List of Barnard College people

The following is a list of notable individuals associated with Barnard College through attendance as a student, service as a member of the faculty or staff, or award of the Barnard Medal of Distinction.

Notable alumnae[]

Academics and scientists[]

• Anne Anastasi (1928), American psychologist known for her pioneering development of psychometrics, former president of American Psychological Association, recipient of the National Medal of Science
• Natalie Angier (1978), author, science journalist for The New York Times, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting
• Nina Ansary (1989), historian, author, one of the six UN Women Champions for Innovation, daughter of Iranian diplomat and philanthropist Hushang Ansary
• Jacqueline Barton (1974), Caltech chemist and MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant" winner
• Jean Baum (1980), Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University
• Helen M. Berman (1964), Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University
• Joan Birman (1948), mathematician and winner of the Chauvenet Prize
• Hazel Bishop (1929), chemist and inventor of innovative cosmetics
• Hendrika B. Cantwell (1944), clinical professor of pediatrics, advocate for abused and neglected children
• Marian Chertow (1977), academic specializing in environmental resource management
• Frances Gardiner Davenport (1890–1), historian^[1]
• Stacey D'Erasmo (1983), American author and critic, professor at Fordham University
• Ingrith Johnson Deyrup-Olsen (1940), American zoologist, daughter of The New School founder and first president Alvin Saunders Johnson
• Mabel Smith Douglass (1899), educator and namesake of Douglass Residential College of Rutgers University
• Carol Dweck (1967), professor of psychology at Stanford University
• Pam Eddinger (1982), president of Bunker Hill Community College
• Jessica Einhorn (1967), former dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
• Firth Haring Fabend (1959), novelist and historian
• Jessica Garretson Finch (1893), author, suffragette, founding President of Finch College
• Katherine Elizabeth Fleming (1987), provost of New York University
• 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
• Karen Goldberg (1983), Vagelos Professor of Energy Research at University of Pennsylvania^[2]
• Nieca Goldberg (1979), doctor at the NYU Langone Medical Center
• Rebecca Goldstein (1972), philosopher, biographer, and novelist
• Monica Green (1978), medieval historian and Professor of History at Arizona State University^[3]
• 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
• Miriam Griffin (1950s), classical scholar at Somerville College, Oxford
• Evelyn Byrd Harrison (1941), classical scholar, archaeologist, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Louise Holland (1893–1990), academic, philologist and archaeologist
• Judith Herzfeld (1967), Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at Brandeis University
• Evelyn Hu (1969), Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at Harvard University
• Jean Blackwell Hutson (1969), librarian, archivist, chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
• Karla Jay (1968), pioneer of lesbian and gay studies
• Linda K. Kerber (1960), feminist intellectual historian, professor at University of Iowa
• Mirra Komarovsky (1926), sociologist; pioneer in the sociology of gender
• Mabel Lang (1939), archeologist and professor at Bryn Mawr College
• Linda Laubenstein, MD (1969), HIV/AIDS researcher
• Sylvia Lavin (1982), professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture
• Janna Levin (1988), cosmologist and Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College
• Susan Mailer (1971), American psychoanalyst, writer, and academic, daughter of novelist Norman Mailer
• Joyce Lee Malcolm (1963), professor at Antonin Scalia Law School
• 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 Boston Globe
• Margaret Mead (1923), anthropologist
• Barbara Stoler Miller (1962), scholar of Sanskrit literature known for the translation of the Bhagavad Gita
• Nancy K. Miller (1961), American literary scholar, feminist theorist and memoirist, professor at Graduate Center, CUNY
• Gertrude Neumark (1948), American physicist and former professor of Columbia University
• Aihwa Ong (1974), American anthropologist and professor at University of California, Berkeley and 2001 MacArthur Fellow
• Elsie Clews Parsons (1896), first woman elected President of the American Anthropological Association
• Esther Pasztory (1965), scholar of Pre-Columbian Art at Columbia University
• 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^[4]
• Amy Richards (1992), American historian and feminist activist
• Ida Rolf (1916), biochemist, founder of Rolfing Structural Integration
• Barbara Rose (1957), art historian and founding director of the Katzen Arts Center at American University, first wife of artist Frank Stella
• Ora Mendelsohn Rosen (1956), cell biology researcher
• Louise Rosenblatt (1920s), influential literary theorist and educator
• Myriam Sarachik (1954), American physicist, professor at the City College of New York and recipient of the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize in 2005
• Anna Schwartz (1933), economist
• Shuly Rubin Schwartz (1988), first female chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
• Vivian Sobchack (1961), cultural critic
• Maya Soetoro-Ng (1993), educator; half-sister of President Barack Obama
• Judith E. Stein (1965), art historian and curator
• Barbara Lerner Spectre (1964), academic and scholar on Jewish studies
• Amy Sueyoshi (1993), historian and academic
• Hessy Levinsons Taft (1955), chemistry professor at St. John's University
• Abigail Thernstrom (1958), American political scientist and conservative scholar on race relations, voting rights and education who served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights
• Judith Jarvis Thomson (1950), philosopher and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Merryl Tisch (1977), educator, Chancellor, New York State Board of Regents; wife of James S. Tisch, heir to the Loews Corporation
• Diane E. Pataki (1993), professor at the University of Utah and recipient of the James B. Macelwane Medal in 2008
• Lila Wallis (1947), physician, former president of the American Medical Women's Association and pioneer in women's health
• Beatrice Warde (1920s), calligrapher, librarian, researcher on type matters and influence upon 20th century typography^[5]
• Katherine Brehme Warren (1930), geneticist and scientific editor
• Susan Weber (1977), professor of Bard Graduate Center and wife of George Soros
• Helen L. Webster (1853-1928), philologist and educator
• Judith Weisenfeld (1986), scholar of Afro-American religion
• Karen Wilkin (1962), art critic and curator
• Irene J. Winter (1960), American art historian

