From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The people listed alphabetically below studied at Oberlin College. Most are listed with a year of graduation. Those without years studied but did not graduate.
- Benjamin Bagby (1974), vocalist, harpist, scholar, and founder of early music ensemble Sequentia
- Peter Baker, Washington Post journalist and author
- Hobart Baumann Amstutz, studied at the Conservatory 1914-15 before graduating from Oberlin High School in 1915. Later served as a Bishop for The Methodist Church.
- Ishmael Beah (2004), author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
- Alison Bechdel (1981), cartoonist (Dykes To Watch Out For) and graphic novelist (Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic).
- Robin Behn (1979), poet (Horizon Note).
- Suzette Marie Bishop (1984), author (She Took off Her Wings and Shoes).
- Joani Blank (1959), founder of Good Vibrations.
- Richard Bliwas (1981), pianist and singer/songwriter.
- Geoffrey Blodgett (1953), historian and author of Cass Gilbert: The Early Years.
- Eric Bogosian (1976), novelist, playwright (Talk Radio, SubUrbia) and, actor.
- Chris Brokaw (1986), rock drummer for Codeine, Come, Consonant.
- Avery Brooks (1970 and an additionally honorary degree in 1996), actor in Uncle Tom's Cabin, American History X, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
- Wendy Brenner (1987), author of Phone Calls From the Dead.
- Antoinette Brown (1847), the first ordained female minister in the U.S.
- Gabriel Brownstein (1988), novelist and author of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W and The Man from Beyond.
- Blanche K Bruce, second African-American Senator from Mississippi serving 1874-1881.
- Peter Buchman (1989), screenwriter for Jurassic Park III.
- Alice Rowe Burks (1942), author of Who Invented the Computer?: The Legal Battle that Changed Computing History.
- James Burrows (1962), producer and creator of Cheers and director of Will & Grace, Wings, News Radio, among others series.
- Michael Byers (1991), novelist and author of The Coast of Good Intentions and Long for This World.
- Marc Canter (1980), co-founder of MacroMind (later Macromedia).
- John Cazale, actor on The Godfather and The Deer Hunter.
- Brian Chase, drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
- Tracy Chevalier (1984), novelist and author of Girl with a Pearl Earring , Falling Angels, and The Lady and the Unicorn.
- Yvette Clarke (transferred to Medgar Evers College, did not earn degree), Democratic representative for the 11th U.S. Congressional District in New York, 2007-present.
- Rachel Cline, author of What to Keep.
- Henry Roe Cloud, Native American political leader.
- Stanley Cohen (1945), Nobel Physiology and Medicine laureate in 1986.
- Marc Cohn, Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter.
- Johnnetta B. Cole (1957), first female African-American president of Spelman College, current president of Bennett College.
- Fanny Jackson Coppin (1865), influential African-American educator and missionary.
- Richard Cowan, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II.
- Jacob Dolson Cox, politician and author.
- George Fairchild (1862), third President of Kansas State University.
- Adrian Fenty (1991), Mayor of Washington, D.C.
- Lee Fisher (1973), Lieutenant Governor and former Attorney General of Ohio
- Jim Fixx, author of The Complete Book of Running.
- Peter Tyrrell Flawn (1947), geologist and former President of the University of Texas at Austin.
- Kate Fodor (1993), playwright (Hannah and Martin).
- Kim France (1987), editor of Lucky magazine.
- Darcy Frey (1983), non-fiction writer.
- Sara Hoskinson Frommer (1958), novelist and author of Witness in Bishop Hill: A Joan Spencer Mystery.
- Alan Furst (1962), novelist and author of Blood of Victory.
