100 Notable alumni of Dickinson College

Charles Denison was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Leah Soibel is the founder and executive director of Fuente Latina, a non-profit organization headquartered in Miami, which aims to provide pro-Israel information to Spanish-language news outlets. Soibel was born in the United States to Argentinean parents, and is a Middle East expert who provides Spanish-language commentary to Hispanic media regarding the Middle East.

Helen Kassia Fleisher was an American writer.

Joseph Clemens was an American Methodist Episcopalian chaplain, missionary and plant collector who served and worked in South East Asia and elsewhere. He was born in the rugged western English county of Cornwall. Later, his family migrated to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and then moved to Eichelsburg, Pennsylvania. His father was a Cornish iron miner, Charles Clemens, and his mother, Mary Jane...

Eli Saulsbury was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as U.S. Senator from Delaware.

George Richard Crooks was an American Methodist minister, writer, and educator.

Nathaniel Barratt Smithers was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party, and served as U.S. Representative from Delaware.

Charles Brown Lore was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and served as Attorney General of Delaware and U.S. Representative from Delaware.

John Anthony Nicholson was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and served as U.S. Representative from Delaware.

Matthew Brown was a prominent Presbyterian minister and president of Washington College and Jefferson College. Next to John McMillan, Brown was the most important figure to education in Western Pennsylvania.

Samuel Stehman Haldeman was an American naturalist and philologist. During a long and varied career he studied, published, and lectured on geology, conchology, entomology and philology. He once confided, "I never pursue one branch of science more than ten years, but lay it aside and go into new fields."

Horatio Collins King was a Union Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War. He also served as a U.S. lawyer, politician and author.

Emory McClintock, born John Emory McClintock was an American actuary, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Columbia University, where he was tutor in mathematics in 1859–1860. From 1863 to 1866 he served as United States consular agent at Bradford, England. He served as president of the American Mathematical Society in 1890–1894 and of the Actuarial Society of America in...

John Bannister Gibson was a Pennsylvania jurist. He served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1816 to his death in 1853, and was chief justice on the court for 24 years. "During his highly influential career, he wrote more than twelve hundred opinions and was known for maintaining a generally restrictive view of judicial authority, aiding measures for internal improvements...

David Kemper Watson was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1895 to 1897.

Charles O'Neill was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1863 to 1871 and from 1873 to 1893.

David B. Brunner was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Frederick Augustus Ross was a Presbyterian New School clergyman in both Kingsport, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama, slave owner, publisher and pro-slavery author of the book Slavery As Ordained of God (1857).

Experience Estabrook was an American attorney and legal administrator. He was the third attorney general of Wisconsin and the first United States attorney for the Nebraska Territory.

Frederick Brown Harris, a Methodist clergyman has the distinction of the longest service record as Chaplain of the Senate (24 years), in a term of service interrupted by the chaplaincy of Peter Marshall.

Oliver James Dickey was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

William Wilson Caldwell II was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

George Washington Bethune was a preacher-pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church.

Otis Gibson was a Methodist pastor, best known for his missionary work to the Chinese in Fuzhou, China and in San Francisco, California.

John Jeremiah Jacob was an American Democratic politician from Green Spring in (Hampshire County), in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Jacob served two terms as the fourth governor of West Virginia from 1871 to 1877. He was also elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates from Hampshire County in 1868 and from Ohio County in 1879.

Clement Alexander Finley, was the 10th Surgeon General of the United States Army, May 15, 1861 – April 14, 1862.

William Creighton Jr. was an American politician, state official, and judge who served as the first Secretary of State of Ohio, a United States representative from Ohio and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Ohio.

George Purnell Fisher was Attorney General of Delaware, Secretary of State of Delaware, a United States representative from Delaware and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the United States District Court for the District of Columbia).

Sidney George Fisher was a Philadelphia lawyer, farmer, plantation owner, diarist, political essayist and occasional poet.

