List of Amherst College people

This is a list of notable people affiliated with Amherst College.

Notable alumni

College founders and presidents

Edward Duffield Neill 1842, first Chancellor of the University of Minnesota, 1858-1861; founder and first president of Macalester College, 1873-1874 (professor and author at Macalester, 1874-1893)
William S. Clark 1848, second president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Reverend Daniel Bliss 1852, founder of American University of Beirut
Henry Martin Tupper 1859, founder of Shaw University
Francis Amasa Walker 1860, third president of MIT
William Jacob Holland 1869, fifth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh
Joseph Hardy Neesima 1870, founder of Doshisha University in Japan
Frank Goodnow 1879, president of Johns Hopkins University
Benjamin Rush Rhees 1883, third president of the University of Rochester (1900-1935)
Frederic B. Pratt 1887, president of Pratt Institute (1893-1937)
Bertrand Snell 1894, president of Clarkson University
Lewis Williams Douglas 1916, ninth Principal of McGill University
Richard Glenn Gettell 1933, president of Mount Holyoke College
Paul L. Ward 1933, president of Sarah Lawrence College
David Truman 1935, president of Mount Holyoke College
Calvin Plimpton 1939, thirteenth president of Amherst College; president of Downstate Medical Center and American University of Beirut
Paul Bragdon 1950, president of Reed College and Oregon Graduate Institute
Charles H. Trout 1953, president of Harcum College
Richard M. Freeland 1963, president of Northeastern University (1996-2006)
Colin Diver 1965, current president of Reed College
Richard L. McCormick 1969, current president of Rutgers University (also former president of the University of Washington, 1995-2002)
William S. Pfeiffer 1969, current president of Warren Wilson College
Julius Hawley Seelye 1849, fifth president of Amherst College (creator of system of latin honors)
George Harris 1866, seventh president of Amherst College
Stanley King 1903, eleventh president of Amherst College
Charles Woolsey Cole 1927, twelfth president of Amherst College
Julian Gibbs 1947, fifteenth president of Amherst College

Academics

Economist and Political Economist Francis Amasa Walker 1860
Geologist Benjamin Kendall Emerson 1865
Political Scientist John Burgess 1867
Historian Herbert Baxter Adams 1872
Librarian Melvil Dewey 1874, of the Dewey Decimal System
Economist John Bates Clark 1875, namesake of the John Bates Clark Medal
Historian Frederic Bancroft 1882, namesake of the Bancroft Prize
Astronomer Raymond Smith Dugan 1899
Educator and Philosopher Scott Buchanan 1916, founder of Great Books program at St. John's College
Sociologist Talcott Parsons 1924
Chemist Paul Doughty Bartlett 1928 (recipient of the National Medal of Science, 1968)
Mathematician Stephen Cole Kleene 1930 (recipient of the National Medal of Science,1990)
Chemist William Summer Johnson 1936 (recipient of the National Medal of Science, 1987)
Poet and Professor Richard P. Wilbur 1942, the second poet to be named U.S. Poet Laureate
Poet and Translater David Ferry 1946 (recipient of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, 2000)
Chemist Julian Howard Gibbs 1947, former chairman of the Chemistry Department of Brown University and President of Amherst College (won the High Polymer Prize of the American Physical Society, 1967; continued his research at Amherst)
Neuroscientist James Olds 1947, one of the most important psychologist of the twentieth century
Political Scientist Richard Fenno 1948, namesake of Fenno's Paradox and Richard F. Fenno Jr. Prize
Physicist Henry Kendall 1950
Microbiologist Carl R. Woese 1950
Political Scientist Andrew Hacker 1951
Physical Chemist Peter Toennies 1952, former director of the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research; recipient, inter alia, of the Physics Award of the Gottingen Academy of Sciences, the Stern-Geriach Gold Medal (experimental physics), and the Kolos Medal (chemistry) (2006)
Economist Edmund Phelps 1955
Scientist David Suzuki 1958
Historian John W. Dower 1959, recipient, inter alia, of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Bancroft Prize, and the Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award (2004)
Literary Critic, philosopher, and law professor James Boyd White, 1960, credited with founding the "Law and Literature" movement
MIT Institute Professor John M. Deutch 1961
Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz 1964
Physical Chemist Robert W. Field 1965, recipient, inter alia, of the Broida Prize, Plyler Prize, Lippincott Award, and Nobel Laureate Signature Award
Philosopher William Lycan 1966
Historian Theodore Rosengarten 1966
Computer Scientist David S. Johnson 1967
Anthropologist Loring Danforth 1971
Enviornmental Biologist Peter M. Vitousek 1971, named America's best ecologist by Time Magazine and CNN, recipient of the Princeton Environmental Prize (2002)
Geophysicist, Earth and Planetary Scientist, and Astronomer Raymond Jeanloz 1975
Bioethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel 1979, nationally known medical ethicist
Chemist Amy Rosenzweig 1988

