Astronaut Bio: William A. Oefelein (1/2006)". NASA. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
10. "Astronaut Bio: Don Pettit (1/2006)". NASA. Archived from the original on 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
11. "Senior scientist: Michael Scott". U.S. Geological Survey, University of Idaho. Archived from the original on 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
12. "Michael Waterman". Retrieved 2015-04-25.
13. "Earl I. Anzai - a Honolulu, Hawaii (HI) Lawyer". FindLaw. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
14. "Oregon Blue Book". Oregon State Archives. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
15. "Alumni Fellows Recipient Biographies". Oregon State University Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
16. Crookham, Berkeley (December 2004). "Living History: Charles S. Crookham (1923-2004)". Oregon State Bar Bulletin. Oregon State Bar Association. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
17. "ENSIGN, John Eric - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
18. "HANSEN, Julia Butler - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
19. "HOOLEY, Darlene - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-11-11.
20. "Hector Macpherson, Jr. -- A Service of Remembrance, April 9, 2015." Shedd, OR: Oakville Presbyterian Church, 2015, pg. 4.
21. "Paul Peek (June 5, 1904 - April 7, 1987)". courtinfo.ca.gov. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
22. Pou Sohtireak
23. "POULSON, C. Norris - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
24. "STEIWER, Frederick - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
25. "STOCKMAN, Lowell - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
26. "UNSOELD, Jolene - Biographical Information". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
27. "Robert M. Veatch," in History of Oregon: Volume II. Chicago, IL: Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, 1922; pp. 234-237.
28. "Hon. James K. Weatherford," in History of Oregon: Illustrated: Volume II. Chicago: Pioneer Historical Publishing Co., 1922; pg. 154.
29. "Visit from Governor Irwandi". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
30. "Panda Express' billionaire CEO dishes up a stir-fry empire". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
31. "Classmates.com founder gives to OSU". Retrieved 2007-12-09.
32. "Jen-Hsun Huang". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2006-08-30. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
33. "Timothy S. Leatherman". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2007-01-26. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
34. "The Brews Brothers". Oregon State University Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
35. "Donald A. Robert". NNDB. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
36. "Leonard S. Shoen". Harvard Business School. Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
37. "Tala Madani Public Lecture". Oregon State University. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
38. "Commanding Officer Of HQBN, HQMC". United States Marine Corps. Archived from the original on 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
39. "2006 Men's Rowing Media Guide - Results and History" (PDF). OSUBeavers.com. p. 7. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
40. "Inman, U.S. Crew Win Bronze". osubeavers.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
41. "Past Callahan Award Winners". callahan-mvp.com. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
42. "Beavers in the Pros" (PDF). Oregon State University. p. 6. Retrieved 2006-11-10.
43. Edmonston Jr., George. "Oregon State: Meet the Olympians". Oregon State University Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
44. "Corvallis man's parody is Internet 'monster'". The Register-Guard. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
45. "OSU Alum to Head U.S. Episcopal Church". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
46. "Oregon Stater Class News". Oregon State University Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
47. "Highlights from the 2000-2001 Annual Report of the OSU Department of Philosophy". oregonstate.edu. Archived from the original on September 20, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
48. "NORM: Oops, Britney's doing it again". reviewjournal.com. Retrieved 2007-03-28.