List of Bennington 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.

This list of notable people associated with Bennington College includes matriculating students, alumni, attendees, faculty, trustees, and honorary degree recipients of Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont.

## Notable alumni

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### Architecture

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Reference

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Kevin Alter | 1985  | associate dean for graduate programs, Sid W. Richardson Centennial Professor of Architecture; director of the Summer Academy in Architecture; and associate director of the Center for American Architecture and Design at The University of Texas at Austin  | B.A.  |
David Choi  | 1996  | principal, CHOIDESIGN + Partners; winner of Coptic Church International Design Contest, Edge as Center Competition  | B.A.
Judith Munk |  | artist and designer associated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography  | B.A.  |

### Art administration

[edit]

Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Reference

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Deborah Borda | 1971  | president and CEO, the Los Angeles Philharmonic; former president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic  | B.A.  |
Dan Cameron | 1979  | former director, visual arts, Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans), Chief Curator of the Orange County Museum of Art  | B.A.  |
Kathy Halbreich | 1971  | associate director, The Museum of Modern Art (New York)  | B.A.  |
Maren Hassinger | 1969  | director, the Rinehart School of Graduate Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art  | B.A.  |
Lindsay Howard |  | art curator in New York  | B.A.  |
Harvey Lichtenstein | 1953  | chair, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Local Development Corporation; former executive director and president emeritus of the Board of Trustees, Brooklyn Academy of Music  | B.A.  |
Matthew Marks | 1985  | founder and owner, Matthew Marks Gallery  | B.A.  |
Sharon Ott | 1972  | former artistic director, Seattle Repertory Theater; Tony and Obie Awards; faculty, Savannah College of Art & Design; executive board member, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society  | B.A.  |
Virlana Tkacz | 1974  | founding director of Yara Arts Group  | B.A.  |
Anne Waldman | 1966  | director and cofounder, Jack Kerouac School, The Naropa Institute; the Dylan Thomas Memorial Prize and NEA fellowships  | B.A.  |

### Aviation

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Reference

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Betty Haas Pfister |  | aviator  | B.A.  |

### Business

[edit]

Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Reference

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Bruce Berman | 1974  | chairman and CEO, Village Roadshow Pictures; executive producer, The Matrix, Ocean's Eleven, Analyze This, Mystic River, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | B.A.  |
Deborah Borda | 1971  | president and CEO, the Los Angeles Philharmonic; former president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic  | B.A.  |
Ashley Gjøvik | 2005  | former Apple Inc. employee; labor activist and whistleblower  |  | [1]
Judith Jones | 1945  | vice president and senior editor, Knopf; author of The Tenth Muse: My Life with Food and The Pleasures of Cooking for One | B.A.  |

### Dance/choreography

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Reference

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Liz Lerman | 1969  | choreographer, founder/director, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange; 2002 MacArthur "Genius" Award winner  | B.A.  |
Lisa Nelson | 1971  | choreographer; former editor, Contact Quarterly; director of Videoda  | B.A.  |
Sara Rudner | 1999  | director of dance, Sarah Lawrence College; former principal dancer, Twyla Tharp Dance; recipient of Bessie Award and Guggenheim grant  | B.A.  |

### Education

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Reference

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Judith Butler | 1978  | professor and chair of comparative literature and rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley; author, Gender Trouble | B.A.  |
Sheila Miyoshi Jager | 1984  | professor of East Asian Studies at Oberlin College  | B.A.  | [2]
Ellen McCulloch-Lovell | 1969  | president, Marlboro College; former deputy assistant to President Clinton  | B.A.  |
Sally Liberman Smith | 1950  | founder/director, Lab School, Washington, DC  | B.A.  |

