List of Valparaiso University alumni

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article and are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (August 2023)

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Valparaiso University is a Lutheran college located in Valparaiso, Indiana. Following is a list of Valparaiso University alumni.

## Academia

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* R. J. Q. Adams (born 1943; M.A. 1969), professor of European and British history at Texas A&M University
* Patrick Roger Cleary, founder of Cleary University[1]
* William P. Richardson (1864–1945), co-founder and first dean of Brooklyn Law School
* Henry P. Rusk (1884–1954), dean of the department of agriculture at the University of Illinois
* Thomas F. Schutte (1935–2025; B.A. degree 1957), president of Pratt Institute (1993–2017) and Rhode Island School of Design (1983 – 1992)[2]
* James Monroe Smith, president of Louisiana State University (1930–1939)

## Business

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* Jay Christopher, cofounder of Pampered Chef
* Don Fites, chairman and CEO (retired) of Caterpillar Inc.
* Paul Schrage, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer of McDonald's Corporation; designed the "Golden Arches" logo
* Kathi Seifert, executive vice president of Kimberly-Clark 1991–2004
* Lowell Yerex, founder of Transportes Aéreos Centro Americanos (TACA), British West Indian Airways in Trinidad and Tobago, and Aerovias Brasil in Rio de Janeiro

## Entertainment

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* Adam Amin, ESPN play-by-play broadcaster
* Chris Bauman, entertainment entrepreneur and independent music activist[3]
* Beulah Bondi, actress
* Alys McKey Bryant, record-setting aviation pioneer and exhibition pilot
* JoBe Cerny, character actor and voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy
* Paul Chambers, CNN anchor and film critic
* Andre "Add-2" Daniels, rapper
* Michael Essany, television talk show host
* John Lutz, actor known for 30 Rock and writer for Saturday Night Live
* Jacki Lyden, senior correspondent at NPR[4]
* David Ruprecht, host of Supermarket Sweep and Real People
* Judith Sherman, multi-Grammy Award-winning record producer
* Ginger Zee, meteorologist for Good Morning America and ABC News
* Josh Langhoff, Wrigley Field organist[5]

## Law

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* David W. Dugan, United States Federal District Court Judge in the Southern District of Illinois
* Omer Stokes Jackson, 28th Indiana Attorney General[6]
* Keith Kizer, Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General and former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission[7]
* Moses Lairy, Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court
* Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, United States federal judge
* Eugene E. Parker, sports attorney and agent to Larry Fitzgerald, Deion Sanders, Hines Ward, Greg Jennings, Ndamukong Suh, and Michael Crabtree
* Shelice Tolbert, attorney in Indiana

## Literature and journalism

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* Fredrick Barton, novelist and film critic[8]
* Anthony Bimba (1894–1982), newspaper editor, historian, and radical political activist[9]
* Barbara Ann Kipfer, linguist, lexicographer, author, and editor
* Idael Makeever, poet
* William March, novelist, known for Company K and The Bad Seed
* Rene Steinke, novelist known for The Fires and Holy Skirts
* Lowell Thomas, author, war correspondent during World War I who made T. E. Lawrence internationally famous, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

## Politics

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* Roy E. Ayers, United States House of Representatives and 11th Governor of Montana[10]
* Frederick M. Bernthal, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (1988–1990)
* Mikhail Borodin, Soviet and Comintern representative to China
* LeRoy Earl Brophey Sr., Minnesota House of Representatives
* John E. Cashman, Wisconsin Senator
* Stoyan Christowe, Vermont Senate (1959–1972)
* Thurman C. Crook, a United States House of Representatives from Indiana[11]
* Marcellus Dorwin, Wisconsin State Assembly
* Edward Grassman, Wisconsin State Assembly
* Margaret Keenan Harrais, United States Commissioner at Valdez, Alaska and a deputy magistrate
* Walter Hunt, Wisconsin Senate
* Samuel B. Huston, Oregon Legislative Assembly
* Andrieus A. Jones, United States Senate, supported New Mexico statehood
* Edgar E. Lien, Wisconsin State Assembly
* James F. McDowell, Wisconsin State Assembly
* H. Lane Mitchell (Engineering), public works commissioner in Shreveport, Louisiana (1934–1968)[12]
* George William Norris, United States Senate from Nebraska and the father of the Tennessee Valley Authority[13]
* William Edmunds Plummer, Wisconsin State Assembly
* Caleb Powers, United States House of Representatives from Kentucky; Secretary of State of Kentucky; convicted as an accessory to murder of the state governor[14]
* Benjamin Shively, United States Senate from Indiana (1909–1916)[15]
* Len Small, 26th Governor of Illinois[16]
* Donald Edgar Tewes, United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin[17]
* Jill Long Thompson, United States House of Representatives from Indiana 1989–1995 and Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development 1995–2001[18]
* Otis Wingo, United States House of Representatives from Arkansas's 4th congressional district (1913–1930)[19]

