- Debo Adegbile '91: WilmerHale, partner, and Commissioner for United States Civil Rights Commission. Served as senior counsel for the Senate Judiciary, spent more than a decade working for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
- Nina Elgo '84: Connecticut's first Asian-Pacific American Superior Court judge appointed to the Connecticut Superior Court
- Dorcas Hardy '68: Appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration in 1986 and served until 1989
- Bruce Hoffman '76: Specialist in the study of terrorism and counterterrorism, insurgency and counter-insurgency. Director of the Center for Security Studies, Director of the Security Studies Program, and a tenured professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Washington, D.C.
- Jordan Kaplan '00: Finance director for Obama for America
- Drew Ketterer '71: Attorney general, Maine, 1995-2001. While in office, he made civil rights enforcement a priority of his office as well as fighting fraud and elder abuse.
- Harvey Moseley '72: Senior astrophysicist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
- Suzi Oppenheimer '56: Retired New York state senator
- Susan Thomases '65: Attorney, served as personal counsel and an informal adviser to Hillary Clinton during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
- Patricia Wald '48: Former Federal Judge; 2013 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the most respected appellate judges of her generation, first woman appointed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and served as Chief Judge from 1986-1991. She later served on the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.
Connecticut College alumni have excelled in fields from medicine to the media. Below is a sample of Conn's notable alumni by industry.
- Michael Collier '76: Poet, director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at Middlebury College, former poet laureate of Maryland
- Sloane Crosley '00: Author of the New York Times bestsellers "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" (a Thurber Prize finalist) and "How Did You Get This Number." "The Clasp" is her first novel. A frequent contributor to The New York Times.
- David Grann '89: Author, "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon,” staff writer at The New Yorker
- Joshua Green '94: Senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek; weekly columnist for The Boston Globe
- Amy Gross '63: Former editor in chief, O, The Oprah Magazine
- Jazmine Hughes '12: Associate digital editor, The New York Times Magazine; 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list; co-creator, Writers of Color; Conn honorary degree
- Jay Lauf '86 Co-president and publisher, Quartz, a global business news brand (qz.com) from Atlantic Media; former publisher of Wired magazine
- Christof Putzel '01: Award-winning journalist, director and producer, co-created VANGUARD, an investigative documentary series on Current TV; his work has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, Good Morning America, FOX News, CNN, CBC and the Sundance Channel.
- Luanne Rice '77: New York Times bestselling author of 32 novels translated into 24 languages; new novel "The Secret Language of Sisters," is her first young-adult book, out from Scholastic.
- A.B. Stoddard '89: Associate editor and columnist for The Hill newspaper, appears regularly on Fox’s Special Report with Bret Baeier, as well as MSNBC, CNN and BBC for her expertise as a political commentator.
- Anita DeFrantz '74: Olympic medalist, rowing; former vice president of the International Olympic Committee
- David Gross '88: Commissioner of Major League Lacrosse
- Jeff Idelson '86: Co-founder Grassroots Baseball; Former President, Baseball Hall of Fame
- Adam Rogowin '03: Vice President of Communications for the Chicago Blackhawks
- Tim Young '92: Olympic medalist, sculling
- Lynn Cooley ’76: Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, C.N.H. Long Professor of Genetics and Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale School of Medicine
- Susan Froshauer '74: President and CEO, Connecticut United for Research Excellence, co-founder, former president and CEO of Rib-X Pharmaceuticals
- Mary Lake Polan '65: Clinical Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale Fertility Center; served as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine
- Ellen R. Vitetta '64: Director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Tim Armstrong '93: Former CEO Oath and AOL
- Robert Hale '88: Granite Communications, president
- Susan Kronick '73: Operating Partner, Marvin Traub Associates
- Peter Som '93: Award-winning fashion designer and creative director. Founder of eponymous clothing line that has been featured in Vogue, W, Elle and worn by such luminaries as Michelle Obama, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Poehler and Beyonce.
- Sally Susman '84: Pfizer Inc., executive vice president, corporate affairs
- Ted Chapin '72: President and executive director, Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
- Charles Chun '90: Television and film actor
- Karen Church '90: Vice President, Talent and Casting, CBS Television
- David Dorfman '81: Dancer, professor of dance at Connecticut College, artistic director of David Dorfman Dance
- Lee Eisenberg '99: Producer and writer, known for Bad Teacher (2011), The Office (2005) and Year One (2009)
- Sean Fine '96: Oscar, Emmy and Peabody award winning filmmaker (War/Dance, Inocente)
- Chris Gifford '81: Executive producer at Nickelodeon, co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning children’s series "Dora the Explorer"
- Vance Gilbert '79: Folk singer and songwriter
- Judy Irving '68: Sundance-and-Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker
- Andre Lee '93: Filmmaker and producer
- Leland Orser '82: Actor and director known for Taken (2008), Taken 2 (2012) and Se7en (1995)
- Estelle Parsons '49: Academy Award-winning actor
- Jessie Vogelson '96: Film and television producer (No End in Sight)
- Kevin Wade '76, P'19 Executive producer for CBS drama Blue Bloods, screenwriter (Working Girl, Meet Joe Black)
- Kim Williams '90: Warner Bros. Entertainment executive VP and CFO; former CORE Media Group CFO; former NFL Network COO; former NBC West Coast senior VP, CFO
- Ipek Bakir '12: Researcher and product development specialist, Overdeck Family Foundation Innovative Schools; consultant; 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list
- Edward Burger '85: President of Southwestern University and an award-winning math professor
- David Foster '77: Ecologist and director of the Harvard Forest
- Agnes Gund '60: Philanthropist, art patron and collector, president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art
- David Haussler '75: University of California - Santa Cruz, director of the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, collaborator on the international Human Genome Project
- Linda Lear '62: Author, environmentalist
- Laurie Norton Moffat '78: Director/CEO, Norman Rockwell Museum
- Beatrice Biira '08: Community Engagement Coordinator at Heifer International; subject of Beatrice’s Goat, a well-known children’s book
- LaShawn R. Jefferson '88: Program Officer, Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice, Ford Foundation; former executive director of Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch
- Marion Rockefeller Weber '60: Philanthropist and initiator of the Flow Fund Circle