### Film/theater/television

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Betty Aberlin | 1963  | actress and poet, Mister Rogers′ Neighborhood | B.A.  |
Alan Arkin | 1955  | actor, director, composer, author; film credits include Catch-22, The Russians Are Coming, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grosse Pointe Blank, The In-Laws, Little Miss Sunshine (Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Get Smart | B.A.  |
John Billingsley | 1982  | film and television actor with multiple credits, known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series Star Trek: Enterprise | B.A.  |
Chris Bowen | 1988  | senior performing director, Blue Man Group; Obie and Drama Desk Awards  | B.A.  |
John Boyd | 2003  | actor, Bones, FBI | B.A.  | [3]
Carol Channing | 1942  | Broadway and film actress; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Hello, Dolly!; Golden Globe Award, Academy Award nomination  | B.A.  | [4]
Spencer Cox |  | HIV/AIDS activist  | B.A.  |
Tim Daly | 1979  | actor, Diner, Made in Heaven; TV credits include Witness to the Execution, Wings, The Fugitive, The Sopranos, Private Practice, Madam Secretary; Theatre World and Dramalogue awards  | B.A.  |
Peter Dinklage | 1991  | actor; film credits include Living in Oblivion, The Station Agent, Elf, Death at a Funeral, Saint John of Las Vegas, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, X-Men: Days of Future Past; TV credits include Nip/Tuck, 30 Rock, Game of Thrones | B.A.  |
Camelia Frieberg |  | Canadian film director and producer  | B.A.  | [5]
Mitchell Kriegman | 1974  | Emmy award winning director and writer, The Book of Pooh, Bear in the Big Blue House, Clarissa Explains It All | B.A.  |
Mitch Markowitz | 1975  | screenwriter, Good Morning Vietnam, Crazy People; TV credits include M*A*S*H, Too Close for Comfort, Monk | B.A.  |
Alley Mills | 1973  | The Wonder Years, The Bold and the Beautiful (Emmy and Golden Globe Award)  | B.A.  |
Barry Primus | 1960  | actor/director/writer, Cagney & Lacey, The X-Files, LA Law; film credits include The Rose, American Hustle, Mistress, Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death | B.A.  |
Anne Ramsey | 1951  | actress, The Goonies, Throw Momma from the Train (Academy Award nomination, Golden Globe Award nomination, two Saturn Awards)  | B.A.  |
Melissa Rosenberg | 1986  | writer/producer; TV credits include The Agency, Boston Public, Dexter; film credits include Step Up, Twilight, New Moon | B.A.  |
Suzanne Shepherd | 1956  | actress; film credits include Working Girl, Goodfellas; TV credits include Law & Order, The Sopranos | B.A.  |
Jonathan Marc Sherman | 1990  | playwright/actor plays written include: Women and Wallace, Things We Want and the musical The Connector | B.A  |
Treva Silverman | 1959  | TV writer, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Room 222, The Monkees, Captain Nice | B.A.  | [6][7]
Rider Strong | 2009  | screenwriter, director, producer: Irish Twins; actor, Boy Meets World | M.F.A.  |
Holland Taylor | 1964  | actress; film credits include To Die For, The Truman Show, One Fine Day; TV credits include Bosom Buddies, The Practice (Emmy Award), Two and a Half Men | B.A.  |
Justin Theroux | 1993  | actor, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Duplex, Mulholland Drive, American Psycho, Tropic of Thunder: Rain of Madness; TV credits include Alias, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, The Leftovers, John Adams | B.A.  |
Virlana Tkacz | 1974  | theater director  | B.A.  |
Jill Wisoff | 1977  | film composer/actor; film credits include Welcome to the Dollhouse, Smart House, Creating Karma | B.A.  |

### Government/public service

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Princess Yasmin Aga Khan | 1973  | vice chairman of Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Association; president of Alzheimer's Disease International  | B.A.  |
Ujwal Thapa | 2000  | political activist, and co-founder of grassroots political party Bibeksheel Nepali | B.A.  |

### Journalism/broadcasting

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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James Geary | 1985  | former deputy editor of TIME magazine, Europe, Middle East, and Africa  | B.A.  |
Roger Kimball | 1975  | art critic and conservative social commentator; editor and publisher of New Criterion | B.A.  |
Ted Mooney | 1973  | senior editor, Art in America magazine  | B.A.  |
Wendy Perron | 1969  | editor-in-chief, Dance Magazine | B.A.  |
Alec Wilkinson | 1974  | staff writer, The New Yorker; author of eight nonfiction books; Robert F. Kennedy Book Award  | B.A.  |

