Sarah Lawrence College - Notable People

Notable People

• Faculty — Among the current faculty of the college are Chinese historian and philosopher Ellen Neskar, fine art photographer Joel Sternfeld, poet Suzanne Gardinier, novelist Melvin Jules Bukiet, novelist William Melvin Kelley, Middle Eastern Affairs expert Fawaz Gerges, poet Marie Howe, film historians Gilberto Perez and Malcolm Turvey, mathematician Dan King, chemist Colin Abernethy, biologist Drew Cressman, puppet-theatre artist Dan Hurlin, dancer/choreographer Sara Rudner and economist Franklin Delano Roosevelt, III. In 2005, current faculty member Eduardo Lago won the oldest literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world, the Premio Nadal. In 1934, Joseph Campbell was offered a position as professor at Sarah Lawrence College (through the efforts of his former Columbia advisor W.W. Laurence). Perceptual psychologist Rudolf Arnheim was on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College for 26 years, beginning in 1943.
• Music;- Yoko Ono attended Sarah Lawrence College.
• Entertainment Industry and Performance Arts — Sarah Lawrence alums who have entered the entertainment industry include film directors J.J. Abrams and Brian De Palma and producer Laura Bickford, news personality Barbara Walters, and TV writer and author Noah Hawley. Notable actors include Jane Alexander, Sigourney Weaver, Larisa Oleynik, Cary Elwes, Sam Robards, Joanne Woodward, Téa Leoni, Eric Mabius, Melora Hardin, Yancy Butler, Holly Robinson Peete, Robin Givens, Julianna Margulies, Lauren Holly, Max Bemis, Tovah Feldshuh, Kyra Sedgwick, Elisabeth Röhm, Guinevere Turner, and Jill Clayburgh. Carrie Fisher attended Sarah Lawrence, but left prior to graduating to begin filming Star Wars. Notable musicians include Lesley Gore, who juggled her singing career and graduated with honors in 1968 with a degree in literature, and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo. Win Butler of Arcade Fire attended Sarah Lawrence but left after his first year to move to Canada. Dylan Brody, a humorist, author, and playwright, studied theater at Sarah Lawrence.
• Fine Arts — Alumni who are successful artists include Janine Antoni (sculptor and performance artist), Cady Noland (conceptual sculptor and installation artist), Judith Inglese (artist, ceramic muralist and children's book illustrator), Jedd Novatt (sculptor and painter) and Yoko Ono (artist, performance artist, and musician) who studied music.
• Politics — Alumni involved in politics include Amanda Burden, Director of City Planning for New York; Sharon Hom, Director of Human Rights in China; and two former members of the United States House of Representatives: Democrat and President Barack Obama's former Chief of Staff and Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel and former Republican Congresswoman Sue W. Kelly.
• Dance — Alumni of the dance department at the College include MacArthur Genius Grant awardee Meredith Monk and choreographer John Jasperse.
• Fashion — Vera Wang, former Vogue editor and world-renowned fashion designer. Paul Johnson Calderon, television personality and fashion journalist also attended Sarah Lawrence.
• Literature/Biography — Alice Walker, most notably the author of "The Color Purple", is also an alumna. Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto is also a graduate, as is Donna Raskin, the book author and magazine writer, Constance Cappel, author, and Louise Glück, a poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Nancy Huston is author of numerous works and recipient of the Prix Femina in 2006 for the novel Lignes de faille (English translation: Fault Lines). Playwright and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Rabbit Hole. Porochista Khakpour, a journalist and novelist, won the 2007 California Book Award for First Fiction for her debut novel Sons and Other Flammable Objects; she was also a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize and got considerable acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, etc., in 2007. Melissa Febos, author of the critically acclaimed memoir about her time as a professional dominatrix in Manhattan, which resulted in a New York Post cover story and feature interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, is a graduate of the MFA program.