Actresses and performers[]

• Sissy Biggers (1979), host of Ready.. Set... Cook! 1996–2000
• Franziska Boas (1923), dancer, percussionist and dance therapist
• Clara Bryant (2007), actress
• Catherine de Castelbajac (1975), model and fashion journalist
• Michelle Collins (2002), American comedian and talk show host, former presenter of The View
• Jill Eikenberry (1968), actress
• Denise Faye (1996), director, choreographer, actress
• Greta Gerwig (2006), actress, screenwriter, filmmaker who won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in 2018 and was nominated for two Academy Awards
• Jaime Gleicher (2010), reality star, producer, psychotherapist.
• 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
• Anshula Kapoor (2012), daughter of Indian film producer Boney Kapoor and member of the Kapoor family in Hindi cinema
• Shari Lewis (dropped out – 1950s), ventriloquist, puppeteer, television show host
• Mozhan Marnò (2001), actress, House of Cards
• Peggy McCay (1949), actress
• Kelly McCreary (2003), actress, Grey's Anatomy
• 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 (2009), actress, voice of Kim Possible
• Frankie Shaw (2007), actress on Mr. Robot
• Vinessa Shaw (dropped out – 1990s), actress, 40 Days and 40 Nights
• Ebonie Smith (2007), actress, The Jeffersons
• Sasha Soreff (1994), choreographer
• Leslie Stefanson (1993), actress, The General's Daughter
• 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), Emmy Award-winning actress, Father Knows Best

Architects[]

• Norma Merrick Sklarek (1950), first black woman to be licensed as an architect in the United States
• Carole Rifkind (1956), American architectural critic, historian, and author, wife of cancer researcher Richard Rifkind

Artists[]