Harmar Denny was an American businessman and Anti-Masonic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Jay Feinberg is a long-term leukemia survivor, community organizer and founder and current CEO of the Gift of Life Marrow Registry.

Henry Moore Ridgely was an American lawyer and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party, and later the Democratic Party, who served as U.S. Representative from Delaware and as U.S. Senator from Delaware.

James Ross Snowden was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing Venango and Clarion counties from 1838 to 1843 and Venango, Jefferson and Clarion counties in 1844. He served as Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1842 and again in 1844. He served as the Treasurer of...

William G. Durden is a former president of Dickinson College. He was a Fulbright scholar and a recipient of the Klingenstein Fellowship from Teacher's College, Columbia University.

George David Cummins was an American Anglican bishop and founder of the Reformed Episcopal Church.

John Winebrenner was a Christian pastor, author and religious reformer who founded the Churches of God General Conference.

Esther B. Popel was an African-American poet of the Harlem Renaissance, an activist, and an educator. She wrote and edited for magazines such as The Crisis, the Journal of Negro Education, and Opportunity.

Stanley Dunbar Embick was a lieutenant general in the United States Army.

Willard Saulsbury Sr. was an American lawyer and politician from Georgetown, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served as Attorney General of Delaware, U.S. Senator from Delaware and Chancellor of Court of Chancery of Delaware.

James Miller McKim was an American Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. He was the father of the architect Charles Follen McKim.

John Miller Dickey was an American Presbyterian minister. He and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson, a Quaker, founded Ashmun Institute on May 24, 1854, which was renamed Lincoln University in 1866 following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. They named the school after Jehudi Ashmun, a religious leader and social reformer. They founded the school for the education and religious...

John R. Gordner is an American attorney and politician. A Republican, he represented the 27th District in the Pennsylvania State Senate (2003–2022) and the 109th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1993–2003). He is a former Democrat, having switched parties in 2001.

Louis Emory McComas was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as a member of both branches of the United States Congress and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia

James Charles Greenwood is an American politician. He represented Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District for six terms in the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party, and was a member of its moderate wing.

Jeffrey Louis Schmehl is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

John Perdue Gray was an American psychiatrist at the forefront of biological psychiatric theory during the 19th century.

David Dudley Bloom was an American businessman who made notable contributions to the consumer products industry as a conceptual inventor and marketing executive during the 1950s and 1960s, including proposing and designing the first conventional travel luggage built on wheels; marketing the first "magic milk bottle" for dolls; and designing and marketing a continuous-play tape recorder.

Albert Andrew "Ex" Exendine was an American football player, coach, and lawyer. He played college football at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School where he was an All-American end. Exendine served as the head football coach at Otterbein College (1909–1911), Georgetown University (1914–1922), the State College of Washington—now known as Washington State University (1923–1925), Occidental College (1926–1927), Northeastern State Teachers' College—now...

Thomas Nelson Conrad was the third president of Virginia Tech (then Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College) and served in the Confederate Secret Service during the Civil War.

Eben Swift was a major general in the United States Army who served as the first commander of the then 82nd Infantry Division, now the 82nd Airborne Division.

John Franklin Goucher was an American Methodist pastor and missionary and the namesake of Goucher College, formerly the Women's College of Baltimore City. He was one of the college's co-founders along with fellow clergyman John B. Van Meter and served as its second president.

Thomas Michael DiBiagio is a former United States Attorney in the state of Maryland. After eight U.S. attorneys were fired by the Bush administration in 2006 for performance-related issues under a clause of the PATRIOT Act, DiBiagio stated in March 2007 that he was ousted because of political pressure over public corruption investigations into the administration of then-Gov. Robert L....

Petar Bošković was a Yugoslav and Serbian diplomat. He was an ambassador of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the Republic of Cyprus.

Richard Lee Turberville Beale was a lawyer, three-term United States Congressman from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He had more than three dozen slaves and was a Democrat.