### Music

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Chris Barron | 1990  | lead singer, Spin Doctors | B.A.  |
Alex Bleeker | 2008  | member of the band Real Estate and Alex Bleeker and the Freaks  | B.A.  |
Mountain Man |  | indie folk singing trio consisting of Molly Sarlé, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Amelia Meath |  | [8]
Lisa Sokolov | 1976  | jazz vocalist, improviser and composer; originator, Embodied VoiceWork; director, The Institute for Embodied VoiceWork in New York; associate professor, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts  | B.A.  |
Michael Starobin | 1979  | orchestrator on Broadway for Sunday in the Park with George, Assassins, Falsettos, Guys and Dolls, King Lear, Visiting Mr. Green, Next to Normal | B.A.  |
Will Stratton | 2009  | singer/songwriter  | B.A.  |
Elizabeth Swados | 1973  | composer, writer, director; three-time Obie winner  | B.A.  |
James Tenney | 1958  | experimental composer; Roy E. Disney Family Chair in Musical Composition, CalArts  | B.A.  |
Joan Tower | 1961  | composer; Asher Edelman Professor of Music, Bard College; Grammy Award recipient  | B.A.  |
Susannah Waters | 1986  | soprano, profiled in Opera News; NYC Opera debut 1997 in Handel's Xerxes | B.A.  |
Anthony Wilson | 1990  | composer/arranger, guitarist; toured with Diana Krall  | B.A.  |

### Science/medicine

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Barrie Cassileth | 1959  | Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center  | B.A.  |
Joan Hinton | 1942  | nuclear physicist, China activist  | B.A.  |
Jennifer Mieres | 1982  | director, nuclear cardiology; associate professor, New York University School of Medicine  | B.A.  |

### Sports

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Martha Rockwell | 1966  | Olympic cross-country skier | B.A.  |

### Visual arts

[edit]

Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Ralph Alswang | 1987  | official White House photographer, Clinton administration  | B.A.  |
Susan Crile | 1965  | painter; faculty, Hunter College  | B.A.  |
Helen Frankenthaler | 1949  | painter; pioneer in abstract expressionism  | B.A.  |
Anna Gaskell | 1992  | photographer; named as one of three Best and Brightest art photographers in America by Esquire magazine  | B.A.  |
Maren Hassinger | 1969  | installation, sculpture, and performance artist also working in video; director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art | B.A.  |
Sally Mann | 1973  | photographer; named one of "America's best photographers" by TIME magazine; author, Deep South, Proud Flesh | B.A.  |
Jill Nathanson |  | painter, color field painting | B.A.  | [9]
Robert Perkins |  | poet and artist  | B.A.  |
Anne Poor |  | painter and war correspondent in World War II  | B.A.  |
Tom Sachs | 1989  | installation artist; work appeared in New York Times Magazine, Elle Décor magazine, The New York Post, GQ | B.A.  |
Marian Zazeela | 1960  | light-artist, designer, painter and musician  | B.A.  |
Jane Zweibel | 1981  | painter, mixed media art, sculpture  | B.A.  | [10]

### Writing

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Name  | Class year  | Notability  | Degree  | Citation