- Myla Goldberg 1993, novelist (Bee Season, Wickett's Remedy)
- William Goldman 1952, novelist (The Princess Bride) and Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men (film))
- Elisha Gray, an inventor of the telephone
- Melissa Fay Greene 1975, author (Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disaster)
- Jerry Greenfield 1973, co-creator of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
- Linda Gregerson 1971, award-winning poet (Waterborne, Magnetic North)
- Erwin Griswold 1925, lawyer, late Solicitor General of the United States and dean of Harvard Law School
- Richard N. Haass 1973, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Department of State.
- Al Haig, jazz pianist
- Charles Martin Hall 1885, co-discoverer of the electrolytic process of producing aluminium (and contributor to the American spelling of "aluminum")
- David Halperin, author (One Hundred Years of Homosexuality)
- Jon Hamilton, NPR science correspondent
- Philip Hanawalt, scientist; co-discoverer of DNA excision repair
- Ed Helms 1996, actor (The Office (US TV series)), comedian, correspondent on The Daily Show
- Jonathan Holden 1963, poet (Knowing: New and Selected Poems)
- Michael Hollinger 1984, playwright (Red Herring)
- Keith Holzman 1957, author (The Complete Guide to Starting a Record Company)
- Cathy Park Hong 1998, author (Translating Mo'um)
- David Hoose, Music Director of the Cantata Singers & Ensemble in Boston since 1982.
- Hannah Hoose 2005 (no relation to previous), co-author of Hey, Little Ant
- Paul Horn, jazz flutist
- Teresa Heinz Housel 1994, communication professor, cultural critic, and journalist
- Edward Everett Horton, actor (The Front Page, Top Hat, Holiday), voice actor (Rocky & Bullwinkle) {Left his junior year}
- Ralf Hotchkiss 1969, co-founder and current (2006) Whirlwind Chief Engineer of Whirlwind Wheelchair International, 1989 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.
- Noelle Howey, 1994, author (Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods––My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine)
- Robert Hutchins, educational philosopher, president (1929-1945) and chancellor (1945-1951) of the University of Chicago
- Fred Kaplan 1976, journalist and Slate columnist
- John Kander 1951, of the musical theater team Kander and Ebb (Cabaret and Chicago, among others)
- Daniel Kinsey 1935, Olympic champion (110 m hurdles)
- Jennifer Koh 1997, violinist (1994 International Tchaikovsky Competition winner)
- Anne O. Krueger 1953, award-winning economist, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund, and College Trustee (1987-1995)
- Robert Krulwich 1969, Journalist
- H. H. Kung 1906, Chinese banker and Premier of the Republic of China (1938–1939)
- Robert Kuttner 1965, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and one of five co-founders of the Economic Policy Institute.
- John Edward Mack 1951, Psychologist (A Prince of Our Disorder)
- David Maine 1985, novelist (The Preservationist)
- Michelle Malkin 1992, columnist (Los Angeles Daily News, The Seattle Times), author (In Defense of Internment), political commentator
- Rollo May 1930, psychologist, author
- James McBride 1979, journalist (Boston Globe, The Washington Post), author (The Color of Water), musician
- John McEntire 1991, Drummer (Tortoise)
- Josh MacPhee 1996, political artist
- George Herbert Mead 1883, philosopher, leading figure of American Pragmatism; his theories became the foundation of the symbolic interactionist school of sociology and social psychology.
- J. Hillis Miller 1948, literary critic (The Ethics of Reading, On Literature)
- Robert Millikan 1891, Nobel laureate (Physics, 1923) for measuring the charge of the electron
- Jason Molina, singer/songwriter with Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.