John Fletcher Hurst was an American bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the first Chancellor of the American University in Washington, D.C.

Gerald N. Epstein was an American psychiatrist who used mental imagery and other mental techniques to treat physical and emotional problems. An author and a researcher, he was the founder and director of a mental imagery school for post-graduate mental health professionals, teaching imagery as a tool for healing and a "bridge to the inner world".

George William Smith was a decorated officer in the United States Marine Corps who rose to the rank of major general. He began his 34-year career as an Enlisted Reservist during World War II, later integrating into the regular Marine Corps and distinguishing himself as commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines during the Vietnam War. His last assignment was commanding...

Mark Allen Barnett is an American lawyer who has served as the chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade since 2021 and concurrently serving as a judge of the court since 2013.

Laura A. Potter is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who has served as the 58th director of the Army Staff from 5 January 2024 to 28 August 2025. She most recently served as the deputy chief of staff for intelligence of the United States Army from 2020 to 2024. Previously, she was the commanding general of the United...

Richard Hastings Ellis was a United States Air Force general who served as the commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command and director of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff with headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. He was also director of the Joint Strategic Connectivity Staff.

Robert Samuel Maclay, D.D. was an American missionary who made pioneer contributions to the Methodist Episcopal missions in China, Japan and Korea. He served as the first president of Aoyama Gakuin University.

Kim Soo-min is a South Korean actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Korea 2018. She studied at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States, majoring in international business & management and minoring in Chinese. She hopes for a career in international journalism. Her victory and reign have been controversial due to her weight, which some critics have...

Peter Harckham is an American businessman and politician from the State of New York. A Democrat, Harckham represents Senate District 40 in the New York State Senate. He was first elected in 2018, defeating incumbent Terrence Murphy. The 40th district includes parts of Rockland, Putnam and Westchester counties in the Hudson Valley.

Susan Stewart is an American poet and literary critic. She is the Avalon Foundation University Professor in the Humanities and Professor of English, emerita, at Princeton University. In 2023, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

John Clarke Young was an American educator and pastor who was the fourth president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of Dickinson College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he entered the ministry in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1828. He accepted the presidency of Centre College in 1830, holding the position until his death in 1857, making him the longest-serving president...

Robert McClelland was an American statesman, serving as U.S. Representative from Michigan, the ninth governor of Michigan, and United States Secretary of the Interior.

George William Gekas was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district from 1983 to 2003.

William Wilkins was an American judge and politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Jacksonian member of the United States Senate from 1831 to 1834 and as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 21st congressional district from 1843 to 1844. He served as a member of both houses of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, a...

John Andrew Jackson Creswell was an American politician and abolitionist from Maryland, who served as United States Representative, United States Senator, and as Postmaster General of the United States appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Creswell is considered to be one of the ablest, if not the best, Postmaster General in United States history. Creswell modernized the U.S. Postal system...

Moncure Daniel Conway was an American abolitionist minister and radical writer. At various times Methodist, Unitarian, and a Freethinker, he descended from patriotic and patrician families of Virginia and Maryland but spent most of the final four decades of his life abroad in England and France, where he wrote biographies of Edmund Randolph, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Paine and his...

Philip Francis Thomas was an American lawyer and politician. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates, was the 28th Governor of Maryland from 1848 to 1851, and was Comptroller of Maryland from 1851 to 1853. He was appointed as the 23rd United States Secretary of the Treasury in 1860 in the Buchanan administration. After unsuccessfully standing for the United...

Jennifer Haigh is an American novelist and short story writer in the realist tradition. Her work has been compared to that of Richard Ford, Richard Price and Richard Russo. Her work often explores Catholic religious beliefs, attitudes and customs. /</ref> https://uscatholic.org/articles/202504/for-novelist-jennifer-haigh-faith-is-a-terrain-of-uncertainty/

Jennifer L. Holm is an American children's writer, and recipient of three Newbery Honors and the Eisner Award.