Professional Athletes

John F. Dunleavy ex 1904, pitcher, St. Louis Cardinals, 1903-1905
Howard Groskloss 1930, infielder, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1930-1932
Doug Swift 1970, Linebacker, Miami Dolphins, 1970-1975
Jean Fugett 1972, Tight End, Dallas Cowboys 1972-1975, and Washington Redskins, 1976-1979
Freddie Scott 1974, Wide Receiver, Baltimore Colts, 1974-77, and Detroit Lions 1978-1983
Richard N. Thompson 1980, pitcher, Cleveland Indians, 1985, and Montreal Expos, 1989-1990
John J. Cerutti 1982, pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays, 1985-1990, and Detroit Tigers, 1991

Clergy and Biblical scholars

Missionary and scholar Elijah Coleman Bridgman 1826, the first American Protestant missionary appointed to China, America's first "China expert"
Biblical scholar Horatio Balch Hackett 1830
Preacher Henry Ward Beecher 1834
Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley 1835(?), eighth Archbishop of Baltimore, first Bishop of Newark, New Jersey
Roswell Dwight Hitchcock 1836, president of Union Theological Seminary (1880-87)
Missionary and linguist Justin Perkins 1829
Biblical scholar Henry Preserved Smith 1869, Professor at Amherst College (1897-1906)
Christian evangelist Uchimura Kanzo 1887, founder of Nonchurch Movement of Christianity in the Meiji period and the Taisho period in Japan
Theologian and activist Robert McAfee Brown 1943, United States Navy chaplain (1945-1946); international leader in social justice, civil rights, and ecumenical causes
Canadian Anglican priest Roland de Corneille 1948(?), human rights activist, initiated an interfaith dialogue between Christian and Jewish communities in Canada that ultimately spread to the United States and Europe (also member of Canadian House of Commons)

