List of alumnae of women's colleges in the United States

[
Nancy Pelosi (Trinity College)]

The following is a list of individuals associated with women's colleges in the United States through attending as a student or graduating.

Activists

*Marian Wright Edelman graduated from Spelman College and is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.
*Betty Friedan was a 1942 graduate of Smith College, an author, and noted feminist
*Gloria Johnson-Powell is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968). She was one of the first African American woman to attain tenure at Harvard Medical School
*Gloria Steinem is a 1956 graduate of Smith College

Authors, journalists, and poets

*Margaret Atwood is a graduate of Radcliffe College and an author
*Elizabeth Bishop was a graduate of Vassar College and Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950 as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956.
* Madeleine Blais- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author is a 1969 graduate of The College of New Rochelle
*Margaret Wise Brown, author of "Goodnight Moon" was a 1932 graduate of Hollins University
*Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, author of "The Good Earth" and the first woman to win both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes, was a 1914 graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College
*Kiran Desai is a graduate of Hollins University and an author and recipient of the Man Booker Prize in 2006
*Emily Dickinson attended Mount Holyoke College (then "Mount Holyoke Female Seminary"} and was a noted American poet
*Annie Dillard, Pultizer Prize winning author of "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" was a 1967 graduate of Hollins University
* Nora Ephron is a graduate of Wellesley College and an author
*H.D. attended Bryn Mawr College and was a modernist poet
*Zora Neale Hurston was a 1928 graduate of Barnard College and an author
*Helen Keller was a graduate of Radcliffe College and an American author, activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to graduate from college.
*Jhumpa Lahiri is a 1989 graduate of Barnard College and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author
*Ursula K. Le Guin is a graduate of Radcliffe College and an author
*Marianne Moore was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and was a modernist poet
*Flannery O'Connor was a graduate of Georgia College & State University and an author
*Suzan-Lori Parks is a 1985 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
*Sylvia Plath was a 1955 graduate of Smith College and an important American author and poet
*Lee Smith, author of "The Last Girls" was a 1967 graduate of Hollins University
*Gertrude Stein graduated from Radcliffe College and was a modernist author and critic
*Alice Walker attended Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College and is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author
*Wendy Wasserstein was a 1971 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
*Eudora Welty was a graduate of Mississippi University for Women and an author

College Presidents

*Nancy Cantor is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, was the Chancellor of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is President of Syracuse University.
*Carol T. Christ is a graduate of Douglass College (now part of Rutgers University) and the current president of Smith College.
*Drew Gilpin Faust is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the first female president of Harvard University
* Elaine Tuttle Hansen is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the current president of Bates College
* Ada Howard is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the first president of Wellesley College
* Susan Tolman Mills is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and co-founder and first president of Mills College
* Nancy J. Vickers is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the current president of Bryn Mawr College

Computer science, engineering, science, social science

* Ruth Benedict was a 1909 graduate of Vassar College and a noted anthropologist
*Rachel Carson was a graduate of Chatham University and the author of "Silent Spring", the book which is credited with advancing the global environmental movement.
* Grace Hopper was 1928 graduate of Vassar College and a computer scientist who developed the first compiler for a computer programming language
* Susan Kare is a 1975 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and is the original designer of many of the interface elements for the original Apple Macintosh
*Stephanie Kwolek is a 1946 graduate of Margaret Morrison Carnegie College and is the inventor of the Kevlar
* Margaret Mead was a 1923 graduate of Barnard College and a noted anthropologist
* Jean E. Sammet is a 1948 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and is the inventor of the FORMAC programming language

Government officials

*Madeleine Albright is a 1959 graduate of Wellesley College and the first woman Secretary of State
*Mary McLeod Bethune was an 1894 graduate of Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College) and was an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
*Benazir Bhutto was a graduate of Radcliffe College and was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state. She was Pakistan's first (and to date only) female prime minister, serving twice from 1988–1990 and 1993–1996.
* Elaine Chao is a 1975 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and, as the Secretary of Labor, is the first Asian American woman to be appointed to the President's Cabinet
*Hillary Rodham Clinton is a 1969 graduate of Wellesley College and was the first woman to be a serious contender for the position of Democratic nominee during the 2008 presidential primaries (she was defeated by Barack Obama). Clinton is currently the junior United States Senator from New York and is a former First Lady of the United States (1993-2001).
*Geraldine Ferraro is a 1956 graduate of Marymount Manhattan College and was the first woman to represent a major U.S. political party as a candidate for Vice President during the United States presidential election, 1984 (Ferraro and running mate Walter Mondale were defeated by Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush)
*Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was the first female U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and was a graduate of Stephens College (then a 2-year institution) and later Barnard College
*Nancy Pelosi is a 1962 graduate of Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University) and is the first woman Speaker of the House
*Frances Perkins was a 1902 graduate of Mount Holyoke College and was the first woman cabinet member (U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933-1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Journalists

* Ann Compton is a news reporter for ABC and inductee of the Radio Hall of Fame is a graduate of Hollins University
* Gwen Ifill is a 1977 graduate of Simmons College; she is the moderator and managing editor of Washington Week in Review and served as the moderator for both the 2004 and 2008 vice presidential debates
* Anna Quindlen is a graduate of Barnard College; she is a journalist with the "New York Times"
* Cokie Roberts is a 1964 graduate of Wellesley College; she is a contributing senior news analyst for National Public Radio as well as a regular roundtable analyst for the current "This Week with George Stephanopoulos"
* Diane Sawyer is a 1967 graduate of Wellesley College; she is a television reporter for ABC and co-anchor of its morning news show, "Good Morning America"
*Lesley Stahl is a graduate of Wheaton College; she is a reporter for "60 Minutes"
* Barbara Walters is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College; she is an American journalist, writer, and media personality who has been a regular fixture on morning television shows ("Today" and "The View"), an evening news magazine ("20/20"), and on "World News" (then ABC Evening News)

Performing artists, producers, and visual artists

* Debra Martin Chase graduated from Mount Holyoke College and is a noted Hollywood producer
*Sofia Coppola attended Mills College and is a director
*Ruby Dee attended Hunter College and is an actor
*Katharine Hepburn was a 1928 graduate of Bryn Mawr College and was an actress
*Denise Di Novi graduated from Simmons College and is a noted Hollywood producer
*Nnenna Freelon is a Simmons College graduate and noted jazz vocalist
*Sally Mann, photographer was a 1974 graduate of Hollins University
*Mercedes Ruehl - Academy Award-winning stage and screen actress is a 1969 graduate of The College of New Rochelle
*Meryl Streep is a graduate of Vassar College and a noted actress
*Twyla Tharp graduated from Barnard College in 1963 and is noted figure in the world of dance
*Suzanne Vega is a graduate of Barnard College and is a noted musician

External links

* [http://www.womenscolleges.org/alumnae/notables Women's College Coalition] - List of alumnae
*" [http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/728929.html All women, and thriving] " - "News and Observer"
*" [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15463035/site/newsweek/ In Virginia, three elite women's colleges reinvent themselves and find a new mission in a coed world] " - 06 November 2006 "Newsweek" article on Sweet Briar College, Hollins University, and Mary Baldwin College
* " [http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3705.html New study finds women’s colleges are better equipped to help their students] " - Indiana University