List of Virginia Commonwealth University alumni

This article lists notable alumni and students of theVirginia Commonwealth UniversityinRichmond, Virginia.

Notable artists who are alumni and students ofVCU School of the Arts.

• Diana al-Hadid– sculptor and installation artist (MFA 2005)
• Hannah Altman– photographer (MFA 2020)
• Trudy Benson– abstract artist (BFA 2007)
• James Bumgardner– painter, multimedia artist,RPI, VCU art faculty (BFA 1955)
• Tony Cokes– video artist (MFA 1985)
• Rose Datoc Dall– painter (BFA 1990)
• Tara Donovan– sculptor (MFA 1999)
• Torkwase Dyson– painter (BFA 1999)
• Joseph Craig English– printmaker (BFA 1970)
• Donwan Harrell– fashion designer, founder ofPrpsandAkademiks(BFA 1989)
• Lisa Hoke– sculptor and installation artist (BFA 1978)
• Sterling Hundley– illustrator and painter (BFA 1998)
• Abby Kasonik– painter (BFA 1998)
• Nate Lewis– cut paper sculptor (BS 2009)
• Whitney Lynn– sculptor and performance artist (BFA 2004)

• Philip B. Meggs– graphic designer and historian ofdesign(BFA 1964, MFA 1971)
• Eric Millikin– conceptual, internet, video and performance artist (MFA 2021)
• Janice Smith– furniture maker (BFA 1976)
• Carol Sutton– painter and sculptor (BFA 1967)
• Alice Tangerini– botanical illustrator (BFA 1972)
• Alessandra Torres– performance and installation artist (MFA 2006)
• Charles Vess– fantasy and comics illustrator (BFA 1974)
• Judith Godwin– Abstract painter
• Emmet Gowin– Photographer and portraitist
• Chino Amobi– Contemporary artist, musician and painter

• 

  Fahmida Azim– Pulitzer Prize winning illustrator
• Sam Bass– Motorsports artist
• Nell Blaine– American landscape painter
• Noah Bradley– Fantasy artist known forDungeons & Dragons
• Loryn Brazier– Painter, known for her portraits of Virginia politicians
• Lauren Clay– Sculptor known for her large fantasy inspired installations
• Daryl Cobb– Children's book illustrator
• Tony Cokes– Visual artist and educator
• Bonnie Collura– artist known for figurative multi-media sculptures, textiles and installations
• Assil Diab– Sudanese graphic designer
• Paul DiPasquale–Sculptor known for designing several public sculptures in Virginia, including theArthur Ashe Monumenton Richmond'sMonument AvenueandKing NeptuneonVirginia Beach's boardwalk
• Tarfia Faizullah– Poet
• Anna Journey– Poet
• Jon Pineda– Poet
• Kevin Powers– Poet
• Ron Smith– Poet
• Allison Titus– Poet
• Colette Fu– photographer, book artist and paper engineer, known for her pop-up books
• Sylvia Harris– graphic designer known for designing the U.S. Census and as a pioneer in social impact design
• Sally Heller– Artist known for her large installations
• Lisa Hoke– Visual artist known for abstract sculptures
• Brian Hubble– American illustrator
• Katie Hudnall– Artist known for her woodworking
• Sterling Hundley– Illustrator and painter
• Michael Kaluta– Comic book artist
• Abby Kasonik– Painter
• Dawn Kasper– Interdisciplinary artist

  

• Matt Kenyon– New media artist
• Ana Ines Barragan King– Founder of the Latin Ballet of Virginia
• Mia LaBerge– Oil painter
• Abigail Larson– Fantasy artist
• Philip B. Meggs– Graphic designer and historian who authored books on graphic design
• Wiley Miller– Cartoonist
• Ayanah Moor– Conceptual artist
• Lois Morrison– Book artist
• Charlotte Moss– interior designer, author and philanthropist
• Mel Odom– Book cover artist
• G. Byron Peck– Mural artist
• Alston Purvis– Graphic designer and author
• Beatrice Riese– Artist and art collector
• Rob G.– Comic book artist
• Anne Savedge– Photographic artist
• Steve Segal–Pixaranimator
• Mark Sloan– Museum curator
• Janice Smith– Furniture maker
• Alice Tangerini– Botanical illustrator
• Kevin Tinsley– Comic book illustrator
• Phil Trumbo– Art director and graphic designer
• Betony Vernon– Jewelry designer

