List of University of Tennessee people

The following is a list of people associated with the University of Tennessee system in all its campuses. The list does not include personnel associated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Politics and law

• Lamar Alexander, former Tennessee Governor, UT President and current US Senator^[1]
• Ali Abu Al-Ragheb, former Prime Minister of Jordan
• John Justin Armitage, diplomat^[2]
• Victor Ashe, U.S. ambassador to Poland, former mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee
• John DeWitt Clinton Atkins, member of House of Representatives
• Richard W. Austin, member of House of Representatives
• Howard Baker, Ambassador and former Senate Majority Leader
• Howard Baker, Sr., member of House of Representatives
• William M. Barker, Chief Justice to Tennessee Supreme Court
• George White Baxter, Governor of Wyoming territory
• Ray Blanton, Governor of Tennessee, member of House of Representatives^[3]
• Marion Speed Boyd, former U.S. district and Chief judge for Tennessee
• John Lafayette Camp, politician and Civil War veteran
• Brett Carter, U.S. House of Representatives candidate
• Saxby Chambliss, U.S. Senator^[4]
• Walter Chandler, former mayor of Memphis, Tennessee
• Philander Priestly Claxton, Jr., U.S. State Department official; president of the World Population Society, 1975–1985^[2]
• Clement Comer Clay, former Governor of Alabama^[5]
• Bob Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga; U.S. Senator^[6]
• John Hervey Crozier, member of House of Representatives^[7]
• Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr., former White House Counsel
• Lincoln Davis, member of House of Representatives^[8]
• Jim DeMint, South Carolina U.S. Senator^[9]
• M. Jerome Diamond, Vermont Attorney General, 1975–1981^[10]
• Lurita Doan, current Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration
• Jimmy Duncan, member of House of Representatives^[11]
• John Duncan, Sr., member of House of Representative^[12]
• Winfield Dunn, former Governor of Tennessee^[13]
• Charlene Fite, Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Crawford County, Arkansas^[14]
• James B. Frazier, former Governor of Tennessee and U.S. Senator^[15]
• Bart Gordon, member of House of Representatives^[16]
• Al Gore, Jr., former Vice President of the United States, US Congressman, US Senator, Professor, and Environmentalist, recipient Honorary Doctorate, 2010^[17]
• Albert Gore, Sr., member of House of Representatives and U.S. Senator^[18]
• Ronnie Greer, U.S. District judge for eastern Tennessee
• Bill Hendon, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[19]
• Van Hilleary, U. S. Congressman^[20]
• John C. Houk, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[21]
• Thomas G. Hull, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[22]
• Amadou Scattred Janneh, former Secretary of State for Communication, Information and Technology, from The Gambia
• Ray Jenkins, Senate counsel during the Army-McCarthy Hearings
• William L. Jenkins, member of U.S. House of Representatives^[23]
• Ed Jones, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[24]
• Jim Justice, Governor of West Virginia
• Joel A. Katz, entertainment lawyer^[25] (UT College of Law)
• Estes Kefauver, former U.S. Senator
• Alvan Lafargue, M.D. 1910, Louisiana physician and mayor of Sulphur, 1926–1932
• Arthur Larson, politician
• Dan Lipinski, U.S. Congressman (D-IL) and former professor^[26]
• William Gibbs McAdoo, former United States Secretary of the Treasury
• John E. McCall, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[27]
• Jimmy Naifeh, Speaker of the House, Tennessee House of Representatives
• John Randolph Neal, Jr., Scopes Trial attorney
• Thomas Amos Rogers Nelson, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[28]
• George W. Ochs, former Mayor of Chattanooga
• Michael C. Polt, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia
• Percy Priest, former member of U.S. House of Representatives^[29]
• Bob Ramsey (born 1947), Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives^[30]
• Glenn Reynolds, UT law professor and author of the Instapundit political weblog
• Mercer Reynolds, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland
• Madeline Rogero, first female mayor of Knoxville
• Kenneth Rush, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany
• Edward Terry Sanford, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Jim Sasser, former U.S. Senator^[31]
• Ronald L. Schlicher, former U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus
• Margaret Scobey, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and Egypt^[32]
• Heath Shuler, U.S. Representative from North Carolina; former NFL player^[33]
• Paul Summers, former Attorney General of State of Tennessee
• John S. Tanner, member of House of Representatives^[34]
• Deborah Tate, United States Federal Communications Commission Commissioner
• George Caldwell Taylor, former U.S. district judge
• Lawrence Tyson, former U.S. Senator^[35]
• Gary R. Wade, Tennessee Supreme Court appointee, as of 2006
• Herbert S. Walters, former U.S. Senator^[36]
• Zach Wamp, member of House of Representatives^[37]
• Allen West, U.S. Representative from Florida^[38]
• Washington C. Whitthorne, former U.S. Senator^[39]
• Laura I. Wiley, former member of the North Carolina General Assembly; current member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors

