List of Drexel University alumni
is a private university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 16th largest private university in the nation, Drexel is made up of nine colleges and four schools, most of which serve both undergraduate and graduate students. It offers 96 undergraduate degree programs, 88 master's programs, and 35 doctoral programs. Drexel was founded as a technical school in 1891 for the "improvement of industrial education as a means of opening better and wider avenues of employment to young men and women." Drexel began awarding undergraduate degrees in 1914, starting with the Bachelor of Science in engineering; before that, Drexel granted certificates or diplomas in the field of enrollment. In 1931, Drexel began offering graduate degrees through the School of Home Economics.
Since its founding the university has graduated over 100,000 alumni. Certificate-earning alumni such as artist Violet Oakley and illustrator Frank Schoonover reflect the early emphasis on art as part of the university's curriculum. With World War II, the university's technical programs swelled, and as a result Drexel graduated alumni such as Paul Baran, one of the founding fathers of the Internet and one of the inventors of the packet switching network, and Norman Joseph Woodland the inventor of barcode technology. In addition to its emphasis on technology Drexel has graduated several notable athletes such as National Basketball Association basketball players Michael Anderson and Malik Rose, and several notable business people such as Raj Gupta, former president and chief executive officer of Rohm and Haas, and Nicholas Schorsch, chief executive officer of VEREIT, and Nicholas Howley, founder and chairman of TransDigm Group.
Notable alumni
- A "—" indicates that the information is unknown.
- Cert – Certificate
- BS – Bachelor of Science
- Postgraduate degrees:
Business
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| 1973 | PhD | Former CEO of The Hartford Financial Services | ||
| 1985 | BS | Founder and CEO of Splunk and Founder.org; former VP of e-Commerce at Yahoo! and The Walt Disney Company | ||
| 1952 | BS | Former CEO of Boscov's | ||
| 1970 | BS | Former president and CEO of QVC | ||
| 1967 | BS | Former CEO of SAIC and previously Executive Vice President of General Dynamics | ||
| 2008 | MBA | Executive vice president and CFO of NFL | ||
| 1983 | BS | CEO of Lazarex Cancer Foundation | ||
| 1969 1977 | BS MBA | Financial analyst credited with predicting Black Monday, the stock market crash of 1987 | ||
| 1976 | BS | Former CEO of WebMD | ||
| 1982 | BS | CEO of Avnet | ||
| 2015 | BS | Co-founder of Gopuff | ||
| 2015 | BS | Founder and CEO of Scholly | ||
| 1972 | MBA | Former president and CEO of Rohm and Haas | ||
| 1975 | BS | Founder and executive chairman of TransDigm Group | ||
| 1982 | BS | CEO of Marathon Petroleum | ||
| 2015 | BS | Co-founder of Gopuff | ||
| 1967 | BS | Former president of North American operations for Philips | ||
| 1983 1986 | BS MBA | Former president and CEO of Fuji Fire and Marine Insurance | ||
| 1994 | BS | CIO of Apollo Global Management | ||
| 1960 | BS | Former CEO and chairman of the board of Borders and Chairman of the Board of Vector Group | ||
| 1961 | BS | Former president of operations for Paramount Studios | ||
| 1991 | BS | Former vice president and chief marketing officer of eBay | ||
| 1947 | BS | Invented the green bean casserole while working as a staff member in the home economics department of the Campbell Soup Company | ||
| 1939 | BS | Former CEO of Campbell Soup Company | ||
| 1955 | BS | Renowned saloon keeper in New York City | ||
| — | — | CEO and co-founder of VEREIT | ||
| 1980 | BS | Non-executive director at Anglo American plc, former CEO of GKN Aerospace | ||
| — | MBA | CEO of Dover Corporation, director of KeyCorp | ||
| 1987 | BS | COO of Apollo Global Management | ||
| — | — | CEO of TerraLeaf, entrepreneur and businesswomen in the Cannabis Industry |
Humanities
Arts and entertainment
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| 1953 | BS | Entertainer; creator of The Gong Show | ||
| 1911 | BS | Vaudeville performer, theatre manager, librarian, co-founder and chairman of the American Theatre Wing, chairman of the Actors' Fund of America, and head organizer of the 1st Tony Awards | ||
| 1980 | BS | Grammy Award-winning music producer | ||
| 2016 | BS | Guitarist and vocalist; member of Modern Baseball and Slaughter Beach, Dog | ||
| 2016 | BS | Bassist and vocalist; member of Modern Baseball and Slaughter Beach, Dog | ||
| 2015 | BS | Guitarist, drummer, and vocalist; member of Modern Baseball and Steady Hands | - | |
