This is adynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help byediting the page to add missing items, with references toreliable sources.
James Baird, civil engineer; directed the construction of the Flatiron Building, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
John W. F. Bennett, civil engineer; supervised the construction of the Algonquin Hotel in New York and the Ritz and Waldorf Hotels in London
Charles Correa (ARCH: B.Arch. 1953, Honorary Doctor of Architecture 1980), architect
Dan Dworsky (ARCH: B.Arch. 1950), architect who designed the University'sCrisler Arena and the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles; member of varsity football starting team at Michigan, 1945–1948; played professionally for the Los Angeles Dons in 1949; member ofJewish Sports Hall of Fame; all-time 50-yearRose Bowl team
Jonathan M. Bloom (MA 1975), scholar of Islamic art, Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art atBoston College
Richard Keyes (SOAD: BA Design 1957), professor emeritus atLong Beach City College, after a 30-year career there teaching life drawing and painting
Ralph Rapson, head of architecture at the University of Minnesota for many years; one of the world's oldest and most prolific practicing architects at his death at age 93
Tristan Meinecke (c. 1942, did not graduate), painter, writer, architect
Robert Nickle (BA 1943), visual artist, known primarily for his "street scrap"collage work; studied architecture and design at Michigan; worked and taught at theArt Institute of Chicago
Michele Oka Doner, visual artist and writer; Stamps School of Art & Design: BFA, 1966; MFA, 1968, Alumna in Residence, 1990, Hon. Dr. Fine Arts, 2016
Jason Polan, artist and illustrator; Stamps School of Art & Design: BFA, 2004
Raoul Wallenberg (ARCH: B.Arch 1935), Swedish diplomat famous for assisting Hungarian Jews in late World War II; namesake of the Wallenberg Fellowship and Taubman College's Wallenberg Studio
Judd Winick (BA 1992 Drawing and Painting), cartoonist, screenwriter, author
Forman Brown (BA 1922), establishedYale Puppeteers upon graduating; opened a puppet theatre in Los Angeles in the 1920s which attracted celebrity attention and support from Greta Garbo, Marie Dressler, Douglas Fairbanks, and Albert Einstein
Hal Cooper (BA 1946), TV producer and director forMaude,Dick Van Dyke Show,Mayberry RFD,That Girl,I Dream of Jeannie, andEmpty Nest
Valentine Davies (BA 1927), screenwriter ofMiracle on 34th Street
Lillian Gallo (BA), 1978 winner of aCrystal Award, established in 1977 to honor outstanding women who have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry
Josh Greenfeld (1928–2018), author and screenwriter; known for screenplay for the 1974 filmHarry and Tonto along withPaul Mazursky, which earned them an Academy Award nomination
David Levien (BA 1989), co-wrote and co-directedThe Knockaround Guys; co-wroteRounders
Jeff Marx (BA 1993), composer and lyricist of musicals; known for creating the Broadway musicalAvenue Q with collaborator Robert Lopez; together, they wrote the show's 21 songs
Kevin Boyle, won the 2004National Book Award forArc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age
Howard Moss, won the National Book Award in 1972 forSelected Poems
Frank O'Hara, shared the 1972 National Book Award for Poetry forThe Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, the first of several collections
Theodore Roethke, won the annual National Book Award for Poetry in 1959 forWords for the Wind, and posthumously in 1965 forThe Far Field
Keith Waldrop, won the National Book Award for Poetry for his 2009 collectionTranscendental Studies: A Trilogy
Jesmyn Ward, won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novelSalvage the Bones and the 2017 National Book Award forSing, Unburied, Sing; the only two-time female winner
Gloria Whelan, won the annual National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2000 for the novelHomeless Bird
Gabriela Lena Frank (D.M.A.) (born 1972), pianist and composer of contemporary classical music
Joe Henry (B.A.) (born 1960), singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer; has released 13 studio albums and produced multiple recordings for other artists, including three Grammy Award-winning albums
Bob James (M.A.) (born 1939), multiple Grammy Award-winning jazz keyboardist, arranger, and record producer
James Earl Jones (B.A.) (1931–2024), actor; career spanning more than 60 years; has won three Grammys[8]
Fred LaBour (M.A.) (born 1948), better known by his stage name Too Slim; Grammy award-winning musician, best known for his work with the Western swing musical and comedy group Riders in the Sky
Madonna (MDNG) (born 1958), singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman; referred to as the "Queen of Pop" since the 1980s; seven-time Grammy award winner
Jessye Norman (MUSIC: MMUS 1968; HSCD 1987), opera and concert singer; 4-time Grammy winner
Gavin James Creel (1976–2024), actor, singer, and songwriter; best known for his work in musical theatre; received a Tony Award for his performance as Cornelius Hackl inHello, Dolly![9]
Darren Criss, 2025 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance as Oliver inMaybe Happy Ending
Michael L. Maguire (born 1955), actor, best known for his role as Enjolras in the original Broadway production of the musicalLes Misérables; this role won him a Tony Award in 1987
Jeff Marx (born 1970), composer and lyricist of musicals; winner of two Tony Awards
Arthur Miller (1915–2005), playwright, essayist, and figure in twentieth-century American theater