• Afruz Amighi (born 1974), Iranian-born American sculptor, installation artist; MFA in 2007.^[6]
• March Avery (1954), American painter, daughter of artist Milton Avery
• Sana Amanat (2005), comic book creator and director at Marvel Comics, creator of Marvel's first Muslim female superheroMs. Marvel
• Polly Barton (1978), textile artist
• Sarah Charlesworth (1969), photographer and conceptual artist and professor at Princeton University
• Madeline Hollander (2008), American artist and choreographer
• Clermont Huger Lee (1936), landscape architect, Savannah Women of Vision
• Michelle Lopez (1992), American sculptor and installation artist and 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient
• Maud Morgan (1926), modern artist
• Josephine Paddock (1949), painter
• Jane Teller (1933), sculptor and recipient of the 1988 Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award
• Mierle Laderman Ukeles (1961), performance artist, winner of the 2001 Anonymous Was A Woman Award
• Donna Zakowska (1975), Emmy Award-winning American costume designer for her work on John Adams

Athletes[]

• Stacey Borgman (1993), member of crew team for the United States at the 2004 Olympics^[7]
• Gloria Callen (1946), swimmer and Associated Press Athlete of the Year of 1942
• Abby Marshall (2014), chess player; won 2009 Denker Tournament of High School Champions
• Alexis Sablone (2008), American skateboarder and architect
• 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[]

• Flora Miller Biddle (attended), former president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, granddaughter of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
• Eileen Ford (1943), co-founder of Ford Models, one of the world's oldest and most influential modeling agencies
• Phyllis E. Grann (1958), first female CEO of Penguin Putnam and editor of Knopf Doubleday
• Elinor Guggenheimer (1933), civic leader, philanthropist
• Alexandra Creel Goelet (1974), heiress, niece of Robert David Lion Gardiner, wife of Robert Guestier Goelet and owner of Gardiners Island
• Nina Griscom (1977), model, television host, socialite, businesswoman, stepdaughter of Felix Rohatyn
• Mary Harriman Rumsey (1905), founder of nonprofit organization Junior League, daughter of railroad magnate E. H. Harriman and sister to New York Governor W. Averell Harriman
• Anjli Jain (2003), executive director of CampusEAI Consortium
• Madeline Kripke (1943–2020), book collector
• Harriet Burton Laidlaw (1902), suffragist and first female corporate director of Standard & Poor's
• Adele Lewisohn Lehman (1903), philanthropist and member of the Lehman family, daughter-in-law of Mayer Lehman
• Liz Neumark (1977), founder and CEO of New York catering company Great Performances^[8]
• Sheila Nevins (1960), president of HBO documentary films; winner of 27 Primetime Emmy Awards and 3 Peabody Awards
• Joan Whitney Payson (1925), co-founder and majority of owner of the New York Mets,^[9] granddaughter of United States Secretary of State John Hay and member of the Whitney family
• Azita Raji (1983), investment banker, United States Ambassador to Sweden
• Helen Rogers Reid (1903), newspaper publisher, president of the New York Herald Tribune
• Phyllis Robinson (1942), executive at Doyle Dane Bernbach
• Devorah Rose (2002), socialite, entrepreneur and editor of Social Life magazine
• Alexis Stewart (1987), daughter of Martha Stewart '64; TV host and radio personality
• Martha Stewart (1964), business magnate, entrepreneur, homemaking advocate
• Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger (1914), heiress, and owner of The New York Times, daughter of The New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs
• Elizabeth Wiatt (1967), businesswoman in the fashion industry

Journalists[]

