This is a list of University of Albany people.

Notable alumni

Arts

• Phoebe Adams (MFA 1978), painter and sculptor^[1]
• Sally Sheinman, painter, installation artist, digital artist

Business

• Steven Berkowitz (1980), former Senior Vice President of Microsoft Online Services, and CEO of MOVE
• Jang Young-sik (PhD 1970), economist, former president of the Korea Electric Power Company
• Edward A. Maher (1867), president of the Third Avenue Railway^[2][3]
• William Orton (1847), president of the Western Union Telegraph Company
• Norman E. Snyder (1983), co-founder of SoBe
• Ronn Torossian, (1995), CEO of 5W Public Relations, the 13th largest PR agency in the US
• Tony Vinciquerra (1977), former CEO of Fox Entertainment Group and current CEO and chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani^[4]

Education

• Herman Aguinis, George Washington University School of Business professor and 77th president of the Academy of Management
• Delia E. Wilder Carson (1833-1917), art educator
• Michael R. Gottfredson, former president of the University of Oregon
• Lucy Stedman Lamson (1857-1926), business woman, educator
• Harris Pastides, 29th President of the University of South Carolina

Government, law, and public policy

• Mike Arcuri (1981), former District Attorney for Oneida County, New York; former representative for New York's 24th congressional district
• Catherine Bertini (1971), former Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme; Fellow of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Kevin Chambers (BA 1997), associate deputy attorney general in the Biden administration.
• Rosa Clemente, 2008 Green Party vice presidential candidate
• William J. Condon (BA 1981), New York State Supreme Court Justice Tenth Judicial District (2008-2022)
• Scott de la Vega, acting United States Secretary of Interior under Joe Biden
• Abdirahman Mohamud Farole (1990), former president of the Puntland region of Somalia
• Christopher Hahn (BA 1994) Fox News contributor and syndicated radio host
• Lansing Hotaling (1856), District Attorney of Albany County; member of the New York State Assembly
• Gerald Jennings, mayor of Albany, New York
• Benjamin Kallos, lawyer and politician
• Lawrence Korb (PhD 1969), Council on Foreign Relations and Center for American Progress; Assistant Secretary of Defense (1981–85)
• Seth Marnin (BA, MA), judge, New York Court of Claims (2023–present), and first openly transgender male judge in the United States
• John M. McHugh (MPA 1977), Congressman from New York's 23rd congressional district (1993–2009); U.S. Secretary of the Army (2009–2015)
• Harvey Milk (1951), gay rights figure; former San Francisco city supervisor; assassinated in 1978
• Susan Molinari (BA 1980, MA 1982), former New York Congresswoman, Staten Island
• Zina Lisandrou Panagidi (1992), Mayor of Lefkoniko
• Joseph E. Persico (1952), best-selling author of Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial; biographer of Edward R. Murrow, Nelson Rockefeller, William Casey; former Nelson Rockefeller speechwriter
• John D. Porcari (1985), Deputy U.S. Secretary of Transportation under the Obama administration; former Maryland Secretary of Transportation
• Angelo L. Santabarbara (BS, 2001), New York State Assemblyman from New York's 111th district (2013–present)
• Louis R. Tobacco (1994), New York State Assemblyman (62nd District)
• Christine A. Varney, (1977), Assistant Attorney General; United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
• Mark Weprin (BA 1983), former member of the New York State Assembly and New York City Council
• Richard C. Wesley (1971), judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit
• Lee M. Zeldin (BA 2001), United States Representative from New York's 1st congressional district (2015–2023); New York State Senator from New York's 3rd district (2011-2014)

Journalism

• Tom Junod (1980), journalist and writer for Esquire magazine since 1997
• Gloria Rojas, journalist^[5]
• Bob Ryan (1967), former lead weatherman, WRC-TV (Channel 4, NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C.)
• Tameka Abraham (2017), journalist and writer for Essence Magazine, Interview Magazine, Greatest Magazine and more.

