List of Bryn Mawr College people

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

The following is a list of individuals associated with Bryn Mawr College through attending as a student, or serving as a member of the faculty or staff.

Noted alumni

Name	Year of graduation	Notability	Reference(s)
Layla AbdelRahim	A.B. 1993	Author and anthropologist	[1]
Sil Lai Abrams	2021	Writer and activist
Nadia Abu El Haj	1984	Anthropologist at Barnard College
Renata Adler	1959	Writer	[2]
Maya Ajmera	1989	Founder of The Global Fund for Children
Srabonti Narmeen Ali	2001	Writer and singer
Katharine Sergeant Angell White	1914	Editor of The New Yorker
Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold	1905	Vanished socialite
Anastasia Ashman	1986	Writer
Ellis Avery	1993	Novelist	[3]
Emily Greene Balch	1889	Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1946
Margaret Ayer Barnes	1907	Writer, Pulitzer Prize for the Novel winner, 1931
Leila Cook Barber	A.B. 1925	Art historian and Professor Emeritus at Vassar College, specializing in the Renaissance art and Medieval studies.	[4]
Genevieve Bell	1990	Cultural anthropologist at Intel Labs
Cora Agnes Benneson	1887, fellow	Attorney, lecturer, and writer	[5]
Marie Bernard	1972	Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health
Florence Bird	1928	Canadian journalist and politician
Margaret McKelvy Bird	1931	American socialite and archaeologist	[6]
Mary G. F. Bitterman		President, Osher Foundation
Eleanor Albert Bliss	1921	Bacteriologist
Katharine Burr Blodgett	1917	Chemist and engineer
Grace Lee Boggs	Ph.D. 1940	Activist and author
Sarmila Bose	1981	Journalist
Ana Patricia Botin	1981	CEO of Banco Santander, CEO of Santander UK, CEO of Banesto
Kathy Boudin	1965	Weathermen member convicted of murder and bank robbery
Margaret Buchanan	Ph.D. 1922	Mathematician, professor emeritus, West Virginia University
Carol Burns	1977	Architect, co-founder of Taylor & Burns Architects
Barbara Ann Burtness	AB, 1982	American internist and oncologist
A. S. Byatt	graduate work 1957–1958, did not graduate	Postmodern novelist	[7]
Jane Calvin	1959	Artist
John D. Caputo	Ph.D. 1968	Philosophy professor at Syracuse University
Marjorie Constance Caserio	MA in chemistry in 1951, PhD in 1956	Chemist
Birutė Ciplijauskaitė	Ph.D. 1964	Vilas Professor of Spanish University of Wisconsin–Madison
Susy Clemens	did not graduate	daughter of American author Mark Twain
Bruce Cole	Ph.D. 1969	Chairman of National Endowment for the Humanities
Soraya M. Coley	M.S.S. 1974, Ph.D. 1981	Sixth University President of Cal Poly Pomona	[8]
Joyce Mitchell Cook	1955	First African American woman to receive a PhD in philosophy and the first woman to be appointed to an assistant teacher position at Yale
Mary Little Cooper	1968	Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
Katayoun Copeland		assistant U.S. Attorney and district attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania	[9]
Regna Darnell	1965	Anthropologist	[10]
Hilda Doolittle	did not graduate	Modernist poet
Eleanor Lansing Dulles	1917	Economist
Helen Flanders Dunbar	1923	Important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine
Mary Maples Dunn	M.A. 1956, Ph.D. 1959	Former president of Smith College
Lee McGeorge Durrell	1971	Author, television presenter, zookeeper
Madeline Early	M.A. 1933, Ph.D. 1936	Mathematician, professor
Roselyn J. Eisenberg	1960	Virologist
Drew Gilpin Faust	1968	Twenty-Eighth President of Harvard University, former Dean of Radcliffe Institute
Mary Peters Fieser	1930	Chemist and writer
Mary Stuart Fisher		Radiologist
Catherine Clarke Fenselau	1961	Chemist, pioneer in mass spectrometry
Frances H. Flaherty	1905	Film writer and director	[11]
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese	1963	Historian and conservative feminist
Shaun Gallagher	Ph.D.	University of Central Florida philosophy professor
Julia Anna Gardner	1905 A.B., 1907 M.A.	Geologist, paleontologist
Ashley Gavin	2010	podcaster, comedian
Martha A. Geer	1980	Associate Justice of the North Carolina Court of Appeals	[12]
Carolyn Goodman	1961	Mayor of Las Vegas, founder of the Meadows School
Dorothy Goodman		Teacher, charter school advocate, founder of International Baccalaureate Organization
Hanna Holborn Gray	1950	Former president of University of Chicago
David Gress	Ph.D 1981	Historian
