Knowledge Justice Excellence

Notable Alumni

Brandeis counts among its graduates Pulitzer Prize winners, Emmy Award winners, best-selling authors — even a Nobel laureate. But it doesn't stop there. Brandeis graduates occupy leadership roles in virtually every walk of life. Here are just a few:

Academia

  • roderick mackinnonArthur Levine, former president, Columbia University Teachers College
  • Roderick MacKinnon (pictured), John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor, The Rockefeller University (Nobel laureate, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator)
  • David Oshinsky, Jack S. Blanton Chair in History, University of Texas-Austin (Pulitzer Prize winner)
  • Jehuda Reinharz, president, Brandeis University
  • Judith Shapiro, former president, Barnard College
  • Karen Uhlenbeck, Sid W. Richardson Regents Chair in Mathematics, University of Texas-Austin (MacArthur fellow)
  • Robert Zimmer, president, University of Chicago


Arts

  • debra messingDavid Crane and Marta Kauffman, co-creators, "Friends"
  • Loretta Devine, actor ("Dreamgirls," "Grey's Anatomy")
  • Marshall Herskovitz, director, producer and screenwriter ("The Last Samari," "Traffic") 
  • Ha Jin, novelist ("Waiting")
  • Michael Kaiser, executive director, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
  • Jonathan Landau, music producer and manager (Bruce Springsteen)
  • Debra Messing (pictured), Emmy Award-winning actor ("Will & Grace")
  • Theresa Rebeck, Broadway playwright
  • Gary Tinterow, curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art


Business and Industry

  • christie hefnerLeonard Asper, president and chief executive officer, CanWest Global Communications Corp.
  • Mitch Caplan, former president and chief executive officer, E-Trade Group
  • Ellen Gordon, chief operating officer, Tootsie Roll Industries
  • Christie Hefner (pictured), former chairman and chief executive officer, Playboy Enterprises
  • Myra Hiatt Kraft, philanthropist, The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation
  • Jeffrey Lurie, owner, Philadelphia Eagles
  • Olaf Olafsson, executive vice president, Time Warner
  • Robert F.X. Sillerman, chairman and chief executive officer, CKX Inc.


Government and Politics

  • geir haardeSidney Blumenthal, former aide to President Bill Clinton; columnist and author
  • Angela Davis, political activist 
  • Geir Haarde (pictured), former prime minister, Iceland 
  • Stephen Solarz, former U.S. representative
  • Shen Tong, student leader, 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising

  
Media

  • margo jeffersonMitch Albom, sports columnist, author ("Tuesdays With Morrie")
  • Allen Alter, producer, "48 Hours Mystery" (Emmy Award winner)
  • Paula Apsell, executive producer, "Nova" (Emmy Award winner)
  • Joe Conason, political columnist, The New York Observer, Salon.com
  • Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist, The New York Times (Pulitzer Prize winner)
  • Margo Jefferson (pictured), theater critic, The New York Times (Pulitzer Prize winner)
  • Walt Mossberg, technology columnist, The Wall Street Journal (Loeb award winner)
  • Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief, The New Republic
  • Bill Schneider, senior political analyst, CNN
  • Bob Simon, correspondent, CBS News (Emmy Award winner)