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Mohammed Naseehu Ali | 1995  | author; book, The Prophet of Zongo Street | B.A.  |
Claire Blatchford | 1966  | author and deafness advocate; book, Turning: Words Heard from Within | B.A.  |
Carolyn Cassady | 1944  | author; book, Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg | B.A.  |
Jaime Clarke | 1997  | novelist and editor  | MFA  |
Kiran Desai | 1993  | author; books, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (New York Times Notable Book) and Inheritance of Loss (winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize for fiction)  | B.A.  |
Gretel Ehrlich | 1967  | author; books, Arctic Heart: A Poem Cycle, Islands, The Universe, Home, This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold; Whiting Creative Writing award, Guggenheim fellowship  | B.A.  |
Jill Eisenstadt | 1985  | novelist; books, From Rockaway and Kiss Out | B.A.  |
Bret Easton Ellis | 1986  | author; books, Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, Lunar Park, The Informers | B.A.  |
Lynn Emanuel | 1972  | poet; books, Hotel Fiesta, The Dig, Then, Suddenly; National Poetry Series Award, Pushcart Prize, NEA, professor at University of Pittsburgh | B.A.  |
Elizabeth Frank | 1967  | author; Pulitzer Prize for Louise Bogan: A Portrait; Cheat and Charmer: A Novel, Joseph E. Harry Chair in Modern Languages and Literature, Bard College  | B.A.  |
M. B. Goffstein | 1962  | author-illustrator; books, Natural History, An Artist, Fish for Supper, Artists' Helpers Enjoy the Evenings, Biography of Miss Go Chi: Novelettos & Poems | B.A.  |
Tod Goldberg | 2009  | author; books, Gangsterland, Living Dead Girl, Other Resort Cities, Burn Notice series  | M.F.A.  |
Sandra Hochman | 1957  | poet and novelist, books, Manhattan Pastures, Jogging: A Love Story, Playing Tahoe; 1963 Yale Series of Younger Poets Award  | B.A.  |
Katharine Holabird | 1969  | writer; author of Angelina Ballerina books  | B.A.  |
Barbara Howes | 1937  | poet; wife of William Jay Smith | B.A.  |
Jonathan Lethem | 1986  | author; books, You Don't Love Me Yet, The Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn (National Book Critics Circle Award), 2005 MacArthur "Genius" Award winner, Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, Chronic City, appointed Disney professor of creative writing at Pomona College | B.A.  |
Cynthia Macdonald | 1950  | poet; books, Amputations, (W)holes, I Can't Remember | B.A.  |
Kathleen Norris | 1969  | author of Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, The Cloister Walk, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York Times Notable Book), and Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life; Guggenheim fellowship  | B.A.  |
Michael Pollan | 1976  | author; books, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Botany of Desire (New York Times bestseller), Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, and A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder | B.A.  |
Mary Ruefle | 1974  | poet and essayist; books, Madness Rock and Honey (National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist), A Little White Shadow, Among the Musk Ox People; recipient of William Carlos Williams Award | B.A.  |
Eva Salzman | 1982  | poet; books, The English Earthquake, Bargain with the Watchman | B.A.  |
Reginald Shepherd | 1988  | poet, books, Some Are Drowning, Wrong, Otherhood | B.A.  |
Donna Tartt | 1986  | author; 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winner for The Goldfinch; books, The Secret History, The Little Friend | B.A.  |
Anne Waldman | 1966  | poet, books, Marriage: A Sentence, In the Room of Never Grieve, professor at Naropa University | B.A.  |
Thisuri Wanniarachchi | 2016  | author; books, Colombo Streets, The Terrorist's Daughter | B.A.  |
Susan Wheeler | 1977  | poet; books, Smokes, Bag o' Diamonds, Meme; Norma Farber First Book Award and finalist for National Book Award; Director of Creative Writing at Princeton University | B.A.  |

### Fictional characters

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Fictional Work  | Date  | Fictional Person  | Degree  | Reference

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Cheers | 1982  | Diane Chambers, a bartender in Boston  | B.A.  |
Sinister | ~1992  | The film's protagonist, Ellison Oswalt, a true crime writer, graduated from Bennington.  | B.A.  |
V. | 1963  | Rachel Owlglass, a wealthy woman from Long Island's Five Towns, graduated from Bennington.  | B.A.  |

## Notable current faculty

[edit]

* Benjamin Anastas
* April Bernard
* J Stoner Blackwell
* Kitty Brazelton
* Brian Campion
* Susan Cheever
* Franny Choi
* Annabel Davis-Goff
* Michael Dumanis
* Anaïs Duplan
* Marguerite Feitlowitz
* Monica Ferrell
* David Gates
* Mariam Ghani
* Amy Hempel
* Sherry Kramer
* Dinah Lenney
* Jen Liu
* Mary Lum
* Ann Pibal
* Lynne Sharon Schwartz
* Allen Shawn
* Craig Morgan Teicher
* Mark Wunderlich