| 1966 | MS | Poet and reference specialist at the Library of Congress | ||
| 1997 | MS | Author of Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry and professor of creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin | ||
| Caitlyn McGonigal | 2021 | BS | Photographer, founder of , and youngest entry into Drexel's | |
| 1990 | BS | ESPN anchor and journalist | ||
| 2013 | BS | Actress, best known for her role as Clary Fray in Shadowhunters | ||
| 1978 | BS | Author, professor, and environmentalist | ||
| 1948 | — | Artist; first woman to receive the Gold Medal of Honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts | ||
| 1895 | Cert | Early twentieth century artist whose works included illustrating Mother Goose in Prose and Collier's Weekly | ||
| 1970 | MBA | Actor, known for his role as the Munchkin coroner in The Wizard of Oz | ||
| 1900 | Cert | Illustrator for Hopalong Cassidy stories as well as the book A Princess of Mars | ||
| 1973 | BS | Filmmaker whose film Smithereens was the first American independent film invited to compete at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival | ||
| 1941 | — | Sportswriter, Dick McCann Memorial Award winner | ||
| 2005 | BS | Photographer, won The New York Times Photography Contest for College Students in 2004 | ||
| 2003 | BS | Award-winning author of several Asian-themed cookbooks | ||
| 1986 | BS | Video game music composer | ||
| 2003 | BS | Host and executive producer of Tough Love | ||
| 1989 | MS | Pioneer in the Russian and Eastern European music community in the United States | ||
| 2009 | MS | Founder and CEO of Impact Soundworks | ||
| 2002 | BS | Founder of Newgrounds |
Education
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| 1974 | BS | Biochemist, professor, leading proponent of intelligent design, and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture | ||
| 1987 | PhD | Professor and chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Akron | ||
| 1968 | BS | Former president of the Cooper Union | ||
| 1961 | MS | Former chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles and former Provost of Harvard University | ||
| 1962 | MS | Librarian, one of American Libraries | ||
| 1962 1964 | BS MS | Gordon Prize-winning research professor of engineering at Drexel University | ||
| 1985 1987 | MS PhD | 49th president of IEEE and dean of the New Jersey Institute of Technology | ||
| 1975 | MS | Professor at the University of Chicago, surgeon, and 1981 MacArthur Fellow | ||
| 1953 | BS | Former president of Temple University | ||
| 1963 1966 | BS MS | Former interim president of Drexel University from 1994–1995 and 2009–2010 | ||
| 2006 | MS | Child prodigy and Guinness World Record holder for "World's Youngest Professor" | ||
| 1991 | PhD | Former President of ShanghaiTech University and the Former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences | ||
| 1925 | BS | Former tutor to Emperor Akihito of Japan |
Medicine and health
The Drexel University College of Medicine retroactively considers graduates from all of the medical institutes that it has acquired to be alumni of the College of Medicine and Drexel University. This includes MCP Hahnemann University, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia.| Name | Grad year | Degree | College | Notability | Ref |
| 1884 | MD | WMCP | First licensed female physician in the Southern United States | ||
| 1872 | MD | HMC | Physician and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland | ||
| 1960 | MD | MCP | Physician, former Maryland delegate for Harford County, Maryland | ||
| 1905 | MD | WMCP | One of the first female pathologists; namesake of Canavan disease | ||
| 1973 | MD | HMC | Physician who participated in the Supreme Court cases Stenberg v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Carhart | ||
| 1993 | PhD | Researcher in clinical psychology and psychiatry; consultant and public speaker | |||
| 1867 | MD | WMCP | The second African American woman to become a physician in the United States | ||
| 1897 | MD | WMCP | First African American woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina | ||
| 1962 | MD | WMCP | Executive Vice President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Dean of its F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine | ||
| 1923 | MD | HMC | Canadian anesthesiologist who introduced the use of ethylene and cyclopropane in anesthesiology | ||
| 1973 | MD | HMC | Professor at the University of Arizona known for his study of consciousness | ||
| 1899 | MD | WMCP | Second female Native American physician | ||
