List of West Virginia University alumni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list of West Virginia University alumni includes notable people from published sources that previously attended West Virginia University.

Arts and entertainment[]

Don Knotts, five-time Emmy Award-winning American actor best known for his role as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show
  • Michael Ammar – world renowned magician; WVU Distinguished Alumni Award winner 2003
  • Emily Calandrelli – Israeli-Canadian science communicator, host and producer for Hebrew language programs on eOne TV and children’s STEM science programming block Xploration Station
  • Paul Dooley – actor, writer, comedian
  • Conchata Ferrell – actress; known for playing Berta the housekeeper on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men
  • Antoine Fuqua – director of Training Day, Shooter, Replacement Killers; attended, but did not graduate
  • Cheryl Hines – actress, Curb Your Enthusiasm; attended but did not graduate
  • Mike Hodge (B.A. in journalism, minor in theater) – actor and actors' labor union executive; former President of SAG-AFTRA New York local[1]
  • Taylor Kinney – actor; portrays Lt. Kelly Severide in NBC's drama Chicago Fire; stars in The Other Woman
  • Don Knotts – television and movie actor
  • Billy Mays – television advertiser featured on Discovery Channel's PitchMen and known for promoting several as seen on TV products; attended but did not graduate; died in 2009[2]
  • Kathleen Noone – portrays Edna Wallace on the NBC soap opera Passions; known to have attended[3]
  • Ben Reed – actor; played quarterback for the West Virginia University football team
  • John A. Russo – screenwriter and film director; co-wrote Night of the Living Dead[4]
  • Chris Sarandon – television and movie actor, voice of Jack Skellington
  • David Selby – Actor
  • Kim Webster – American Actress. Most notably, she played Ginger on the NBC Show "The West Wing"[5][circular reference]

Athletics[]

Joe Alexander
Da'Sean Butler
Tarik Phillip

Authors[]

Business[]

  • Heather Bresch – CEO of Mylan, Inc.
  • John Chambers – President and CEO of Cisco Systems
  • Karen S. Evans – de facto CIO of the United States under President George W. Bush[14]
  • Maggie Hardy Magerko – President of 84 Lumber Company and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort (attended for two years but did not graduate)[15]

Education[]

Journalists[]

Military[]

Bantz J. Craddock, former US European Command (USEUCOM), NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and commanding officer of Allied Command Operations (ACO)

Music[]

  • Velvet Brown – tuba soloist, music educator
  • Jay Chattaway – Star Trek music score writer
  • Fuzzy Knight – writer of the WVU Fight Song and country-western actor
  • Kathy Mattea – country music singer
  • James Valenti – tenor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York
  • Little Jimmy Dickens – country music singer
  • Scott Krippayne - the singer and composer of the paw patrol theme song

Politics[]

  • Victor A. Arredondo – former Minister of Education at the State of Veracruz, Mexico, 2004-2010
  • Carl George Bachmann – United States Congressman, Republican Minority Whip 1931–1933
  • Clark S. Barnes – West Virginia Senate, District 15, 2004–present
  • Corey Lee Palumbo – West Virginia Senate, District 17, 2009-present and West Virginia House of Representatives 2003-2009
  • William Wallace Barron – 26th Governor of West Virginia
  • Irene Berger – United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia
  • Frank L. Bowman – politician who represented West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives
  • Virginia Mae Brown – first woman to head the Interstate Commerce Commission
  • Becky Cain – past president of the League of Women Voters
  • William G. Conley – 18th Governor of West Virginia
  • William Harrison Courtney – special assistant to President Clinton
  • Joseph M. Devine – Governor of North Dakota from 1898 to 1899[18]
  • David Ginsburg (1912–2010) – presidential adviser and executive director of the Kerner Commission[19]
  • William E. Glasscock – 13th Governor of West Virginia
  • Howard Mason Gore – 17th Governor of West Virginia
  • Kathleen M. Hawk – Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
  • Robert Lynn Hogg – represented West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, 1930–1933
  • Brad Hoylman – sitting New York State Senator representing the 27th District which includes Midtown, Times Square, and Greenwich Village of lower Manhattan
  • Nancy Jacobs – Maryland State Senator (1973)
  • Sen. Harley M. Kilgore – chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization during World War II
  • Tim Mahoney – United States Congressman from Florida
  • Joe Manchin – 34th Governor of West Virginia; United States Senator from West Virginia
  • William C. Marland – 24th Governor of West Virginia
  • Edward F. McClain – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
  • Darrell McGraw – former West Virginia Attorney General, former Chief Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court
  • Carlos Eduardo Mendoza – United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida
  • M. Blane Michael – Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • Alan Mollohan – United States Congressman
  • Arch A. Moore, Jr. – 28th and 30th Governor of West Virginia
  • Ephraim F. Morgan – 16th Governor of West Virginia
  • Matthew M. Neely – 22nd Governor of West Virginia
  • Asra Nomani – former Wall Street Journal reporter, author and Islamic reform and feminism activist
  • Mike Pantelides – Mayor of Annapolis, Maryland
  • Tom Pridemore – West Virginia House of Delegates and football player
  • Jeff Pyle – Pennsylvania State Representative
  • Stuart F. Reed – politician who represented West Virginia in the United States House of Representatives
  • Nelson Stamler – New Jersey State Senator, Assemblyman, Judge, and Prosecutor
  • Virginia Starcher – member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, 1986–1990
  • Paul S. Stull – member of the Maryland House of Delegates
  • John G. Trueschler – former member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1979)
  • Cecil H. Underwood – youngest (25th) and oldest (32nd) Governor of West Virginia