Education

• Edward L. Ayers, President of the University of Richmond
• Guy Bailey, 15th President of Texas Tech University; President of the University of Alabama
• Philander P. Claxton Sr., founder of the UT Department of Education and U.S. commissioner of education, 1911–1921
• Bob Clement, President of Cumberland College and politician
• Margaret Cuninggim, former Dean of Women at the University of Tennessee
• David L. Eubanks, former President of Johnson Bible College
• John Gaventa, political sociologist
• Lee Giles, computer scientist, CiteSeer, David Reese Professor at the Pennsylvania State University
• John Rice Irwin, historian, founder of Museum of Appalachia^[40]
• Graham Leonard, BA '47 International Relations; PhD in Education from Harvard University; worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, helping implement a national education system for Palestine; Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, 1968–1969^[41]
• William Allen Montgomery (1829–1905), graduated in 1850; lawyer, planter, Confederate chaplain and Baptist minister; President of Carson–Newman University from 1888 to 1892^[42][43]
• John Thomas Mentzer (~1951–2010), marketing and supply chain scholar^[44]
• F. Ann Millner, 11th President of Weber State University
• Linwood H. Rose, 5th President of James Madison University
• Stephen Wallace Taylor. historian and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Macon State College
• W. I. Thomas, sociologist
• Bernie L. Wade, Chancellor, International Circle of Faith Colleges and Seminaries

Actors, directors, and entertainers

• Clarence Brown, Academy Award-nominated film director
• Dixie Carter, actress
• Henry Cho, comedian
• John Cullum, actor and singer
• James Denton, actor, Desperate Housewives
• Logan Marshall-Green, actor, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Upgrade (film)
• Melanie Hutsell, comedian, actress
• David Keith, actor and director
• Constance Shulman, voice-over artist, actress

Artists and musicians

• Jeff Baxter, Nike designer
• Deana Carter, country music singer and songwriter
• Ashley Cleveland, gospel singer^[45]
• James Denton, actor
• The Dirty Guv'nahs, rock band
• Thomas Fulton, opera conductor^[45]
• Drew Holcomb, singer and songwriter
• Ellie Holcomb, singer and songwriter
• Wardell Milan, artist
• John Howell Morrison, composer
• Park Overall, actress
• Dolly Parton, country music singer, recipient Honorary Doctorate, 2009
• Cheryl Lynn Studer, opera soprano^[45]
• Carl Sublett, painter^[46]
• Pam Tillis, country music singer
• Gilbert Harry Trythall, composer and pianist
• Richard Aaker Trythall, composer and pianist^[47]
• Sarah Webb, artist
• Delores Ziegler, opera singer^[45]

Authors

• Travis Beacham, screenwriter
• Lowell Cunningham, comic book writer
• Owen Davis, playwright
• Bruce Foster, paper engineer, pop-up children's books creator
• Alex Haley, novelist, biographer and essayist
• May Justus, author of children's books^[45]
• Marilyn Kallet, poet^[48]
• Joseph Wood Krutch, novelist, critic and naturalist
• Richard Marius, novelist, scholar and speechwriter
• Cormac McCarthy, novelist
• John C. McManus, Ph.D, military historian and professor of military history
• Dave Ramsey, financial guru, author, and host of The Dave Ramsey Show
• Vince Staten, humorist^[45]
• Allen Wier, fiction writer and scholar

Business and economy

• Charles Scott Abbott, one of the two originators of Trivial Pursuit
• James Clayton, President and CEO of Clayton Homes
• Michael T. Dugan, educator and accounting scholar
• Charlie Ergen, CEO of Echostar
• James Haslam Jr., founder and CEO of Pilot Corporation
• Charles O. Holliday, Chairman of Bank of America and Former Chairman of DuPont
• Thomas M. Humphrey, economist
• Min Kao, CEO and founder of Garmin
• Charles McClung McGhee, late 19th-century Knoxville railroad magnate and financier
• Abdisalam Omer, Governor of the Central Bank of Somalia
• Jerry Sisk, Jr., gemologist and television executive, co-founded Jewelry Television in 1993^[49]
• Donnie Smith, CEO of Tyson Foods
• Chris Whittle, founder of Whittle Communications and Edison Schools