Eunice Groark	B.A. 1960	Politician
Naomi Halas	M.A. 1984, Ph.D. 1986	Professor of Chemistry and Computer Engineering at Rice University
Edith Hamilton	M.A. 1894	Classical scholar
Jessica Todd Harper	B.A. 1997	Photographer	[13]
Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn	1899	Suffragist and family planning advocate
Katharine Hepburn	1928	Academy Award-winning actress
Hope Hibbard	Ph.D. c. 1921	Biologist, cytologist, zoologist, and zoology professor
Carmelita Hinton	1912	Progressive educator
Betsy Hodges	1991	Former Mayor of Minneapolis
Louise Holland	1920	Academic, philologist and archaeologist
Jean Holzworth	A.B. 1936, Ph.D. 1940	Latin philologist, later veterinarian and expert on feline medicine	[14]
Edith Houghton Hooker	1901	Suffragist
Margaret Hoover	2001	Political contributor for CNN, media personality, and author. She is a great-granddaughter of former U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
Matina Horner	1961	Former president of Radcliffe College and psychologist who pioneered the concept of "fear of success"	[15]
Sari Horwitz	1979	Journalist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
Beryl Howell	1978	Federal Court Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Barbara Marx Hubbard	1951	Writer and public speaker
Salima Ikram	1986	Egyptologist and professor at American University in Cairo
Nina Jankowicz	2011	Disinformation expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Sarah Jones	did not graduate	Actress, poet, playwright
Deborah Kamen	1998	Chair and Professor of Classics at the University of Washington
Angela Kane	c. 1970	German UN Diplomat
Rosabeth Moss Kanter	1964	Professor in business at Harvard Business School, former editor of the Harvard Business Review
Michi Kawai	1904	Founder of Keisen University
Emily Kimbrough	1921	Writer	[16]
Helen Dean King	Ph.D. 1899	Biologist
Anna Kisselgoff	1958	Cultural news reporter and former Chief Dance Critic for the New York Times
Karen Kornbluh	1985	Ambassador and U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt	1923	Children's author, best known for Pat the Bunny . Both her daughters are also Bryn Mawr alumnae.	[17]
Gertrude Prokosch Kurath	1928	Dancer and dance researcher
Leslie Kurke	1981	Professor of classics at University of California-Berkeley and MacArthur "genius grant" recipient in 1999
Ellen Kushner	did not graduate	Fantasy writer
Frederica de Laguna	1927	Anthropologist
Ruth Langer	1981	Professor of Religion
Anna B. Lawther	1897	Leader in the women's suffrage movement
Mimi Lee	1943	Chemist and First Lady of Maryland from 1977 to 1979	[18]
Carol D. Leonnig	1987	Author, investigative journalist, staff writer at the Washington Post
Marie Litzinger	1920	Mathematician	[19] [20]
Helen Taft Manning	1915	Historian, professor and dean of Bryn Mawr College, suffragist, daughter of President William Howard Taft	[21]
Jacqueline Mars	1961	Heiress to Mars candy fortune
Leslie Marshall		Journalist and novelist
Berthe Marti	M.A. 1926, Ph.D. 1934	Professor of Latin at Bryn Mawr College
Katharine McBride	A.B. 1925 M.A. 1927 Ph.D. 1932	Former president of Bryn Mawr College
Millicent Carey McIntosh	1920	Head of the Brearley School and the first president of Barnard College. She was the first married woman to head one of the Seven Sisters, she was "considered a national role model for generations of young women who wanted to combine career and family," advocating for working mothers and for child care as a dignified profession.	[22]
Sarah McIntyre	1999	Children's book writer and illustrator
Mary A. McLaughlin	M.A. 1969	Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
A. Thomas McLellan	M.S., Ph.D.	Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, nominee for Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
Priscilla Johnson McMillan	M.A. 1950	Journalist, translator, author, historian
Georgia L. McMurray	M.A. 1962	Activist and New York City administrator	[23]
Mary Patterson McPherson	Ph.D.	Former President of Bryn Mawr College
Ruth McVey	B.A. 1952	Co-author, Cornell Paper	[24]
Cornelia Meigs	1908	Newbery Medal winner in 1934	[25]
Mary Meigs	1939	Writer	[26]
Lucy Taxis Shoe Meritt	A.B. 1927, M.A. 1928, Ph.D. 1935	Classical archaeologist
Lynne Meadow	1968	Theatrical producer and director