## Science and medicine

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* Blanche Evans Dean, naturalist, conservationist, and author
* Reuben Kahn, immunologist and inventor of a test for syphilis[20]
* Carl Glennis Roberts (1886–1950), surgeon, gynecologist, and civil rights activist[21]
* Edward Thomas Abrams, doctor and legislator

## Sports

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* Ryan Broekhoff, former NBA player
* Bryce Drew, college basketball coach and former NBA player[22]
* Scott Drew, college basketball coach and NCAA National Champion
* Keith Kizer, former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General[7]
* Cal Luther, college basketball coach
* Lloyd McClendon, Major League Baseball player and manager
* Frederick "Fuzzy" Thurston, professional football player with the Green Bay Packers (1959–67)
* Jim Wacker, former football coach at the University of Minnesota
* Austin Walton, NBA agent and owner of Walton Sports Management Group

## Technology

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* Nicholas Skytland, NASA, Chief Technologist and Director of Business Development, NASA Johnson Space Center

## References

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1. ^ "Patrick Roger (P.R.) Cleary | Ann Arbor District Library". aadl.org. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
2. ^ "C of C Sets Symposium". The Tribune. April 13, 1974. p. 9. Retrieved April 1, 2025 - via Newspapers.com.
3. ^ "How can I tell my business is doomed?". June 6, 2014.
4. ^ "Book Explores Intellectual Power of William James". NPR.org: All Things Considered. November 12, 2006.
5. ^ "From Chapel to Wrigley: How Josh Langhoff '99 Became a Chicago Cubs Organist". Valpo Stories. April 21, 2025. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
6. ^ "Heart Attack is Fatal to O. S. Jackson". Valparaiso Vidette Newspaper. June 3, 1940.
7. ^ a b Feour, Royce (February 27, 2008). "Running the NAC is no easy task, but Kizer makes the best of it".
8. ^ "Fredrick Barton Amazon Author Page". Amazon.
9. ^ William Wolkovich, Bay State "Blue" Laws and Bimba: A Documentary Study of the Anthony Bimba Trial for Blasphemy and Sedition in Brockton, Massachusetts, 1926. Brockton, MA: Forum Press, n.d. [1973]; pg. 33.
10. ^ "Montana Governor Roy Elmer Ayers". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
11. ^ "Thurman C. Crook". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
12. ^ "H. Lane Mitchell dies, funeral Friday morning", Shreveport Times, November 9, 1978, p. 10-A
13. ^ "George William Norris". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
14. ^ "Caleb Powers". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
15. ^ "Ralston Praises Work of Shively For Public". The Indianapolis News. March 15, 1916.
16. ^ "Illinois Governor Lennington Small". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
17. ^ "Donald Edgar Tewes". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
18. ^ "Jill Long Thompson". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
19. ^ "Otis Wingo". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
20. ^ "From the Archives". Valpo Magazine. 31 (1): 7. Fall 2014.
21. ^ "Roberts, Carl Glenn". Who's Who in Colored America. Vol. 1\. Who's Who in Colored America Corporation. 1927. pp. 169–170 - via Google Books.
22. ^ "Bryce Homer Drew". Basketball-Reference.Com. Retrieved October 30, 2012.