18 Notable alumni of Metropolitan State University of Denver
Updated: June 14, 2026 EliteDegrees
Metropolitan State University of Denver is ranked #2,104 in the world and #527 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 18 notable alumni from Metropolitan State University of Denver sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Metropolitan State University of Denver won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Hugo Teufel III
1961-. (aged 65)
lawyer
Hugo Teufel III is an American lawyer and former government official.
2. Bobby LeFebre
1982-. (aged 44)
poet
Bobby LeFebre is an American poet, performer, and cultural worker. He was the Poet Laureate of Colorado from 2019 to 2023. He was the state's youngest and first poet laureate of color.
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3. Omar Hurricane
1986-1990 (aged 4)
physicist
Omar Hurricane is a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in the thermonuclear and inertial confinement fusion design division. Hurricane completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles under the supervision of Professor René Pellat in 1994. He remained at UCLA as a postdoc under adviser Steven Cowley (now Director of PPPL), studying the kink and nonlinear ballooning...
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4. Ricardo Baca
1977-. (aged 49)
newspaper editor
editor
Ricardo Baca is an American journalist best known for being the first full-time marijuana rights editor for a major American newspaper. He was an editor at The Denver Post, producing The Cannabist for over three years until December, 2016. He is the "central character" of the 2015 documentary film Rolling Papers. He also shares his name with the first person...
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5. Kevin Van Winkle
politician
Kevin Van Winkle is a Colorado politician serving as a Douglas County Commissioner. He is a former member of the Colorado Senate, representing the 30th district in Douglas County. Previously, he served in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 43rd District, which encompassed Highlands Ranch, Colorado. A Republican, Van Winkle owns a small business based in Highlands Ranch.
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6. David W. Ball
1949-. (aged 77)
writer
novelist
David Wadsworth Ball is an American author whose novels include Empires of Sand (1999), China Run (2002) and Ironfire (2004). His short story, The Scroll, was published in Warriors (2010), and Warriors 2 (2010), anthologies assembled by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. The short story Provenance was included in an anthology entitled Rogues, published by Bantam Spectra in 2014.
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7. Steve Lebsock
politician
Steve Lebsock is an American politician who served in the Colorado House of Representatives from the 34th district as a member of the Democratic and Republican parties from 2013 until his expulsion in 2018. Prior to his tenure in the state house he served on the city council in Thornton, Colorado from 2003 to 2011.
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8. Tom Sullivan
1956-. (aged 70)
politician
Leo Thomas Sullivan III is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Colorado Senate. He represents District 27, which includes all or parts of Aurora, Centennial, Dove Valley, Inverness, and Foxfield in Arapahoe and Douglas counties.
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9. Biem Benyamin
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Biem Triani Benyamin is an Indonesian politician and businessman. He was Indonesian senator from Jakarta, known for proposing a judicial review allowing independent candidates to run in regional elections. He also chaired the special committee in the parliament for revising the Jakarta Special Capital Region Government Act. Biem Benyamin is the third son of Benyamin Sueb, Betawi iconic figure. He...
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10. Katherine Archuleta
1949-. (aged 77)
teacher
Katherine L. Archuleta is an American teacher and a political executive. She was the director of the United States Office of Personnel Management. President Barack Obama appointed her on May 23, 2013. She was sworn in on November 4, 2013. She had previously served as National Political Director for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. Prior to that, she had been executive...
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11. Brittany Pettersen
1981-. (aged 45)
politician
Brittany Louise Pettersen is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Colorado's 7th congressional district since 2023. She previously served as a member of the Colorado Senate from the 22nd district, and in the Colorado House of Representatives, representing the 28th district. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
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12. David Barlow
1983-. (aged 43)
basketball player
David Barlow is an Australian basketball player and coach. He currently serves as an assistant coach of Melbourne United in the National Basketball League (NBL). He also serves as player-coach of the Sandringham Sabres in the NBL1 South.
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13. Hayden Smith
1985-. (aged 41)
rugby union player
basketball player
American football player
Hayden Smith is an Australian retired professional rugby union player who played for Saracens FC and the United States national rugby union team. Smith also spent two years playing professional American football as a tight end for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL).
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14. Charles Hoskinson
1987-. (aged 39)
entrepreneur
mathematician
Charles Hoskinson is an American entrepreneur who is a co-founder of the blockchain engineering company IOHK, and the Cardano blockchain platform, and was a co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain platform.
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15. Pam Grier
1949-. (aged 77)
actor
television actor
film actor
karateka
stage actor
Pamela Suzette Grier is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation and women-in-prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures. Her accolades include nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a...
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16. Laura J. Richardson
1963-. (aged 63)
army officer
military aviator
Laura Jane Richardson is a retired United States Army general who last served as the commander of United States Southern Command from 2021 to 2024. Prior to that, she was the commanding general of United States Army North from 2019 to 2021.
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17. Dani Rylan
1987-. (aged 39)
ice hockey player
Dani Rylan Kearney is an American entrepreneur and former ice hockey player. She is the founder and former commissioner of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the first professional women's hockey league in the United States, and the first professional women's hockey league ever to pay its players in North America. Prior to launching the league in March 2015, Rylan...
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18. Nick Kay
1992-. (aged 34)
basketball player
Nicholas Colin Kay is an Australian professional basketball player for Shimane Susanoo Magic of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Metro State Roadrunners before beginning his professional career in the National Basketball League (NBL). He won two NBL championships with the Perth Wildcats in 2019 and 2020. He also won a New Zealand NBL championship and league...
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