Here follows a list of notable people associated with Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. This list includes the college's notable alumni, organized by their fields of endeavor, in addition to notable members of its faculty and a complete chronological list of the presidents of the college.
Distinguished graduates
Academia
Activism
Business
Law
History, literature, and journalism
| Name |
Occupation |
Class year
|
| Jim Bellows
|
Journalist, newspaper editor
|
1947
|
| Jenna Blum
|
Writer
|
1992
|
| Scott Carney
|
Investigative journalist
|
2000
|
| Caleb Carr
|
Novelist, military historian
|
1977
|
| Jay Cocks
|
Film critic, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter
|
1966
|
| Stephanie Danler
|
Novelist
|
2006
|
| E. L. Doctorow
|
Novelist, cultural critic
|
1952
|
| William Gass
|
Writer, winner of the American Book Award
|
1947
|
| David Goodwillie
|
Novelist
|
1994
|
| John Green
|
Author; winner of Michael L. Printz Award for Looking for Alaska
|
2000
|
| Saskia Hamilton
|
Poet
|
1989
|
| John Hattendorf
|
Maritime historian
|
1964
|
| Anthony Hecht
|
Poet
|
|
| Laura Hillenbrand
|
Writer, author of Seabiscuit: An American Legend
|
(attended)
|
| Scott Kenemore
|
Writer
|
2000
|
| P. F. Kluge
|
Writer
|
1964
|
| Sarah Longwell
|
Founder and publisher of The Bulwark
|
2002
|
| Robert Lowell
|
Poet; two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Poet Laureate 1947–1948
|
1940
|
| Robie Macauley
|
Writer, editor of Playboy
|
1941
|
| Greg Melville
|
Writer, journalist
|
1992
|
| Robert Mezey
|
Writer
|
(attended)
|
| Alexa O'Brien
|
Journalist, activist
|
|
| Riley Redgate
|
Writer
|
2016
|
| Ransom Riggs
|
Writer
|
2001
|
| Peter Taylor
|
Writer, winner of Pulitzer Prize
|
1940
|
| Daniel Torday
|
Writer
|
2000
|
| Fred Waitzkin
|
Writer
|
1965
|
| Andrew Welsh-Huggins
|
Journalist, author
|
|
| Rachel DeLoache Williams
|
Writer
|
2010
|
| Matthew Winkler
|
Co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News
|
1977
|
| James Wright
|
Poet, winner of Pulitzer Prize
|
1952
|
Military
| Name |
Occupation |
Class year
|
| Ralph P. Buckland
|
Brigadier general, Union Army, during the Civil War
|
|
| John G. Mitchell
|
Brigadier general, Union Army, during the Civil War
|
1859
|
Philanthropy
| Name |
Occupation |
Class year
|
| Kevin O'Donnell
|
Director of the U.S. Peace Corps
|
1947
|
Politics
| Name |
Occupation |
Class year
|
| Bridget A. Brink
|
U.S. ambassador to Slovakia (2019–2022) and Ukraine (2022–present)
|
|
| Sally Cluchey
|
Maine state senator
|
2008[1]
|
| David Davis
|
Senator, Supreme Court justice
|
1832
|
| Henry Winter Davis
|
US congressman for Maryland's 3rd and 4th district
|
1837
|
| Lizzie Pannill Fletcher
|
US congresswoman for Texas' 7th district, 2019–present
|
1997
|
| Dan Frankel
|
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1999–present
|
1978
|
| Barry Goode
|
California judge, former legal officer for California Gov. Gray Davis
|
1969
|
| Bill Harsha
|
Member of the United States House of Representatives, 1961–1981
|
1943
|
| Rutherford B. Hayes
|
President of the United States
|
1842
|
| Thomas Stanley Matthews
|
Senator, Supreme Court justice
|
1840
|
| Anthony Banning Norton
|
Publisher of newspapers in Ohio and Texas, Know Nothing Texas state representative
|
1840[2]
|
| Olof Palme
|
Prime Minister of Sweden
|
1948
|
| Diana Schaub
|
President's Council on Bioethics; professor of Political Science at Loyola University, Maryland
|
|
| John W. Snow
|
Secretary of the Treasury
|
(attended)
|
| Zack Space
