List of Oregon State University alumni

Oregon State University is located in Corvallis, Oregon in the United States. It traces its roots to 1856, when Corvallis Academy was founded. It was not formally incorporated until 1858 when the name was changed to Corvallis College, and not chartered until 1868. In 1890 the school became known as Oregon Agricultural College, then in 1927 as Oregon State Agricultural College. Its current name was adopted in 1961. Alumni from each of these eras may be included on the list, and more than 200,000 people have attended the university since its founding.[1]

Corvallis College's first graduating class was in 1870, and consisted of three people.

Activism

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Bobby Henderson 1999–2003 Activist and creator of Pastafarianism [2]
Bruce W. Klunder ?–1958 Civil rights activist and Presbyterian minister [3]
Ada-Rhodes Short ?—2018 Transgender rights activist and mechatronic design engineer
Katherine Ann Power ?—2001 Anti-war activist, convicted of armed robbery and manslaughter who spent fourteen years on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list [4]

Art and architecture

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Name Attended Notability Reference
John Clem Clarke painter [5]
Florence Holmes Gerke 1896-1964 Landscape architect of the International Rose Test Garden [6]
Tala Madani 1999–2004 Artist, painter featured in the 2017 Whitney Biennial [7]
Lee Arden Thomas Architect who designed the OSU Memorial Union.
Roger A. Wreth ?–1980 Photographer 1980 Pulitzer Prize in Photography finalist [1][8]

Business

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Thomas J. Autzen 1905–1909 Plywood manufacturing pioneer
Mercedes Alison Bates ?–1936 Former vice president of General Mills' Betty Crocker Cooking division; first female officer of General Mills [1]
Austen S. Cargill II ? Heir and major shareholder of Cargill, received a PhD from Oregon State University [1]
Peggy Cherng 1969–1971 CEO of Panda Express [9]
Randy Conrads ?–1972 Founder of Classmates.com [10]
Jen-Hsun Huang 1980–1984 Co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA [11][12]
Timothy S. Leatherman ?–1970 Inventor of the Leatherman tool [13]
Brian McMenamin ?–1980 Co-founder of the McMenamins chain [14]
Mike McMenamin ?–1974 Co-founder of the McMenamins chain [14]
Bernie Newcomb ?–1965 Co-founder of E*TRADE [1]
Hüsnü Özyeğin Turkish billionaire businessman, philanthropist
Don Robert CEO of Experian [15]
Leonard Shoen Founder of U-Haul [16]
John A. Young ?–1953 Former president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard [1]
Peter Gassner 1983–1989 Co-founder and CEO of Veeva Systems [17]

Education

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Holly Barnard ?–2009 Professor of Geography at University of Colorado Boulder and founder of the Critical Zone Laboratory [18]
Sara Harris Climate scientist and 3M National Teaching Fellow at the University of British Columbia
Wayne L. Hubbell ?–1965 Jules Stein Professor of Ophthalmology at UCLA [19]
Octave Levenspiel ?–1991 Emeritus Professor of chemical engineering at Oregon State University [20]
Staci Simonich Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University
Ann Streissguth Endowed Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Fetal Alcohol Drug Unit at the University of Washington School of Medicine
Carrie Halsell Ward 1922–1926 College lecturer and first black student to graduate from OSU. [21]
Michael Waterman early 70s Computational biologist; professor of biological science, mathematics, and computer science at the University of Southern California [22]

Entertainment

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Trevor Bardette actor
John Brotherton Soap opera actor [1]
George Bruns ?–1936 Composer [1]
Meghna Chakrabarti 1994-1998 Journalist, radio producer, and host of the NPR program On Point
Pinto Colvig ?–1911 Voice actor; the original Bozo the Clown [1]
Kevin Hagen Actor
Harley Jessup ?–1976 1987 Best Visual Effects Oscar winner for the film Innerspace [1]
Cathy Marshall News anchor
Beau Mirchoff ?-2024 Actor [23]
Roger Nichols Recording Engineer for Steely Dan
Jodi Ann Paterson ?–1998 2000 Playboy Playmate of the Year and model [24]
Meredith Phillips Star of ABC reality television show The Bachelorette
Mike Rich Screenwriter
Laurie Roth Syndicated radio talk-show host
Travis Rush Country music singer
Kendra Sunderland ? Model and pornographic actress who was also expelled from the university because of public indecency. [25]
Sara Jean Underwood 2002–2007 July 2006 Playboy Playmate of the Month, 2007 Playmate of the Year, actress, and model [26]

Literature and journalism

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Chris Anderson 1968–1972 Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize [1]
Pamela Cytrynbaum Journalist and restorative justice practitioner
Geffrey Davis Poet
Webley Edwards ?–1927 World War II news correspondent [1]
Christopher Howell Poet
Chris Johns 1971-1974 Current Editor-In-Chief of National Geographic magazine
George Oppen Poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Mary Oppen Poet
Bert Sperling 1968-1972 Author and researcher
 