Politicians

Representative Edward Dickinson 1823, father of Emily
Representative Lincoln Clark 1825 (Iowa) (also Attorney General of Alabama and circuit judge)
Representative James Humphrey 1831 (New York)
Robert Purvis 1831(?), antebellum African American abolitionist, supporter of Underground Railroad
Representative Nathan Belcher 1832 (Connecticut) (also state legislator and lawyer)
Alexander H. Bullock 1836, Governor of Massachusetts (also state legislator, judge, and mayor)
Representative Lucien Barbour 1837 (Indiana) (also U.S. Attorney)
Representative David Stuart 1838 (Michigan)
Representative Horace Maynard (Tennessee) 1838 (also Attorney General of Tennessee, Postmaster General in Cabinet of Rutherford B. Hayes, and Minister to Turkey in Administration of Ulysses S. Grant)
Senator Samuel Clarke Pomeroy ex (1836-38) (Kansas) (served during the American Civil War)
John P. Sanderson 1839, member of Provisional Confederate Congress (Florida)
Representative Martin R. Thayer ex 1840 (Pennsylvania) (also state judge)
Representative Charles Delano 1840 (Massachusetts)
Charles L. Robinson 1839(?), first Governor of Kansas (1861-1863) (also physician, abolitionist, and regent of the University of Kansas)
Representative Waldo Hutchins 1842 (New York)
Speaker of the House Galusha A. Grow 1844 (Pennsylvania) (24th Speaker)
Representative Julius H. Seelye 1849 (Massachusetts) (also president of Amherst College, 1877-1890)
Representative Charles P. Thompson 1846 (Massachusetts) (also U.S. Assistant D. A. and judge)
Representative Samuel M. Arnell ex 1855 (Tennessee)
Representative William Whiting II 1862(?) (Massachusetts) (state legislator and mayor)
Representative William Shadrach Knox 1865 (Massachusetts)
Representative Francis W. Rockwell 1868 (Massachusetts) (also state legislator and judge)
Representative Charles H. Allen 1869 (Massachusetts) (also Assistant Secretary of Navy in Mckinley Administration, first civil Governor of Puerto Rico, painter)
Representative Caleb R. Layton 1873 (Delaware) (also Delaware Secretary of State and physician)
Representative Lewis Sperry 1873 (Connecticut) (also state legislator and lawyer)
Senator and Speaker of the House Frederick H. Gillett 1874 (Massachusetts) (37th Speaker)
Representative Henry Stockbridge, Jr. 1877 (Maryland) (also Regent of the University of Maryland)
George H. Utter 1877, U.S. Representative and Rhode Island Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State
Representative George P. Lawrence 1880 (Massachusetts) (also state legislator and judge)
Senator Frank C. Partridge 1882 (Vermont) (also solicitor of the Department of State, U.S. Minister to Venezuela, and consul general to Tangier, Morocco)
Speaker of the House Henry T. Rainey 1883 (Illinois) (40th Speaker)
Representative Edward Bassett 1884 (New York) (a founding father of modern day urban planning)
Member of Parliament in Canada Sir Herbert Ames 1885 (also financial director of the League of Nations)
Robert Lansing 1886, Secretary of State 1915-1920
Representative Allen T. Treadway 1886 (Massachusetts) (in office sixteen consecutive terms)
William Estabrook Chancellor 1889, nemesis of Warren G. Harding
Representative George B. Churchill 1889 (Massachusetts) (also Professor at Amherst College)
Representative Bertrand Snell 1894 (New York) (also House minority leader)
President Calvin Coolidge 1895 (also Massachusetts Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Vice-President of the United States)
Representative Charles B. Law 1895 (New York)
Senator Dwight Morrow 1895 (New Jersey) (also Ambassador to Mexico, Secretary of the Navy, Partner at J. P. Morgan & Co.)
Representative Albert E. Austin 1899 (Connecticut) (also physician and stepfather of Clare Booth Luce)
Representative Foster Waterman Stearns 1903 (New Hampshire) (also regent of the Smithsonian Institution)
Representative Bruce Fairchild Barton 1907 (New York)
Lewis W. Douglas 1916, Representative (Arizona); Director, Office of Management and Budget; Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Representative Augustus W. Bennet 1918 (New York)
John J. McCloy 1919, Military Governor of Germany (1949-1952), Assistant Secretary of War (1941-1945) (also member of Warren Commission, Draper Committee, and Council on Foreign Relations)
Senator Kingsley A. Taft 1925 (Ohio) (also judge and chief justice of Ohio Supreme Court)
Representative Thomas Ballenger 1948 (Ohio) (served consecutive terms, 1986-2005)
Member of Parliament in Canada Roland de Corneille 1948(?)
Harry Barnes 1949, former U.S. Ambassador to Chile, India, Romania
Senator Thomas F. Eagleton 1950 (Missouri), one-time running mate of George McGovern (also Missouri Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor)
Ulric Haynes, Jr. 1952, U.S. Ambassador to Algeria, staff member of U.S. National Security Council
Richard W. DeKorte 1957 New Jersey, Energy Czar and former member and majority leader of the New Jersey General Assembly
Hiroaki Fujii 1958, former Japanese Ambassador to Thailand and Great Britian (current President of the Japan Foundation)
Representative Robert H. Steele 1960 (Connecticut, 1970-1975)
Kazuo Asakai 1967, the Japanese Ambassador to the European Union; former Ambassador to Myanmar
Representative Thomas M. Davis III 1971 (Virginia)
Eric Kriss 1971, former Massachusetts Secretary for Finance and Administration
Samuel I. Rosenberg 1972, member, Maryland House of Delegates and law professor
Peter Franchot 1973, Maryland Comptroller and former member of the Maryland House of Delegates
David D. Freudenthal 1973, Governor of Wyoming (also former U.S. Attorney)
Representative Martin Hoke 1973 (Ohio) (1993-1997)
Giorgios A. Papandreou 1975, former Foreign Minister of Greece
Eric T. Schneiderman 1977, New York State Senator, former deputy minority leader
Albert II of Monaco 1981
Francisco G. Flores 1981, former President of El Salvador
Uhuru Kenyatta 1985, opposition leader in Kenya
Paul Rieckhoff 1998, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Gregory F. Jacob _?, solicitor of the Department of Labor