Royalty[]

Science[]

  • Ann Bartuska – ecologist and biologist, Senior advisor at Resources for the Future and former Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at United States Department of Agriculture
  • James M. Bobbitt - chemist and professor at the University of Connecticut
  • Frances Harshbarger (1902–1987) – mathematician
  • Katherine Johnson – mathematician, NASA computer scientist, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
  • Robert Kerns – psychologist
  • Jon McBride – NASA astronaut
  • Kim Weaver – astrophysicist
  • Emily Calandrelli - science communication- Host, Emily’s Wonder Lab, guest host, Bill Nye Saves the World (Netflix); Host and Executive Producer, Xploration Outer Space (Fox); author, Ada Lace children’s books introducing science

Other notable alumni[]

  • Cynthia Germanotta – philanthropist, co-founder of Born This Way; also, Lady Gaga’s mother.
  • Melanne Pennington – 1984 Miss West Virginia
  • Patsy Ramsey – mother of JonBenet Ramsey; Miss West Virginia in 1977

References[]

  1. ^ Robb, David (2017-09-10). "Mike Hodge Dies: President Of SAG-AFTRA's New York Local Was 70". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  2. ^ "RAW DATA: Billy Mays Biography". Fox News (in American English). 2009-06-28. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  3. ^ NBC Universal, Inc. "NBC.com – Passions – About". NBC Universal, Inc. Archived from the original on June 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  4. ^ West Virginia University. "John Russo | WVU Magazine". West Virginia University. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  5. ^ "Kim Webster".
  6. ^ "Michael Eugene Compton". databaseBasketball.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  7. ^ "Brand New Brass". Cleveland Cavaliers. July 26, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  8. ^ "Greg Jones Wrestling". WVU Athletics. Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  9. ^ "Greg Jones Blackzilian Bio".
  10. ^ "Ellis Lankster". NFL Enterprises LLC. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  11. ^ Newport, Kyle. "XFL Names Andrew Luck's Father, Oliver, Commissioner and CEO". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  12. ^ "WVU Sports Hall of Fame". wvusports.com.
  13. ^ "Olympic Games Medals (Results)". olympic.org.
  14. ^ Vijayan, Jaikumar (January 10, 2008). "White House cuts paper out of federal budget". Computerworld. IDG. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  15. ^ Vijayan, Jaikumar (April 24, 1997). "White House cuts paper out of federal budget". Joe Hardy Passed Over Sons For Successor at 84 Lumber. wsj.com. Retrieved 2014-02-14.
  16. ^ "DiSarro, Joseph". Political Science Department, Washington & Jefferson College. Archived from the original on 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  17. ^ "Retired educator has spent 20 years battling abortion". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  18. ^ "Joseph M. Devine". National Governors Association. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  19. ^ Grimes, William. "David Ginsburg, Longtime Washington Insider, Dies at 98", The New York Times, May 25, 2010. Accessed June 1, 2010.
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