|
Congressman, Ohio Congressional District 18
|
1983
|
| Edwin Stanton
|
Secretary of War during the Lincoln administration
|
1834
|
| Peter Stautberg
|
Member of Ohio House of Representatives
|
1993
|
| Evan B. Stotsenburg
|
President pro tempore of the Indiana Senate, Indiana attorney general
|
[3]
|
| Tommy Vietor
|
National security spokesman for Barack Obama
|
2002
|
Religion
| Name |
Occupation |
Class year
|
| Rev. James P. deWolfe
|
Fourth Episcopal bishop of Long Island, 1942–1966; charter member of the Sigma Pi fraternity's Lambda chapter at Kenyon[4]
|
1917
|
| Rev. William Crane Gray
|
First Episcopal bishop of Southern Florida, 1893–1913
|
1859
|
| Rev. S. Arthur Huston
|
Episcopal bishop of Olympia, 1925–1944
|
1900
|
| Rev. Arthur C. Lichtenberger
|
21st presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; in 1961 he became the first Episcopal leader to meet with a pope; posthumously received the Founders Award from Sigma Pi fraternity in 2010[5]
|
1923
|
| Rev. Donald MacAdie
|
Suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, 1958–1963
|
1922
|
| Rev. Arthur R. McKinstry
|
Former Episcopal bishop of Delaware; 1948 Lambeth Conference attendee; officiated the marriage of Lyndon B. Johnson to Lady Bird Johnson; charter member of the Sigma Pi fraternity's Lambda chapter at Kenyon[6]
|
Ph.B., 1918 and M.A., 1920
|
| Rev. Philip McNairy
|
Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, 1971–1977
|
1932
|
| Rev. Joseph Schereschewsky
|
Anglican bishop of Shanghai, China, 1877–1884
|
|
| Rev. George R. Selway
|
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, 1964–1972
|
1929
|
| Rev. William E. Swing
|
Episcopal bishop of California, 1980–2006
|
1958
|
| Rev. Charles D. Williams
|
Fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, 1906–1915
|
1883/4
|
Sciences
Sports
Visual arts
Notable faculty members
- Virgil Aldrich, Philosophy
- Chauncey Colton, Homiletics
- Katherine Elkins, integrated program for Human Studies
- Robert O. Fink, Classics
- Bruce Haywood, German; provost
- Jed Hoyer, Kenyon baseball coach; executive vice president and general manager, Chicago Cubs
- Lewis Hyde, English
- Randall Jarrell, English
- P. F. Kluge, English
- Perry Lentz, English
- Robie Macauley, English
- Wendy MacLeod, Theater
- George E. McCarthy, Sociology
- Otto Nikodym, Mathematics
- Paul Radin, Anthropology
- John Crowe Ransom, English
- Charles Ritcheson, History
- Richard G. Salomon, History
- Benjamin Schumacher, Physics
- Joan Slonczewski, Biology
- Anna Sun, Sociology, Asian Studies
- Denham Sutcliffe, English
- Allen Tate, English
Visiting faculty
Presidents of the college
- Philander Chase (1825–1831)
- Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1832–1840)
- David Bates Douglass (1840–1844)
- Samuel Fuller (acting, 1844–1845)
- Sherlock A. Bronson (1845–1850)
- Thomas M. Smith (1850–1854)
- Lorin Andrews (1854–1861)
- Benjamin L. Lang (acting, 1861–1863)
- Charles Short (1863–1867)
- James Kent Stone (1867–1868)
- Eli Todd Tappan (1868–1875)
- Edward C. Benson (acting, 1875–1876)
- William B. Bodine (1876–1891)
- Theodore Sterling (1891–1896)
- William Foster Peirce (1896–1937)
- Gordon Keith Chalmers (1937–1956)
- Frank E. Bailey (acting, 1956–1957)
- F. Edward Lund (1957–1968)
- William G. Caples (1968–1975)
- Philip H. Jordan Jr. (1975–1995)
- Robert A. Oden Jr. (1995–2002)
- Ronald A. Sharp (acting, 2002–2003)
- S. Georgia Nugent (2003–2013)
- Sean M. Decatur (2013–2022)
- Jeff Bowman (acting, 2022–2023)
- Julie Kornfeld (2023–)
References