This is a list of notable current and former faculty members, alumni (graduating and non-graduating) of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Unless otherwise noted, attendees listed graduated with a bachelor's degree. Names with an asterisk (*) graduated from Peabody College prior to its merger with Vanderbilt.

Notable alumni

Academia

Presidents and chancellors Bob Agee (Ph.D.) – 13th president of Oklahoma Baptist University Will W. Alexander (B.Th. 1912) – founding president of Dillard University Niels-Erik Andreasen (Ph.D. 1971) – 5th president of Andrews University Roslyn Clark Artis (Ed.D. 2010) – 14th president of Benedict College Robert G. Bottoms (Ph.D. 1972) – 18th president of DePauw University William Leroy Broun – 4th president of Auburn University Robert Bruininks (M.A. 1965, Ph.D. 1968) – 15th president of the University of Minnesota Doak S. Campbell* (M.A. 1928, Ph.D. 1930) – 1st president of Florida State University Agenia Walker Clark (Ed.D) – 18th president of Fisk University Shirley Collado (B.A. 1994) – 9th president of Ithaca College James C. Conwell (Ph.D. 1989) – 15th president of Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology Dennis Hargrove Cooke* (Ph.D. 1930) – 4th president of East Carolina University Donald Cowan (Ph.D. 1951) – 3rd president of the University of Dallas Jesse Lee Cuninggim – 1st president of Scarritt College Merrimon Cuninggim (B.A. 1931) – 15th president of Salem College Herman Lee Donovan* (Ph.D. 1928) – 4th president of the University of Kentucky Maurice Edington (Ph.D. 1997) – 10th president of the University of the District of Columbia Ellen Granberg (Ph.D 2001) – 19th president of George Washington University Sheldon Hackney (B.A. 1955) – 6th president of the University of Pennsylvania; chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities Thomas K. Hearn (Ph.D. 1965) – 12th president of Wake Forest University E. Bruce Heilman (B.S. 1951, M.A. 1952) – 5th chancellor of the University of Richmond Alfred Hume (Ph.D. 1887) – 10th chancellor of the University of Mississippi Z. T. Johnson* (Ph.D. 1929) – 8th president of Asbury University David C. Joyce (Ed.D. 1995) – 13th president of Brevard College Robert L. King (J.D. 1971) – 7th chancellor of the State University of New York Bradford Knapp (B.A. 1892) – 8th president of Auburn University John Lowden Knight (M.A.) – 10th president of Nebraska Wesleyan University, 4th president of Baldwin-Wallace College Michael K. Le Roy (Ph.D. 1994) – 10th president of Calvin University J. Bernard Machen (B.A. 1966) – 16th president of University of Utah, 11th president of University of Florida The Rev. Edward Malloy (Ph.D. 1975) – 16th president of the University of Notre Dame Howard Justus McGinnis* (Ph.D. 1927) – 3rd president of East Carolina University Candice McQueen (M.Ed 1998) – 18th president of Lipscomb University Edward C. Merrill Jr. (Ph.D. 1954)* – 4th president of Gallaudet University Scott D. Miller (Ed.D. 1988) – 4th president of Virginia Wesleyan University Charles N. Millican* (M.A. 1946) – founding president of the University of Central Florida Fred Tom Mitchell* (M.A. 1927) – 10th president of Mississippi State University Niel Nielson (M.A., Ph.D.) – 5th president of Covenant College Maryly Van Leer Peck (B.E. 1951) – 2nd president of Polk State College J. Matthew Pinson (Ed.D.) – 5th president of Welch College Griffith Thompson Pugh Sr. (Ph.D. 1905) – former president of Columbia College Edwin Richardson (B.S. 1900)* – 9th president of Louisiana Tech University Kevin M. Ross (Ph.D. 2006) – 5th president of Lynn University Lee Royce (B.A, 1973, M.B.A, 1976, Ed.D., 1993) – 19th president of Mississippi College Rubel Shelly (M.A., Ph.D.) – 8th president of Rochester College (now Rochester Christian University) Heather A. Smith – 8th president of College of Saint Mary Henry N. Snyder (B.A. 1887) – 4th president of Wofford College Osama Tayyib (Ph.D. 1981) – 8th president of King Abdulaziz University John J. Tigert (B.A. 1904) – Rhodes Scholar, 3rd president of University of Florida, 7th U.S. Commissioner of Education William Troutt (Ph.D. 1978) – 19th president of Rhodes College Richard L. Wallace (Ph.D. 1965) – 20th president of the University of Missouri Toshimasa Yasukata (Ph.D. 1985) – president of Hokkai Gakuen University M. Norvel Young (M.A., Ph.D. 1937) – 3rd president of Pepperdine University James Fulton Zimmerman (B.A., M.A.) – 7th president of the University of New Mexico

