The Catholic University of America

Notable Alumni

You will find prominent CUA alumni making their mark in a variety of fields including the arts, media, business, public service, science, engineering and more. Click any of the links below or scroll over any of the photos on this page to see just a few CUA alumni
whose names and faces you may recognize.

Arts                                 Law                            Public Service and Politics
Business Media Religion
Education Nursing Science and Engineering



Arts & Entertainment

Harolyn M. Blackwell, B.M. 1977, - Soprano, Metropolitan Opera  Philip M. Bosco, B.A. 1957, Tony Award winning actor  Patricia A. Carroll, B.A. 1949 - Actress, voice of Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid  John Lescault, B.F.A. 1980 - Actor, Folger Shakespeare Theater  John Carroll Lynch, B.F.A. 1986 - Actor  Laurence Luckinbill, M.F.A. 1958 - Emmy award winning producer, writer, actor  Ed McMahon, B.A. 1949 - Entertainer  David Paterson, B.A. 1989 - playwright, screenwriter of Disney's Bridge to Terabithia  Martin Puryear, B.A. 1963 - Sculptor featured in Time Magazine's America's Best issue  Susan Sarandon, B.A. 1968 - Academy Award winning actress 
John M. Slattery, Jr., B.F.A. 1984 - Actor, appeared on the "Desperate Housewives," "Ed" and "K Street" W. Gresham Striegel, B.A. 1990 - Senior Producer, Fox News Channel Paula A. Vogel, B.A. 1974 - Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Jon P. Voight, B.A. 1960 - Academy Award winning actor Lisa Ann Walter, B.F.A. 1983 - Actress, comedienne Audrey Wasilewski, B.A. 1989 - Actress on HBO's "Big Love"


Business

Michael J. Bidwill, J.D. 1991, President of The Arizona Cardinals Football Organization  Brian M. Cashman, B.A. 1989 - General Manager of the New York Yankees  Robert E. Craves, B.A. 1965 - Co-Founder of Costco Wholesale  Martin R. Hurney, B.A. 1993 - General Manager of the Carolina Panthers  Edward M. Liddy, B.A. 1963 - CEO of Allstate Insurance  Timothy C. Scheve, B.A. 1980 - President of Legg Mason  Joseph A. Unanue, B.M.E. 1950 - Former Chair and CEO of Goya Foods, Inc.  James T. Vanderslice, Ph.D. 1966 - Former President of Dell Computer Corp.       


Education

Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., M.A. 1983 - President, Villanova University  Judith Dwyer, Ph.D. 1983 - President, Xavier University, Chicago, IL  Mary E. Hines, Ph.D. 1981, M.A. 1969 - President, Carlow University, PA  Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., S.T.D. 1977 - President, Niagara University, NY  Fr. Kevin Mackin, O.F.M., S.T.D. 1971 - President, Siena College, NY  Barbara Murphy, M.A. 1969 - President, Johnson State College, VT  Sr. Rosemarie Nassif, Ph.D., 1980 - President of Holy Names University   Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., J.C.D. 1990 - President, The Catholic University of America, DC  John Q. Porter, B.A. 1973 - Deputy Superintendent, Strategic Technologies & Accountability, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD  Brian J. Shanley, O.P., Ph.L. 1985 - President, Providence College, RI 
Stephen J. Sweeny, B.A. 1966 - President, The College of New Rochelle, NY Mark Vanderheyden, MA 1965, Ph.D. 1968 -  Former President, St. Michael's College, VT Raymond A. Yannuzzi, Ph.D. 1996 - President, Camden County College, NJ

Law

Kathleen Abernathy, B.A. 1983 - Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission  Ralph H. Baxter Jr., M.A. 1970 - One of  The National Law Journal's “100 Most Influential Lawyers”  Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, B.A. 1965 - Judge,  United States District Court for the District of Columbia  Frank Lorson, B.A. 1966, J.D. 1971 - Former Chief Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court             


Media

Richard Diefenbach, Jr., B.A. 1984 - Veteran news journalist of ABC, CBS and Fox News, started NYC media and production firm  Mary Alice Dwyer Dobbin, B.F.A. 1967 - CEO, Proctor & Gamble Productions (As the World Turns, Guiding Light)  Maureen B. Dowd, B.A. 1973 - Columnist for The New York Times  Julie Nixon Eisenhower, M.A. 1972 - Author  Alfred F. Gough, III, B.A. 1989 - Executive Producer of WB’s Smallville, co-wrote screenplay for Spider-Man II  Amy Joyce, B.A. 1996 - Columnist for The Washington Post  Alberto R. Ortiz, M.A. 1972 - Executive Producer, CBS News  Angela C. Santomero, B.A. 1972 - Co-Creator of Blues Clues  Rosanna Scotto, B.F.A. 1980 - Co-Anchor of FOX-5 News  Brian Williams, CUA 1979-1980 - Anchor, NBC Nightly News 



Nursing

Brig. General William T. Bester, M.S.N. 1985 - Chief, U.S. Army Nurse Corps; Commanding General, US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine  Lois K. Evans, M.A. 1970, D.N.Sc 1980 - Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor in Nursing; Chair, Family and Community Health Division, UPenn School of Nursing  Dr. M. Louise Fitzpatrick, RN, FAAN, B.S.N. 1966 - Dean for 27 years at Villanova University School of Nursing  Col. Mary Lou Keener, USAFR (Ret.), B.S.N. 1966, J.D. 1982 - General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1993-1997; Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Force Management and Personnel             


Politics & Public Service

Robert P. Casey, Jr., J.D. 1988 - U.S. Senator of Pennsylvania  Edward W. Gillespie, B.A. 1983 - Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee  Thomas R. Harkin, J.D. 1972 - U.S. Senator from Iowa  Mitchell J. Landrieu, B.A. 1982 - Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana  Terence R. McAuliffe, B.A. 1979 - Former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee  John J. McCarthy, Jr., B.A. 1974 - Montgomery County, MD, State's Attorney  Thomas P. Melady, Ph.D. 1955 - Former Ambassador to the Vatican, Burundi, and Uganda  Samuel T. Mok, M.A. 1982 - CFO, Department of Labor  Martin O’Malley, B.A. 1985 - Governor of Maryland  Richard G. Renzi, J.D. 2002 - U.S. Congressman from Arizona 
Timothy Shriver, M.A. 1988 - CEO of Special Olympics


Religion

Msgr. William P. Fay, Ph.D. 1987 - Former  Francis Cardinal George, M.A. 1966 - Archbishop of Chicago  Roger Cardinal Mahony, M.S.W. 1964 - Archbishop of Los Angeles  Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Ph.D. 1963 - Former Archbishop of Washington  Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, O.F.M.Cap., Ph.D. 1978 - Archbishop of Boston  Justin Cardinal Rigali, S.T.B. 1961 - Archbishop of Philadelphia  Bishop Fulton Sheen (deceased), J.C.B. 1920 - Host of Life is Worth Living  Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, B.A. 1962, M.A. 1963 - Archbishop of Washington, D.C.


Science and Engineering

Michael D. Griffin, M.S. 1974 - Former Chief Administrator of NASA  Euphemia Lofton Haynes (deceased), Ph.D. 1943 - First African-American female Ph.D. in mathematics  Charles H. Kaman, B.A. 1940 - Aviation pioneer and founder of Kaman Corporation  Carol Nacy, B.A. 1970, M.S. 1975, Ph.D. 1977 - CEO of Sequella, Inc.