List of Wayne State University people

Alumni

Academia

• Dr. Wm. Berry Calder, Provost and Vice-President Academic at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• Arthur Danto, Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University
• Paul M. Fleiss, pediatrician, father of Heidi Fleiss
• Scott Harris, professor of communications at the University of Kansas; coach of the 2008 National Debate Champion Jayhawks
• James S. Jackson, director of the Institute for Social Research; Distinguished Professor of Psychology, The University of Michigan
• Michael M. E. Johns, MD, chancellor of Emory University; chairman of Academic Medicine scientific journal; board director of Johnson & Johnson; former CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University; dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• William J. Kaiser, professor and former department chair of Electrical Engineering at UCLA
• Abdi Kusow, professor of sociology and anthropology at Oakland University
• Emmett Leith, Schlumberger Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan and recipient of the National Medal of Science
• William S. Marras, Honda Professor of Industrial Engineering; Director of the Ergonomics Institute at Ohio State University; member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Douglas McGregor, management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and president of Antioch College (1948 to 1954)
• Nancy Milio, originated the notion of healthy public policy, Professor Emeritus of Nursing and Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Saul K. Padover, historian and political scientist at The New School of Social Research in New York City
• Sidney Ribeau, former President of Bowling Green State University, President of Howard University
• Dr. Michael Schwartz (attended), President of Cleveland State University, former President Emeritus of Kent State University
• Stanley E. Zin, Richard M. Cyert and Morris H. DeGroot Professor of Economics and Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University; Frisch Medal winner

Broadcasting and journalism

• Jonathan Arking, broadcast journalist, News Director for radio station WHMI
• Tony Brown, journalist, comedian, and businessman
• Rachelle Consiglio, Executive Producer, The Jerry Springer Show and The Steve Wilkos Show; wife of Steve Wilkos
• Hugh Downs, news anchor for ABC's 20/20
• Wayne Dyer, author, self-help advocate
• Mark Fritz, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
• Bob Giles, retired 40-year Detroit broadcast news manager for WWJ-TV News, WDIV-TV News, and WXYZ-TV Action News; inducted into Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2012
• Darren M. Haynes, SportsCenter anchor at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut
• Jerry Hodak, former Chief Meteorologist for WXYZ-TV Detroit
• Ken Kal, radio play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Red Wings
• Casey Kasem, radio host
• Elvis Mitchell, New York Times film critic (1999-2004), entertainment critic for NPR's Weekend Edition, host of The Treatment on KCRW; programmer of the LACMA Film Screening Program
• Erik Smith, news anchor, WXYZ-TV Detroit
• Helen Thomas, former White House correspondent; "First Lady of the Washington press corps"

Business

• Jim Anderson, president and founder of Urban Science
• Tom Athans, co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio
• Howard Birndorf, biotechnology entrepreneur, founding director of Neurocrine Biosciences
• Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org
• Salvatore A. Cavaliere, business school graduate; builder and land developer in southeastern Michigan
• Bill Davidson, industrialist, billionaire, majority owner of the Detroit Pistons
• Yousif Ghafari, founder and chairman of GHAFARI, Inc., philanthropist, and U.S. Ambassador
• Dan Gilbert, president and founder of Rock Financial and Quicken Loans, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Peter Karmanos, Jr., founder and CEO of Compuware Corporation; owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Plymouth Whalers, and Florida Everblades hockey franchises
• David M. Overton, founder and CEO, The Cheesecake Factory, Inc.
• Madhusudhan Rao Lagadapati, Chairman and CEO Lanco Infratech
• Stephen M. Ross, law school graduate; real estate developer; provided $100 million naming gift for Ross School of Business; Forbes 400 rank: #68 at $4.5 billion

Computers, engineering, and technology

• Harold Mertz (mechanical engineering), created the standard crash test dummy (Hybrid III)
• Ali Nasle (electrical engineering), founder of EDSA Micro Corporation; wrote the world’s first digital short circuit program
• Lawrence Patrick (mechanical and aeronautical engineering), award-winning researcher in the area of automotive passenger safety; served as his own test subject to develop and improve safety systems that included airbags, collapsible steering columns, and automotive safety glass; key researcher in the development of the Wayne State Tolerance Curve, still used for prediction of head injury; vice president for research and development of Libbey Owens Ford Company, the original manufacturer of laminated safety glass