Military

• Burwell B. Bell III, U.S. Army Commander
• Robert Emmet Callan, major general in the U.S. Army and assistant chief of staff in the War Department, 1931–1935
• Clifton B. Cates, aide to President Woodrow Wilson and later Commandant of the Marine Corps
• Thomas A. Davis, Captain of Spanish–American War
• Norman C. Gaddis, former Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force
• Robert C. Hinson, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of United States Strategic Command
• Bruce K. Holloway, military commander of Allied Forces
• Ridley McLean, rear admiral in the U.S. Navy; wrote the Bluejacket’s Manual, which is still used to teach naval recruits the basics of seamanship
• Major General Spurgeon Neel, pioneer in aeromedical evacuation
• Austin C. Shofner, World War II U.S. General
• Maurice F. Weisner, former Pacific Fleet Admiral

Athletics and sportscasters

• Monica Abbott, NPF pitcher for the Washington Glory, Olympian (2008)^[50]
• Pete Athas, former NFL player
• Bill Bates, former NFL Pro Bowl safety^[51]
• Buddy Bolding, head baseball coach at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia^[52]
• Chris Burke, retired Major League Baseball player^[53]
• Kevin Burnett, former NFL player^[54]
• Ray Bussard, Hall of Fame and Olympic swimming coach, 1968–1989
• Tamika Catchings, WNBA player, two-time Olympian (2004, 2008)^[55]
• Joey Clinkscales, professional football wide receiver, scout, and executive
• Denny Crawford, professional football guard^[56]
• Jonathan Crompton, NFL free agent quarterback^[57]
• Antone Davis, former National Football League offensive lineman^[58]
• Doug Dickey, College Football Hall of Fame head coach at the University of Tennessee (1964–1969) and the University of Florida (1970–1978); athletic director at Tennessee (1985–2002)^[59]
• R.A. Dickey, professional baseball pitcher^[60]
• Bobby Dodd, college football coach and athletic director at Georgia Tech^[61]
• Dale Ellis, former NBA player^[62]
• Beattie Feathers, former NFL player; collegiate football and baseball coach^[63]
• Paul Finebaum, radio host and journalist
• Cory Fleming, former NFL wide receiver^[64]
• Richmond Flowers, former NFL player
• Arian Foster, former NFL running back
• Phillip Fulmer, head coach of Tennessee Volunteers football team (1992–2008)^[65]
• Harry Galbreath, former National Football League offensive lineman^[66]
• Charlie Garner, NFL running back^[67]
• Phil Garner, former Major League Baseball player and manager^[68]
• Justin Gatlin, 2004 Summer Olympics 100m gold medalist^[69]
• Willie Gault, former NFL wide receiver^[70]
• Bobby Gordon, football player^[71]
• Sam Graddy, 1984 Summer Olympics 100m silver medalist and 4x100m gold medalist^[72]
• Ray Graves, former NFL player; University of Florida head football coach (1960–1969) and athletic director (1960–1979); College Football Hall of Fame (1990)^[73]
• Ernie Grunfeld, former NBA player and current president of basketball operations, Washington Wizards^[74]
• Travis Haney, college football writer for ESPN Insider^[75]
• Alvin Harper, former NFL wide receiver^[76]
• Dee Haslam, businesswoman and co-owner of the Cleveland Browns
• Jimmy Haslam, co-owner of the Cleveland Browns
• Albert Haynesworth, NFL defensive tackle^[77]
• Todd Helton, former Major League Baseball first baseman for the Colorado Rockies^[78]
• Chamique Holdsclaw, former WNBA player, Olympian (2000)^[79]
• Rick Honeycutt, former Major League Baseball player and current pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers^[80]
• Allan Houston, NBA shooting guard^[81]
• Luke Hudson, Major League Baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals^[82]
• Austin Johnson, NFL player^[83]
• Dale Jones, former NFL player and current assistant coach at Appalachian State
• Steve Kiner, former NFL player, College Football Hall of Fame inductee^[84]
• Bernard King, former NBA player^[85]