• Natalie Angier (1978), author and science writer for The New York Times; won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting in 1991
• Carol Massar, journalist for Bloomberg radio and TV since 1999
• 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
• Katherine Boo (1988), recipient of Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2000 and the MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant"
• Mona Charen (1979), 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), 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
• Rana Foroohar (1992), columnist for Financial Times
• Alexis Gelber (1974), former president of the Overseas Press Club
• Julianna Goldman (2003), CBS News correspondent
• Piri Halasz, correspondent for 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
• Minna Lewinson (1918), journalist for The New York Times, first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize
• Juliet Macur (1992), sports journalist for The New York Times
• Courtney E. Martin (2002), feminist author and editor of the feminist blog Feministing
• Agnes E. Meyer (1907), American journalist, philanthropist, civil rights activist, and art patron, mother of The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham
• 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^[10]
• 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
• Paola Ramos (2009), American journalist, daughter of TV anchor Jorge Ramos
• 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, former host of All Things Considered and the first woman in the United States to anchor a national nightly news program
• Mary V. R. Thayer (1926), socialite, journalist, and author^[11]
• Jeannette Walls (1984), gossip columnist for MSNBC; author of The Glass Castle
• Sharon Waxman (born c.1963), journalist
• Lis Wiehl (1983), legal analyst for Fox News
• Ellen Willis (1960s), essayist and pop music critic
• Julie Zeilinger (2015), feminist writer and editor

Musicians, singers, and composers[]

• Laurie Anderson (1969), musician, NASA's first artist-in-residence and pioneer in electronic music, famous for her single "O Superman"
• Sadie Dupuis (2011), vocalist for Speedy Ortiz
• Dorothy Papadakos (1982), concert organist, playwright, and author
• 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 of But I'm a Cheerleader and Itty Bitty Titty Committee, and television shows including Gilmore Girls, Alias, and Ugly Betty
• June Bingham Birge (1940), author, playwright, great-granddaughter of Mayer Lehman
• Petra Costa (2006), Academy Award-nominated director, The Edge of Democracy, heiress to the Andrade Gutierrez fortune
• 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
• Greta Gerwig (2006), actor, screenwriter, and Academy Award-nominated director, Lady Bird, Little Women
• Stephanie Gillis (1990), writer, and Peabody Award-winning writer, (2020), “The Simpsons”; WGA Award-winning writer (2019); “The Simpsons”, Emmy Award-nominated writer, “The Simpsons” (2010, 2015)
• Maria Semple (1986), screenwriter, Arrested Development, Mad About You
• Bettina Gilois (1985), screenwriter, Bessie, McFarland, USA
• Gina Gionfriddo (1991), Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright
• Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal (1966), Golden Globe Award-winning screenwriter; mother of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal
• Kait Kerrigan (2003), playwright
• Bonnie Sherr Klein (1961), filmmaker and activist
• Annie Leonard (1986), activist and director, The Story of Stuff
• Ntozake Shange (1970), Obie Award-winning playwright, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
• Veena Sud (1989), director of Seven Seconds
• Amy Talkington (1993), Emmy Award-nominated screenwriter, producer, writer
• Linda Yellen (1969), Emmy Award-winning director, Northern Lights ; producer, Playing for Time

Political, social and judicial figures[]