Art and design

• Niels Diffrient, industrial designer
• Tyree Guyton, artist, created the Heidelberg Project
• Ian Hornak, painter
• Leonard D. Jungwirth, sculptor
• Stanley Lechtzin, jewelry and metal artist, founding member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths
• Hughie Lee-Smith, painter
• Timothy Van Laar, artist
• R. John Wright, doll designer and maker

Government and politics

• John D. Altenburg, Army Major General, authority for military commissions covering detainees at Guantanamo
• Christine Beatty, former Detroit Chief of Staff; involved in the Kilpatrick and Beatty text-messaging scandal
• Scott Boman, Michigan politician
• Cora Brown, first African American woman to be elected to a state senate
• Chen Pi-Chao, Vice-Minister of Defense of the Republic of China on Taiwan from 2000 to 2002
• Ken Cockrel Jr., Detroit mayor
• John Conyers, U.S. Representative (D-Michigan)
• Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress (D-Minnesota)
• William D. Ford, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Michigan)
• Yousif Ghafari, former U.S. ambassador to Slovenia
• Mitch Greenlick, member of the Oregon House of Representatives
• Lawrence Kestenbaum, creator and webmaster of The Political Graveyard
• Bruce Patterson, member of the Michigan Senate; former Wayne County Commissioner
• Gary Peters, member of the United States Senate (D-Michigan)
• Teresa Stanek Rea, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
• Lynn N. Rivers, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Michigan)
• Alma G. Stallworth, former Michigan state legislator
• John Townsend, Wisconsin State Assembly

Law

• Shereef Akeel, lawyer, notable for pursuing human rights and civil liberties cases on the behalf of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans
• Sam Bernstein, attorney, founded high-profile firm The Law Offices of Sam Bernstein
• Patricia Boyle, former U.S. federal judge
• Irma Clark-Coleman, member of the Michigan Senate, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives
• John Conyers, U.S. Representative since 1964
• George Cushingberry, Jr., member of the Michigan House of Representatives, youngest ever elected
• Nancy Garlock Edmunds, senior U.S. federal judge
• Tod Ensign, veterans' rights lawyer, founder of the advocacy group Citizen Soldier
• Richard Alan Enslen, United States District Court judge
• Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans Inc.
• Denise R. Johnson, first woman appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court
• Damon Keith, Senior judge for the United States Court of Appeals
• Marilyn Jean Kelly, former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
• Joan Mahoney, law scholar, former professor and Dean of the Wayne State University Law School
• Dorothy Comstock Riley, former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and the first woman to serve on the Michigan Court of Appeals
• Dean Robb, civil rights attorney and activist
• Henry Saad, jurist, Michigan Court of Appeals
• John Weisenberger, former attorney general of Guam

Literature

• Albert Cleage, author, founder of the Black Christian National Movement
• Dorothy Marie Donnelly, poet
• Mariela Griffor, poet and novelist, journalist
• Philip Levine, United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Thomas Ligotti, horror story writer
• Raynetta Mañees, romance novelist
• James Sites, writer, novelist

Military

Adolph McQueen, United States Army Major General; first commander of the Joint Detention Group at Joint Task Force Guantanamo; Deputy Commander of United States Army North

