This is a list of notable alumni of Connecticut College.

Literature and poetry

• Michael Collier ('76): Poet Laureate of Maryland, 2001–2004; Director of The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College
• Dobby Gibson ('93): poet
• Aracelis Girmay ('99): poet
• Cecelia Holland ('65): novelist
• Gayl Jones ('72): novelist, poet, playwright
• William Lychack ('88): novelist
• Luanne Rice ('77): novelist

Authors and writers

• Sloane Crosley ('00): best-selling author; essayist; publicist with Vintage Books
• David Grann ('89): journalist and best-selling and staff writer at The New Yorker
• Joshua Green ('94): senior national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek and a weekly columnist for the Boston Globe
• Jazmine Hughes ('12): writer and editor; currently a story editor at The New York Times Magazine
• Nan Kempner ('52): socialite, contributing editor of Vogue
• Elizabeth Peer ('57): journalist; first female foreign bureau chief at Newsweek
• A. B. Stoddard ('89): journalist, political commentator, associate editor of The Hill

Academia

• Edward Burger ('85): professor of mathematics, Williams College
• Martha Chen: lecturer in public policy, Harvard Kennedy School
• Cynthia Enloe ('60): research professor of international relations and women's studies, Clark University
• Haden Guest ('93): Director of the Harvard Film Archive, and lecturer at Harvard University
• David Haussler ('75): professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, member of National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Roxanne Johnson: chemist working at United States Environmental Protection Agency
• Mark Samuels Lasner: Senior Research Fellow at the University of Delaware
• Shelley Taylor ('68): social psychologist, pioneer in health psychology, winner of Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from APA
• Ellen Vitetta ('64): Director, Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center National Acad. Sciences; Institute of Medicine; American Acad. Arts and Sciences

Design, art, and art history

• Agnes Gund: philanthropist, art patron and collector, advocate for arts education
• Christine Y. Kim: associate curator of contemporary art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; former associate curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem^[1]
• Peter Som ('93): fashion designer, winner of the 2002 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation prize^[2]
• Marcia Tucker: first female curator of the Whitney Museum; founding director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art

Television and radio

• H. Jon Benjamin: actor, comedian and writer best known for his voice-over roles
• Molly Cheek ('73): It's Garry Shandling's Show
• Lee Eisenberg ('99): writer and producer for The Office and the film Year One
• Chris Gifford ('81): co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning children's series Dora the Explorer
• Scott Lowell: actor, Queer as Folk
• Leland Orser ('82): actor
• Christof Putzel ('01): award-winning journalist and correspondent for Al Jazeera America
• Joan Rivers: actress, comedian; attended CC briefly, then transferred to Barnard College
• Susan Saint James: actress, Kate & Allie; attended CC, did not graduate
• Sam Seder: writer, actor, political commentator, radio host on Air America
• Alec Sulkin ('95): writer and executive producer on Family Guy, The Orville and the 85th Academy Awards
• Wellesley Wild ('94): writer and executive producer on Family Guy, The Orville and the 85th Academy Awards

Film, theater and dance

• Chrystelle Trump Bond: dancer, choreographer, author, and dance historian
• Ted Chapin ('72): president and executive director, Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization
• Charles Chun ('90): actor; has appeared in Criminal Minds, Scrubs, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and How I Met Your Mother
• David Dorfman (MFA '81): Professor of Dance, chair of Dance Department, choreographer of modern dance
• Sean Fine ('96): winner of Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for Inocente; director of Academy Award-nominated feature documentary War/Dance
• Jeffrey Finn ('92): Broadway producer, nominated for 2005 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for On Golden Pond
• Judy Irving ('68): Emmy Award and Sundance-winning filmmaker
• Raja Feather Kelly ('09): dancer and choreographer and serves as the artistic director of the New Brooklyn Theatre
• Leland Orser ('82): actor and director known for Taken, Taken 2 and Se7en
• Estelle Parsons ('49): stage, film, and television actor; winner of 1967 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Bonnie and Clyde
• Kevin Wade ('76): screenwriter, Working Girl, Meet Joe Black

National Theater Institute alumni (accredited by Connecticut College)