Literature

• Emma Lee Benedict (1857-1937), editor, educator, author
• Marcia Brown, children's author
• Stephen Adly Guirgis (1990), playwright (Jesus Hopped the A Train, Our Lady of 121st Street)
• Joyce Hinnefeld, writer of fiction and nonfiction
• Gregory Maguire (1976), author of the books Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Wicked (which became a Broadway musical)
• Paul Pines, poet, writer, memoirist; founded The Tin Palace, a jazz nightclub on the Bowery in New York City, and the Jazz at the Lake: Lake George Jazz Weekend
• Radclyffe (Dr. Lenora Ruth Barot), writer and editor of lesbian romance, paranormal romance, erotica and mystery; founder and publisher of Bold Stroke Books
• Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah , author of the books Friday Black and Chain-Gang All-Stars

Performing arts, Broadcasting

• Priya Anand, Indian film actress and model
• Awkwafina, aka Nora Lum (2011), American rapper, television personality, and actress.
• Edward Burns, film actor
• Carolee Carmello (1962), Broadway actress^[6]
• Randy Cohen (1971), former writer for Late Night with David Letterman; currently writes "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine and answers ethical questions from listeners of All Things Considered
• Jamie Gold (1991), television producer and 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion
• Harold Gould (1947), actor, The Sting, TV series Rhoda and Golden Girls
• Steve Guttenberg, film actor
• Randye Kaye, author, radio talk show host, and voice actress
• Brian Lehrer (1973), radio talk show host
• Brandon Jay McLaren (2002), television actor
• Ignacyo Matynia (2013), film and television actor, My Nightmare Landlord, Break Every Chain
• Michael Nolin (BA 1970), film studio executive; producer of Mr. Holland's Opus; screenwriter of Maniac Magee; professor at Savannah College of Art and Design
• John Ortiz, film and TV actor, The Job, Carlito's Way, Miami Vice, American Gangster)
• Josh Ostrovsky, aka The Fat Jewish
• Stacey Prussman (1992) Actress, Radio Host, Stand-Up Comedian, 2021 New York City mayoral candidate
• Howard Reig (1942), radio and television announcer
• Marie Roda, television personality featured on MTV's The Real World and The Challenge.
• Allan Steele, actor and writer
• Frank Whaley, film and television actor
• D.B. Woodside (1991), actor on TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Lucifer and Single Ladies

Science

• Frances E. Allen (1954), IBM Fellow, Turing Award winner (2006)
• Sallie W. Chisholm (PhD 1974), biological oceanographer and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Alan M. Davis (1970), IEEE Fellow for contributions to software engineering; author; entrepreneur; pomologist; horticulturalist
• Lois Privor-Dumm (1986), director, Alliances and Information for PneumoADIP, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Myriam Gorospe, scientist, head of the RNA Regulation Section at the National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Alanna Schepartz (1982), Milton Harris Professor of Chemistry at Yale University and Director, Yale Chemical Biology Institute; Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences
• Celal Sengor (1982), Turkish geologist, foreign member of the American Philosophical Society
• Omar M. Yaghi (1985), James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry and Co-Director of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at University of California, Berkeley; recipient of the American Chemical Society Chemistry of Materials Award (2009)

Social sciences

• Robert H. Babcock (BA 1953, MA 1957), historian
• Anne Case (BA), economist
• Philip B. Coulter (PhD 1966), political scientist
• Debra Hope (PhD 1990), Clinical Psychologist
• David Pietrusza (BA 1971, MA 1972), historian and author
• William J. Taverner (1990), author, sexologist, editor of the American Journal of Sexuality Education
• Gerhard Weinberg (1948), diplomatic and military historian

Sports

• Rashad Barksdale (2007), NFL cornerback
• Dave Clawson (MA, 1990), Head Football Coach, Wake Forest
• Bouna Coundoul (attended 2002-04), Senegalese international soccer goalkeeper
• James Jones (BA 1986, MA 1995), Head Coach of the Yale University Men's Basketball Team
• Jordan Levine, professional lacrosse player
• Ashley Massaro, professional wrestler
• Brett Queener (2007), professional lacrosse player
• Joe Resetarits, professional lacrosse player
• Rob Senderoff, college basketball coach
• Jason Siggers (born 1985), basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
• Lyle Thompson, professional lacrosse player, two-time Tewaaraton Award Winner
• Tara VanDerveer (attended 1971–72), head women's basketball coach at Stanford University; member of Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Halls of Fame
• Jarren Williams (defensive back), NFL defensive back