• William Gifford– CEO ofAltria(BBA)

  

• Christopher Poole– founder of4chan
• Donwan Harrell– Creator of luxury denim line PRPS and designer atNike,
• Norman Sisisky– founder of Petersburg Bottling Company, which becamePepsi(BBA)
• Kenneth Sullivan– CEO ofSmithfield Foods
• Robert Graboyes– American economist and musician
• John Graham– Economist and Professor at Duke University'sFuqua School of Business
• Jeff Ray Clark– Economist specializing in public choice theory
• Edward N. Coffman– Accounting Scholar who specialized in its history
• Jerry Dipoto– Seattle Mariners baseball executive
• Catherine C. Eckel– Behavioral economist
• Jenny Hollowell– Music industry executive
• Mildred Callahan Jones– Known as the "Flag Lady," she pioneered the decorative flag industry
• Carole Ann Klonarides– Art consultant
• Angela Patton– CEO of Girls for a Chanbge

• Watkins Abbitt, Jr.– member of theVirginia House of Delegates^[1]
• Chris LaCivita– Senior Advisor toDonald Trump's 2024 campaign

  

• Marilyn Tavenner– Administrator of theCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency of theUnited States Department of Health and Human Services
• Lashrecse Aird– member of theVirginia State Senate^[2]
• Lamont Bagby– member of theVirginia State Senate^[3]
• Rosalyn Dance– former member of theVirginia State Senate^[4]
• Yasonna Laoly–Minister of Law and Human RightsofIndonesia(2014–present)
• Nancy McFalane– Former Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina (2011–2019)
• Todd Pillion– member of theVirginia State Senate^[5]
• Will Sessoms– Mayor of Virginia Beach, VA (2008–2018)
• Kim Taylor– member ofVirginia House of Delegates^[6]
• Schuyler VanValkenburg– member ofVirginia House of Delegates^[7]

• Justin Wilson– Mayor ofAlexandria, Virginia
• Rob Wittman–Republicanmember of theUnited States House of Representatives, representingVirginia's 1st congressional district^[8]
• Todd Haymore,Virginia Secretary of Commerce(MBA)

• 

  Debra Gardner, member of the Virginia House of Delegates
• Alan Gross– U.S. Government Contractor arrested in Cuba
• Clay Athey– Politician and jurist
• Lamont Bagby– State politician from Virginia
• Cynthia Ball– State politician from North Carolina
• Peter A. Blake– Virginia Secretary of Education
• Michael Chapman– Director of Homeland Security for Missouri
• Keyanna Conner– Virginia Secretary of Administration
• Nikuyah Walker– Mayor ofCharlottesville, Virginia
• Rosalyn Dance– Virginia State Senator
• Natalie Edwards– Former senior official at theUnited States Department of the Treasury
• Megan Healy– Virginia Secretary of Labor
• Cynthia Eppes Hudson– Deputy Attorney General for Virginia
• Anita Josey-Herring– Chief Judge of the Superior Court of Washington D.C.
• John W. Marshall– Secretary of Public Safety for Virginia
• Adele McClure- Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
• Nancy McFarlane– Pharmacist and politician
• Delores McQuinn– Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
• Jackson Miller– Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services of Virginia
• Todd Pillion– Dentist and State Senator
• Javaid Siddiqi– Virginia Secretary of Education
• Ronald L. Tillett– Virginia Secretary of Finance
• Dietra Trent– Virginia Secretary of Education

• Mamé Adjei– runner-up ofAmerica's Next Top Modelcycle 22
• David Baldacci– author, best known for his novelAbsolute Power(1996)
• Rachel Beanland – author ofFlorence Adler Swims Forever
• Macon Blair– actor andSundance Grand Jury Prize-winning filmmaker, known for his collaborations withJeremy Saulnier