• Greg Allen
• Emily Bergl
• Adam Bock (The Receptionist)
• Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue)
• Jack Coleman (Heroes)
• Rachel Dratch (SNL)
• Chris Elliott (SNL)
• Paul Hodes
• Kristina Klebe
• John Krasinski (The Office)
• Jeremy Piven (Grosse Point Blank, PCU)
• Michael Portnoy
• Sam Robards
• Kate Robin (Six Feet Under)
• Mark Teschner

Music

• Sean Greenhalgh ('01): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Robbie Guertin ('02): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Vance Gilbert ('79): singer-songwriter, folk musician
• Chris Harford: singer, songwriter
• Alec Ounsworth ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Lee Sargent ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Tyler Sargent ('00): member of indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• Henrik Takkenberg ('90): musician, songwriter, producer

Government, law and public policy

• Debo Adegbile ('91): lawyer in private practice who also serves as a Commissioner for the United States Civil Rights Commission
• Esther Batchelder (1919): nutritionist, home economist, head of Food and Nutrition division of the US Department of Agriculture
• Helen Lehman Buttenwieser ('27): lawyer, member of Lehman family
• Nina F. Elgo ('84): Judge of the Connecticut Appellate Court
• Marie L. Garibaldi ('56): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
• Catherine Gregg: philanthropist and First Lady of New Hampshire (1953–1955)^[3]
• Mary Ann Handley: Connecticut State Senator
• Dorcas Hardy ('68): Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
• Joanne Head: New Hampshire State Representative
• Bruce Hoffman ('76): Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency, Director of the RAND Corporation's Washington Office, professor at Georgetown University
• Jay Hooper ('16): Vermont State Representative
• Joan R. Kemler ('47): first woman to serve as Connecticut State Treasurer (1986–87)^[4][5]
• Suzi Oppenheimer ('56): New York State Senator
• Erik Raven ('96), United States Under Secretary of the Navy
• Sean Spicer ('93): 30th White House Press Secretary
• Jay Stamper ('95): Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from South Carolina
• Susan Thomases ('65): attorney, presidential adviser
• Patricia McGowan Wald ('48): U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia judge; member of International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; member of the Iraq Intelligence Commission
• Kimba Wood ('66): federal judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Business

• Tim Armstrong ('93): CEO of America Online (AOL); former Google Inc. Vice President, Advertising Sales
• Ethan Brown (?): CEO of Beyond Meat
• Alice Rogoff: former wife of David Rubenstein

Athletics

• Anita DeFrantz ('74): former Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, member of bronze medal U.S. women's eight-oared shell, 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics
• Jim Gabarra ('82): Olympic soccer player
• Jeff Idelson ('86): current director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
• AJ Marcucci ('21): professional soccer player for New York Red Bulls
• Jan Merrill ('79): Olympic long-distance runner
• Rand Pecknold ('90): current head coach of the Quinnipiac University Men's Ice Hockey team
• Tim Young ('92): Olympic silver medalist in quadruple sculling

Other notable people associated with Connecticut College

• Blanche Boyd: Professor of English and Writing
• Pauline Hamilton Dederer: Professor of Biology
• Edward Harkness: Conn College benefactor, Standard Oil heir and advocate of the Harkness Table method
• Barkley Hendricks: Professor of Art
• Carl Kimmons ('73): US Navy officer; first person to rise through the Navy's ranks from mess attendant to commissioned officer
• Lillian Rosanoff Lieber: mathematician and author
• William Meredith: winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and Professor of English at the college, 1955–1983
• William Wuyke: former Venezuelan Olympian; strength and conditioning coach

Presidents

• Frederick Henry Sykes: President, 1913–1917
• Benjamin T. Marshall: President, 1917–1928
• Katherine Blunt: President, 1929–1943, 1945–1946
• Dorothy Schafer: President, 1943–1945
• Rosemary Park: President, 1947–1962
• Charles E. Shain: President, 1962–1974
• Oakes Ames: President, 1974–1988
• Claire L. Gaudiani: President, 1988–2001
• David K. Lewis: Interim President, 2001
• Norman Fainstein: President, 2001–2006
• Leo Higdon: President, 2006–2013
• Katherine Bergeron: President, 2014–2023