Lawyers and judges

Henry Stockbridge, Jr. 1877, Judge, Maryland Court of Appeals (1911-1926)
William Henry Lewis 1892, first African-American to hold a sub-cabinet position in the United States.
Harlan Fiske Stone 1894, Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, U.S. Attorney General, Professor and Dean of Columbia Law School
Charles Hamilton Houston 1915, legal architect of school desegregation resulting in Brown v. Board; first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review; recipient of the Spingarn Medal
John J. McCloy 1919, name partner in Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; adviser of seven Presidents
Leonard Page Moore 1919(?), Federal appellate judge (Second Circuit), 1957-1971; senior status, 1971; U.S. Attorney, 1953-1957
William Henry Hastie 1925, first African-American Federal District judge; first African-American Federal appellate judge and Chief Judge (Third Circuit); first African-American Governor of U.S. Virgin Islands; dean of Howard University Law School; second African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review; recipient of the Spingarn Medal
Kingsley A. Taft 1925, former Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
Donald G. Murray 1934, plaintiff in Murray v. Pearson
Nauman Scott 1934, Federal District judge (1970-1984)
Robert M. Morgenthau 1941, District Attorney of New York County and former U.S. Attorney
William H. Webster 1947, former Federal District judge and Federal Appellate judge (Eighth Circuit) (also U.S. Attorney, 1960-1961; awarded National Security Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom)
Alexander M. Keith 1950, former Justice and Chief Justice of the Minnesota State Supreme Court
Edward C. Stringer 1957, Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court (1994-2002)
Alvin Klevorick 1963, Professor, Yale Law School
Peter Messitte 1963, Federal District judge
Colin Diver 1965, former Professor and Dean, University of Pennsylvania Law School
John C. Coffee 1966, Professor, Columbia Law School
Robert Harrison 1968, Professor, Yale Law School
William P. Alford 1970, Professor and Director of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School
Samuel H. Mays 1970, Federal District judge
E. G. Noyes 1970, Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals (1992-2003)
Joseph H. Hartzler 1972, lead U.S. Attorney for the Oklahoma City bombing trial
William W. Fisher 1976, Professor, Harvard Law School
Paul M. Smith 1976, winning attorney of Lawrence v. Texas (renown Supreme Court practitioner)
Patrick Fitzgerald 1982, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Dept. of Justice Special Counsel in charge of investigating the Valerie Plame scandal; prosecutor of Scooter Libby and former Illinois governor George Ryan
Karin Immergut 1982, U.S. Attorney

Businesspeople

Daniel Collamore Heath 1868, publisher, founder of D.C. Heath and Company, now part of Houghton Mifflin
Washington Irving Putnam ex 1872, one of G. P. Putnam's Sons
Henry Clay Folger 1879, former Standard Oil president, Folger Shakespeare Library founder
Charles Millard Pratt 1879, company secretary of Standard Oil.
Arthur Vining Davis 1888, president and chairman of Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), 1910-1953; founder of Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Bruce Fairchild Barton 1907, co-founder of precursor to BBDO and head of BBDO until 1961
Charles E. Merrill ex 1908, the founder of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Clarence Birdseye ex 1910, food preservationist and founder of Birds Eye Foods
John J. McCloy 1919, former chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and the Ford Foundation; second president of the World Bank
Edward N. Ney 1946, CEO of Young & Rubicam (also former U.S. Ambassador to Canada)
Harry Dalton 1950, former executive in front office of American Major League baseball; served as general manager of three major league baseball teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers
H. Irving Grousbeck 1956, co-founder and past chairman of Continental Cablevision (also current Professor at Stanford Business School)
Amos B. Hostetter, Jr. 1958, former chief executive officer of MediaOne
John Abele 1959, founder and director of Boston Scientific
Hugh B. Price 1963, former President of the National Urban League
Daniel J. Sullivan 1969, founder of Roadway Package System (now FedEx Ground)
Glen Lewy 1971, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, National Chair of the Anti-Defamation League, New York State lawyer, investment banker, and venture capitalist
Winthrop H. Smith, Jr. 1971, entrepreneur; former executive vice president of Merrill Lynch & Co. and chairman of Merrill International
John Tarnoff 1973, senior executive at DreamWorks Animation, head of Show Development
Daniel F. Duquette 1980, former executive in front office of Major League baseball; served as general manager of two major league baseball teams, including the Boston Red Sox
Charles Brewer 1981, entreprenuer and founder of Mindspring Enterprises, an internet service provider
Sung Joo Kim 1981, Director, Sung Joo International
Benjamin P. Cherington 1996, vice president of player personnel for the Boston Red Sox
George N. Gillett, Jr. ex, chairman of Booth Creek Management Corp., Booth Ski Creek Holdings, Inc.; owns various interests in the food industry and in sports teams, including the NHL Montreal Canadiens
Fritz van Paasschen _(?), CEO of Sherwood Hotels & Resorts, Worldwide, Inc; former president and CEO of Coors Brewing Company