• Kara Lawson, WNBA player, Olympian (2008), ESPN analyst^[86]
• Jamal Lewis, NFL running back^[87]
• Jeremy Linn, swimmer, won one gold and one silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia^[88]
• Christine Magnuson, swimmer, won two silver medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China^[89]
• Johnny Majors, College Football Hall of Fame 1987, Heisman Trophy runner-up (1956); head football coach at Iowa State University (1968–1972), University of Pittsburgh (1973–1976) and the University of Tennessee (1977–1992)^[90]
• Peyton Manning, NFL quarterback^[91]
• Tee Martin, former NFL quarterback^[92]
• Steve Matthews, former NFL quarterback^[93]
• Jeronne Maymon (born 1991), basketball player for Hapoel Eilat B.C. of the Israeli Basketball Premier League^[94]
• Bill Mayo, All-American^[95]
• Jacques McClendon, NFL offensive lineman^[96]
• Tim McGee, NFL receiver^[97]
• Ross McGowan, professional golfer^[98]
• Greg McMichael, former Major League Baseball player^[99]
• Charles McRae, former National Football League offensive lineman^[100]
• Aries Merritt, 2012 Summer Olympics 110m hurdles gold medalist
• Anthony Miller, former NFL pro Bowl wide receiver^[101]
• Mike Miller, NFL player^[102]
• Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event winner
• Tom Myslinski, former NFL center^[103]
• Kevin Nash, professional wrestler and UT basketball player^[104]
• Lindsey Nelson, sportscaster^[105]
• Augie Ojeda, Major League Baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks^[106]
• Candace Parker, WNBA player, Olympian (2008)^[107]
• Woody Paige, sports analyst for The Denver Post and ESPN's Around the Horn^[108]
• Bruce Pearl, former men's head basketball coach^[109]
• Buzz Peterson, former men's head basketball coach
• Carl Pickens, former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver^[110]
• Peerless Price, former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver^[111]
• Semeka Randall, former WNBA player^[112]
• Mychal Rivera, tight end; brother of Glee actress Naya Rivera
• Pat Ryan, former NFL player^[113]
• Ovince St. Preux, collegiate football defensive end and linebacker; professional mixed martial artist, formerly with Strikeforce^[114] and currently with the UFC^[115]
• Mike Smithson, former MLB pitcher
• Robert Shaw, former NFL center^[116]
• Michelle Snow, WNBA player^[117]
• Donté Stallworth, NFL WR^[118]
• Melvin Stewart, swimmer, won two gold medals and one bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain^[119]
• Pat Summitt, former women's basketball head coach (1974–2012); member of Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Halls of Fame; Olympian (1976); head coach for the 1984 Olympic women's basketball team that won gold^[120]
• Tyler Summitt, Pat's son and former women's basketball program head coach at Louisiana Tech^[121]
• Lenny Taylor, NFL player^[122]
• Holly Warlick, former Lady Vols basketball player and current Lady Vols head coach^[123]
• Chuck Webb, NFL player^[124]
• Reggie White, former NFL defensive lineman^[125]
• Ron Widby, former NFL Pro Bowl punter^[126]
• Jordan Williams, NFL player
• Rhyne Williams, professional tennis player^[127]
• Al Wilson, NFL player^[128]
• Gibril Wilson, NFL safety^[129]
• Jason Witten, NFL Pro Bowl tight end^[130]
• Gene Wojciechowski, college football reporter and senior writer for ESPN The Magazine
• Bob Woodruff, head football coach at Baylor University (1947–1949); head football coach and athletic director at the University of Florida (1950–1959)
• Chris Woodruff, associate head coach at the University of Tennessee, former professional tennis player^[131]

Journalists and newscasters

• Lisa Marie Booth, FOX News
• Huell Howser, California television personality
• Ann Taylor, NPR newscaster
• Chris Vining, Emmy Award-winning video editor^[132]
• Charles Winters, journalist
• Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN writer and commentator