Motion pictures

• Deva Katta, director, screenwriter

Performing arts

• Al Aarons, jazz trumpeter
• Pepper Adams (attended), jazz baritone saxophonist and composer
• Dorothy Ashby, jazz harpist and composer
• Anita Barone, actress, The War at Home
• Cherie Bennett, novelist, actress, director, playwright, newspaper columnist, singer, and television writer for the The Young and the Restless
• Bob Birch, bassist for the Elton John Band
• Ben Blackwell (attended), musician
• Kenny Burrell, jazz guitarist
• Donald Byrd, trumpeter
• Larry Joe Campbell, actor and comedian, cast member of According to Jim
• Council Cargle, theater and film actor
• Toi Derricotte, poet
• Chad Everett, actor, star of Medical Center and Mulholland Drive
• Garth Fagan choreographer, won Tony Award for The Lion King
• Chris Fehn, custom percussionist for the metal band Slipknot
• Jeff Frankenstein (attended), keyboardist for Christian pop/rock band Newsboys, dropped out in 1994 to pursue his career with the band
• Curtis Fuller, trombonist
• Joe Henderson (attended), jazz musician
• Sean Hickey, composer
• Ernie Hudson, actor, Oz, Ghostbusters
• Thorsten Kaye, actor, All My Children, One Life to Live, Port Charles
• Yusef Lateef (attended), jazz musician
• James Lentini, composer and guitarist
• Philip Levine, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; Distinguished Poet in Residence for the Creative Writing Program at New York University
• Joseph LoDuca, Emmy Award-winning composer
• Dave Marsh (attended), music writer, co-founder of Creem magazine
• Tim Meadows, actor, Saturday Night Live, Mean Girls
• Barbara Meek, actress, Archie Bunker's Place
• S. Epatha Merkerson, actress, Law & Order, Lackawanna Blues
• Kenya Moore, Miss USA 1993 and Miss Michigan USA 1983
• Martin Pakledinaz, costume designer, won Tony Awards for Thoroughly Modern Millie and the 2000 revival of Kiss Me, Kate
• Bobby Pearce, Broadway costume designer
• Bill Prady (attended), television writer and producer
• Crystal Reed, actress, Teen Wolf
• Della Reese, actress, singer, minister
• Lloyd Richards, stage director, Tony Award for Seven Guitars, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and A Raisin in the Sun
• Sixto Rodriguez (BA Philosophy, 1981), folk musician, subject of documentary Searching for Sugar Man
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Michael Hayes; Tony Award for Seven Guitars
• Kierra Sheard, contemporary gospel singer
• George Shirley, opera singer
• Darryl Sivad, actor and comedian
• Tom Sizemore, actor, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down
• Tom Skerritt, Emmy Award-winning actor; has appeared in more than 40 films and 200 television episodes
• Avo Sõmer, musicologist, music theorist, and composer
• Jeffrey Tambor, actor, The Larry Sanders Show, Arrested Development
• Barbara Tarbuck, actress, General Hospital; Fulbright Scholar
• Sonya Tayeh, choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance
• Ron Teachworth, educator, artist, writer, filmmaker (Going Back)
• Lily Tomlin (attended), actress, Nashville, The West Wing, Murphy Brown, Flirting with Disaster, I Heart Huckabees
• Allan von Schenkel, double bassist, performance artist, music promoter, and composer

Medicine

• Scott Dulchavsky, trauma surgeon and NASA researcher
• Gerald May, psychiatrist
• Robert Provenzano, nephrologist
• Wolfram Samlowski, medical oncologist
• Robert L. Williams, psychologist

Religion

• Dario Hunter, the first Muslim-born person to be ordained a rabbi

Science

• Werner Emmanuel Bachmann, chemist; pioneer in steroid synthesis: carried out the first total synthesis of a steroidal hormone, equilenin; his name is associated with the Gomberg-Bachmann reaction
• Mary Kim Joh, wrote a Korean anthem
• Emmett Leith, co-inventor of three-dimensional holography; awarded the National Medal of Science in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter
• Jerry Linenger, astronaut; spent five months living on the Russian space station Mir
• Sultana N. Nahar, physicist, astronomer