| 1988 | MD | MCP | Psychiatrist and associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University | ||
| 1888 | MD | WMCP | Obstetrician and author of A History of Women in Medicine: From the Earliest of Times to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century | ||
| 1864 | MD | WMCP | First woman to become a member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine | ||
| 1891 | MD | WMCP | First female African-American physician in Alabama | ||
| 1886 | MD | WMCP | Second Indian female physician to earn a medical degree through training in Western medicine | ||
| 1893 | MD | WMCP | Medical Marathi Christian missionary in India | ||
| 1976 | MD | MCP | Author and researcher in neuroscience | ||
| 1992 | MD | DUCOM | Thoracic surgeon, professor, and researcher | ||
| 1998 | MD | MCP | Dermatologist also known as "Dr. Pimple Popper" who gained popularity for her YouTube channel | ||
| 1975 | MD | HMC | Spinal surgeon and inventor | ||
| Mary I. O'Connor | 1985 | MD | MCP | first director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at the Yale School of Medicine | |
| 1889 | MD | WMCP | First female Native American physician | ||
| 1896 | MD | HMC | Physician and one-term mayor of Anchorage, Alaska in 1937 | ||
| Medicine residency | Hahnemann University | Associate professor | |||
| 1883 | MD | WMCP | One of the first female physicians in Utah | ||
| 1986 | MD | MCP | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | ||
| 1906 | MD | HMC | Physician and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania | ||
| 1867 | MD | HMC | Physician and creator of Moxie | ||
| Walter Van Fleet | 1880 | MD | HMC | American horticulturist known for rose cultivars and as physiologist for the federal Department of Agriculture | |
| 1977 | PhD | HMC | Clinical psychologist and author | ||
| 1997 2003 | MA PhD | DUCOM | Model and sex columnist |
Politics and public service
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| — | — | United States Army private first class in World War II, a member of the Filthy Thirteen, whose exploits inspired the novel and film The Dirty Dozen | ||
| 1973 | BS | New Jersey General Assembly assemblyman for the 24th legislative district | ||
| 1916 | — | Found for women's rights in 1920s; member of the Algonquin Round Table | ||
| Mayor of Downingtown, Pennsylvania and the first openly transgender mayor in Pennsylvania | ||||
| 2021 | MS | Pennsylvania State Representative for the 181st district | ||
| 1999 | BS | Former Minister of Finance of Liberia | ||
| 1959 | BS | Former United States ambassador to Finland, partner of the Mack Company, and award-winning film producer | ||
| 1926 | BS | Federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit | ||
| — | — | United States Congressman from Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional district from 1959 to 1965 | ||
| 1967 | BS | Former Prime Minister of Cameroon | ||
| Victoria Napolitano | 2010 | BS, MS | Youngest female mayor in New Jersey history; youngest mayor of Moorestown, New Jersey | |
| MBA | Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 161 from 1975 to 1978 | |||
| 1965 | BS | Current President of Côte d'Ivoire | ||
| 1966 | BS | Federal judge on the United States [Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit] | ||
| 1966 | BS | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania | ||
| 2002 | MS | New Jersey General Assembly assemblywoman for the 3rd legislative district | ||
| 2007 | BS | White House Deputy Press Secretary under Donald Trump | ||
| Senthil Kumar Ramanadhan | MS | Member of the Legislative Assembly from Bahour Assembly constituency, Puducherry, India since 2021. | - | |
| — | — | United States Congressman from Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional district from 1966 to 1975 |
Science and engineering
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| 1997 | PhD | Developer of lithium ion battery materials - central in a court case against the US government | ||
| 1949 | BS | One of the inventors of packet switching and a founding father of the Internet | ||
| 1974 | BS | American biochemist and leading advocate of the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design | ||
| 1992 | MS | Co-founder and president of Xiaomi, a member of the board of advisors at Tufts University School of Engineering | ||
| 1965 | BS | Former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory | ||
| 1976 | BS | Former rear admiral in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, and its director from 2003 to 2007. | ||
| 1965 | MS | 38th President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers | ||
