24 notable alumni U.S. News #85

Notable Alumni of Allegheny College

Notable alumni of Allegheny College include William McKinley (25th President of the United States), Clarence Darrow (Lawyer known for the Scopes trial defense) and Trent Reznor (Founder of Nine Inch Nails, musician).

College data and admissions

Alumni list

Politics and law

William McKinley 1843–1901

25th President of the United States

Also attended: Albany Law School, University of Mount Union
Clarence Darrow 1857–1938

Lawyer known for the Scopes trial defense

Also attended: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
R. Budd Dwyer 1939–1987

70th Treasurer of Pennsylvania
William B. Allison 1829–1908

US Senator from Iowa
Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere 1932–2022

Ugandan politician and Democratic Party leader

Also attended: Syracuse University
Salome Samadashvili 1976–

Georgian politician and former diplomat
Raymond P. Shafer 1917–2006

39th Governor of Pennsylvania

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1938

Also attended: Yale University

Business

Henry David Cooke 1825–1881

Financier and journalist, brother of Jay Cooke

Also attended: Transylvania University
Marco Arment 1982–

Creator of Instapaper and Overcast, former Tumblr CTO
Afua Osei

Entrepreneur, co-founder of She Leads Africa

Also attended: University of Chicago

Science and academia

Susan Kieffer 1942–

Geologist and planetary scientist

Bachelor of Science · Mathematics, Physics · Class of 1964

Also attended: California Institute of Technology
Paul Siple 1908–1968

Antarctic explorer and geographer
John Aldrich 1947–

Political scientist of American politics and elections

Bachelor of Arts · Political science · Class of 1969

Also attended: University of Rochester

Arts and media

Trent Reznor 1965–

Founder of Nine Inch Nails, musician
Ida Tarbell 1857–1944

Investigative journalism pioneer and muckraker

Attended until 1880
Ben Burtt 1948–

Sound designer, film director and voice actor

Also attended: University of Southern California
Brad Will 1970–2006

Activist, videographer and journalist with Indymedia

Also attended: Naropa University
Tom Villard 1953–1994

Actor in sitcom We Got It Made
Melanie Tem 1949–2015

Horror and dark fantasy author

Also attended: University of Denver

Spouse: Steve Rasnic Tem (Colorado State University-Fort Collins, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
Michele Pawk 1961–

Actress and singer

Also attended: University of Cincinnati-Main Campus
Barbara Robinson 1927–2013

Author of children's books
Jean Merrill 1923–2012

Children's writer, author of The Pushcart War

Bachelor's degree

Also attended: Wellesley College

Sports

Glenn Beckert 1940–2020

Former MLB second baseman for the Chicago Cubs

Other fields

Alex Steffen 1968–

Futurist and sustainability advocate

From Wikidata “educated at” records (including people who attended without graduating), ordered by the number of Wikipedia language editions. Degrees and years follow Wikidata and are left out where it has none.