• Sheila Abdus-Salaam (1974), judge of the New York Court of Appeals
• Ann Aldrich (1948), judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
• Elizabeth Moore Aubin (1987), nominee to serve as the United States Ambassador to Algeria
• Caroline Lexow Babcock (1904), co-founder of the Women's Peace Union and former secretary of the National Woman's Party
• Grace Lee Boggs (1935), author and political activist
• Margot Botsford (1969), associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
• Janet Lee Bouvier (1929), American socialite and mother of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• 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
• Nora Hsiung Chu (1926), Chinese educator who served on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
• Ellie Cohanim (1995), broadcast journalist and Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
• Sharon L. Cromer (1980), nominee to serve as United States Ambassador to the Gambia
• Mindy Domb (1981), representative of the Massachusetts House of Representatives' 3rd Hampshire district
• Ronnie Eldridge (1952), activist, businesswoman, politician, and television host
• Chai Feldblum (1979), commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Lila Fenwick (1953), first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School and former United Nations official
• 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
• Diane Gujarati (1990), American lawyer, judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• Cheryl Halpern (1975), 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
• Marian Blank Horn (1965), judge on the United States Court of Federal Claims
• Jessie Wallace Hughan (1898, Phi Beta Kappa), United States Senate candidate, author, teacher, founder of Alpha Omicron Pi fraternity^[12]
• 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
• Christina Kishimoto (1992), current superintendent of the Hawai'i Department of Education
• Jeane Kirkpatrick (1948), first woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
• Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (1916), Chinese advocate for women's suffrage in the United States and the first woman to receive a PhD from Columbia University
• Wilma B. Liebman (1971), Chair, National Labor Relations Board
• Catherine McCabe (1973), acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in 2017 and commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
• Loretta J. Mester (1980), 11th president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
• Hope Portocarrero (1950), first lady of Nicaragua, the wife of Anastasio Somoza Debayle
• Stephanie Garcia Richard (1996), former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives and current New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands
• Paula Reimers (1969), Rabbi, political activist for Palestinian rights, gender equity, and religious freedom
• Rosalyn Richter (1976), associate justice of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Judicial Department
• Rhea Suh (1992), Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior and former president of the Natural Resources Defense Council
• Nina Shaw (1976), talent attorney whose clients include Jamie Foxx and Nick Cannon
• Shirley Adelson Siegel (1937), housing activist and advocate
• Madeline Singas (1988), district attorney for Nassau County, New York
• Jessica Stern (1985), policy consultant on terrorism who served on the United States National Security Council under Bill Clinton
• Audrey Strauss (1968), acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York replacing Geoffrey Berman
• 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
• Gloria Tristani (1974), former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, granddaughter of Senator Dennis Chávez
• Polly Trottenberg (1986), United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation and former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation
• Anne Warburton (1946), first female British Ambassador, British Ambassador to Denmark from 1976 to 1983, and British Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva from 1983 to 1985; president of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge University from 1985 to 1994
• Barbara M. Watson (1943), first woman to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State, United States Ambassador to Malaysia
• 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
• Mae Yih (1951), member of the Oregon House of Representatives and Oregon State Senate, first Chinese American to serve in a state senate in the United States

Religious figures[]

• Sara Hurwitz (1999), first woman to serve as a Rabba in the Orthodox Jewish clergy
• Sharon Kleinbaum (1981), rabbi and leader of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah

