List of Union College alumni

This list of Union College alumni includes graduates of Union College in Schenectady, New York, United States who have achieved some notability or influence in the public or private spheres. Such a list is necessarily selective, and perforce subjective. Union offers a standard liberal arts curriculum across some 21 academic departments, as well as opportunities for interdepartmental majors and self-designed organizing theme majors. In common with only a few other liberal arts colleges, Union also offers ABET-accredited undergraduate degrees in computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. Approximately 25% of students major in the social sciences; 9% in history; 10% in psychology; 11% in engineering; 10% in biology; 10% in the liberal arts; while some 5% design their own majors. By the time they graduate, about 60% of Union students will have engaged in some form of international study or study abroad.[1]

Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States

William H. Seward, U.S. Secretary of State under Lincoln and Johnson

Since 1797, the year of the first graduation, Union alumni have transferred the knowledge and skills they acquired in the academic world to the larger world beyond Union. Many alumni have distinguished themselves in fields such as law, medicine, ministry, botany, geology, engineering, local, state, and federal government, literature and poetry, photography, military service, education, journalism, and architecture.

Among Union’s 19th-century graduates were important figures in American secondary and post-secondary education. These included Gideon Hawley[2] (1809), the first superintendent of public instruction in New York State; Francis Wayland[3] (1813), president of Brown University; Henry Philip Tappan[4] (1825), president of the University of Michigan; and Sheldon Jackson[5] (1855), who was the first superintendent of public instruction in Alaska and introduced the idea of domesticating reindeer as a food source for the native population.

Union has produced many graduates who had (and continue to have) distinguished careers in government and public service. These include John C. Spencer[6] (1806), Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury; William H. Seward[7] (1820), Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln, Governor of New York, and architect of the Alaska Purchase; Chester A. Arthur[8] (1848), 21st President of the United States; and Neil Abercrombie (1959), former Governor of Hawaii.

In 1845 Union established a course in civil engineering. Many of the graduates in this course went on to work on significant construction projects. In fact, it has been claimed that, for a time, the “designers and builders of the country’s canals and railroads were overwhelmingly graduates of the military academy at West Point, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Union College...”.[9] Among these early engineering graduates were James Chatham Duane, who was head of the Army Corps of Engineers[10] (1844) and Jacob Hays Linville[11] (1848). Solomon Deyo (1870) was the engineer in charge of constructing the first New York City subway system.[12]

A number of alumni have made meaningful contributions to arts and letters: Joel T. Headley[13] (1839), author of numerous books about the Adirondack Mountains and early American history; William James Stillman[14] (1848), photographer and author; Fitz Hugh Ludlow[15] (1856), author of The Hasheesh Eater; Andrea Barrett (1974), winner of the National Book Award (for Ship Fever) and the Pulitzer Prize for works of fiction; and David Markson (1950), author of titles such as The Ballad of Dingus Magee.

Other notable Union alumni include: Dr. Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1946), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; Henry Wager Halleck[16] (1837), chief of staff for the Union Armies during the Civil War; Howard Simons (1951), managing editor of The Washington Post during the Watergate era; Nikki Stone (1995), winner of a gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics for aerial skiing; Armand V. Feigenbaum (1942), businessman and developer of the concept of Total Quality Management; and Robert "Bob" Moffat (1978), senior executive at IBM arrested in 2009 for securities fraud and conspiracy.