Utah Alumni

A Selection of Outstanding University of Utah Alumni

Ross “Rocky” Anderson BA’73
Former mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah; recognized by numerous organizations for his leadership on global warming.
Rocky Anderson BA’73
A. Scott Anderson ex’69
President and chief executive officer of Zions First National Bank; recognized as CEO of the Year in 2006 by Utah Business magazine.
Scott Anderson ex’69
Jim Blinn PhD’78
Currently a graphics fellow at Microsoft Research; devised environment mapping and bump mapping, new methods to represent how objects and light interact in a 3-D virtual world.
Jim Blinn PhD’78
Ed Catmull BS’69 PhD’74
Co-founder and president of Pixar Animation Studios; also president of Disney Feature Animation; honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Scientific and Technical Engineering Awards in 1992 and 1995 and shared an Oscar, awarded in 2001, for development of software used in the Toy Story films and in A Bug’s Life, Jurassic Park, Titanic, and Gladiator. Catmull will receive an honorary Oscar statuette for lifetime achievement in computer graphics for filmmaking in February 2009.
Ed Catmull BS’69 PhD’74
Isaac Chung MFA’04
The only director from the United States to get into the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival with his first dramatic feature, the Rwanda-based film Munyurangabo (alternately titled Liberation Day in English), accepted to the 2007 fest.
Isaac Chung MFA’04
E. Gordon Gee BA’68
E. Gordon Gee, among the most highly experienced and respected university presidents in the nation, returned to The Ohio State University in 2008 after having served as chancellor of Vanderbilt University for seven years. Prior to his tenure at Vanderbilt, he was president of Brown University (1998-2000), The Ohio State University (1990-97), the University of Colorado (1985-90), and West Virginia University (1981-85).
Gordon Gee BA’68
Ann Weaver Hart BS’70 MA’81 PhD’83
Installed in early 2007 as Temple University’s first female president. She previously held positions as president of the University of New Hampshire and provost and vice president for academic affairs at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Calif.
Ann Weaver Hart BS’70 MA’81 PhD’83
Gordon B. Hinckley BA’32
President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1995 to January 2008.
Gordon B. Hinckley BA’32
Mickey Ibarra MEd’80
Served as White House director of intergovernmental affairs and as an assistant to former President William J. Clinton.
Mickey Ibarra MEd’80
Alan C. Kay MS’68 PhD’69
Played a major role in development of the personal computer, the concept of the first laptop computer (known as the Dynabook), and as an architect of the “graphical user interface” in which overlapping windows appear on a computer screen, making PCs easy to use.
Alan C. Kay MS’68 PhD’69
Fred Kempe BA’76
President and chief executive officer of The Atlantic Council of the United States; former assistant managing editor, International, of The Wall Street Journal, and editor-in-chief, associate publisher, and columnist for The Wall Street Journal Europe, which, under Kempe’s direction, won numerous awards.
Frederick Kempe BA’76
Akhlesh Lakhtakia MS’81 PhD’83
Charles G. Binder Endowed Professor of Engineering Science & Mechanics at The Pennsylvania State University and a visiting professor of Physics at Imperial College London; widely recognized for his groundbreaking research on nanotechnology and on the behavior of electromagnetic fields and waves in complex materials.
Akhlesh Lakhtakia MS’81 PhD’83
Missy Marlowe BS’94
University gymnast, 1992 NCAA All-Around Champion, and Olympic competitor. 		Marlow
Missy Marlowe BS’94
 
Thomas S. Monson BS’48 was appointed president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following the death of Gordon B. Hinckley BA’32 in January 2008. Monson has spent virtually his entire career in the service of the LDS Church. Thomas S. Monson
Thomas S. Monson BS’48
David Neeleman ex’81 Founder and former CEO of JetBlue Airways. David Neeleman
David Neeleman ex’81
Josephine “Jody” K. Olsen BA’65
Deputy director of the Peace Corps.
Jody Olsen BA’65
Jerold Ottley MFA’67
Former musical director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which, under Ottley’s direction, received honors including two Emmy Awards and two Platinum records.
Jerold Ottley MFA’67
Thomas D. Rees BA’46 MD’48
Co-founder of the Flying Doctors Service of East Africa (introducing reconstructive surgery to the region), which evolved into the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF); he trained many of the most respected plastic and reconstructive surgeons operating today.
Thomas Rees BA’46 MD’48
Cecil O. Samuelson, Jr. BS’66 MS’70 MD’70
President of Brigham Young University; former professor of medicine, dean of the School of Medicine, and vice president of Health Sciences at the University of Utah.
Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. BS’66 MS’70 MD’70
Rocco Siciliano BA’44
Former Assistant Secretary of Labor and then special assistant to President Eisenhower for personnel management in the White House; later Undersecretary of Commerce in the Nixon administration; currently chair of the Dwight D. Eisenhower World Affairs Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.
Rocco Siciliano BA’44
Alex Smith BS’04
Former quarterback for the Utes; No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL draft - the highest pick ever from the state of Utah; l, Sports Illustrated College Football Player of the Year, and Pro Football Weekly All-American. Recently established The Alex Smith Guardian Scholars Program at San Diego State University for foster youth.
Alex Smith BS’04
Wallace Stegner BA’30
Late American novelist, whose writings exhibit his lifelong interest in the environment and the unique qualities of the American West. In 1972, his novel Angle of Repose won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Wallace Stegner BA’30
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich BA’60
Winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in history for her 1991 book A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, which revealed the prevalence of violence, crime, and premarital sex in 18th-century New England.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich BA’60
John Warnock BS’61 MS’64 PhD’69
Co-founder and board chairman of Adobe Systems Inc.; developer of Postscript software that helped launch desktop publishing by enabling desktop computers to handle graphics and page layouts for the first time.
John Warnock BS’61 MS’64 PhD’69
Terry Tempest Williams BS’79 MS’84
Author of Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (1991), An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field (1994), Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert (2001), and other books. Current Annie Clark Tanner Fellow at the University of Utah’s Tanner Humanities Center.
Terry Tempest Williams BS’79 MS’84