Agnes Kirsopp Lake Michels	A.B., M.A., Ph.D.	Classical scholar and former professor at Bryn Mawr College
Elizabeth Mosier	1984	Writer, Author of My Life as a Girl
Marianne Moore	1909	Poet
Margaret M. Morrow	1971	Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Catherine Gilbert Murdock		Writer
Emily Cheney Neville	1940	Newbery Medal winner in 1964
Lindsay Northover, Baroness Northover		Member of the U.K. House of Lords
Sherry Ortner	1962	Anthropologist, professor at UCLA, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient
Diana Oughton	1963	Militant Weathermen member
Ada Palmer	2001	Historian and author, professor at The University of Chicago
Marion Edwards Park	A.B. 1898 M.A. 1899 Ph.D. 1918	Former president of Bryn Mawr College
Judith Peabody		Socialite and philanthropist	[27]
Candace Pert	1970	Neuroscientist
Jeannette Piccard	1918	Teacher, scientist, balloon pilot, priest
Bertha Putnam	1893	Historian
Virginia Ragsdale	A.B., Ph.D.	Mathematician
Paul Rehak	M.A. 1980, Ph.D. 1985	Archaeologist
Alice Rivlin	1952	Economist, first director of Congressional Budget Office
Phyllis Ross		Economist, former chancellor of University of British Columbia
Ilana Kara Diamond Rovner	1960	Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Rovner was the first woman appointed to the Seventh Circuit
Edith Finch Russell		Author, biographer of Bryn Mawr College President M. Carey Thomas
Teresita Currie Schaffer	1966	Diplomat and former director of the Foreign Service Institute
Dorothy Schiff	1921	Newspaper publisher
Frances Schreuder	non-degreed	Convicted in 1983 of the 1978 Franklin Bradshaw murder that she forced her son, Marc, to perform.
Allyson Schwartz	M.A. 1972	U.S. Representative
Elaine Showalter	1962	Feminist literary critic and former president of the Modern Language Association
Fatima Siad	2007	Contestant on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 10 and fashion model
Maggie Siff	1996	Actress, Mad Men , Sons of Anarchy , Billions
Rachel Simon	1981	Writer
Cornelia Otis Skinner	did not graduate	Actress and author
Joan Slonczewski	1977	Biology professor at Kenyon College, science fiction writer
Gabrielle M. Spiegel	1964	Chair of the History Department at Johns Hopkins University, President of the American Historical Association, 2008–2009
Deborah Spungen	M.S.W. 1989	Author
Valerie Stanfill	1985	Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 2021–	[28]
Nettie Stevens	Ph.D. 1903	Geneticist
Caroline Stevermer	1977	Fantasy writer
Marcia Storch	1971	Physician
Nina Straight	1959	American author, journalist, and socialite
Margaret Suckley	1912–14 (did not graduate)	First archivist of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
Mary Hamilton Swindler	Ph.D. 1912	Former professor of archaeology of Bryn Mawr College
Olga Taussky-Todd	Fellow	Mathematician
Lily Ross Taylor	Ph.D. 1912	Former professor and dean of Bryn Mawr College
Mary Elizabeth Taylor	2011	White House Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs of Nominations for President Donald Trump. Forbes 30 under 30 2018
Martha Gibbons Thomas	1889	First woman elected to represent Chester County in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Dorothy Burr Thompson	1923	Archaeologist and art historian
Tony Thurmond	MSS 1995, MSLP 1996	American politician and member of the California State Assembly
Adrian Tinsley	1958	Former president of Bridgewater State University
Kaity Tong	1969	Broadcast journalist
Anne Truitt	1943	Minimalist sculptor
Umeko Tsuda	1889–1892	First Japanese student. Founder of Tsuda College and first president of YWCA in Japan
Neda Ulaby	1993	NPR Reporter
Genevieve Vaughan	1961	Philanthropist and feminist activist
Emily Vermeule	A.B. 1950, Ph.D. 1956	Classical scholar, archaeologist, poet
Elizabeth Gray Vining	1923	Newbery Medal winner
P. Gregory Warden	M.A. 1976, Ph.D. 1978	President of Franklin University Switzerland
Betty Peh T'i Wei	1953	Historian
Carola Woerishoffer	A. B. 1907	Labor activist, endowed Bryn Mawr social work program
Rebecca Wood Watkin	A.B. 1933	Architect, housing activist, and community leader in the San Francisco Bay Area	[29] [30]
Mai Yamani	1979	Anthropologist and Saudi Arabian activist
Rosemarie Said Zahlan	1958	Palestinian-American historian and writer
Michelle Zauner	2011	Musician, known for her band Japanese Breakfast and author of Crying in H Mart	[31]

