10 Notable alumni of Houghton College
Updated: June 13, 2026 EliteDegrees
Houghton College is ranked #3,390 in the world and #882 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 10 notable alumni from Houghton 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 Houghton College won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Walter Sheffer
1918-2002 (aged 84)
photographer
Walter S. Sheffer was an American photographer and teacher, born in Youngsville, Pennsylvania. He moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1945 to work at the studio of John Platz, Milwaukee's main society photographer. When Platz retired, Sheffer inherited his clientele and was able to establish his own "look" and very successful portrait studio by 1953. He also taught advanced portraiture at...
+ show more
2. Wilfred Conwell Bain
1908-1997 (aged 89)
music educator
composer
Wilfred Conwell Bain was an American music educator, a university level music school administrator (former Dean of two major music schools spanning 35 years), and an opera theater director at the collegiate level. Bain is widely credited for rapidly transforming to national prominence both the University of North Texas College of Music as dean from 1938 to 1947, and later,...
+ show more
3. Neil MacBride
1965-. (aged 61)
lawyer
Neil Harvey MacBride is an American attorney who served as the General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury in the Biden administration. He previously served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed MacBride's nomination as U.S. Attorney on September 15, 2009, and he took office three days later. He left...
+ show more
4. Ira S. Bowen
1898-1973 (aged 75)
astrophysicist
astronomer
physicist
Ira Sprague Bowen was an American physicist and astronomer. In 1927 he discovered that nebulium was not really a chemical element but instead doubly ionized oxygen.
+ show more
5. Robert E. Longacre
1922-2014 (aged 92)
linguist
Robert E. Longacre was an American linguist and missionary who worked on the Triqui language and a text-based theory and method of discourse analysis. He is well known for his seminal studies of discourse structure (text linguistics), but he also made significant contributions in other linguistic areas, especially the historical linguistics of Mixtec, Trique, and other related languages. His PhD...
+ show more
6. Douglas Comer
1949-. (aged 77)
computer scientist
Douglas Earl Comer is a professor of computer science at Purdue University, where he teaches courses on operating systems and computer networks. He has written numerous research papers and textbooks, and currently heads several networking research projects. He has been involved in TCP/IP and internetworking since the late 1970s, and is an internationally recognized authority. He designed and implemented X25NET...
+ show more
7. Kim Pegula
1969-. (aged 57)
Kim S. Pegula is a South Korean-born American former businesswoman and the wife of American multibillionaire Terry Pegula. She was the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that managed the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, in addition to several other minor league sports teams and entertainment...
+ show more
8. Robert Beckford
1965-. (aged 61)
theologian
Robert Beckford is a British academic theologian and formerly Professor of Climate and Social Justice at the University of Winchester, with associate roles as a Professor of Black Theology at The Queen's Foundation and as a Professor of Theology at VU University, Amsterdam. His documentaries for both the BBC and Channel 4 have caused debate among the religious community, instigated...
+ show more
9. Deborah L. Birx
1956-. (aged 70)
diplomat
soldier
researcher
immunologist
physician
Deborah Leah Birx is an American physician and diplomat who served as the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force under President Donald Trump from 2020 to 2021. Birx specializes in HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. Starting in 2014, she oversaw the implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program to support HIV/AIDS treatment...
+ show more
10. Richard Mouw
1940-. (aged 86)
university teacher
theologian
philosopher
Richard John Mouw is an American theologian and philosopher. He held the position of President at Fuller Theological Seminary for 20 years (1993–2013), and continues to hold the post of Professor of Faith and Public Life.
+ show more