List of Wayne State University people

The following is a list of notable people related to Wayne State University.

Alumni

Academia

Sandra Arlinghaus, professor at University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Rudine Sims Bishop, educator and "mother of" multicultural children's literature
Claire-Marie Brisson, preceptor in French at Harvard University
Arthur Danto, Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University
Wayne Dyer, self-help author and motivational speaker
Paul M. Fleiss, pediatrician, father of Heidi Fleiss
Joseph Francisco, professor of Chemistry, former president of the American Chemical Society
David J. Jackson, political science professor at Bowling Green State University
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
Douglas McGregor, management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and president of Antioch College
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
Godfrey Mwakikagile, Tanzanian scholar, author, Africanist, academic and political theorist
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
Rita Richey, first woman to earn a Ph.D. in instructional technology
Michael Schwartz, president of Cleveland State University, former President Emeritus of Kent State University
Jacquelyn Taylor, Helen F. Pettit Professor of Nursing; founder and executive director, Center for Research on People of Color at Columbia University
Dennis Chima Ugwuegbu, Nigeria's first professor of psychology
Stanley E. Zin, Richard M. Cyert and Morris H. DeGroot Professor of Economics and Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University; Frisch Medal winner

Broadcasting and journalism

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
Sonny Eliot, weatherman, actor, and comedian
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
Derek Hunter, radio host and journalist
Casey Kasem, radio host
Carol Martin, news anchor and journalist
Elvis Mitchell, New York Times film critic, entertainment critic for NPR's Weekend Edition, host of The Treatment on KCRW; programmer of the LACMA Film Screening Program
Mike O'Hara, sportswriter for The Detroit News 1967–2008; in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
Helen Thomas, former White House correspondent; "First Lady of the Washington press corps"

Business

Tom Athans, co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio
Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna
Howard Birndorf, biotechnology entrepreneur, founding director of Neurocrine Biosciences
Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org
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
Madhusudhan Rao Lagadapati, chairman and CEO of Lanco Infratech; ranked 29th richest person in India with US$2.3 billion in 2010 by Forbes
David M. Overton, founder and CEO of The Cheesecake Factory, Inc.
Dhiraj Rajaram, founder and chairman of Mu Sigma, Inc.
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
David Salzman, television producer and businessman

Computers, engineering, and technology

Neal Vernon Loving, turbulence specialist
Harold Mertz, created the standard crash test dummy
Ali Nasle, founder of EDSA Micro Corporation; wrote the world's first digital short circuit program
Lawrence Patrick, researcher in the area of automotive passenger safety; vice president for research and development of Libbey Owens Ford Company, the original manufacturer of laminated safety glass
John Sawruk, engineer and executive with GM
Ece Yaprak, computer engineer and engineering educator

Art and design

Susan Aaron-Taylor, mixed media sculptor, professor at Cranbrook Academy of Art
Edith Altman, artist
Diane Carr, artist
Niels Diffrient, industrial designer
Garth Fagan, dancer and choreographer
Tyree Guyton, artist, created the Heidelberg Project
Carole Harris, interior designer, textile artist
Ian Hornak, founding artist of the hyperrealist and photorealist fine art movements
Leonard D. Jungwirth, sculptor
Emeline King, industrial designer
Stanley Lechtzin, jewelry and metal artist, founding member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths
Hughie Lee-Smith, painter
Oxana Narozniak, Ukrainian-Brazilian sculptor
Arthur Seigel, photojournalist, educator and artist
Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, photographer, curator
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
Louvenia Bright, first African American woman to serve in the Vermont General Assembly
Cora Brown, first African American woman to be elected to a state senate
Chen Pi-Chao, former Vice Minister of National Defense for Taiwan, 2000–2002
Ken Cockrel Jr., former mayor of Detroit
John Conyers, former member of the United States House of Representatives
Keith Ellison, first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, currently the Attorney General of Minnesota
William D. Ford, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Yousif Ghafari, former US ambassador to Slovenia
Amer Ghalib, mayor of Hamtramck
Mitch Greenlick, former member of the Oregon House of Representatives
Jenean Hampton, former lieutenant governor of Kentucky
Lawrence Kestenbaum, creator and webmaster of The Political Graveyard
Nancy Lenoil, state archivist of California
Andrew Marshall, founding director of the Office of Net Assessment at the U.S. Defense Department
Fuat Oktay, first vice president of Turkey
Bruce Patterson, former member of the Michigan Senate; former Wayne County Commissioner
Gary Peters, member of the United States Senate
Teresa Stanek Rea, former acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and former acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Lynn N. Rivers, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Mary Sheffield, Mayor of the city of Detroit
Alma G. Stallworth, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives
Ulana Suprun, former acting Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine
Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women elected to the U.S. Congress
John Townsend, member of the 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
Elizabeth L. Gleicher, judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals
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; first woman to serve on the Michigan Court of Appeals
Henry Saad, jurist, Michigan Court of Appeals
John Weisenberger, former attorney general of Guam

Literature

Charles Baxter, writer and educator
Albert Cleage, author, founder of the Black Christian National Movement
Dorothy Marie Donnelly, poet
Paula Gosling, mystery novelist
Mariela Griffor, poet and novelist, journalist
Robert Hayden, poet, Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
Philip Levine, United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner
Thomas Ligotti, horror story writer
Raynetta Mañees, romance novelist
Jonell Nash, cookbook writer and magazine editor
Dudley Randall, poet and publisher
Warren Rovetch, travel writer
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, writer and educator

