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6 Notable Stanford alumni
Stanford's most famous alumni include U.S. President Herbert Hoover; Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and William Rehnquist; first daughter Chelsea Clinton; actress Jennifer Connelly; entrepreneur Charles Schwab; Hewlett-Packard cofounders Bill Hewlett and David Packard, author John Steinbeck; and athletes Tiger Woods, John Elway and John McEnroe.
Academic Leaders
- Derek Bok ( 1951), President Emeritus Harvard University
- Vinton Cerf, Internet pioneer
- Vartan Gregorian ( 1958), President Emeritus Brown University; President Carnegie Corporation
- Victor Davis Hanson ( PhD 1980), classicist, historian, National Review contributor
- Clark Kerr ( MA), President Emeritus of the University of California
- Richard Levin ( 1968), President Yale University
- Ronald Rivest ( PhD), cryptographer
- Peter Salovey, Dean Yale University
Actors, Film and Media
- David Brown, movie producer
- Jennifer Connelly, actress
- Ted Danson, actor (transferred to Carnegie-Mellon University)
- Ted Koppel ( MA), journalist
- Daniel Pearl, journalist
- Fred Savage, actor
- Ben Savage, actor
- Sigourney Weaver, actress
- Reese Witherspoon, actress (dropped out)
- Richard Zanuck, movie producer
Astronauts
- Eileen Collins ( MS)
- Mike Fincke ( MS)
- William Fisher
- Owen Garriott ( MS, PhD)
- Susan Helms ( MS)
- Mae Jemison
- Tamara Jernigan ( BS, MS)
- Gregory Linteris ( MS)
- David Low ( MS)
- Edward Lu ( PhD)
- Bruce McCandless ( MS)
- Barbara Rudding Morgan
- Ellen Ochoa ( MS, PhD)
- Scott Parazynski ( BS, MD)
- Sally Ride ( BA, BS, MS, PhD)
- Stephen Robinson ( MS, PhD)
- Steve Smith ( BS, MS, MBA)
- Jeff Wisoff ( MS, PhD)
Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders
- Robert M. Bass , ( MBA 1974) President, Keystone, Inc.
- Sergey Brin ( MS), Google cofounder
- Ray Dolby, audio engineer, founder of Dolby Labs
- David Filo ( MS), Yahoo! cofounder
- Carly Fiorina ( 1976), CEO, Hewlett-Packard
- Bill Hewlett ( 1934), Hewlett-Packard cofounder
- Vinod Khosla ( MBA), Sun Microsystems cofounder, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers partner
- Philip H. Knight ( MBA 1961), founder and CEO, Nike
- Robert Mondavi, vintner
- David Packard ( 1934), Hewlett-Packard cofounder
- Larry Page ( MS), Google cofounder
- Charles R. Schwab ( 1959, MBA 1961), founder, chairman, and CEO of Charles Schwab, Inc.
- Peter Thiel, Paypal cofounder, Clarium Capital founder
- Jerry Yang, Yahoo! cofounder
Literature and Arts
- Dhan Gopal Mukerji, socio-cultural critic and author
- Stewart Brand, editor
- Robbie Conal, artist
- Harriet Doerr , author
- Dana Gioia, poet, head of NEA
- Robert Hass ( MA, PhD), U.S. Poet Laureate
- Ken Kesey ( MA), author
- Robert Motherwell, painter
- Robert Pinsky ( PhD), U.S. Poet Laureate
- Vikram Seth, poet and author
- John Steinbeck, author (dropped out)
- Scott Turow ( MA), author
Miscellaneous
Political Leaders
- Ehud Barak ( MA) former Prime Minister of Israel
- Max Baucus, U.S. Senator
- Jeff Bingaman ( LLB), U.S. Senator
- Frank Church, late U.S. Senator
- Warren Christopher ( LLB), former U.S. Secretary of State
- Kent Conrad, U.S. Senator
- Gray Davis, former Governor of California
- Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States
- William Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Defense
- Thomas M. Storke, U.S. Senator
- Alejandro Toledo ( PhD), President of Peru
- James Woolsey , former CIA director
- Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator
Supreme Court Justices