Here follows a list of notable alumni and faculty of Pitzer College.
Notable alumni Arts and letters Film and television Anne Archer 1969, actress Matthew Berkowitz, filmmaker Matthew Cooke 1996, documentary filmmaker Eric Douglas, actor and stand-up comedian, son of Kirk Douglas, brother of Michael Douglas Shatara Michelle Ford, director, writer and producer Dee Mosbacher, documentary filmmaker, gay rights activist, and psychiatrist
Writing Max Brooks 1994, author and lecturer, son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft Dennis Cooper, novelist, poet, critic, and performance artist John Darnielle 1995, novelist and lead singer of The Mountain Goats Amy Gerstler 1978, poet and winner of the 1991 National Books Critics Circle Award for Bitter Angel Dana Levin 1987, poet Sandra Mitchell 1973, author, professor and philosopher of science Isabel Neal 2012, poet and winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize in 2025 Susan Patron 1969, children's author and winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal for The Higher Power of Lucky Rob Magnuson Smith 1991, author
Journalism David Bloom 1985, anchor, NBC News
Music Tom Freund 1993, singer-songwriter and musician J.Lately 2009, rapper Jonah Matranga 1991, singer-songwriter and musician, former frontman for Far and Gratitude Matt Nathanson 1995, singer-songwriter and musician Michael Simpson 1986, Grammy Award-winning producer/composer; one half of the Dust Brothers
Government and law Michael Ceraso, political consultant and state director for the presidential campaigns of Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders Kevin de León 2003, member of the Los Angeles City Council and former member of the California State Legislature Mablean Ephriam 1971, former prosecutor for the city of Los Angeles, television personality and actress Eli Erlick 2016, transgender activist, director of Trans Student Educational Resources Steven González 1985, chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court Matthew Karatz 1994, deputy mayor of Los Angeles Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Fabian Núñez, former speaker of the California State Assembly Debra Wong Yang 1981, former United States attorney for Central District of California; first female Asian-American U.S. attorney
Business Susan Feniger 1976, celebrity chef and restaurateur John Landgraf 1984, FX Network president Ashwin Navin 1998, CEO of Sambaa
Other Hunter Lovins, co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute Setha Low 1969, anthropologist, director of the Public Space Research Group Charles Martinez, university administrator Sharon Monsky 1975, founder of the Scleroderma Research Foundation Nick Simmons 2011, reality television personality, son of Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed Diana Vicezar 2023, Paraguayan entrepreneur
Notable faculty Halford Fairchild, Psychology and Black Studies Judith Grabiner, Mathematics, history of mathematics and science; awarded the 2014 Beckenback Book Prize for A Historian Looks Back: The Calculus as Algebra and Selected Writings (MAA Spectrum, 2010); inaugural member of the 2012 Fellows of the American Mathematical Society David Moore, Psychology, director of the Claremont Infant Study Center, winner of the American Psychological Association's 2016 Maccoby Book Award for The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics (2015) Gregg Popovich, men's basketball coach 1979–1986, 1987–1988 Dana Ward, emeritus professor of Political Studies, founder of the Anarchy Archives, executive director of the International Society of Political Psychology (1998–2004) Phil Zuckerman, Sociology and Secular Studies, expert in secularity, atheism, apostasy, and Scandinavian culture; author of several books including Living the Secular Life (2014); frequent contributor to the Huffington Post and sought-after commentator for discussions on secularism
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