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
• Virginia Hall (1927), American spy with the Special Operations Executive during WWII.
• Juliet Stuart Poyntz (1907), involved in intelligence activities for the Soviet OGPU; founding member of the Communist Party USA
• Patricia Warner (1949), American spy and Congressional Gold Medal recipient
• 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
• Susan Mary Alsop (attended), Washingtonian socialite and writer
• Mary Antin (1902), author of the immigrant experience
• Charlotte Armstrong (1925), writer
• Lura Beam (1908), writer and educator
• Maria Semple (1986), writer, Where'd You Go, Bernadette
• Jami Bernard (1978), writer and film critic
• Fatima Bhutto (2004), Pakistani poet and writer, granddaughter of Pakistani president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and member of the Bhutto family
• 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
• Melissa Clark (1990), American cookbook author and 2018 James Beard Foundation Award recipient
• 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
• Lydia Davis (1970), short story writer, essayist, winner of the International Booker Prize
• Thulani Davis (1970), novelist who won the Grammy Award in 1992
• Tory Dent (1981), poet and HIV/AIDS activist
• Babette Deutsch (1917), author, poet, translator and critic
• Marjorie Housepian Dobkin (1944), author; Barnard College professor and dean
• Avni Doshi (2005), writer who is shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize
• 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 and professor of English at Barnard College
• Alexis Pauline Gumbs (2004), American writer, poet, activist
• Indrani Aikath Gyaltsen (1970s), writer
• Monique Raphel High (1969), novelist
• Patricia Highsmith (1940), author of The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Price of Salt
• Anne Hollander (1952), historian of fashion
• Nansook Hong (1991), American writer, daughter-in-law of Unification church founder Sun Myung Moon
• Helen Hoyt (1900s), poet
• Zora Neale Hurston (1928), Harlem Renaissance writer
• Elizabeth Janeway (1935), author and critic
• Joyce Johnson (1955), writer, Minor Characters
• June Jordan (1957), writer and activist
• Erica Jong (1963), writer
• Alexa Junge (1984), writer for The West Wing and Friends
• Loolwa Khazzoom (1991), Iraqi Jewish-American writer, journalist, and activist
• Jolie Kerr (1998), American writer and podcast host on Heritage Radio Network
• Suki Kim (1992), Guggenheim fellow; author of the award-winning novel The Interpreter and the New York Times bestselling literary nonfiction book, Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite
• Joan Kahn (late 1930s), mystery editor and anthologist; also novelist and children's writer
• Mary Beth Keane (1999), American writer and 2015 Guggenheim fellow
• Lily Koppel (2003), author of The Red Leather Diary and The Astronaut Wives Club; writer for the New York Times
• Jhumpa Lahiri (1989), Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies
• Jane Leavy (1974), sports biographer
• Kyle Lukoff (2006), transgender children's book author; Storytelling of Ravens and When Aidan Became a Brother
• Faith McNulty (1920s, attended one year), writer
• Daphne Merkin (1975), literary critic, essayist, and novelist, daughter of philanthropist Hermann Merkin
• Alice Duer Miller (1899), writer and advisory editor of The New Yorker
• Ottessa Moshfegh (2002), 2016 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winner for Eileen
• Diana Muir (1975), writer and historian
• Alana Newhouse (1997), writer and editor of Tablet Magazine
• Alice Notley (1967), poet
• Sigrid Nunez (1972), novelist, Whiting Awards and the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction recipient
• 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
• Julia Phillips (2010), American author, Disappearing Earth and finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction
• Belva Plain (1939), writer^[13]
• Jenelle Porter (1994), art curator and author
• Ariana Reines (2002), poet
• Kristen Roupenian (2003), writer, Cat Person, You Know You Want This
• Lynne Sharon Schwartz (1959), writer
• Courtney Sheinmel (1999), author of children's books
• 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
• Eileen Tabios (1982), poet
• Lauren Tarshis (1985), writer, and director at Scholastic Corporation
• Camilla Trinchieri (1963), writer
• Joan Vollmer (1943), Beat poet, partner of William S. Burroughs
• Cecily Wong (2010), writer
• Julie Zeilinger (2015), blogger and feminist writer

Miscellaneous[]

• Madeline Kripke (1965), book collector who held one of the world's largest collections of dictionaries, daughter of Jewish philanthropist and rabbi Myer S. Kripke
• Grace Banker (1915), telephone operator who served in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I and led the Hello Girls, for which she received the Distinguished Service Medal

Fictional alumnae[]

• In the 1988 Woody Allen film Another Woman, Gena Rowland's character is a philosophy professor at Barnard.^[14]
• In the 1992 Woody Allen film Husbands and Wives, Juliette Lewis' character, Rain, is a Barnard student.^[15]
• In the 2005 Sigrid Nunez novel The Last of Her Kind, heroines Georgette George and Ann Drayton meet in 1968 as freshman roommates at Barnard.^[16]
• In the 2007 Noah Baumbach film Margot at the Wedding, Nicole Kidman's character, a novelist, is a Barnard graduate.^[17]
• In the television series Mad Men, the character Rachel Menken is a Barnard graduate.^[18]
• In the 2015 film Mistress America, the lead character Tracy Fishko is a freshman at Barnard.^[19]
• In season 4 of the television series BoJack Horseman, it is mentioned that the title character's mother, Beatrice, attended Barnard.^[20]

• In the 2018 Mira T. Lee novel Everything Here is Beautiful, the narrator talks about going to Barnard and reuniting there with one of her childhood friends from Tennessee.^[21]
• In the 2018 Paul Feig film A Simple Favor, Anna Kendrick's character, Stephanie Smothers, was an English major at Barnard and did her thesis on The Canterbury Tales.^[22]