Professors and scholars Ali Abdullah Al-Daffa (Ph.D. 1972) – Saudi mathematician; scholar at King Fahd University, King Saud University, Harvard University; founding fellow, Islamic Academy of Sciences Erik K. Alexander – professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School; co-chairman, International Guidelines on Thyroid Disease & Pregnancy Robert Arrington (B.A. 1960) – philosopher, Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Oxford Fellow John Arthur (Ph.D. 1973) – philosopher, professor at Binghamton University, Harvard University, fellow at the University of Oxford Marial Awou (M.A. 1992) – South Sudanese economist and academician; vice chancellor, Upper Nile University; dean, School of Social and Economic Studies, University of Juba Martha Bailey (Ph.D. 2005) – professor of economics at UCLA, executive board of the American Economic Association Jeff Balser (M.D./Ph.D. 1990) – president and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of MedicineMessage from Chancellor Zeppos on finalization of VU-VUMC transition, Vanderbilt News Faisal Basri (M.A. 1988) – Indonesian economist specializing in political economics Barbara Belford (B.A. 1957) – professor emeritus at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Randolph Blake (Ph.D. 1972) – Centennial Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt, former faculty at Northwestern University and Seoul National University, National Academy of Sciences Dan Blazer (B.A. 1965) – J.P. Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry emeritus at Duke University School of Medicine Cleanth Brooks (B.A. 1928) – literary critic and professor of English at Yale University L. Carl Brown (B.A. 1950) – emeritus professor of history at Princeton University, Guggenheim Fellow Markus Brunnermeier (M.A. 1994) – economist, Edwards S. Sanford professorship at Princeton University, Guggenheim Fellow Anthea Butler (M.A., Ph.D. 2001) – Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania Sheryll Cashin (B.E. 1984) – law scholar, political adviser, professor at Georgetown University Law Center Kathleen R. Cho (M.D. 1984) – professor of pathology and internal medicine at Michigan Medicine, National Academy of Medicine Ellen Cohn (M.S. 1975) – associate dean and professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Ed Connor (M.S. 1982) – key figure in the neuroscience of object synthesis in higher-level visual cortex, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University Herman Daly (Ph.D.) – ecological and Georgist economist, developed the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, Right Livelihood Award winner John Emmeus Davis (B.A. 1971) – scholar who has advanced the understanding of community land trusts, taught at Tufts University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Tania Douglas (M.S. 1995) – professor of biomedical engineering, Research Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Innovation at the University of Cape Town, Quartz Africa Innovators (2018) Larry Druffel (Ph.D. 1975) – director emeritusSEI Celebrates 20 Years of Software Engineering Excellence and visiting scientist at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University, Fellow of the IEEE William Yandell Elliott (B.A. 1917, M.A. 1920) – Rhodes Scholar, professor of history at University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University Sarah K. England (postdoc) – Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Washington University School of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation fellow George T. Flom (M.A. 1894) – professor of linguistics and author of numerous reference books, knighted by 1 Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav (1939) T. Kenneth Fowler (B.A. 1953, M.A. 1955) – physicist in plasma physics and magnetic nuclear fusion; former chair of nuclear engineering, University of California, Berkeleyhttps://nuc.berkeley.edu/people/ken-fowler/ Kenneth Galloway (B.A. 1962) – engineer, distinguished professor of engineering, dean of the school of engineering, emeritus, Vanderbilt University John Gaventa, (B.A. 1971) – sociologist, Rhodes Scholar, MacArthur Fellow (1981), Officer of the Order of the British Empire Cullen B. Gosnell (M.A. 1920), founder and former chair of the department of political science at Emory University Antonio Gotto (B.A. 1957, M.D. 1965) – dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, Rhodes Scholar Edward C. Green – medical anthropologist, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, senior research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Roger Groot (B.A. 1963) – Class of 1975 Alumni Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, expert in criminal law and the death penalty F. Peter Guengerich (Ph.D. 1973) – Tadashi Inagami Chair in Biochemistry at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Herbert Gursky (M.S. 1953) – superintendent, NRL's Space Science Div., chief scientist, Hulburt Center for Space Research, professor of physics and astronomy at Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia University J. Alex Haller (B.A. 1947) – first Robert Garrett Professor of Pediatric Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, co-creator and namesake of the Haller index Helen Hardacre (B.A. 1971, M.A. 1972) – Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society, Harvard University; Guggenheim Fellow; Order of the Rising Sun, Japan (2018) Louis R. Harlan (M.S. 1948) – academic historian, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or AutobiographyGrimes, William. "Louis R. Harlan, Historian of Booker T. Washington, Dies at 87". The New York Times. January 29, 2010.Schudel, Matt. "Louis R. Harlan, 87, Pulitzer-winning U-Md. historian was authority on U.S. race relations". The Washington Post. January 29, 2010. With photograph. David Edwin Harrell (Ph.D. 1962) – historian at Auburn University, emeritus professor and Breeden Eminent Scholar of Southern History John Heil (Ph.D.) – professor of philosophy in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Guggenheim Fellow (2018) Alfred O. Hero Jr. (M.A. 1950) – political scientist; editor, International Organization; visiting professor, University of Toronto; visiting scholar, Harvard University Republished by The Detroit News, The Ann Arbor News, The Times-Picayune, and The Boston Globe Cindy Hmelo-Silver (Ph.D. 1994) – Distinguished Professor, Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology, associate dean, Indiana University Bloomington Dorothy M. Horstmann (med. resident) – epidemiologist and virologist whose research helped set the stage for the polio vaccine, first female professor of the Yale School of Medicine Kung Hsiang-fu (Ph.D. 1969) – Chinese geneticist and oncologist, former director of the University of Hong Kong's Institute of Molecular Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences G. Scott Hubbard (B.S. 1970) – former director of NASA's Ames Research Center, chairman, SpaceX Safety Advisory Panel,SpaceX, Aiming At Carrying NASA Crews, Names Safety Panel, SocCalTech.com website, March 29, 2012. adjunct professor Stanford University Paul Hudak (B.S. 1973) – professor and chair of computer science department, Yale University, best known for involvement in the design of the programming language Haskell