People Brooklyn College

bernie sanders

notable alumni of brooklyn college include senator bernie sanders (1959-1960), senator barbara boxer (b.a. 1962), congresswoman shirley chisholm (b.a., 1946), composer laurie spiegel (m.a., 1975), pulitzer prize-winning author frank mccourt (m.a., 1967), fifa u-17 world cup champion joseph babatunde (b.a 2000), harvard law school professor , author alan m. dershowitz, securities , exchange commission chairman harvey pitt, emmy award-winning actor jimmy smits (b.a., 1980), sopranos stars steve schirripa (b.a., 1980) , dominic chianese (b.a., 1961), new york mets president saul katz (b.a., 1960), , academy award-nominated filmmaker paul mazursky (b.a., 1952). in national research council study of baccalaureate origins of ph.d. recipients between 1920 , 1995, brooklyn college ranked 19th in nation.

notable faculty

michael cunningham



itzhak perlman



f. murray abraham – actor of stage , screen; professor of theater, winner of academy award best actor
vito acconci – designer, landscape architect, performance , installation artist
eric alterman – american liberal journalist
hannah arendt – philosopher , political theorist; author of origins of totalitarianism (1951) , human condition (1958)
john ashbery – poet, pulitzer prize winner
robert beauchamp – painter
edwin g. burrows – historian; pulitzer prize winner co-writing gotham: history of new york city 1898 mike wallace
frances sergeant childs – historian; 1 of college s founding faculty members
eleanor cory – composer
michael cunningham – novelist; winner of pulitzer prize fiction , pen/faulkner award hours
rudy d amico – professional national basketball association scout, , former brooklyn college , professional basketball coach coached maccabi tel aviv euroleague championship
charles dodge – composer, founder of center computer music
paul edwards – professor of philosophy, editor of encyclopedia of philosophy
john hope franklin – american historian, former chairman of history department, president of phi beta kappa, , recipient of presidential medal of freedom
jack gelber – playwright , theater director; taught @ brooklyn college 1972–2003
allen ginsberg – beat poet; taught @ brooklyn college 1986–97
david grubbs – musician, composer, recording artist
carey harrison – novelist/dramatist
amy hempel – american short story writer, journalist, , coordinator of mfa fiction-writing program
seymour l. hess – meteorologist , planetary scientist.
agnieszka holland – film director, best known europa europa (1992)
carl holty – painter
john hospers – first presidential candidate of united states libertarian party; professor 1956–66
paul jacobs – classical pianist; specialist in modern music
kc johnson – professor of american history
béla király (1912 – 2009)- professor emeritus, former hungarian general taught military history , central european history
tania león – cuban-born composer , conductor
don lemon – cnn anchor , journalist
ben lerner – poet , writer
abraham maslow – psychologist in school of humanistic psychology, best known theory of human motivation led therapeutic technique known self-actualization; taught 1937–51
wilson carey mcwilliams – political scientist, author of idea of fraternity in america (1973, university of california press), won national historical society prize in 1974
ursula oppens – pianist, co-founded contemporary music ensemble speculum musicae, conservatory of music
philip pearlstein – distinguished professor emeritus, influential american painter known modernist realism nudes
itzhak perlman – violinist, conservatory of music
mark rothko – influential abstract expressionist painter
susan fromberg schaeffer – novelist , broeklundian professor of english
albert schatz – microbiologist, co-discoverer of streptomycin
mark strand – pulitzer prize-winning poet, essayist, , translator
glenn thrush – politico senior writer, author
hans l. trefousse – distinguished emeritus professor of history; taught 1946-1998, historian , author
ad reinhardt, elizabeth murray, vito acconci, william t. williams, archie rand, jennifer mccoy, patricia cronin – artists (1950s present)
carleton washburne – director of teacher education, known progressive education works
theresa wolfson – professor of labor economics, won john dewey award of league industrial democracy
joel zwick – professor in film department, director of full house, fuller house, family matters, big fat greek wedding , fat albert . joseph babatunde. (b.a, 2000) fifa u-17 world cup champion 1985




^ horowitz, jason (july 24, 2015) bernie sanders’s ‘100% brooklyn’ roots unshakable accent new york times
^ staff (july 13, 2016) bernie sanders fast facts cnn
^ robert beauchamp, american (1923–1995) . ro gallery. 2011. retrieved jun 30, 2011. 
^ hans l. trefousse (1921-2010) . historians.org. retrieved 21 march 2015. 
^ theresa wolfson . jewish women s archive. retrieved may 13, 2011. 
^ wolfson, theresa . jewish virtual library. retrieved may 14, 2011.