CIA Directors

Stansfield Turner ex 1945 (1977-81) (also President of Naval War College, 1972-1974)
William H. Webster 1947 (1987-91) (also FBI Director, 1978-1987)
John M. Deutch 1960 (1995-96) (also United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1994-1995)

Nobel Prize winners

Henry W. Kendall 1950 (1990, Physics)
Edmund Phelps 1955 (2006, Economics)
Harold E. Varmus 1961 (1989, Medicine), former Director of the National Institutes of Health (1993-2000), and recipient of the 2001 National Medal of Science
Joseph E. Stiglitz 1964 (2001, Economics), former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers

Pulitzer Prize winners

Richard P. Wilbur 1942 (1957, Poetry; 1989, Poetry) (also U.S. Poet Laureate; recipient of the National Book Award, the Bollingen Prize, and the Frost Medal)
James I. Merrill 1947 (1977, Poetry) (twice named the recipient of the National Book Award, 1967 and 1979; recipient of the Bollingen Prize, the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, and the Glascock Prize)
William S. McFeely 1952 (1982, Biography) (also recipient of the Lincoln Prize)
Blair Kamin 1979 (1999, Criticism)
Richard Read 1980 (1999, Explanatory; 2001, Public Service(team) )
Debby Applegate 1989 (2007, Biography)

MacArthur Fellowship Winners

Carl R. Woese 1950, microbiologist (recipient of the National Medal of Science,1988; the Leeuwenhoek Medal, 1992; and the Crafoord Prize, 2003)
Theodore Rosengarten 1966, historian
Raymond Jeanloz 1975, geophysicist, earth and planetary scientist, and astronomer
Rosanne Haggerty 1982, leading creator of solutions to homelessness
David Foster Wallace 1985, novelist
Amy Rosenzweig 1988, chemist

Astronauts

Robert A. R. Parker 1958, PhD from the California Institute of Technology (Astronomy)
Jeffrey A. Hoffman 1966, PhD from Harvard University (Astrophysics)

Physicians

Dr. Walter Wyman 1870, Surgeon General of the United States from 1891-1911
Dr. Charles R. Drew 1926, blood bank pioneer, first to separate blood plasma, established first Red Cross blood bank, recipient of the Spingarn Medal
Dr. K. Frank Austin 1950, renowned immunologist, Professor at Harvard Medical School
Dr. John P. Howe, III 1965, President & CEO, Project HOPE (USA)
Dr. Curt I. Civin 1966, inventor of the biomedical process for stem cell transplantation; discoverer of the CD34 lympho-hematopoeitic stem cell antigen; Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics at John Hopkins University
Dr. David Kessler 1973, head of the Food and Drug Administration 1990-1997
Dr. Paul Yock 1973, known internationally for work in inventing, developing, and testing new medical devices; Professor of Medicine and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University
Talk show host D. Drew Pinsky 1980
Dr. Harold E. Varmus 1961, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, co-founder and chairman of the board of the Public Library of Science
Dr. David D. Burns 1964, psychiatrist, influential psychotherapist, has had a cental role in the development of Cognitive Therapy *Dr. Robert Yarchoan 1971, played a significant role in discovering and developing the first effective drugs for the treatment of AIDS
Dr. James Ewing 1888, namesake of Ewing's Sarcoma; became the most important experimental oncologist and helped found the progenitor of the American Cancer Society; responsible for the creation of present-day Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City

