8 Notable alumni of Spalding University
Updated: June 14, 2026 EliteDegrees
Spalding University is 4254st in the world, 1st in North America, and 1105st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 8 notable alumni from Spalding University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Spalding University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Diana Raab
1954-. (aged 72)
writer
motivational speaker
Diana Raab is an American author, poet, lecturer, educator and inspirational speaker.
2. Parneshia Jones
1967-. (aged 59)
poet
Parneshia Jones is an American publisher, poet, and editor. She is the author of a 2015 poetry collection, Vessel, which won the Midwest Book Award. In 2020, Jones was appointed director of Northwestern University Press.
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3. Holly Gleason
critic
Holly Gleason is an American music critic, songwriter, and music industry consultant. Focused primarily on country and roots music, she has written for Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and Spin, among others. As a publicist, Gleason has worked with artists including Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, and Rodney Crowell. Under the name Lady Goodman, she...
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4. Crystal Wilkinson
1962-. (aged 64)
author
Crystal E. Wilkinson is an African-American feminist writer from Kentucky, and proponent of the Affrilachian Poet movement. She is winner of a 2022 NAACP Image Award and a 2021 O. Henry Prize winner; she is a 2020 USA Fellow of Creative Writing. She teaches at the University of Kentucky. Her work has primarily involved the stories of Black women and...
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5. Ed Hamilton
1947-. (aged 79)
sculptor
Edward Norton Hamilton Jr. is an American sculptor living in Louisville, Kentucky, who specializes in public art. His most famous work is The Spirit of Freedom, a memorial to black Civil War veterans, that stands in Washington, DC, in the Shaw neighborhood near Howard University. Hamilton has also created monuments dedicated to Booker T. Washington, Joe Louis, York (William Clark's...
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6. Silas House
1971-. (aged 55)
writer
novelist
climate activist
opinion journalist
journalist
Silas Dwane House is an American writer best known for his novels. He is also a music journalist, environmental activist, and columnist. His fiction is known for its attention to the natural world, working-class characters, and the plight of the rural place and rural people. House is also known as a representative for LGBTQ Appalachians and Southerners, and is among...
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7. Frank X Walker
1961-. (aged 65)
poet
Frank X Walker Jr. is an African American poet from Danville, Kentucky. Walker coined the word "Affrilachia", signifying the importance of the African American presence in Appalachia: the "new word... spoke to the union of Appalachian identity and the region's African-American culture and history". He is a professor in the English department at the University of Kentucky and was the...
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8. Tony Bennett
Anthony Guy Bennett is an American former professional basketball player and college basketball coach. From 2009 to 2024, he was the head coach of the University of Virginia men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2019. Bennett is a three-time recipient of the Henry Iba Award, two-time Naismith College Coach of the Year, and two-time AP Coach...
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