Ninian Edwards was an American political figure who was prominent in Illinois. He served as the first and only governor of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to until the territory earned statehood in 1818. He was then one of the first two United States senators from the State of Illinois from 1818 to 1824, and the third Governor of Illinois...

James William Gerlach is the former U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, serving from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Gerlach retired from Congress after completing his sixth term.

Erwin Wickert was a German diplomat who, during the 1970s, served as the ambassador to Romania and China.

John Edward Jones III is an American lawyer who has been the 30th president of Dickinson College since 2021. He was previously a district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his presiding role in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, in which the teaching of...

Robert Cooper Grier was an American jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Chad Alexander Mirkin is an American chemist. He is the George B. Rathmann professor of chemistry, professor of medicine, professor of materials science and engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and professor of chemical and biological engineering, and director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly at Northwestern University.

David Henry Oh is an American attorney and politician who served as a Republican member of the Philadelphia City Council from 2012 to 2023. He was the first Asian American elected to the city council.

Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He eventually served as assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1850 to 1878, and as Secretary from 1878 until 1887. He was dedicated to expanding the natural history collections of the Smithsonian which he increased...

John Floyd was an American politician and military officer. He represented Virginia in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 25th governor of Virginia.

Alfred Victor Philadelphe du Pont de Nemours was a French American chemist and industrialist, who was the eldest son and successor of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His son, Alfred Victor du Pont, was one of founding fathers of the alpha (first) chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity on October...

Clarence Muse was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a major studio film, 1929's Hearts in Dixie. He acted for 50 years, and appeared in more than 150 films. He was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973.

Rick Smolan is a former Time, Life, and National Geographic photographer best known as the co-creator of the Day in the Life book series. He is currently CEO of Against All Odds Productions, a cross-media organization.

William Franklin Shuster is an American politician and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district from 2001 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party, and is a son of former Congressman Bud Shuster.

Andrew Bowen MacPhail is an American baseball executive. He has previously served as general manager for the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs, and as president for the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies.

Roger Brooke Taney was an American lawyer and politician who served as the fifth chief justice of the United States from 1836 until his death in 1864. Taney delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), ruling that African Americans could not be considered U.S. citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the U.S. territories. Prior...

Leon Rose is an American basketball executive, attorney and sports agent. He serves as president of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a sports agent, Rose represented a number of prominent NBA players, including Allen Iverson and LeBron James.

Stephen Duncan was an American planter and banker in Mississippi. He was born and studied medicine in Pennsylvania, but moved to Natchez District, Mississippi Territory in 1808 and became the wealthiest cotton planter and the second-largest slave owner in the United States with over 2,200 slaves. He owned 15 cotton and sugar plantations, served as President of the Bank of...

Hollister K. Petraeus is a retired Assistant Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where she headed up the Office of Servicemember Affairs. She retired on January 12, 2017. Her work at the CFPB centered around educating service members on sound financial management and protecting them against predatory lending and cons. She is the wife of retired General David...

James Buchanan Jr. was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. He also served as the 17th United States secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and represented Pennsylvania in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Buchanan was an advocate for states' rights, particularly regarding slavery, and minimized the role of the federal government preceding...

Roseann O'Donnell is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series Star Search in 1984. After a series of television and film roles that introduced her to a larger national audience, O'Donnell hosted her own syndicated daytime talk show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, between...

Frances Hardman Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series Six Feet Under (2001–2005), for which she won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received four Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She is also known for playing the older version...

Ray Crist was an American chemist who participated in the Manhattan Project. When he retired from teaching at the age of 104 in 2004, Crist is widely believed to have been America's oldest worker at the time.

Joseph McCum Belford was an American politician and a United States Representative from New York.

Robert Fleming Rich was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Powhatan Ellis was a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, United States senator from Mississippi, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Mississippi.

William Daniel, Jr. was an American slaveowner, lawyer, legislator and jurist who served on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, that state's highest court, from 1846 to 1865.