Entertainers

Actor Emery B. Pottle 1899
Actor Fred Everett Glass 1914
Actor Burgess Meredith 1931
Actor Kenneth Howard, 1966
Actor Stephen Collins 1969
Magician Raymond J. Teller 1969, of Penn and Teller
Composer James R. Steinman 1969
Writer Robert Stuart Nathan 1970, creator of "Law & Order" series
Writer and director Henry Bromell 1971
Actor Garrett M. Brown 1971 of Sisters etc.
Comedian and actor Lawrence J. Miller 1975
Director David O. Russell 1981E
John Cerutti 1982, major-league baseball pitcher and broadcaster
Writer and director Victor Levin of Mad About You 1983
Susannah R. Grant 1984, screenwriter of Pocahontas, Ever After, Erin Brockovich, etc.
Actor John Michael Higgins 1985
Musician Jonatha Brooke Mallet 1985
Writer David Foster Wallace 1985
Musician Jennifer Kimball 1986
Actor Jeffrey C. Wright 1987
Actor John Cariani 1991, on Law & Order
Writer Alan Dybner 1993, of That '70s Show
Actress Sarah Goldberg 1996, actress on 7th Heaven and Judging Amy
Writer Frank Pines 1996, writer on The New Adventures of Old Christine and Everybody Loves Raymond
Actor Hamish Linklater 1998, actor on The New Adventures of Old Christine and American Dreams
Actor Rob Brown 2006, of Coach Carter and Finding Forrester; cast in lead role of Ernie Davis in the film "The Express"

Authors and artists

Architect William Mead 1867, of McKim, Mead, and White
Sculptor Edward C. Potter ex 1882, of the New York Public Library lions
Trumbull White ex 1890, first editor of Red Book Magazine
Children's author Philip D. Eastman 1933
Sports columnist Thomas Boswell 1969, also invented statistic known as the total average in sabermetrics
Novelist Scott F. Turow 1970, also a practising attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney
Photographer David Sanger 1970
Novelist Michael A. Kahn 1974
Cullen Murphy 1974, editor of the Atlantic Monthly and writer, "Prince Valiant" comic strip
Novelist J. G. Sandom 1978, also "Father of Interactive (Internet) Advertising"
Novelist Rand Richards Cooper 1980
Writer Philip Simmons 1980
Novelist Chris Bohjalian 1982
Author and journalist Ted Conover 1983, recipient of the 2000 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction; Pulitzer Prize finalist
FoxTrot cartoonist William J. C. Amend III 1984
Novelist Harlan F. Coben 1984, the first writer to receive an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award, and an Anthony Award
Novelist Mark Costello 1984
Journalist Kate Seelye 1984
Novelist David Foster Wallace 1985
Novelist Dan Brown 1986, author of The Da Vinci Code *Poet Rafael Campo 1987, also a practising physician
Poet Dan Chiasson 1993, recipient of the Pushcart Prize and a Whiting Writer's Award *Novelist Calvin Baker 1994
Get Fuzzy cartoonist Darby N. Conley 1994

Other notables

Phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler 1834
Amiel Weeks Whipple ex 1840, surveyor of the First Transcontinental Railroad
Joseph B. Eastman 1904, Interstate Commerce Commissioner
Leland Olds 1912, Chairman of the Federal Power Commission under FDR
Alexandra Schmidt 2010, a participant in the 2004 ABC special entitled "Fat Like Me" in which she donned a fat suit in order to investigate what it is like for those struggling with obesity, currently attends the college. Her story inspired the 2006 Lifetime original movie To Be Fat Like Me, starring Kaley Cuoco and Caroline Rhea.

Fictional characters

Jonathan Fuerst and his roommate Sandy attend Amherst in the 1971 movie Carnal Knowledge
Jordan McDeere, a character played by Amanda Peet on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, is a fictional alumna of the college who majored in American Studies
Willie Tanner on ALF was a graduate of the college. His daughter Lynn Tanner was accepted but could not go.
Scangrade, a test-scanning robot from the MTV cartoon Clone High, graduated from Amherst.

Notable faculty

Hadley Arkes, Prof. of Political Science since 1966
Henry Steele Commager, Prof. of History, 1956-1992
Benjamin Kendall Emerson 1865, Prof. of Geology, 1872-1917
Robert Frost, Prof. of English, 1916-1938, winner of four Pulitzer Prizes
Norton Garfinkle, Prof. of Economics and Economic History, c. 1957-1967
Anthony Lake, Prof. of International Relations, 1981-1984, former National Security Advisor
Archibald MacLeish, Prof. of English, 1963-1967, winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Award, the Bollingen Prize; curator of the Nieman Foundation; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Hermann J. Muller, Prof. of Biology, 1940-1945, winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Austin Sarat, Prof. of Political Science and Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought since 1974
Lewis Spratlan, Prof. of Music, 1970-2006, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in music
Ilan Stavans, Prof. of Spanish since 1993
William Taubman, Prof. of Political Science, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in biography
Stark Young, Prof. of English, 1915-1921