Jack O'Brien (born 1939), director, producer, writer, and lyricist; winner of three Tony Awards
Paul Osborn, playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the screen adaptation ofEast of Eden; won 1980 Tony award for best Broadway revival for his play about four sisters,Morning's at Seven, which originally opened on Broadway in 1939
Martin Pakledinaz (1953–2012), costume designer for stage and film; winner of two Tony Awards
Pasek and Paul, known together as Pasek and Paul, songwriting duo and composing team for musical theater, films, and television
James Kibbie (DMA 1981), concert organist, recording artist, Professor of Organ at U-M
Timothy McAllister (BM 95, MM 97, DMA, 2002), Grammy award-winning classical saxophonist; member of PRISM Quartet; current Professor of Saxophone at U-M
Charles Crawford Davis (COE: 1916), won 1948 Oscar for his invention of the Davis Drive System, a system for merging sound with pictures and driving the film through movie cameras and projectors
Michael Dunn (MDNG), nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1966 forShip of Fools
John M. Eargle (MM 1954), Oscar and Grammy-winning audio engineer; musician (piano, church and theater organ)
Arthur Miller (BA 1938), nominated forThe Crucible; the play was adapted for film twice, byJean-Paul Sartre as the 1957 filmLes Sorcières de Salem and by Miller himself as the 1996 filmThe Crucible; his adaptation earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay based on Previously Produced Material, his only nomination
Dudley Nichols, nominated for Best Screenplay forThe Long Voyage Home in 1941, for Best Original Screenplay forAir Force in 1944, and for Best Story and Screenplay (Written Directly for the Screen) forThe Tin Star in 1958; he won Best Screenplay forThe Informer in 1936, but initially refused the honor due to an ongoing writers' strike
Donald Alan "Don" Diamond (BA 1942), radio, film, and television actor; known for his comic portrayal as Crazy Cat on the 1960s television sitcomF Troop
Michael Dunn, aka Gary Neil Miller (MDNG), actor, known for his recurring role as mad scientist Dr. Miguelito Loveless in the 1960s TV seriesThe Wild Wild West
Barrett Foa (BFA 1999), actor, known for portraying Eric Beale onNCIS: Los Angeles
Hunter Foster (BFA 1992), Tony Award-nominated actor
Stephen Fung Tak-Lun (BA 1992), Hong Kong-based actor, singer, model, writer and film director
Nancy Kovack, film and TV actress; attended U-M at age 15 and graduated by 19; appeared onStar Trek andBewitched; in 1969 she was nominated for anEmmy for an appearance onMannix
Ellen Sandweiss (MA in Theatre Management), B-movie actress; has performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music
Daniel Aaron (BA 1933), author of many articles and books, includingMen of Good Hope: A Story of American Progressives,The Unwritten War: Writers of the Civil War and, with Richard Hofstadter and William Miller,The Structure of American History
Uwem Akpan (MFA 2007), Nigerian author; Jesuit priest; won Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book and thePEN/Beyond Margins Award forSay You're One of Them
Max Apple (BA 1963), author ofThe Oranging of America (1976, short stories),Zip: A Novel of the Left and the Right (1978, novel),Three Stories (1983, short stories),Free Agents (1984, novel),The Propheteers: A Novel (1987, novel), andRoommates: My Grandfather's Story (1994, biography of his grandfather)
Meg Waite Clayton (LAW: JD),The Language of Light was a finalist for Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize;The Wednesday Sisters became a national bestseller and a book club favorite
Richard Cohen (BA 1973), Hopwood Award-winning novelist
Neal Gabler (LAW: JD), author ofAn Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (1989),Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity (1994),Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality (1998), andWalt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination (2006)
Mary Gaitskill, author ofBad Behavior (1988),Two Girls,Fat and Thin (1991),Because They Wanted To (1997) (stories),Veronica (2005)
Gabrielle Hamilton (MFA), owner and manager of Prune restaurant in Manhattan; author ofBlood Bones and Butter; recipient of theJames Beard award for best chef
Steve Hamilton (AB 1983), wroteBlood is the Sky, an Alex McKnight mystery; his 1999 novelA Cold Day in Paradise won an Edgar Award; his 2010 novelThe Lock Artist won anEdgar for Best Novel; one of only five authors to win the award twice
Robert Hayden (MA 1944), Professor of Poetry 1969–1980
Raelynn Hillhouse (HHRS: MA, PhD 1993), author of spy novels; national security expert; blogger (The Spy Who Billed Me); political scientist
Matthew Hittinger (MFA 2004), author of the poetry collectionSkin Shift (2012), and the chapbookPear Slip (2007); winner of the Spire Press 2006 Chapbook Award
James Avery Hopwood (AB 1905), playwright, established the U-MHopwood Awards; one of the premier playwrights of the jazz age; at one time had four plays running simultaneously onBroadway
Maritta Wolff (BA 1940), author ofWhistle Stop, called bySinclair Lewis "the most important novel of the year;" also wroteAbout Lyddy Thomas (1947),Back of Town (1952),The Big Nickelodeon (1956) andButtonwood (1962)
Sarah Zettel (BA), science fiction, fantasy, and mystery author
^"Kathryn O. Galbraith (1945-)."Something About the Author, vol. 347,Gale, 2019, pp. 88-91.Gale Literature: Something About the Author. Accessed 5 May 2023.