| 2014 | BS, MS, PhD | Artificial intelligence researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||
| — | BS | Architect and engineer who invented the air-supported fabric roof system used in domed stadiums | ||
| 1946 | BS | Developer of the first practical artificial blood vessel replacement | ||
| 1936 | Cert | Laboratory chemist who was convicted of being the courier for a number of Soviet spy rings during the Manhattan Project | ||
| 1996 | BS | Creator of the computer markup language Markdown and the website Daring Fireball | ||
| 1973 | BS | Board chair for the Linux Professional Institute | ||
| 1984 | MS | Director Pennsylvania State University Center for Big Data Analytics and Discovery Informatics | ||
| 1985 1987 | MS PhD | 49th President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers | ||
| 1969 1972 | BS PhD | Medicinal and organic chemist responsible for the drug Topiramate | ||
| 1972 | BS | Organic and biomaterials chemist; winner of two American Chemical Society National Awards | ||
| 1988 | MS | Chief scientist at PRICE Systems | ||
| 1961 | BS | Engineer and systems integrator | ||
| 1980 | MS | Former minister of the Nuclear Safety Commission | ||
| 1947 | BS | Early developer of barcode technology with Norman Joseph Woodland | ||
| 1947 | BS | Inventor of barcode technology |
NASA
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| 1973 | BS | Astronaut, physician, colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves, and the pararescue flight surgeon for the 939th Air Rescue Wing | ||
| 1993 | PhD | Astrophysicist, head of NASA's Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory and an Associate Director at the Goddard Space Flight Center | ||
| 2009 | PhD | Astronomer, lead of Planetary Protection for the Mars 2020 Mission | ||
| 1984 | BS | Astronaut and pilot | ||
| — | MS | NASA engineer who served as the lead flight director for the Apollo 14 and Apollo 16 crewed lunar landing missions | ||
| 1987 | BS | Astronaut and mechanical engineer | ||
| 1989 | MD | Astronaut and physician |
Sports
| Name | Grad year | Degree | Notability | Ref |
| 1988 | BS | Former NBA player with the San Antonio Spurs | ||
| 2019 | BS | Olympic rower | ||
| — | — | Ice dancer, 2008 Four Continents bronze medalist and a two-time U.S. national bronze medalist | ||
| 1977 | BS | Men's basketball head coach at the New Jersey Institute of Technology | ||
| — | — | Former lacrosse player with the Philadelphia Wings | ||
| 2013 | BS | Lacrosse player; fifth overall pick in the National [Lacrosse League Entry Draft|2013 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft] | ||
| 2003 | BS | Represented the Palestinian Rowing Federation at the 2005–2007 World Rowing Championships, 16th-place finish and highest world championship result of any Palestinian athlete | ||
| 1954 | — | Former football coach at Drexel | ||
| 2004 | BA | College basketball coach; assistant coach at Villanova 2013–2018; head coach at La Salle 2018–2022 | ||
| 2015 | BS | NBA player with the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors | ||
| 2013 | BS | 2009 Wendy's Heisman nominee, soccer | - | |
| 2006 | BS | Wrestler; professional mixed martial arts fighter; formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship | ||
| 2010 | BS | Women's National Basketball Association player formerly with the Minnesota Lynx | ||
| 1989 | BS | Luger; Olympic flag-bearer for USA in the 1984 Olympic opening ceremonies | ||
| 2007 | BS | Hired as basketball head coach at Wagner College beginning in March 2012; was a four-year starter for Drexel while attending school | ||
| 1943 | BBA | Football executive, owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League | ||
| 2014 | BBA | Lacrosse player with the Philadelphia Wings; first overall pick in the 2015 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft | ||
| 2004 | BS | Gold and silver medal winner in swimming events at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, holds one List of [IPC world records in swimming – Men's long course|world record] | ||
| — | — | Former NFL player with the New York Giants; collegiate football and wrestling coach | ||
| 2003 | — | Professional soccer player with the Seattle Sounders FC and previously with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and New York Red Bulls | ||
| 1996 | BS | Former NBA player with the Charlotte Hornets, the San Antonio Spurs, the New York Knicks, and the Oklahoma City Thunder | ||
| — | — | Former collegiate football coach | ||
| 1989 | BA | College baseball coach at Marist and Maryland | ||
| 2024 | BA | NBA player with the Boston Celtics |