48 Notable alumni of Drew University

Bertrand Martin Tipple was a Methodist writer, lecturer, and the founder and president of Methodist International College in Rome, Italy.

Edith Diehl was an American bookbinder and author of Bookbinding, its Background and Technique (Rinehart and Co., 1946), a classic text and manual on the history and craft of bookbinding in two volumes (republished in editions by Kennicat Press, 1965; Hacker Art Books, 1979; Dover, 1980). In 1947, in recognition of her accomplishments, Diehl was made an Honorary Life Member...

Fred Pierce Corson was an American bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor and district superintendent; as the twentieth president of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and as an ecumenical Christian leader.

Don Thorsen is an American scholar and writer. Thorsen has served at Azusa Pacific Seminary since 1988. In addition to being widely published, Thorsen travels internationally, presenting on various theological topics. He has been a contributing editor to Christianity Today, Light and Life, and Christian Scholar's Review. Thorsen teaches master's and doctoral classes and holds membership in such societies as...

Thomas Joseph Aquilino Jr. is a Senior United States Judge of the United States Court of International Trade.

Debra L. Ness is the former president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. She has previously worked for the Service Employees International Union and National Abortion Rights Action League.

Mary Esther Rice was an American invertebrate zoologist specializing in systematics, evolution and the development of marine invertebrates. She worked at the Smithsonian Institution as a curator, educator, research advisor, and administrator from 1966 until her retirement in 2002. She is known for her work on the life histories of Sipuncula, as well as for serving as the first director...

John Gardner Murray was the sixteenth presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was the first person elected to the position rather than succeeding to it automatically as the oldest bishop when his predecessor died.

Virginia "Ginny" V. Lyons is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Vermont State Senate. She previously represented the Chittenden senate district, and has represented the Chittenden-Southeast Vermont Senate District since 2023.

Damon DiMarco, is a New York City author, actor, playwright, and historian. His oral history work has been compared to that of Studs Terkel. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey.

Phillip Carter III is a Senior Foreign Service American diplomat and was United States Ambassador to Ivory Coast from 2010 to 2013. Carter holds the diplomatic rank of Minister Counselor. As of November, 2013 he is Deputy to the Commander for Civil Military Engagements, United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) in Stuttgart, Germany.

Olive May Winchester was an American ordained minister and a pioneer biblical scholar and theologian in the Church of the Nazarene, who was in 1912 the first woman ordained by any trinitarian Christian denomination in the United Kingdom, the first woman admitted into and graduated from the Bachelor of Divinity course at the University of Glasgow, and the first woman...

Maria Mazziotti Gillan is an American poet.

John W. Gowdy was a Scottish American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Church, elected in 1930. He also distinguished himself as a missionary, an educator, and as a college and university president.

Christine Downing is a scholar, educator, and author in the fields of mythology, religion, depth psychology, and feminist studies.

Dena Tauriello is a New Jersey–based drummer, educator, and author.

Shamila Kohestani is an Afghan footballer, and the former captain of the Afghanistan women's national football team. She attended boarding school in the United States at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey. In 2007, she scored six goals at the women's team's first tournament. In 2006, she won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Stephen Hays Stetler is a Democratic politician from Pennsylvania who served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue from March 2009 until his resignation in December of that year.

Richard Louis "Dixie" Walker was an American scholar, author, and former ambassador to South Korea.

Charlie Zeleny, also known as Charlie Z, is an American session drummer, music director and solo artist. He was also a member of the progressive metal bands Blotted Science and Behold the Arctopus, has played in a duo with keyboardist Jordan Rudess, and has performed drum duets with Terry Bozzio for The Drum Channel. His 2011 video project, Drumageddon Brooklyn,...

Nathaniel A. Raymond is an American human rights investigator, specializing in the investigation of war crimes, including mass killings and torture. Raymond directed the anti-torture campaign at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and the utilization of satellite surveillance by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). Raymond advocates the use of intelligence by human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations.

Joseph Brown "Doc" Matthews Sr., best known as J. B. Matthews, was an American linguist, educator, writer, and political activist. A committed pacifist, he became a self-described "fellow traveler" of the Communist Party USA in the mid-1930s, achieving national prominence as a leader of a number of the party's so-called "mass organizations". Disillusionment with communism led to anti-communist testimony before...

Margaret "Deedee" McMullen Corradini was an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 32nd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, from 1992 to 2000. Corradini was the first woman to serve as mayor of Salt Lake City.

Robin Rex Meyers is an American Christian minister, peace activist, philosopher and author of seven books on Liberal and Progressive Christian theology in Western society and the Christian left. He has been a syndicated columnist and a commentator for National Public Radio and was the Senior Minister of the Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City from 1985...