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
• Tina Campt, Africana and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Demetrios James Caraley, Editor of the Political Science Quarterly; President of the Academy of Political Science
• Elizabeth Castelli, Professor Of Religion
• John Cheever (1956–1957), Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and short story writer
• Yvette Christianse, poet, librettist
• Dennis Dalton (1969–2008), political scientist; renowned nonviolence proponent; scholar of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi^[23]
• Rosalyn Deutsche, art historian, author, and art critic
• Marjorie Housepian Dobkin, author
• Patricia Louise Dudley (1929–2004), zoologist
• Mortimer Lamson Earle, classicist
• Theodor Gaster, author; religion scholar; translator
• Harry Gideonse (1901–1985), President of Brooklyn College, and Chancellor of the New School for Social Research
• Virginia Gildersleeve
• Mary Gordon, writer
• Elizabeth Hardwick, writer; co-founder of The New York Review of Books; wife of Robert Lowell^[24]
• Ken Hechler, U.S. Congressman from West Virginia
• Janet Jakobsen, religion and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Rebecca Jordan-Young, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, author of Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences
• Charles Knapp, PhD, 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
• Ashley Tuttle, former principal dancer at ABT; Tony-nominated actress
• Elie Wiesel (1997–1999), Nobel Peace Prize–winning writer and activist

Recipients of the Medal of Distinction[]

The Barnard Medal of Distinction is the College's highest honor.^[25]

1977

• Joan Mondale

1978

• Richard Rodgers
• Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger '14

1979

• Adelyn Dohme Breeskin
• Helen Gahagan Douglas '24
• Eleanor Thomas Elliott '48
• Toni Morrison
• Francis T. P. Plimpton

1980

• Dorothy Height
• Julius S. Held
• Mary Dublin Keyserling '3
• Margaret Mahler
• Alan Pifer
• '25

1981

• 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^[26]
• Anna Hill Johnstone '34

1985

• Marian Wright Edelman
• Sidney Dillon Ripley
• Elizabeth Man Sarcka '17^[27]

1986

• A. Bartlett Giamatti
• Frances Lehman Loeb^[28]
• Helen M. Ranney '41^[4]

1987

• Judith Kaye '58
• Sally Falk Moore '43
• Ellen Stewart

1988

• Augusta Souza Kappner '66
• Ntozake Shange '70
• Maxine Singer

1989

• Eugene Lang
• Bernice Segal (posthumous)^[29]

1990

• Jacqueline Barton '74
• Robert L. Bernstein
• Jean Blackwell Hutson '35
• Julie V. Marsteller '69^[30]

1991

• Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum '50
• Tisa Chang '63
• Mamphele Ramphele, delivered the 2002 Commencement address

1992

• Ingrith Johnson Deyrup-Olsen '40^[31]
• Fred W. Friendly
• Millicent Carey McIntosh
• Frank Stella

1993

• Arthur Ashe (posthumous)
• '41
• Helene Lois Kaplan '53
• Bette Bao Lord
• Cyrus Vance

1994

• Walter Cronkite
• Ellen V. Futter '71
• Barbara Stoler Miller '62 (posthumous)^[32]
• 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^[33]
• 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^[34]
• 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^[35]
• Kay Murray^[36]
• 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
• Elizabeth Diller, architect and designer of the High Line
• Lena Dunham, creator, director, writer and star of the HBO series Girls

2014^[37]

• 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, musician, poet, and artist

2015^[38]

• Samantha Power, academic and journalist
• Simi Linton, expert on disability and the arts^[39]
• Nadia Lopez, principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy
• Diana Nyad, long-distance swimmer and author

2016

• Anne-Marie Slaughter
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Simone Campbell
• Shafi Goldwasser

2017

• Joanne Liu
• Johnnetta Cole
• Diane von Furstenberg
• Zainab Salbi

2018

• Abby Wambach
• Katherine Johnson
• Anna Quindlen ’74
• Rhea Suh ’92

2019

• Viola Davis
• Sana Amanat ’04
• Cherríe Moraga
• Shirley Adelson Siegel ’37

References[]

External links[]

• Past Speakers and Medalists