Magic

Al Schneider, author and magician known for developing the Matrix magic trick

Military

Christopher W. Lentz, United States Air Force brigadier general
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, jazz baritone saxophonist and composer
Patricia Alice Albrecht, actress, voice over actress, and writer, voice of Pizzazz in Jem
Dorothy Ashby, jazz harpist and composer
Madelon Baker, actress, singer, record producer, music publisher
Anita Barone, actress, The War at Home
Cherie Bennett, novelist, actress, director, playwright, newspaper columnist, singer, and television writer for The Young and the Restless
Bob Birch, bassist for the Elton John Band
Ben Blackwell, 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
Artie Fields, bandleader, songwriter, record producer and jazz trumpeter
Jeff Frankenstein, keyboardist for Christian pop/rock band Newsboys, dropped out in 1994 to pursue his career with the band
Curtis Fuller, trombonist
Frank Gillis, jazz pianist, ethnomusicologist
Joe Henderson, jazz musician
Sean Hickey, composer
Ernie Hudson, actor, Oz, Ghostbusters
Art James, TV game-show host
Thorsten Kaye, actor, All My Children, One Life to Live, Port Charles
Yusef Lateef, jazz musician
Lazarus, physician, rapper and songwriter from Detroit
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, 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 1993
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, television writer and producer
David Ramsey, actor, Dexter, Blue Bloods, Mother and Child, and Arrow
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, 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, 2015 recipient National Medal of Arts
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
Lily Tomlin, actress, Nashville, The West Wing, Murphy Brown, Flirting with Disaster, ''I Heart Huckabees''

Medicine

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

Religion

Charles H. Ellis III, former presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World Inc.
Dario Hunter, first Muslim-born person to be ordained a rabbi
John Drew Sheard, Sr., presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ

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, author of 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
Shirley E. Schwartz, chemist and research scientist at General Motors

Sports

Anthony Bass, starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres; Major League Baseball draft draft selection in 2008
Tom E. Beer, former linebacker for the Detroit Lions
Joique Bell, Wayne State all-time leading rusher; former running back for the Detroit Lions
Gregory Benko, Olympic foil fencer
Ron Berger, former football player for the New England Patriots
Hunter Brown, 2019 MLB draft selection who plays for the Houston Astros
Rick Byas, cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons
Ken Doherty, Olympic bronze medalist, decathlon
Phil Emery, former General Manager for the Chicago Bears
Ben Finegold, chess grandmaster
Kiefer Haffey, college basketball coach
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, 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
Danny Lewis, American-English basketball player
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
Otmar Szafnauer, team principal of Alpine F1 Team and former racing driver
Allen Tolmich, track and field athlete; established or tied 11 U.S. track and field records in 1938, set world hurdling records
Lorenzo Wright, track and field athlete; gold medal winner in the 1948 Olympics

Honorary graduates

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

Faculty and staff

University presidents

1933 - 1942: Frank Cody
1942 - 1945: Warren E. Bow
1945 - 1952: David D. Henry
1952 - 1965: Clarence B. Hilberry
1965 - 1971: William R. Keast
1971 - 1978: George E. Gullen, Jr.
1978 - 1982: Thomas Bonner
1982 - 1997: David Adamany
1997 - 2009: Irvin Reid
2009 - 2010: Jay Noren
2011 - 2013: Allan Gilmour
2013 - 2023: M. Roy Wilson
2023–present: Kimberly Andrews Espy

Professors

Norman Allinger, computational chemist, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry
Dora Apel, professor emerita of Modern and Contemporary Art
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
Henry Billings Brown, instructor in Medical Law in the 1860s, later US Supreme Court Justice
Winifred B. Chase, botanist; Professor of Botany and Dean of Women
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
Carl Djerassi, professor of Chemistry, synthesized the first highly active ingredient for the pill
Forest Dodrill, inventor of the Dodrill-GMR; first person to perform a successful open heart surgery
Julia Donovan Darlow, attorney; first woman president of the State Bar of Michigan; adjunct professor of Law
John M. Dorsey, chairman of Psychiatry; author; first to be awarded title of university professor
Sorin Draghici, professor in Computer Science, Robert J. Sokol, MD Endowed Chair in Systems Biology in Reproduction, Director of the James and Patricia Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute, Associate Dean of College of Engineering
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
David Fasenfest, associate professor of Sociology
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
Neil Gordon, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, founded the Journal of Chemical Education and established the world-renowned Gordon Research Conferences
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
Kermit L. Hall; legal historian
Carla Harryman, poet; essayist; playwright; Professor of Women's Studies and Creative Writing
Matthew Holden, political scientist
Ian Hornak, founding artist of the hyperrealist and photorealist fine art movements
Jerome Horwitz, 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 and Stavudine, 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
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
William V. Mayer, professor of Zoology; known for his work in promoting biology education
Forrest McDonald, historian, leading conservative scholar
Ron Milner, author of a Broadway play, professor of creative writing
Horace Miner, anthropologist
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
Jennifer Sheridan Moss, professor of Latin and Classics; papyrologist
Hidegorō Nakano, mathematician, after whom Nakano Spaces are named
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
Claude Pruneau, physicist in the area of heavy ion research; known for his work on particle correlation measurements in heavy ion collisions
Rita Richey, professor emeritus of Instructional Technology
Shlomo Sawilowsky, professor of Educational Statistics and Distinguished Faculty Fellow; founder and editor of the Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods
Matthew Seeger, professor of Communication; dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts
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
Renate Soulen, professor of radiology, 1989–2005; co-founder of Society of Interventional Radiology
Calvin L. Stevens, chemist, professor of Organic Chemistry; known for being the first to synthesize the drug ketamine
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
William Lay Thompson, professor emeritus of Biological Sciences, expert on bird vocalizations, past President of the Michigan Audubon Society and past Editor of the Jack Pine Warbler
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
Robert Zieger, labor historian; recipient of the Taft Labor History Award; professor of history
Wolf W. Zuelzer, professor of Pediatric Research