Sports

• Anthony Bass, starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres; drafted in MLB 5th round in 2008
• Tom E. Beer, former linebacker for the Detroit Lions
• Joique Bell, Wayne State all-time leading rusher; currently with the Detroit Lions
• Gregory Benko, Olympic foil fencer
• Ron Berger, former football player for the New England Patriots
• Rick Byas, cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons
• Ken Doherty, Olympic bronze medalist, decathlon (1928)
• Phil Emery, General Manager for the Chicago Bears
• Byron Krieger, foil, sabre, and épée fencer; NCAA champion; two-time Pan Am gold medalist; two-time Olympian; two-time Maccabiah Games gold medalist
• Allan Kwartler (attended), sabre and foil fencer; Pan-American sabre champion and three-time gold medal winner; three-time Olympian, and two-time gold medal winner at the Maccabiah Games
• Dan Larson, Major League Baseball pitcher (1976-1982)
• Stavros Paskaris, former professional ice hockey player
• Fred Snowden, former assistant coach at the University of Michigan; former head coach of the University of Arizona men's basketball teams; first black head coach of a major university's basketball program in America's history
• Allen Tolmich, track and field athlete; established or tied 11 U.S. track and field records in 1938
• Lorenzo Wright, track and field athlete; gold medal winner in the 1948 Olympics (400-meter relay)

Honorary graduates

• Ernie Harwell, sportscaster
• Carl Levin, U.S. Senator
• James Lipton, actor, television host
• Jessye Norman, soprano
• Stephen Yokich, former UAW president

Faculty and staff

University presidents

1. 1933 - 1942: Frank Cody
2. 1942 - 1945: Warren E. Bow
3. 1945 - 1952: David D. Henry
4. 1952 - 1965: Clarence B. Hilberry
5. 1965 - 1971: William R. Keast
6. 1971 - 1978: George E. Gullen, Jr.
7. 1978 - 1982: Thomas Bonner
8. 1982 - 1997: David Adamany
9. 1997 - 2009: Irvin Reid
10. 2009 - 2010: Jay Noren
11. 2011–2013: Allan Gilmour
12. 2013–present: M. Roy Wilson

Board of Governors

The Board of Governors is chosen by Michigan voters; current board members are: Gary S. Pollard (chair), Paul E. Massaron (vice-chair), Diane L. Dunaskiss, Marilyn Kelly, David A. Nicholson, Sandra Hughes O'Brien, Dana Thompson, and Kim Trent.

