Barnard College Barnard College
Press Kit

Notable Alumnae

Barnard’s more than 36,000 alumnae excel in virtually every field. They start and lead corporations, make important scientific discoveries, write critically acclaimed novels, develop national policy and more. Each year, hundreds of alumnae return to campus as guest speakers, provide internships in their workplaces, and act as informal job referral sources. 

Please click here to find Barnard’s impressive list of alumnae who are members of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Below is a sampling of some of the most notable Barnard alumnae.

  • Sana Amanat ’04, comic book editor
  • Nina Ansary ’89, historian, author, and women’s rights activist
  • Laurie Anderson ’69, performance artist and NASA’s first Artist-in-Residence
  • Natalie Angier ’78, author and science journalist, The New York Times
  • Jamie Babbit ’93, director, producer and screenwriter
  • Jacqueline K. Barton ’74, pioneer in the study of DNA structure
  • Anne Bernays ’52, novelist
  • Joan Birman ’48, mathematician and recipient of the ‘96 Chauvenet Prize for expository writing
  • Katherine Boo ’88, journalist and recipient of the Pulitzer and MacArthur Foundation prizes 
  • Stacey Borgman ’98, rower and participant in 2004 Olympics
  • Ann Brashares ’89, author
  • Edwidge Danticat ’90, author
  • Ronnie Myers Eldridge ’52, New York political activist and television host
  • Delia Ephron ’66, author, playwright, and screenwriter
  • Firth Haring Fabend ’59, author, historian
  • Muriel Fox ’48, founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
  • Ellen Futter ’71, former president of the American Museum of Natural History
  • Cristina Garcia ’79, journalist and novelist
  • Helene Gayle ’76, president of Spelman College
  • Greta Gerwig ’06, actress, screenwriter, and director
  • Mary Gordon ’71, author
  • Betsy Gotbaum ’61, former New York City Public Advocate
  • Lauren Graham ’88, actor and author
  • Alex Guarnaschelli ’91, chef and television personality
  • Susan Herman ’68, former ACLU president, American constitutional law scholar
  • Maria Hinojosa ’84, executive producer of Latino USA, founder and CEO of Futuro Media Group
  • Karla Jay ’68, author and LGBTQ activist
  • Erica Jong ’63, author
  • Suki Kim ’92, investigative journalist and novelist
  • Jhumpa Lahiri ’89, author
  • Wilma Liebman ’71, chairwoman of the National Labor Relations Board
  • Eileen McNamara ’74, professor, Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist of the Boston Globe
  • Sheila Nevins ’60, president of HBO Documentary Films
  • Cynthia Nixon ’88, actress and activist
  • Chelsea Peretti ’00, comedian and actress
  • Anna Quindlen ’74, journalist and novelist
  • Azita Raji ’83, U.S. Ambassador to Sweden
  • Atoosa Rubenstein ’93, former editor-in-chief of Seventeen and founding editor of COSMOGirl!
  • Erinn Smart ’01, silver medalist in fencing at the 2004 Olympics
  • Dean Spade ’97, lawyer, writer, professor, and founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project
  • Susan Stamberg ’59, special correspondent, NPR
  • Martha Stewart ’63, entrepreneur and television personality
  • Twyla Tharp ’63, choreographer
  • Meryl Tisch ’77, educator, Chancellor of New York State Board of Regents
  • Polly Trottenberg ’86, transportation expert working in government
  • Suzanne Vega ’81, singer-songwriter


Deceased

  • Sheila Abdus-Salaam ’74, first African American woman appointed to New York's highest court
  • Anne Anastasi ’28, psychologist, third female president of the American Psychological Association and recipient of the National Medal of Science
  • Grace Lee Boggs ’35, activist
  • Elsie Clews Parsons ’1896, the “founding mother of anthropology” and the first woman president of the American Anthropological Association
  • Helen Gahagan Douglas ’24, actress and the first Democrat woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress
  • Eileen Ford ’43, co-founder of Ford Models
  • Patricia Highsmith ’42, author
  • Zora Neale Hurston ’28, author
  • Jean Blackwell Hutson ’69, librarian, chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
  • June Jordan ’57, poet
  • Judith Kaye ’58, first female chief judge for New York State
  • Jeane Kirkpatrick ’48, first woman U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
  • Linda Laubenstein ’69, pioneering HIV/AIDS physician and researcher
  • Margaret Mead ’23, anthropologist
  • Helen Ranney ’41, physician-scientist whose pioneering research demonstrated a link between genetic factors and sickle cell anemia
  • Joan Rivers ’54, entertainer
  • Ntozake Shange ’70, poet and novelist
  • Lila Wallis ’47, the “godmother of women’s health”
  • Jane Wyatt Ward ’32, actress