Marion Eugene Carl
 
Anthony E. Van Dyke

Military

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Edward C. Allworth ?–1916 Recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor [1]
Rex T. Barber ?–1940 World War II pilot credited with killing Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto [1]
Marion Eugene Carl ?–1938 World War II flying ace; record-setting test pilot; United States Marine Corps (USMC) Major General [1]
Elmer E. Hall World War II Brigadier General, USMC
John Noble Holcomb 1967 Recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor [1]
Ulysses G. McAlexander Commander of Army ROTC. Earned the nickname "Rock of the Marne" during World War I.
Anthony E. Van Dyke ?–1978 USMC Colonel and current commander of Marine forces at Henderson Hall [27]

Politics

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Cecil D. Andrus
 
John Ensign
 
Douglas McKay
Name Attended Notability Reference
Cecil D. Andrus 1952 Governor of Idaho (1971–1977, 1987–1995) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1977–1981) [1]
Earl I. Anzai ?–1964 Attorney General of Hawaii (1999–2002) [28]
Brad Avakian ?–1984 Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (2008–2019 ) [29]
Rod Chandler ?–1968 U.S. Representative of Washington (1983–1993) [30]
Charles Crookham 1941–1943 Attorney General of Oregon (1992–1993) [31]
John Ensign ?–1981 U.S. Representative of Nevada (1995–1999); Nevada U.S. Senator (2001—2011) [32]
John Hubert Hall ?–1923 Governor of Oregon (1947–1949); member of the Oregon House of Representatives (1936–1947) [1]
Julia Butler Hansen 1924–1926 U.S. Representative of Washington (1960–1974) [33]
Darlene Hooley ?–1961 U.S. Representative of Oregon (1997—2009) [34]
Hector Macpherson, Jr. 1936-1940 Oregon State Senator (1971-1974) [35]
Douglas McKay ?–1917 Governor of Oregon (1949–1952) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1953–1956) [1]
Paul Peek ?–? California Secretary of State (1940–1943); Speaker of the California State Assembly (1939) [36]
Pou Sohtireak ?–1980s Cambodian Minister for Industry, Mines and Energy [37]
Norris Poulson 1923 U.S. Representative of California (1943–1945, 1947–1955); mayor of Los Angeles, California (1953–1961) [38]
Frederick Steiwer ?–1902 Oregon U.S. Senator (1927–1937) [39]
Lowell Stockman ?–1922 U.S. Representative of Oregon (1943–1953) [40]
Jolene Unsoeld 1949–1951 U.S. Representative of Washington (1989–1995) [41]
Robert M. Veatch 1868-1871 Oregon Representative (1883-1886), Senator (1887-1892), and mayor of Cottage Grove, Oregon [42]
James K. Weatherford 1868-1872 Oregon Representative, Speaker of the House (1876), Senator, and mayor of Albany, Oregon [43]
Mary Carlin Yates ?–1968 U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Burundi and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana [1]
Irwandi Yusuf 1993 Governor of Indonesian province of Aceh [44]

Religion

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Bobby Henderson ?–2003 Activist and creator Pastafarianism [2]
Katharine Jefferts Schori ?–1983 Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and oceanographer [45]
 
Linus Pauling
 
William Oefelein
 
Donald Pettit

Science and engineering

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Charity Dean Epidemiologist, assistant director of the California Department of Public Health, and co-founder and CEO of The Public Health Company.
Paul H. Emmett 1917–1922 Manhattan Project research staff member and member of the United States National Academy of Sciences [46]
Milton Harris 1924–1926 Founded the Harris Research Laboratories, which later merged with Gillette. [47]
Donald M. Kerr ?–1969 Wildlife biologist and founder of the High Desert Museum [48]
Ann Kiessling ?-1971 Reproductive biologist and leading stem cell researcher
Linus Pauling 1917–1922 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 1962 Nobel Peace Prize recipient [1]
Glenn Odekirk 1923–1927 Hughes Aircraft Aerospace Engineer, helped design the H-4 Hercules [49]
William Oefelein ?–1988 NASA astronaut [50]
Donald Pettit ?–1978 NASA astronaut [51]
Stephen O. Rice Pioneer in the related fields of information theory, communications theory, and telecommunications
J. Michael Scott ?–1973 Ornithologist (research scientist), Peace Corps volunteer [52]
Ernest H. Taves Psychiatrist, author, and UFO skeptic
William Tebeau 1948 Chemical engineer and first African-American male graduate
Earl A. Thompson Inventor of the manual transmission synchronizer in 1923 and leader of the team at General Motors Corporation that developed the first Hydramatic automatic transmission in 1940
Marta Torres Marine geologist known for her work on the geochemistry of cold seeps and methane hydrates
Warren Washington 1954? - 1958 Atmospheric scientist
Omran Al Mazrouei 2010 - 2016 Senior Climate Change Negotiator, the twenty eighth session of the conference of parties (COP28, Dubai). Awarded UAE president Zayed II first order medal.

Sports

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Technology

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Name Attended Notability Reference
Philip Emeagwali 1974–1977 1989 Gordon Bell Prize winner [53]
Douglas Engelbart ?–1948 Inventor of the computer mouse and winner of the National Medal of Technology [1]
Bobby Henderson 1999–2003 Activist and created Pastafarianism [2]
Jensen Huang 1980–1984 Founder of Nvidia

See also

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References

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  2. ^ a b c "Corvallis man's parody is Internet 'monster'". The Register-Guard. Retrieved 2007-03-28. [dead link]
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  49. ^ Glenn Odekirk
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