This is a list of some notable people affiliated with Sewanee: The University of the South.

Arts

Literature

• Franklin Burroughs, author
• H.T. Kirby-Smith, author and poet
• Thomas Lakeman, author
• Andrew Nelson Lytle, author and former editor, Sewanee Review
• Aaron McCollough, poet
• Speer Morgan, novelist, short story writer and editor
• William Alexander Percy, poet and memoirist
• Wyatt Prunty, poet and founding director of the Sewanee Writers' Conference
• John Jeremiah Sullivan, writer, Southern editor of The Paris Review, author of Pulphead
• Allen Tate, poet, critic, assistant editor of The Sewanee Review
• Bertram Wyatt-Brown, historian, author

Music

• Radney Foster, singer/songwriter
• Jonathan Meiburg, musician^[1]
• Tupper Saussy, American composer, musician
• Amanda Shires, singer/songwriter, violin player^[2]

Photography

• Stephen Alvarez, photojournalist and National Geographic photographer

Television and film

• Julian Adams, film producer, writer, and actor
• Paul Harris Boardman, film producer and screenwriter
• Anson Mount, stage, film, and television actor, Hell on Wheels
• John Swasey, voice actor
• Jean Yarbrough, film and television director

Athletics

• Walter Barrett
• Chigger Browne
• Eric Cheape
• Wild Bill Claiborne
• Rupert Colmore
• Harris G. Cope
• Charlie Dexter, Major League Baseball player
• Frank Faulkinberry
• Jenks Gillem
• Delmas Gooch
• Joe B. Hall, University of Kentucky head basketball coach
• Orin Helvey
• Frank Juhan
• Aubrey Lanier
• Lawrence Markley
• Henry D. Phillips
• Kyle Rote Jr., soccer player
• Phil Savage, former Senior VP and General Manager, Cleveland Browns
• John Scarbrough
• Henry Seibels, captain of 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team
• John Shoop, football coach
• Ormond Simkins
• Lee Tolley
• Silas Williams
• Warbler Wilson
• Eben Wortham, All-Southern fullback in 1917

Education

• Douglass Adair, historian and editor of the William and Mary Quarterly
• Alan P. Bell, psychologist at the Kinsey Institute
• Benjamin B. Dunlap, president of Wofford College
• John V. Fleming, professor emeritus at Princeton University
• Rayid Ghani, professor of Machine Learning and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and Chief Scientist, Obama for America 2012 Campaign
• W. Cabell Greet (1901-1972), philologist and McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College
• Thomas N.E. Greville (1910-1998), mathematician and professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison
• J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton (1878-1961), historian, archivist, and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Jeff McMahan (philosopher), White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford
• Charles H. McNutt, archaeologist and professor at Memphis State University
• Richard Mitchell, "The Underground Grammarian"
• Walter Nance, professor of Human Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University
• Eric Woodfin Naylor (1936-2019), Hispanist and translator of el Libro de buen amor
• Samuel F. Pickering Jr., professor of English at the University of Connecticut; inspiration for Mr. Keating in the film Dead Poets Society
• Douglas Porch, professor at the Naval Postgraduate School
• S. Lynne Stokes, statistician and professor at Southern Methodist University
• Richard Tillinghast, English teacher and poet
• Bertram Wyatt-Brown, historian and professor at the University of Florida and Case Western University

Journalism

• Clarence Faulk, publisher of Ruston Daily Leader; owner of radio station KRUS; diversified businessman in Ruston, Louisiana
• Ward Greene (1892-1956), journalist, playwright and editor
• Smith Hempstone, journalist and U.S. Ambassador to Kenya
• Jack Hitt, author and contributing editor of New York Times Magazine, Harper's Magazine and This American Life
• Roger Hodge, deputy editor of The Intercept, former editor of Harper's Magazine and The Oxford American
• Jon Meacham, Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, former editor-in-chief of Newsweek; winner of 2009 Pulitzer Prize for biography

Law

• Phelan Beale, lawyer of Grey Gardens fame
• Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, 2004-2013
• Robert L. Brown, Associate Justice Arkansas Supreme Court
• Alexander Campbell King, Solicitor General of the United States and Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Benjamin Franklin Cameron (1890-1964), Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Thorn Lord, lawyer and Democratic politician from New Jersey
• Hart T. Mankin, General Counsel of the Navy, 1971-1973, and Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, 1990-1996
• Travis Randall McDonough, United States District Judge, Eastern District of Tennessee
• Patrick Henry Nelson II (1856–1914) South Carolina Fifth Circuit Solicitor; President of the South Carolina Bar (1911–1912); member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (1885–1887)
• David C. Norton, United States District Judge, District of South Carolina
• Pride Tomlinson (1890-1967), Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court

Military

• Archibald Butt (1865–1912), journalist, military advisor to the President
• William Crawford Gorgas (1854–1920), Surgeon General of the US Army
• Cary T. Grayson (1878-1938), naval surgeon, rear admiral, chairman of the American Red Cross
• Frank Kelso (1933–2013), admiral, USN, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)
• Marcel Lettre, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, 2015-2017
• Leonidas Polk, Episcopal bishop and Confederate general; founder of the University of the South
• Bill Studeman, admiral, U.S. Navy, director of Naval Intelligence, director of the National Security Agency,

Business

• O. B. Grayson Hall Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Regions Financial Corporation
• Robert Ivy, FAIA, Chief Executive Officer of the American Institute of Architects^[3]
• David Tallichet, restaurateur and creator of the themed restaurant
• Rick Woodward, president Woodward Iron Company, owner Birmingham Barons^[4]