## Notable former faculty

[edit]

* Kathleen Alcott: novelist
* W. H. Auden: gave a series of lectures on Shakespeare in the spring of 1946; resided in the Leigh house faculty apartment
* Steven Bach
* Ben Belitt: poet and language professor
* Eric Bentley
* Henry Brant: composer
* Kenneth Burke: critic
* Louis Calabro: composer
* Sir Anthony Caro: British sculptor
* Ronald L. Cohen: psychologist
* Bernard Cooper: novelist
* Nicholas Delbanco: novelist and director of the Bennington Writers' Workshop
* Bill Dixon: musician
* Peter Drucker: management guru and writer
* Paul Feeley: painter
* Francis Fergusson: French scholar and translator
* Vivian Fine: composer
* Claude Fredericks: poet
* Buckminster Fuller
* John Gardner: novelist
* Martha Graham: dancer
* Milford Graves: musician
* Lucy Grealy: poet and writer
* Clement Greenberg: art critic and historian
* Richard Haas: artist
* Martha Hill: dancer[11]
* Edward Hoagland: writer
* Stanley Edgar Hyman: literary critic (whose wife Shirley Jackson used settings in and around Bennington College in her famous short story "The Lottery")
* Susie Ibarra: musician
* Lyman Kipp: sculptor
* Stanley Kunitz: poet
* Ronnie Landfield: painter, (guest instructor) 1968
* José Limón: dancer and choreographer[11]
* Mac Maharaj: South African politician
* Bernard Malamud: novelist
* Harry Mathews: poet, novelist, essayist
* Donald McKayle: dancer and choreographer
* Roland Merullo: author
* Howard Nemerov: poet
* Kenneth Noland: painter
* Jules Olitski: painter
* Mary Oliver: poet
* Camille Paglia: critic
* Gail Thain Parker: president and author
* Wendy Perron: dancer/choreographer
* John Plumb: painter
* Mark Poirier: novelist and short story writer
* Larry Poons: painter
* Theodore Roethke: poet
* Mary Ruefle: poet
* Joel Shapiro: New York sculptor
* Mary Josephine Shelly: colonel[11]
* Brando Skyhorse: novelist
* Barbara Herrnstein Smith: professor and author
* David Smith: sculptor
* Glen Van Brummelen: historian of mathematics, former president of Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics, founding faculty member of Quest University
* Phillip B. Williams: poet
* Isaac Witkin: sculptor
* Robert Woodworth: botanist and pioneer of time-lapse photography

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Gjøvik, Ashley (July 24, 2021). "Ashley Gjøvik" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 25, 2021.
2. ^ "Sheila Miyoshi Jager". Oberlin College. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
3. ^ "After Bennington". Archived from the original on 2015-03-11. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
4. ^ Bernstein, Jacob (February 22, 2013). "Surviving AIDS, but Not the Life That Followed". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
5. ^ "Crusading producer passionate about film: She isn't afraid to confront the mandarins and accountants". Toronto Star, June 19, 1994.
6. ^ Wollman, Jane (October 14, 1990). "NEW YORKER TO WATCH A Shy and Gentle Comedy-Writing Force: [CITY Edition]". Newsday. ProQuest 278244391. "After earning a BA at Bennington, Silverman landed a job proofreading for Esquire..."
7. ^ "Bennington College Confers Degrees Upon 62 Graduates". Rutland Daily Herald. June 29, 1959. p. 2\. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
8. ^ Hart, Otis (September 13, 2018). "Sail Away, Sail Away On Mountain Man's 'Magic Ship'". NPR Music.
9. ^ Halasz, Piri (February 6, 2021). "Translucence: Jill Nathanson at Berry Campbell". artcritical.
10. ^ "Exploring Female Identity with Jane Zweibel". Create! Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
11. ^ a b c Wilson, Oceana. "LibGuides: Bennington College History: Drama: Faculty". libraryguides.bennington.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-15.