Noted faculty and administrators

• Gerald M. Ackerman, art historian, lecturer in art history (1959–1965)
• Constance Applebee, Director of Athletics (1904–1928). Brought field hockey to the United States from Britain and established women's lacrosse as a collegiate sport.
• Asoka Bandarage
• Florence Bascom, petrologist, founder of Bryn Mawr's Geology Department
• Marland Pratt Billings, Structural Geologist
• Rhys Carpenter, Classical Archaeology (1889–1980)
• Kimberly Wright Cassidy (born c. 1963), Psychology, ninth president of Bryn Mawr College
• Catherine Conybeare, Professor of Classics
• Maria Luisa Crawford, Geology, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient
• Arthur C. Cope, chemist, developer of the Cope rearrangement and the Cope elimination, namesake of the Arthur C. Cope Award of the American Chemical Society (1934–1941)
• Donald Drew Egbert, Lecturer of Ancient Architecture (1930)
• Louis Fieser, chemist, developer of synthetic napalm, researcher of vitamin K (1925–1930)
• Arthur Lindo Patterson, founder of the Patterson function used in X-ray crystallography (1936–1949)
• Michelle Francl, computational chemistry
• Louise Holland, academic, philologist and archaeologist
• Alice M. Hoffman, labor and oral historian
• Howard S. Hoffman, Psychology (1925–2006), Behavioral Neuroscientist, leading scholar of the startle reflex and social attachment
• Amy Kelly, headmistress, historian and best-selling author
• Susan Myra Kingsbury, historical economist and social researcher; director of the Social Economy and Social Research department
• Frederica de Laguna, anthropologist and founder of Bryn Mawr's anthropology department (1906–2004)
• Mabel Lang, Greek (1943–1988); received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr in 1943
• Agathe Lasch, Germanic philologist (Associate Professor, 1910–16)
• Richmond Lattimore, Greek (1935–1971)
• Bettina Linn (1905–1962), English professor from 1934 to 1962; novelist
• Helen Taft Manning, History (1917–1957), also served as dean ^[21]
• Berthe Marti, Latin and French (1930–1963)
• Cornelia Meigs, English (1932–1950) ^[25]
• Agnes Kirsopp Lake Michels, Latin (1934–1975)
• José Ferrater Mora, Philosophy (1949–1980).
• Thomas Hunt Morgan, geneticist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine (1866–1946)
• Emmy Noether, Mathematics (1933–1935)
• Jane M. Oppenheimer, Embryology and History of Science (1938–1980)
• John Oxtoby, Mathematics (1939–1979)
• Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway, Archeology (1958–1994)
• Charlotte Scott, Mathematics (1885–1917)
• Hilda Worthington Smith, labor educator, social worker, and poet (1888–1984)
• Lily Ross Taylor, Latin (1927–1942), Dean of the Graduate School (1942–52)
• M. Carey Thomas, English, Dean of the College (1884–1908), President (1894–1922)
• Edward Warburg (1908–1992), taught Modern Art. ^[32]
• Harold Wethey, art historian
• Woodrow Wilson (1885–1888)
• Karl Kirchwey (born 1956), poet, associate professor from 2000 to present

Noted fictional alumni

• Pamela Abbott (A.B.), Inventing the Abbotts (1997), played by Liv Tyler
• C.C. Babcock, The Nanny (1993), played by Lauren Lane
• Erica Barry (A.B.), Something's Gotta Give lead character, played by Diane Keaton
• Amanda Bonner (A.B.), Adam's Rib (1949), played by Katharine Hepburn
• Betty Draper (A.B. in Anthropology), Mad Men (2007), played by January Jones
• Nancy Drew & Carolyn Keene, Confessions of a Teen Sleuth (book published in 2005)
• Jinx (A.B.) (1980s), a.k.a. Kim Arashikage (a fictional character in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line)
• Allison R. Hart-Burnett (A.B.) (1980s), Lady Jaye (a fictional character in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line)
• Edna Krabappel (M.A.), The Simpsons teacher
• Miriam "Midge" Maisel (B.A.), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017), played by Rachel Brosnahan
• Vivian Schuyler (B.A.), The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams.
• Corinthians (A.B.), Song of Solomon (book published 1977)