Politics and government

• Robert Stanley Adams (1895-1943), member of the Florida State Senate
• Ellis Arnall, governor of Georgia
• Richard Walker Bolling, Democratic congressman from Missouri
• David Cadman, Vancouver City Councillor
• Harry P. Cain, Republican Senator from Washington, 1946-1953
• William S. Cogswell Jr., member of the South Carolina House of Representatives
• Carl Copeland Cundiff, United States Ambassador to Niger
• Steven Dickerson, Republican member of the Tennessee Senate, 2013-2020
• Tucker Eskew, Republican political consultant
• Kirkman Finlay Jr., mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, 1978-1986
• Robert C. Frasure, first United States Ambassador to Estonia after regaining independence from the Soviet Union
• Kenneth Goodenow, member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, 1996-2000
• Robert E. Gribbin, 3rd, United States Ambassador to Rwanda, 1996-1999, and the Central African Republic, 1993-1995.
• William Pike Hall Sr., state senator for Caddo and DeSoto parishes, Louisiana, 1924–1932; Shreveport attorney^[5]
• Clarke Hogan, Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 2002-2010
• Henry F. Holland, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, 1954-1956
• John Jay Hooker (1930-2016), attorney, political gadfly, candidate for Tennessee governor
• Luke Lea, Democratic Senator from Tennessee, 1911-1917
• Peter O'Donnell, Republican state party chairman in Texas during the 1960s; Dallas investor and philanthropist^[6]
• LeRoy Percy was an attorney, planter, and politician in Mississippi. In 1910, he was elected by the state legislature to the US Senate and served until 1913.
• Vail M. Pittman, 19th Governor of Nevada^[7]
• Albert J. Pullen, member of the Wisconsin State Senate
• Simon Pierre Robineau, member of the Florida House of Representatives
• Steve Schale, State Director for the 2008 Barack Obama campaign in Florida
• Armistead I. Selden Jr., Democratic congressman from Alabama
• Phil Smith (1931-2020), member of the Alabama House of Representatives
• Lee M. Thomas, Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1985-89
• Ralph T. Troy (Class of 1957), mayor of Monroe, Louisiana, 1972–1976^[8][9]
• Shannon R. Valentine, member of the Virginia House of Delegates
• John Sharp Williams (1854-1932), Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Mississippi

Religion

• Reginald Heber Weller, (1857-1935), Episcopal priest and bishop active in the ecumenical movement
• George Townshend, (1876-1957), Archdeacon of Clonfert, Canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Hand of the Cause of the Bahá’í Faith^[10]
• J. Neil Alexander, bishop of Atlanta and dean of the School of Theology of The University of the South
• John Maury Allin, 23rd presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, 1974-1985
• Harry Brown Bainbridge III, Bishop of Idaho, President of Province VIII, Chair of Episcopal Relief & Development^[11]
• Allen L. Bartlett, Bishop of Pennsylvania, 1987-1998
• Foley Beach, archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America
• G.P. Mellick Belshaw (1928-2020), bishop of New Jersey
• Mark Bourlakas, bishop of Southwestern Virginia
• Theodore DuBose Bratton, Bishop of the Episcopal Church and chaplain general of the United Confederate Veterans^[12][13]
• Edmond Browning, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church
• William G. Burrill, bishop of Rochester
• Charles Judson Child Jr., bishop of Atlanta
• Thomas N. Carruthers (1900-1960), bishop of South Carolina
• William Stirling Claiborne (1872–1933), priest
• Clarence Alfred Cole (1909-1963), bishop of Upper South Carolina
• Glenda S. Curry, bishop of Alabama
• Carl P. Daw Jr., executive director of the Hymn Society
• Alex D. Dickson, bishop of West Tennessee
• William Porcher DuBose, dean and priest
• James Duncan, bishop of Southeast Florida
• Chip Edgar (born 1964), bishop of South Carolina
• Hunley Elebash (1923-1993), bishop of East Carolina
• Thomas C. Ely, bishop of Vermont, 2001-2019
• Leopold Frade, Episcopal bishop
• Robert F. Gibson Jr., bishop of Virginia, 1961-1974
• Campbell Gray, Episcopal bishop
• Duncan M. Gray Jr. (1926–2016), bishop of Mississippi
• Marion J. Hatchett, liturgical scholar and one of the key framers of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
• John E. Hines, 22nd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, 1965-1974
• George Nelson Hunt, III, bishop of Rhode Island
• T. J. Johnston (born 1956), bishop in the Anglican Mission in America
• Edwin M. Leidel Jr., bishop of Eau Claire
• Clark Lowenfield (born 1957), bishop of the Western Gulf Coast
• Mary Adelia Rosamond McLeod, bishop of Vermont, the first female Episcopal priest elected to head a diocese
• C. Brinkley Morton, bishop of San Diego
• Alfred C. Marble Jr. (1936-2017), bishop of Mississippi
• Henry N. Parsley, bishop of Alabama, chancellor of The University of the South
• Leonidas Polk, Episcopal bishop and Confederate general; founder of the University of the South
• Charles Todd Quintard, bishop of Tennessee
• George Lazenby Reynolds (1927-1991), bishop of Tennessee
• Gene Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire
• Harry W. Shipps, bishop of Georgia
• Becca Stevens, Episcopal priest
• Hudson Stuck, Anglican Archdeacon who organized the first ascent of Mount McKinley
• Eugene Sutton, bishop of Maryland
• G. Porter Taylor, bishop of Western North Carolina
• John Moore Walker Jr., bishop of Atlanta
• Gretchen Rehberg, bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Spokane
• Royden Yerkes, professor of Theology 1935 to 1947