7 Notable alumni of Converse College
Updated: June 12, 2026 EliteDegrees
Converse College is ranked #4,851 in the world and #1,277 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 7 notable alumni from Converse College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Converse College won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Lily Strickland
1884-1958 (aged 74)
painter
writer
composer
Lily Strickland was an American composer, painter and writer.
2. Ellen Black Winston
1903-1984 (aged 81)
sociologist
Ellen Black Winston was a social worker who worked to develop systems to support those who were underprivileged in North Carolina. She became the North Carolina Commissioner of Public Welfare and the first United States Commissioner of Welfare.
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3. Patricia Parsons Hickerson
1942-. (aged 84)
military officer
flautist
school teacher
Patricia Parsons Hickerson is a retired major general in the United States Army. She served for 32 years and was Adjutant General of the Army from 1991 to 1994. Upon her retirement in 2001, Hickerson held the rank of major general, the third woman in United States Army history to receive her second star, and the senior woman officer in...
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4. Julia Peterkin
1880-1961 (aged 81)
novelist
teacher
writer
Julia Peterkin was an American author from South Carolina, who advocated for African Americans and wrote about the portrayals of the southern life. In 1929 she won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Scarlet Sister Mary. She wrote several novels about the plantation South, especially the Gullah people of the Low country. As a white author, she developed a unique...
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5. Corinne Boyd Riley
1893-1979 (aged 86)
politician
Corinne Boyd Riley was a U.S. representative from South Carolina, wife of John Jacob Riley.
6. Carlisle Floyd
1926-2021 (aged 95)
university teacher
librettist
composer
Carlisle Sessions Floyd was an American composer primarily known for his operas. These stage works, for which he wrote not only the music but also the librettos, typically engage with themes from the American South, particularly the Post-civil war South, the Great Depression and rural life. His best known opera, Susannah, is based on a story from the Biblical Apocrypha,...
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7. Angela Duckworth
1970-. (aged 56)
university teacher
adviser
psychologist
Angela Lee Duckworth is an American academic, psychologist, and popular science author. She is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies grit and self-control. She is the founder and former CEO of Character Lab, a not-for-profit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development.
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