Karen Oliveto is an American bishop. She is the first openly lesbian bishop to be elected in the United Methodist Church. She was elected bishop on July 15, 2016, at the Western Jurisdictional conference. Her four-year term of service began September 1, 2016 and she currently serves as the bishop of the UMC's Mountain Sky Conference (created in 2018 when...

Arturo A. Valenzuela is a Chilean-American academic who was the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs from November 5, 2009, until August 2011. His confirmation had been blocked by Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) due to a dispute over President Barack Obama's approach to the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis. He previously served as Professor of Government...

Dale Peck is an American novelist, literary critic, and columnist. His 2009 novel, Sprout, won the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, and was a finalist for the Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category.

George Selgin is an American economist. Before retiring in July, 2025, he was a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, the founding Director of its Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, and editor-in-chief of that Center's online publication, Alt-M. He is also Professor Emeritus of economics at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, an Honorary Professor...

Peter Dunov, also known by his spiritual name Beinsa Douno (Bulgarian: Беинса Дуно [bɛinˈsа duˈnɔ]), and often titled Uchitelyat ("the Teacher") by his followers, was a Bulgarian philosopher and spiritual teacher who developed a form of Esoteric Christianity known as the Universal White Brotherhood. He is widely known in Bulgaria, where he was voted second by the public in the...

Edward Ferrara is an American retired professional wrestler, writer and agent for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), often co-working alongside Vince Russo. Russo, however, would dispute Ferrera's status as a WWF employee and stated that during his time working with the WWF, Ferrera was actually employed as a consultant for the USA Network,...

Clint Bolick is a justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. Previously, he served as Vice President of Litigation at the conservative/libertarian Goldwater Institute. He co-founded the libertarian Institute for Justice, where he was the Vice President and Director of Litigation from 1991 until 2004. He led two cases that went before the Supreme Court of the United States. He has...

James David Van Der Beek was an American actor. Known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery on The WB's Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), he also played a fictionalized version of himself on the cult ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012–2013), starred as FBI agent Elijah Mundo on CSI: Cyber (2015–2016), and appeared as Matt Bromley during the...

Aileen Marie Quinn is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her role as the title character in the 1982 film Annie, which earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations.

Gregg Alan Mast was a Reformed clergyman, scholar, and seminary president. Mast was the author of six books on Christian practice and theology, and the editor of a collection of sermons by Reformed minister and theologian Howard G. Hageman

Soon-Yi Previn is the wife of filmmaker Woody Allen and the adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow and musician André Previn. Her romantic relationship with Allen created public controversy when it became known in 1992; Allen had been the long-term partner of Previn's adoptive mother, Mia Farrow. Previn married Allen in 1997.

William J. Barber II is an American Protestant minister, social activist, professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He is the president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for...

Robert McNair Price is an American New Testament scholar who argues in favor of the Christ myth theory – the claim that a historical Jesus did not exist. Price is the author of a number of books on biblical studies and the historicity of Jesus.

James Edward Cheek was president of Howard University from 1968 to 1989. He was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.

James Simester was an American Methodist missionary and educator to Fuzhou, China.

Rev. Charles Irving Carpenter was an American pastor and the first Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force.

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.

Rev. Henry Gerhard Appenzeller was an American Methodist missionary. He and four other missionaries, including Horace N. Allen, Horace G. Underwood, William B. Scranton, and Mary F. Scranton introduced Protestant Christianity to Korea from 1885 to 1902. He was known for his three major contributions to Korea: the Paichai College Hall, the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Seoul, and the...

Robert William Edgar was an American politician, administrator, and religious leader. A native of the Philadelphia area, he began his career as a Methodist pastor and chaplain. He served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1987, representing the 7th district of Pennsylvania. He was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for United States Senate...

Channing Emery Phillips was an American minister, civil rights leader, and social activist based in Washington, D.C. In 1968, he was the first African American in history to be placed in nomination for president of the United States by a major political party.

Jeffrey L. Smith was the author of several cookbooks and the host of The Frugal Gourmet, a popular American cooking show. The show began in Tacoma, Washington, as Cooking Fish Creatively on local PBS station KTPS (now KBTC-TV), where it aired from 1973 to 1977. It then moved to WTTW in Chicago, and finally to KQED in San Francisco where...

Pamela E. Klassen FRSC is a Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, co-appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. In 2019, Klassen was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

William Cecil Campbell FRS is an Irish-American microbiologist known for his work in discovering a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworms, for which he was jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He helped to discover a class of drugs called avermectins, whose derivatives have been shown to have "extraordinary efficacy" in treating River blindness and...