Rhodes Scholars

• Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Balliol College, B.A. 1981 MA 1986; graduated from Harvard Law School in 1983 with a JD degree; served in the cabinet of Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter; sat on several corporate boards; served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy under President Obama and Director of White House Office of Healthcare Reform^[133]
• William Everett Derryberry, St. John's College, BA 1932 MA 1940; had a 34-year academic career as president of Tennessee Technological University, where he oversaw the transformation of the school from a campus of a few acres and a few buildings with 700 students and 31 faculty members to a university comprising six colleges and schools on 235 acres of property with a student body of close to 7,000 and a faculty of more than 350^[133]
• Lindsay E. Lee, MSc. 2014^[134]
• Jennifer Santoro, DPhil. 1999^[133]
• Bernadotte E. Schmitt, Merton College, BA 1908, M.A 1913; professor at Western Reserve University (1910–1925) and the University of Chicago (1925–1946); when he retired from Chicago, he held the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professorship of Modern History; served briefly in World War I as a 2nd Lieutenant of Field Artillery; during World War II, he acted as a special consultant on history in the Department of State's Division of Research and Publications and its Division of Historical Policy Research^[133]
• Matthew Glenn Smith, Hertford College, B.A. 1914; served in WWI as Captain of Coast Artillery in France; following discharge in 1918, went on to a prominent legal career in Texas^[133]
• Arthur Preston Whitaker, awarded Rhodes Scholarship in 1917 but prevented from actualizing it by WWI; graduated from Harvard University with an MA in 1917 and a Ph.D in 1924; professor at Amherst, Vanderbilt, New York University, Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania; at Penn he held the first chair in Latin American History in 1936; in WWII, served as a consultant to the State Department on Latin America^[133]

Gates Cambridge Scholars

• Sahba Seddighi, 2017^[135]

Schwarzman Scholars

• Miranda Gottlieb, 2017^[136]
• Colleen Ryan, 2019^[137]

Nobel laureates

• James Buchanan, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economic Science; received an M.S. degree from UT in 1941^[138]
• Peter C. Doherty, faculty member in the UT Health Science Center in Memphis

Pulitzer Prize winners

• John Netherland Heiskell, 1893 graduate of the University of Tennessee; publisher and editor of the Arkansas Gazette, 1902–1972; under his leadership, the paper won a Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service^[139]
• Owen Davis, 1889 graduate, won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Icebound in 1923^[140]
• John M. Hightower, attended the University of Tennessee 1927–1929; won a Pulitzer while at the Associated Press for International Reporting in 1951^[141]
• Ron Kirksey, 1970 graduate of the University of Tennessee, won the Pulitzer prize for public service journalism in 1994 as part of a team at the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal^[142]
• Cormac McCarthy, novelist who attended University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1951–1952 and 1957–1960; won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road^[143]
• Bernadotte E. Schmitt, earned a bachelor of arts at the University of Tennessee in 1902, won a Pulitzer in History in 1931 for his book The Coming of the War, 1914 (1930)^[144]
• John Noble Wilford, 1955 graduate of the University of Tennessee; won two Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting; science correspondent for The New York Times, and founder of the paper's weekly science section^[145]
• Edward Osborne Wilson, attended University of Tennessee 1950–1951, won two Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction for his books On Human Nature (1979) and The Ants (1991)^[146][147]

Science and technology

• Mladen Bestvina, topologist, professor of mathematics at University of Utah
• Jack Dongarra, computer science professor; creator of LINPACK and LAPACK
• Weston Fulton, meteorologist, inventor
• Lee Giles, computer scientist, CiteSeer, David Reese Professor at Pennsylvania State University
• Carl B. Huffaker, biologist and agricultural scientist
• Mohammad Ataul Karim, physicist
• Frank Knight, economist
• Madeline Kneberg Lewis, archaeologist of the Southeastern United States
• Gerald North, atmospheric scientist, author of North Report and The Impact of Global Warming in Texas
• Douglas W. Owsley, division head of physical anthropology of Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
• Ronald H. Petersen, mycologist of the University of Tennessee
• Alan Rabinowitz, zoologist, CEO of Panthera
• Edward K. Reedy, radar researcher and director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, 1998-2003^[148]
• Antoinette Rodez Schiesler, chemist, director of research at Villanova University
• Jeremy C. Smith, Governor's Chair and Director of UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics
• Morwen Thistlethwaite, knot theorist
• E.O. Wilson, biologist and naturalist

Astronauts

• Jeffrey Ashby
• Joe Edwards
• Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie
• Chris Hadfield
• Henry Hartsfield
• Charles O. Hobaugh
• Scott J. Kelly
• Donald H. Peterson
• Margaret Rhea Seddon
• Barry E. Wilmore

Faculty

• Jill Mikucki, microbiologist, Antarctic researcher
• Kate Vitasek, author and educator, adjunct faculty in the Haslam College of Business Global Supply Chain Institute and the Graduate and Executive Education

Other

• Christa Pike, sentenced to death at age 19 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer^[149]

References

External links

• University of Tennessee distinguished alumni