Other

• Arlene Istar Lev (1986), family therapist and author of Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and their Families
• Suzanne Lyall, sophomore who disappeared after getting off a bus at Collins Circle in 1998
• Philip Markoff (2007), deceased, accused "Craigslist Killer"^[7]
• Peter Turkson, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

Notable faculty

• Frances Dorothy Acomb, historian
• Manuel Alvar (1977–98), head of the Spanish Royal Academy; known for his linguistic atlases of Spain and Spanish South America
• Branka Arsić, scholar of American literature, won the Modern Language Association's James Russell Lowell Prize in 2016^[8]
• Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1966–70), Spanish Novelist (1910–1999); won Cervantes Prize in 1985
• Ronald A. Bosco (1975–present), Distinguished University Professor of English & American Literature (2004), SUNY Distinguished Service Professor (1992); president, Association for Documentary Editing; General Editor of The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harvard; has edited, co-edited (primarily with Joel Myerson), and authored over 20 volumes on Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Michael Wigglesworth, and Cotton Mather
• Don Byrd (1971–present), poet and literary critic; works include his poetry collection Technics of Travel, the book-length poems The Great Dimestore Centennial and Aesop's Garden, an analysis of Charles Olson's Maximus, and his masterpiece of literary analysis The Poetics of Common Knowledge
• JoAnne Carson, painter and sculptor, Guggenheim Fellow (2016)
• Alan S. Chartock, political scientist and radio personality
• John Frederick Dewey (1971–1982), structural geologist widely regarded as an authority on the development and evolution of mountain ranges; Fellow of the Royal Society, Wollaston Medal and Penrose Medal recipient, member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• Sandra K. Ellston, Shakespearean scholar, former Chair of Undergraduate Studies in English and co-director of the Humanities Center.
• Joachim Frank (1976–present), computational biologist, School of Public Health; investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at New York State's Wadsworth Center; elected in 2006 to National Academy of Sciences and named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
• Gordon G. Gallup (1975–present), evolutionary psychologist; developed the mirror test
• M. E. Grenander (1948–89), professor of English, authority on Ambrose Bierce, and benefactor of the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives
• George R. Goldner, art historian, former Drue Heinz Chairman of the Department of Drawings and Paints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Pierre Joris (1992–present), poet, translator, anthologist; renowned translator of Paul Celan
• Leonard Kastle (1978–89), director of The Honeymoon Killers and notable opera composer of Deseret and The Pariahs
• William Kennedy (1974–present), 1984 winner of Pulitzer Prize for fiction for novel Ironweed; taught creative writing and journalism as UAlbany instructor from 1974 to 1982, thereafter full professor of creative writing; in 1983, awarded the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, part of which went to UAlbany's New York State Writers Institute
• Scott Lilienfeld, author
• Michael J. Malbin (1990–present), political science, and expert on campaign finance; former speech writer to Richard B. Cheney
• Jon Mandle (1994–present), philosopher who works on issues of political theory and global justice; author of What's Left of Liberalism? An Interpretation and Defense of Justice as Fairness and Global Justice: An Introduction
• Ron McClamrock (1992–present), philosopher who works at the intersection of phenomenology and psychology; author of Existential Cognition: Minds in the World
• Toni Morrison (1985–89), author, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author (works include Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Song of Solomon)
• Paul Pimsleur (1970–76), linguist, educator and researcher of the language acquisition process, and author of Pimsleur Language Series
• Vincent Schaefer, founder and longtime director of the Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC); discovered the first successful method of cloud seeding, with dry ice
• Richard E. Stearns, emeritus (1978–2000), Turing Award winner for computational complexity theory
• Bonnie Steinbock (1977–2014), philosopher, expert on reproductive ethics, and former chair of philosophy department
• Bernard Vonnegut (1967–85), atmospheric scientist known for expertise in the physics of lightning; as a colleague of Vincent Schaefer at General Electric in 1946, discovered silver iodide method of cloud-seeding; older brother of author Kurt Vonnegut
• David Wills (1998–2013), translator of Jacques Derrida

University presidents