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Chronicle list of most famous Stanford alums in honor of graduation - Printable Version

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Chronicle list of most famous Stanford alums in honor of graduation - TreesAndBirds - 06-18-2017

Bit of recency bias...

No Hewlett/Packard?

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/The-most-famous-Stanford-University-alums-11223888.php?ref=yfp#photo-4657444

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Hulk01 - 06-18-2017

I'm an avid movie fan and had never heard of Jay Roach. 


Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Spiny_Norman - 06-18-2017

(06-18-2017, 10:55 AM)Hulk01 link Wrote:I'm an avid movie fan and had never heard of Jay Roach.

More well known to me as the husband of Susanna Hoffs whom I still see around town in LA.  Roach is a lucky guy.

I guess all of those 25 are more famous than Hewlett, Packard and the 35th president, John Kennedy.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - needle - 06-18-2017

I'm reading a book by Richard Rodriguez right now.

Here's Wikipedia's list of famous Stanford authors. Any glaring omissions?
Quote: Writers[edit]

Robert Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate
Ann Bannon (Ph.D. Linguistics), pulp fiction author
Stewart Brand, writer and editor
Ethan Canin (A.B. 1982), author
Thad Carhart, author
Jorge Cham (Ph.D. 2003), author of the webcomic Piled Higher and Deeper
Victor Cheng (A.B, A.M.), author, blogger
Erskine Childers, author and United Nations official
Michael Cunningham, author
Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) (Ph.D. 1957), author, spiritual teacher
Allen Drury (A.B. 1939), Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Selden Edwards (A.M. Education), best-selling novelist, headmaster, teacher
Allegra Goodman (Ph.D. English literature), novelist
Robin Lee Graham Author, sailed the world alone as a teenager
Yaa Gyasi, (A.B. English), Ghanaian-American novelist
David Harris (no degree), journalist, author, protestor/anti-war activist
Sam Harris (A.B. 2000), author
Robert Hass (A.M., Ph.D.), U.S. Poet Laureate
George V. Higgins (A.M.), attorney and author
Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize winner and author
bell hooks (A.B. 1973), writer on race, class, and gender
Mary-Louise Hooper (A.B. 1955), civil rights activist and journalist
David Henry Hwang (1979), playwright
Arturo Islas (A.B. 1960, A.M. 1965, Ph.D. 1971), fiction writer
Fenton Johnson (A.B., 1975, Stegner Fellow, 1985–86), author, fiction, nonfiction
Ken Kesey (A.M.), author
Iris Krasnow (A.B. 1976), author specializing in relationships and personal growth
Alan Lelchuk (Ph.D. 1965)
Paul Rogat Loeb (expelled for campus disruption), social and political activist and author
William Harjo LoneFight, Native American author and expert in the revitalization of Native American languages and cultural traditions
Dhan Gopal Mukerji, socio-cultural critic and author
Siddhartha Mukherjee (B.S. 1993), author, scientist and Pulitzer Prize winner
Michael Murphy, author and co-founder of Esalen Institute
Ted Nace (A.B. 1978), author noted for critique of corporate personhood
Scott O'Dell, author
Robert Pinsky (Ph.D.), U.S. Poet Laureate
Dick Price, co-founder of Esalen Institute
Chip Rawlins, non-fiction author, Stegner Fellow
Richard Rodriguez (A.B.), author; Hunger of Memory
Louis Rosenberg (Ph.D.), writer
Allen Rucker, writer and television producer
Edward Rutherfurd, novelist
Vikram Seth (dropped out of Ph.D program), poet and author
Curtis Sittenfeld, author
Joel Stein, humorist and columnist for the Los Angeles Times
John Steinbeck (dropped out), Nobel prize winner in literature
Hans Otto Storm, novelist, radio engineer
Mark Sundeen, novelist and magazine writer
Nicholas Thompson, Editor in Chief of Wired and historian
Scott Turow (A.M.), author
Albert Wilson (M.S.), author, botanist, talk show personality
Tanaya Winder, poet
Tobias Wolff (A.M.), professor 1997–present, author
John Zerzan (A.B., 1965), anarchist and primitivist, author
Richard Zimler (A.M. 1982), author




Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - yvonne - 06-18-2017

The Chron list skews way too much toward athletes and actors. Where are the Rhenquists, O'Connors, Rides, and Jemisons?