Professors

• Norman Allinger, computational chemist, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry
• Jerry Bails, popular culturist; "father of comic book fandom;" former Assistant Professor of Natural Science
• Albert T. Bharucha-Reid, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences; Markov chain theorist and statistician
• Susan Bies, member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Assistant Professor of Economics
• Cynthia Bir, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery, Emmy Award-winning lead engineer on Sports Science (Fox Sports and ESPN)
• John Corvino, philosopher and author; Professor of Philosophy
• Oliver Cox, sociologist; member of the Chicago School
• Joanne V. Creighton, expert on women's education; President of Mount Holyoke College
• Julia Donovan Darlow, attorney; first woman president of the State Bar of Michigan; Adjunct Professor of Law
• Forest Dodrill, MD, inventor of the Dodrill-GMR; first person to perform a successful open heart surgery
• John M. Dorsey, MD, Chairman of Psychiatry; author; first to be awarded title of University Professor
• Scott Dulchavsky, trauma surgeon; Chief of Surgery at HFHS; NASA Principal Investigator
• Joseph W. Eaton, sociologist; anthropologist; listed in Who is Who in the World for his published research and academic career in public and international affairs, social work and public health
• Muneer Fareed, Islamic scholar, Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North America
• Piero P. Foà, PhD, Professor of Physiology at the WSU School of Medicine; provided the first evidence that glucose stimulates insulin secretion and of the existence of the hormone glucagon
• Farshad Fotouhi, Professor of Computer Science; Dean of College of Engineering
• Douglas Fraser, Adjunct Professor of Labor Relations; former president of the United Auto Workers
• Edmund Gettier, philosopher; published Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
• Wallace Givens, mathematician; pioneer in computer science; namesake of the Givens rotation
• Martin Glaberman, influential Marxist, Professor Emeritus
• Morris Goodman, scientist' editor-in-chief of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution journal, Distinguished Professor at the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics at Wayne State University School of Medicine
• David Gorski, associate professor of surgery and oncology; known for his blogs critical of alternative medicine
• Margaret Hayes Grazier,librarian, author, associate professor from 1965, professor from 1972 to 1983
• Suraj N. Gupta, Professor Emeritus, notable for his contributions to quantum field theory; known for developing the Gupta–Bleuler formalism of field quantization
• Carla Harryman, poet; essayist; playwright; Professor of Women's Studies and Creative Writing
• Matthew Holden, political scientist
• Jerome Horwitz, PhD, Wayne State University School of Medicine Professor of Internal Medicine and Karmanos Cancer Institute researcher; synthesized the first drug approved for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection, Zidovudine; synthesized Zalcitabine (ddC) and Stavudine (d4T), the third and fourth drugs approved to treat AIDS
• Adrian Kantrowitz, MD, performed the world's first pediatric heart transplant, and the first heart transplant in the United States; Chairman of the Department of Surgery
• Albert I. King, Ph.D., Founding Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering; international expert in injury biomechanics (from head to foot); member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Ernest Kirkendall, chemist and metallurgist; discovered the Kirkendall effect
• Henry E. Kyburg, Jr., expert in probability and logic; known for the Lottery Paradox and for the Kyburgian or epistemological interpretation of probability
• Keith Lehrer, philosopher; former Professor of Philosophy
• M.L. Liebler, taught English, creative writing, world literature, American studies, and labor studies; authored several books of poetry
• Jessica Litman, expert on copyright law, Professor of Law
• David L. Mackenzie, educator and founding dean
• Maryann Mahaffey, former member of the Detroit City Council, Professor Emerita at the School of Social Work
• Forrest McDonald, historian, leading conservative scholar
• Ron Milner, author of a Broadway play, professor of creative writing
• Boris Mordukhovich, mathematician in the areas of nonlinear analysis, optimization, and control theory; founder of modern variational analysis and generalized differentiation; Distinguished University Professor and Lifetime Scholar of the Academy of Scholars at Wayne State
• Frederick Newmeyer, linguist; known for his work on the history of generative syntax and the evolutionary origin of language
• Robert Peters, poet, critic, scholar, playwright, editor, and actor; received Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships; won the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award of the Poetry Society of America
• Alexey A Petrov, physicist in the area of theoretical particle physics; known for his work in heavy quark phenomenology; received National Science Foundation CAREER Award
• Alvin Plantinga, contemporary philosopher; known for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion
• Ananda Prasad, biochemist, Distinguished Professor of Medicine
• Earl H. Pritchard, Rhodes Scholar; Scholar of China; founder and president of the Association for Asian Studies; first recipient of the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal
• Robert Provenzano, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine; expert on chronic kidney disease and kidney transplantation; former president of the Renal Physicians Association
• Shlomo Sawilowsky, Professor of Educational Statistics and Distinguished Faculty Fellow; founder and editor of the Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods
• Marvin Schindler, Professor emeritus of German and Slavic Studies
• Steven Shaviro, prominent cultural critic
• Melvin Small, historian of US Diplomacy; former President of the Peace History Society; author of several award-winning books
• Herbert Soule, Ph.D., developed the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line, the first breast cancer cells to grow outside the human body, and the standard for cancer research worldwide
• Mary Chase Perry Stratton, ceramic artist; founder of Pewabic Pottery
• Emanuel Tanay, forensic psychiatrist
• Athan Theoharis, expert on U.S. intelligence agencies, primarily the FBI
• Brian VanGorder, defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons; former football head coach
• Sergei Voloshin, physicist in the area of heavy ion research; known for his work on event-by-event physics in heavy ion collisions
• Barrett Watten, poet; educator; professor of modernism and cultural studies
• Joseph Weizenbaum, Professor emeritus of computer science at MIT; created early computer in 1952 at Wayne State University
• Frank H. Wu, lawyer and author; former dean of the law school
• George Ziegelmueller, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Communication; debate coach; namesake of the George Ziegelmueller Awar for Outstanding Director of Debate by the National Debate Tournament
• Robert Zieger, labor historian; recipient of the Taft Labor History Award; professor of history

References

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.