Notes

1. "Interview with Layla AbdelRahim on anarcho-primitivism, red anarchism and veganism". The Anarchist Library. November 17, 2013.
2. "Reporters and Writers: Renata Adler". Reporting Civil Rights. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
3. "Bryn Mawr Now: Ellis Avery '93 to read from The Teahouse Fire". Brynmawr.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
4. "Barber, Leila Cook". Dictionary of Art Historians. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
5. Nazzal, James A. (2000). "'Verite Sans Peur': Cora Agnes Benneson, a First-Wave Feminist of Illinois" . Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society . 93 (3): 273–286. JSTOR   40193344.
6. Bryn Mawr College. Alumnae Association (1936). Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin, 1936. Special Collections Bryn Mawr College Library. Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association.
7. "A. S. Byatt Archived 2009-10-21 at the Wayback Machine ," MSN Encarta. Archived 2009-10-31.
8. "Soraya Coley, M.S.S. '74,Ph.D. '81, Officially Conferred as Cal Poly Pomona's Sixth President". Bryn Mawr College. February 10, 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
9. Schneider, Aliya (November 20, 2023). "Former Delco DA Kat Copeland announces run for attorney general". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Retrieved November 20, 2023.
10. "Biography". Publish.uwo.ca. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
11. "Mrs. Robert Flaherty, Widow Of Documentary Filmmaker". The New York Times. 24 June 1972. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
12. Biography Archived April 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
13. Smithson, Aline (2014-10-09). "Jessica Todd Harper: The Home Stage". LENSCRATCH: Fine Art Photography Daily.
14. Scott, Fred W. (July 2008). Dr. Jean Holzworth, feline practitioner extraordinaire. 20th Annual Fred Scott Feline Symposium. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. hdl: 1813/34868 . [This contribution is numbered as pp. 1–4, but appears on pp. 42–45 of the PDF.]
15. Sex and Success, Time , March 20, 1972.
16. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-16. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
17. Zipes, Jack David, ed. (2006). "Kunhardt, Dorothy" . Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195146561.
18. Rasmussen, Frederick N. (2011-08-13). "Mathilde B. "Mimi" Lee, former acting first lady of Maryland, dies at 91". Baltimore Sun . Archived from the original on 2012-10-02. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
19. Bryn Mawr College. Senior Class (1920). Bryn Mawr College Yearbook. Class of 1920. Special Collections Bryn Mawr College Library. Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College.
20. Riddle, Larry (January 10, 2014), "Marie Litzinger", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College, retrieved 2015-12-26.
21. "Helen Taft Manning, Ex-Dean of Bryn Mawr". The New York Times. 1987-02-23.
22. Arenson, Karen W. (January 5, 2001). "Millicent McIntosh". The New York Times.
23. Smith, Jessie Carney; Phelps, Shirelle (1992). Notable Black American Women. VNR AG. ISBN   978-0-8103-9177-2.
24. McVey, John B. (7 May 2020). "Dr. Ruth Thomas McVey". Prominent People Tied to Hopkin Thomas. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
25. "Meigs, Cornelia". Pabook.libraries.psu.edu. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
26. "Mary Meigs Papers | Special Collections | Bryn Mawr College Library". Brynmawr.edu. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
27. Weber, Bruce. "Judith Peabody, Socialite and Volunteer, Dies at 80", The New York Times , July 27, 2010. Accessed July 27, 2010.
28. "Governor Mills Nominates Justice Valerie Stanfill as Chief Justice of Maine Supreme Judicial Court" (Press release). Office of Governor Janet T. Mills. May 10, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
29. "Watkin, Rebecca Wood, 1913-2010". ArchivesSpace Public Interface. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
30. "Rebecca Watkin Obituary (2011)". Legacy.com. The Oregonian. January 23, 2011. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
31. Rao, Sonia (April 20, 2021). "Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner is fighting for joy through grief". The Washington Post . Retrieved 29 May 2022.
32. Pace, Eric (September 22, 1992). "Edward Warburg, Philanthropist And Patron of the Arts, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2015.