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Spiny_Norman - 06-18-2017

(06-18-2017, 03:52 PM)needle link Wrote:I'm reading a book by Richard Rodriguez right now.

Here's Wikipedia's list of famous Stanford authors. Any glaring omissions?

Not a glaring omission, but I would expect to see Scott Momaday on that list.  He is a Pulitzer Prize winner with a Stanford PhD.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Phogge - 06-18-2017

Tony Serra. Told me he hated Chuck Taylor.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - CowboyIndian - 06-18-2017

The old eyes being what they are....did I miss Larry McMurtry on that list? He was in the Stegner program....a contemporary of Kesey's. There's a great scene in "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" where Kesey and the Pranksters visited McMurtry in Houston.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Leftcoast - 06-18-2017

About that 35th president - He's all Harvard despite auditing classes here in the fall of 1940.  I read at least one biography that suggested the future president spent more time auditing the party life and "meeting" attractive West coast females then he did hitting any books. 

From a 1940 Kennedy letter to a friend, "Have become very fond of Stanford. Everyone is friendly—the gals are quite attractive—and it’s a very good life.” World War II and the Navy soon intervened.

Be that as it may, the name at the top of JFK's diploma is Harvard.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - burger - 06-18-2017

(06-18-2017, 03:52 PM)needle link Wrote:
Any glaring omissions?
Rajiv Chandrasekaran ('94, I think).  His book about Iraq was a National Book Award finalist and won a similar British award.


Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Mick - 06-18-2017

(06-18-2017, 03:52 PM)needle link Wrote:I'm reading a book by Richard Rodriguez right now.

Here's Wikipedia's list of famous Stanford authors. Any glaring omissions?
Quote: Writers[edit]

Robert Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate
Ann Bannon (Ph.D. Linguistics), pulp fiction author
Stewart Brand, writer and editor
Ethan Canin (A.B. 1982), author
Thad Carhart, author
Jorge Cham (Ph.D. 2003), author of the webcomic Piled Higher and Deeper
Victor Cheng (A.B, A.M.), author, blogger
Erskine Childers, author and United Nations official
Michael Cunningham, author
Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) (Ph.D. 1957), author, spiritual teacher
Allen Drury (A.B. 1939), Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Selden Edwards (A.M. Education), best-selling novelist, headmaster, teacher
Allegra Goodman (Ph.D. English literature), novelist
Robin Lee Graham Author, sailed the world alone as a teenager
Yaa Gyasi, (A.B. English), Ghanaian-American novelist
David Harris (no degree), journalist, author, protestor/anti-war activist
Sam Harris (A.B. 2000), author
Robert Hass (A.M., Ph.D.), U.S. Poet Laureate
George V. Higgins (A.M.), attorney and author
Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize winner and author
bell hooks (A.B. 1973), writer on race, class, and gender
Mary-Louise Hooper (A.B. 1955), civil rights activist and journalist
David Henry Hwang (1979), playwright
Arturo Islas (A.B. 1960, A.M. 1965, Ph.D. 1971), fiction writer
Fenton Johnson (A.B., 1975, Stegner Fellow, 1985–86), author, fiction, nonfiction
Ken Kesey (A.M.), author
Iris Krasnow (A.B. 1976), author specializing in relationships and personal growth
Alan Lelchuk (Ph.D. 1965)
Paul Rogat Loeb (expelled for campus disruption), social and political activist and author
William Harjo LoneFight, Native American author and expert in the revitalization of Native American languages and cultural traditions
Dhan Gopal Mukerji, socio-cultural critic and author
Siddhartha Mukherjee (B.S. 1993), author, scientist and Pulitzer Prize winner
Michael Murphy, author and co-founder of Esalen Institute
Ted Nace (A.B. 1978), author noted for critique of corporate personhood
Scott O'Dell, author
Robert Pinsky (Ph.D.), U.S. Poet Laureate
Richard Price, co-founder of Esalen Institute
Chip Rawlins, non-fiction author, Stegner Fellow
Richard Rodriguez (A.B.), author; Hunger of Memory
Louis Rosenberg (Ph.D.), writer
Allen Rucker, writer and television producer
Edward Rutherfurd, novelist
Vikram Seth (dropped out of Ph.D program), poet and author
Curtis Sittenfeld, author
Joel Stein, humorist and columnist for the Los Angeles Times
John Steinbeck (dropped out), Nobel prize winner in literature
Hans Otto Storm, novelist, radio engineer
Mark Sundeen, novelist and magazine writer
Nicholas Thompson, Editor in Chief of Wired and historian
Scott Turow (A.M.), author
Albert Wilson (M.S.), author, botanist, talk show personality
Tanaya Winder, poet
Tobias Wolff (A.M.), professor 1997–present, author
John Zerzan (A.B., 1965), anarchist and primitivist, author
Richard Zimler (A.M. 1982), author