- Eduardo Mondlane 1953, Mozambican political leader
- Roger Montgomery, Dean of Architecture, City Planning, and Landscape Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
- Donn F. Morgan 1965, author (The Making of Sages: Biblical Wisdom and Contemporary Culture)
- Gregory Mosher, Tony Award-winning director
- Adam Moss 1979, editor of New York Magazine
- Thylias Moss 1981, poet, playwright, and 1996 MacArthur Fellow
- Karen O singer, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Peggy Orenstein 1983, author (Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Kids, Love, and Life in a Half-Changed World)
- Rich Orloff 1973, playwright (Big Boys)
- Dzvinia Orlowsky 1975, poet (Except for One Obscene Brush Stroke)
- Jena Osman 1985, poet (The Character)
- Daniel Radosh 1991, journalist and blogger
- David Rees 1994, cartoonist (My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable, Get Your War On)
- Tim Riley 1983, author (Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After), NPR critic
- Josh Ritter 1999, folk singer/songwriter
- Anita Roberts 1960s, scientist, mother of TGF-b
- Elisabeth Robinson 1983, novelist (The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters)
- Martha Root 1890s, Hand of the Cause in the Bahá'í Faith
- Carl T. Rowan 1947, journalist
- S. J. Rozan 1972, novelist (Reflecting the Sky)
- John C. Russell 1985, playwright (Stupid Kids)
- Paul Russell 1978, novelist (The Coming Storm)
- Oren Rudavsky 1979, filmmaker (Hiding and Seeking, And Baby Makes Two)
- Greg Saunier drummer of San Francisco-based band, Deerhoof
- Kathy Lou Schultz 1990, poet (Some Vague Wife)
- William F. Schultz 1971, former Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
- Julie Schumacher 1981, novelist (Grass Angel)
- Elizabeth Searle 1983, novelist (Celebrities in Disguise)
- Stephen W. Sears 1954, author (Gettysburg)
- Vijay Seshadri 1974, poet (The Long Meadow)
- Tanya Shaffer 1988, author (Somebody's Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa)
- Sonia Shah 1993, investigative journalist
- Matthew Sharpe 1984, novelist (Nothing is Terrible, The Sleeping Father, Jamestown)
- Gary Shteyngart 1995, novelist (The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan : A Novel).
- Lorenzo Snow, Mormon prophet, fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Donald J. Sobol 1948, author, Encyclopedia Brown series
- Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Roger Wolcott Sperry 1935 and 1937, neurobiologist and Nobel laureate (Medicine, 1981)
- Larry R. Squire 1963, Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at University of California, San Diego, a world expert in the field of memory, Past President of the Society for Neuroscience
- Matthew Stadler 1981, novelist (Allan Stein)
- Sue Standing 1974, poet (False Horizon)
- Brooke Stevens 1980, author (Tattoo Girl)
- William Grant Still, composer
- Lucy Stone 1847, feminist and abolitionist
- Anna Louise Strong 1905, activist and author
- "Sweet N' Sour" Larry Sweeney 2003, Professional Wrestler
- Peter Ullian 1988, playwright (The Flight of the Lawnchair Man)
- George Walker, composer, Pulitzer Prize for Music 1996
- Moses Fleetwood Walker 1881, first African-American player in baseball's major leagues
- Geoffrey Ward 1962, author (The West: An Illustrated History)
- Bruce Weigl 1973, poet (Archeology of the Circle: New and Selected Poems)
- Paul Wennberg 1985, chemist and 2002 MacArthur Fellow
- William Drake Westervelt 1871 and 1874 (honorary degree: 1926), Hawaiian historical writer
- Thornton Wilder, novelist (The Bridge of San Luis Rey), playwright (Our Town).
- Harrison "Pete" Williams 1941, U.S. senator and congressman from New Jersey, implicated in Abscam.
- Warren Wilson, namesake of Warren Wilson College in North Carolina
- Jonah Winter 1984, poet (Amnesia)
- Christopher Robin "Kit" Woolsey 1964, bridge internationalist and writer (Matchpoints) and backgammon expert
- John Wray 1993, novelist (The Right Hand of Sleep)
- Franz Wright 1977, Pulitzer prize winning poet (Ill Lit: Selected & New Poems, Walking to Martha's Vineyard)
- Katharine Wright, sister of Orville and Wilbur Wright
- Michelle Wright 1990, author (Becoming Black: Creating Identity in the African Diaspora)