• 

  Reilly Brown– comic book illustrator and writer, known for his work onCable & Deadpool
• Caressa Cameron– 2010 Miss America
• Paris Campbell Grace– TikToker, singer, and comedian
• Daryl Cobb– author,^[9]national children's educational presenter^[10]
• Chad L. Coleman– actor
• Andrea Detwiler– 2006 Daytime Emmy winner
• Stephen Furst– actor and director, known as "Flounder" in the National Lampoon classicAnimal House(1978) as well as TV seriesSt. ElsewhereandBabylon 5
• Jason Butler Harner– Broadway, television, and film actor; performed in original production ofCoast of Utopia; was in Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated filmChangeling
• Bilal Khan–Pakistanisinger and actor
• Zachary Knighton– actor, ABC seriesHappy Endings
• Boris Kodjoe– actor, model
• Robert Lanham– author, best known for his bookThe Hipster Handbook(2003)
• Valerie LaPointe– director and storyboard artist forPixar Animation Studios
• Debbie Matenopoulos– TV host, known for co-hosting ABC'sThe View,The Daily 10, and TV Guide Channel'sThe Screening Room
• Wiley Miller– cartoonist and author of the comic stripNon Sequitur
• Caelynn Miller-Keyes– runner-up Miss USA 2018,BachelorandBachelor in Paradisecontestant
• Trevor Moore– comedian and founding member ofThe Whitest Kids U' Know

• 

  Howard Owen– journalist, author of crime fiction and the novelLittlejohn
• Jay Pharoah– comedian andSaturday Night Livecast member
• Jon Pineda– award-winning poet and novelist
• Christopher Poole, aka moot – founder of4chan^[11]
• Kevin Powers– novelist and poet, known forThe Yellow Birds(2013), a finalist for the National Book Award^[12]
• Tom Robbins– author, best known for his novelEven Cowgirls Get the Blues(1976)
• Steve Segal– comic artist, animation director
• Robb Spewak– producer and radio personality forThe Don and Mike ShowandThe Mike O'Meara Show
• Rose Szabo – author ofWhat Big Teeth
• Steve Rasnic Tem– horror fiction writer, winner of theWorld Fantasy,British FantasyandBram Stoker Awards
• Phil Trumbo– film animator, artist
• Brandon Wardell– comedian and Twitter personality
• Mike Wieringo– comic book artist for Marvel and DC comics; co-creator of Image Comics seriesTellos
• Greg Barrett– Journalist and public speaker
• Cocoa Brown– Actress
• Jason Butler Harner– Actor in Ozark
• Jennifer A. Johnson- Chief Editor of the journalSexualization, Media, and Society
• Zachary Knighton– Actor in Happy Endings
• Rebekah McKendry– Film Director

• Chino Amobi– experimental electronic musician

• 

  Anhayla– singer-songwriter, guitarist
• Sam Beam– singer/songwriter known asIron and Wine^[13]
• Lucy Dacus– singer-songwriter
• Nickelus F– rapper, producer, videographer
• GWAR– several founding members of the band
• Gordy Haab– composer of theStar Warsvideo games music and multiple award winner in that genre
• Lamb of God– several founding members of the band
• Stefan Lessard– bassist forDave Matthews Band
• Matthew Ramsey– songwriter, lead singer forOld Dominion
• Nate Smith– drummer, songwriter, producer, and three-timeGrammynominee
• Eric Stanley– violinist, composer
• Robbin Thompson– singer-songwriter
• Steve West– drummer of the indie rock bandPavementand front man for Marble Valley
• Chris Adler– Drummer for Lamb of God
• Anthony Anderson– Operatic baretone singer
• Bruce Bouton– American Country Music guitarist
• McKinley Dixon– Rapper and singer
• Loston Harris– Jazz pianist
• Darius Jones– Saxophonist
• Emre Kartari– Turkish jazz percussionist
• Matthew Ramsey– Country Music musician known for the band Old Dominion

• Arpana Agrawal– psychiatric geneticist and professor of psychiatry, 2018 Theodore Reich Young Investigator Award
• Hunter "Patch" Adams– founder of theGesundheit! Instituteand subject of the moviePatch Adams
• Baruj Benacerraf– winner of the 1980Nobel Prize in Medicine, class of 1945
• Georgia Chenevix-Trench– researcher who investigates genetic predispositions to cancer
• Ann S. Fulcher– abdominal radiologist and chair of the department of radiology atVirginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Medicine
• Saul Krugman– medical researcher who discovered a vaccine againsthepatitis B
• Jeffery Taubenberger, M.D. –virologist
• Arpad Vass– research scientist,forensic anthropologistand professor
• Patch Adams, M.D., class of 1971
• Georgia Chenevix-Trenchclass of 1985, Ph.D.
• Jean Harris, the first African-American student, class of 1955, became Virginia's Secretary of Health and Human Resources.
• Jeffery Taubenberger, M.D.class of 1986, Ph.D. class of 1987