Chelsea Clinton is an author. Herant Katchadourian was professor of HumBio for 30 years, he just wrote his memoir.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - indiancardinal - 06-18-2017

Jesmyn Ward - National Book Award Winner. AB 1999 and Stegner Fellow

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - DC 86 - 06-18-2017

(06-18-2017, 03:57 PM)Yvonne link Wrote:The Chron list skews way too much toward athletes and actors. Where are the Rhenquists, O'Connors, Rides, and Jemisons?

Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy and Breyer are on slide #7.

Sally Ride is slide #18.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - yvonne - 06-19-2017

Thanks.

and Vint Cerf?

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Stymie - 06-19-2017

JV Cunningham, Poet.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Phogge - 06-19-2017

Grads? McEnroe? Woods? Thought they didn't get degrees.

How about Jack Palance? Ernie Nevers? Lawson Little? Hank Liusetti?

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - Farm93 - 06-19-2017

The short-term alums bother me a bit, but they are alums by Stanford's definition.

Famous in the Chronicle context was clearly something closer to a Q-Rating or Q-Score.  There are a lot of very successful people that could sit next to me on a plane and most I suspect I would not recognize.  Stanford, like other schools, has a lot of successful alums in that category for me.

Essentially, I am thinking about the John Elway and Sherman Uber/Lyft type experiences.  The most famous people should have strong Q-Scores, and most of the Stanford alums are not at that level of fame.

I am pretty confident the list of alums that I could identify while waiting for a plane at an airport would include John Elway, Reese Witherspoon, Cory Booker, and maybe Tiger Woods.  For almost every other "famous" alum, my guess is that with a hat, sunglasses, a change in hair color, or other similar tactics, I would not even give them a second glance.

Success in a particular field may be notable, but I am not sure that correlates strongly with the Chronicle's notion of fame.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford alums in honor of graduation - TreesAndBirds - 06-19-2017

Changed "grads" to "alums" in the title.

It would be fun to make our own list but probably too complicated. And I would prefer to focus on the importance of people to Stanford and society in general, rather than "fame".

My initial thought is that the Hewlett/Packard team were the most important alums, for the company they started, the affect they had on growing Silicon Valley and their charitable contributions, but hard to compare to a President or Supreme Ct. justices.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford alums in honor of graduation - fullmetal - 06-19-2017

Fame is a fickle beast.  I suspect this board would skews a bit more athletic in our airport recognition test.  Even as an electrical engineer, I couldn't say right now what the faces of Hewlett or Packard look like.  Names, of course, are easier to recognize.

I suspect more people would recognize Michelle Wie, Tiger Woods, or Robin Lopez today than Jim Plunkett or Hank Luisetti.  If Fame is a beast, then Media is its keeper.

Re: Chronicle list of most famous Stanford grads in honor of graduation - rastaman85 - 06-20-2017

(06-18-2017, 07:48 PM)burger link Wrote:[quote author=needle link=topic=16992.msg194873#msg194873 date=1497826335]
Any glaring omissions?
Rajiv Chandrasekaran ('94, I think).  His book about Iraq was a National Book Award finalist and won a similar British award.
[/quote]

Jamie Purviance, '85, has about the best job in the world: he writes BBQ cookbooks for Weber.

https://www.amazon.com/Jamie-Purviance/e/B001H6MDQA