15 Notable alumni of Rhode Island College

Gary Siuzdak is an American chemist best known for his work in the field of metabolomics, activity metabolomics, and mass spectrometry. His lab discovered indole-3-propionic acid as a gut bacteria derived metabolite in 2009. He is currently the Professor and Director of The Center for Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. Siuzdak has also made...

Emeline S. Burlingame was an American editor, evangelist and suffragist. She served for seven years as president of the Rhode Island Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and was the first president of the Free Baptist Woman‘s Missionary Society (WMS or FBWMS). She was a licensed preacher, and was three times a delegate to the free baptist triennial conference. Burlingame held...

Peter Boyer is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and former professor of music. He is known primarily for his orchestral works, which have received over 900 performances, by more than 300 orchestras, and most notably his compositions on American themes.

Patricia Cronin is a New York-based feminist cross-disciplinary artist. Since the early-1990s, Cronin has garnered international attention for her photographs, paintings and sculptures that address contemporary human rights issues. Cronin's conceptual artistic practice transits across many aesthetic platforms addressing social justice issues of gender, sexuality and class, including: lesbian visibility, feminist art history, marriage equality and international rights of women...

Alice Elizabeth Locke Park was an American suffragist and a longtime defender of women's rights. She served as associate director of the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Committee of California.

Shunee Yee Ms. Shunee Yee is the President and CEO of CSOFT International and CSOFT Health Sciences. Responsible for its organic growth from a start-up in a two-bedroom apartment, to becoming an industry leader, Yee oversees CSOFT’s operations across 3 continents.

Robert J. Healey Jr. was an American attorney, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder of Rhode Island's Cool Moose Party, the state's third-largest political party from 1994 until 2002, and was a perennial candidate for statewide office. Healey ran for governor or lieutenant governor a total of seven times. Running as an independent candidate in 2010, he won...

George Anthony Sifakis is a former United States federal government official and government relations professional. Since November 2017, he is the CEO of Ideagen Global. He previously served in the transition team for Donald Trump's first presidency at the Department of Commerce, before serving as Deputy Director and later Director of the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump administration...

Josephine Silone Yates was an American professor, writer, public speaker, and activist. She trained in chemistry and became one of the first black professors hired at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. Upon her promotion, she became the first black woman to head a college science department. She may have been the first black woman to hold a full professorship...

Peter Thomas Gaynor is an American emergency manager who served briefly as acting Secretary of Homeland Security under President Trump. Gaynor previously served as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He was appointed as Acting Administrator by President Donald Trump on March 8, 2019, and became Administrator on January 16, 2020.

Sabina Matos is an American politician serving as the 70th lieutenant governor of Rhode Island. Sabina Matos is the first Dominican American elected to statewide office in the United States. Matos also holds the distinction of being the first Black statewide officeholder in Rhode Island.

Annie Smith Peck was an American mountaineer and adventurer. The northern peak of the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca mountain chain, Huascarán was named Cumbre Aña Peck in Peck's honor. She was an ardent suffragist and noted speaker. She lectured extensively for many years throughout the world, and wrote four books encouraging travel and exploration.

Allan Wai-Ket Fung is an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, from 2009 to 2021. Fung, who is of Chinese descent, was the first Chinese American mayor in Rhode Island. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014 and 2018 elections as well as the Republican nominee for...

Viola Davis is an American actress and film producer. Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century (2020). Davis received the Cecil...