  

• Percy Wootton, M.D., class of 1957, past president, American Medical Association
• William Chivous Bostic Sr.class of 1905
• Meike Bartels– Behavioral geneticist, known for research on the genetics of happiness
• Kathleen T. Brady– American psychiatrist
• Caroline Orr Bueno(PhD) –social and behavioral sciencesresearcher specializing indisinformationnetworks
• Brian D'Onofrio– psychologist who researches the causes ofpsychopathologyin children and adolescents
• Eduardo D. Rodriguez– Cuban American plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and reconstructive transplant surgeon, who is known for his contribution to the field offacial transplantationand vascularized composite allotransplantation
• Dorothy Espelage– American psychologist and expert in teen violence
• Philip C. Kendall– Psychologist who produced theCoping Catprogram
• Feng Liu– Material physicist
• Michael L. Madigan– Biomedical engineer
• Benjamin Neale– statistical geneticist with a specialty inpsychiatric genetics
• Sudhir Srivastava– chief of the Cancer Biomarkers Research Group of the Division of Cancer Prevention at the United StatesNCI

• Mo Alie-Cox– current tight end for theIndianapolis Colts

  

• Yann Bonato– former European professional basketball player; former France National Team member; member of France's silver medal-winning men's basketball team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics; played one season (1990–91) at VCU^[14][15]
• Troy Daniels– current shooting guard forOlimpia Milano
• Andrew Dykstra– MLS goalkeeper forD.C. United; also played with theChicago FireinMLS^{[citation needed]}
• Treveon Graham– current forward in the G League
• Lanto Griffin– current professional golfer on thePGA Tour
• Sherman Hamilton– former member of Canadian National Men's Basketball Team; participated in 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia^{[16][citation needed]}
• Gerald Henderson– played for theBoston Celtics,Detroit Pistons,Seattle SuperSonics, andSan Antonio Spurs, winning four NBA championships^{[citation needed]}
• Quanitra Hollingsworth– center for theWashington Mysticsof theWNBA;^[17]member of Turkey's 2012 Olympic women's basketball team^[18]

  

• Brandon Inge– MLB infielder, formerly with thePittsburgh Pirates,Oakland AthleticsandDetroit Tigers^[19]
• Sean Marshall– relief pitcher for theCincinnati Reds^[20]
• Eric Maynor– played for theWashington WizardsandPhiladelphia 76ers^[21]
• Cla Meredith– former MLB relief pitcher; played for theBoston Red Sox,San Diego PadresandBaltimore Orioles^[22]
• Hayley Moorwood– member of New Zealand women's Olympic Soccer Team in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012^[23]
• Dominic Oduro– current forward for the Columbus Crew in MLS^{[citation needed]}
• Juvonte Reddic(born 1992) – basketball player in theIsraeli Basketball Premier League
• John Rollins– professional golfer andPGApro^[24]
• Larry Sanders– drafted #15 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2010 NBA Draft^[25]
• Gonzalo Segares– former defender forApollon LimassolinCyprus; former defender for theChicago FireinMLS^{[citation needed]}
• Scott Sizemore– infielder for the Oakland Athletics^[26]
• Justin Tillman(born 1996) – basketball player forHapoel Tel Avivin theIsraeli Basketball Premier League
• Brianté Weber(born 1992) – basketball player in theIsraeli Basketball Premier League
• Dave Van Horne– Broadcaster honored at the Baseball Hall of Fame

• Mirta Martin(Ph.D. 1996) – ninth president ofFort Hays State University
• Grace E. Harris, academic administrator and social worker

• 

  Frank E. Grizzard Jr., American Historian
• Leona S. Aiken– Psychology Professor
• William M. Anderson Jr.(BA) – President of theUniversity of Mary Washington
• Nancy Wright Beasley- Author
• Errett Callahan- Archeologist
• Jack Hranicky- Archeologist
• Caressa Cameron- Miss Virginia
• Eric H. du Plessis- Author, translator and educator
• Susan Higginbotham- Americanhistorical fictionauthor and attorney
• Hendrée E. Jones- Researcher on women's substance abuse
• Eileen A. Joy- Old English literary specialist
• Margaret Ann Neale- Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emerita, at theStanford Graduate School of Business
• Sheri Reynolds- Author of contemporary Southern fiction
• Howard Owen- Author and winner of the Hammett Prize