List of University of California, Irvine people

This article lists noted individuals associated with the University of California, Irvine.

Students and alumni

The following are noted alumni and students of the University of California, Irvine, listed by the field(s) they have been noted for. When the information is known and available, degree and year are listed in parentheses.

Art

Michael Asher (B.F.A. 1966) – conceptual artist
Dan Bayles (M.F.A. 2007) – abstract artist
Chris Burden (M.F.A. 1971) – performance artist
Erica Cho (M.F.A) – artist
Garnet Hertz (M.F.A, PhD.) – artist, designer, academic
Tom Jancar (B.A. 1974 and M.F.A. 1976) – contemporary art dealer Jancar Kuhlenschmidt Gallery and Jancar Gallery
Barbara T. Smith (M.F.A. 1971) – performance artist
James Turrell – attended, minimalist artist known for his use of light and space installations
Liat Yossifor (M.F.A. 2002) – painter^[1]

Astronauts

Film, television, and entertainment

Colet Abedi (B.A. English literature) – writer and television producer
Aras Baskauskas (B.A. 2002, philosophy, MBA 2004) – winner on TV reality show Survivor; CEO of TundraWear.com
Jim Berney (B.S. 1989, computer science) – Academy award-nominated technical director, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix^[2]
Nazanin Boniadi (B.S. 2003, biological sciences) – actress, official spokeswoman for Amnesty International
Crista Flanagan (M.F.A. 2001) – actress, Mad Men
Steve Franks (B.A. 1991) – writer and television producer
Leslie Fu (B.S. 2014, biological sciences) – YouTube streamer
Bob Gunton (B.A. 1968) – actor, The Shawshank Redemption, 24, Desperate Housewives; Tony-nominated for Broadway roles in Evita and Sweeney Todd
Tyler Hoechlin (student athlete – baseball) – actor, star of Teen Wolf and Superman & Lois
Xanthe Huynh (attended) – voice actress
Carrie Ann Inaba (attended) – actress/dancer, judge on ABC's Dancing with the Stars
Chris Kelly (B.A. 2005) – comedy writer (Saturday Night Live) and filmmaker (Other People); co-creator of The Other Two
Kelly Lin (attended, Economics and English & Comparative Literature) – Taiwanese actress, nominated for best actress for role in Mad Detective at 2007 Venice Film Festival
Jon Lovitz (B.A. 1979, Theater) – actor and comedian, Saturday Night Live
Andrea Lowell (attended, Biology) – model, Playboy, VH1's The Surreal Life #6
Beth Malone (B.A. 2000, Theater) – Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a musical
Tom Martin (B.A. 1987, Economics & Political Science) – TV writer whose credits include The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live
Joseph McGinty Nichol a.k.a. McG (B.S. 1990, Psychology) – film director (Charlie's Angels, Terminator Salvation), co-creator of TV series The O.C.
Joseph Andrew Mclean (English Literature, Politics, Screenwriting) – Scottish filmmaker, studied at UCI as an exchange student from the University of Glasgow
Jeff Meek (B.A. 1983, Drama) – TV actor, Raven, As the World Turns and Mortal Kombat: Conquest
Windell Middlebrooks (M.F.A. 2004, Drama) – actor, star of Body of Proof
Sepideh Moafi^[3] (M.F.A., 2013) – actress, The Pitt
Grant Nieporte (B.A. 1995, Social Sciences) – film writer, credits include 2008 Will Smith film Seven Pounds
Sophie Oda (B.F.A. 2012, Musical Theater) – guest actress on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Jade Payton (M.F.A., Acting) – actress on Dynasty and Glamorous
Kelly Perine (M.F.A. Acting, 1994) – television actor (Between Brothers, The Parent 'Hood, One on One)
Aurora Snow (attended, Theater Arts, Business) – pornographic actress
Brian Thompson (M.F.A. Acting, 1984) – actor
Phil Tippett (B.A., Fine Arts) – filmmaker, Star Wars, RoboCop and Jurassic Park
Thuy Trang (attended, Civil Engineering) – actress, Trini from Power Rangers
Byron Velvick (B.A. 1987, English) – star of The Bachelor, Season 6
Jonathan Eusebio (B.A. 1995, biological sciences) – film director, actor, stunt coordinator, Love Hurts

Literature

Nevada Barr (M.F.A. 1978) – author of Anna Pigeon mysteries
Michael A. Bellesiles (PhD 1986) – controversial historian and author of Arming America, The Origins of a National Gun Culture
Aimee Bender (M.F.A. 1998) – author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt
David Benioff (M.F.A. 1999) – author of The 25th Hour, husband of actress Amanda Peet, co-creator of HBO's hit television series Game of Thrones
Chelsea Cain (B.A. 1994, Political Science) – fiction writer
Michael Chabon (M.F.A. 1987) – 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning author for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Leonard Chang (M.F.A) – Korean-American writer of short stories and novels
Joshua Ferris (M.F.A.) – author of Then We Came to the End which was nominated for the National Book Award and won the PEN/Hemingway Award
Brian Flemming (B.A. 1998, English) – director and playwright
Richard Ford (M.F.A. 1970) – Pulitzer Prize-winning author in Fiction for Independence Day
Glen David Gold (M.F.A . 1998) – author of Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside
Yusef Komunyakaa (M.F.A. 1980) – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet for Neon Vernacular
T. Jefferson Parker (M.F.A. 1976) – fiction writer; author of Laguna Heat, Little Saigon, and Pacific Heat
Alice Sebold (M.F.A. 1998) – bestselling novelist, author of The Lovely Bones
Danzy Senna (M.F.A. 1996) – writer
Maria Helena Viramontes (M.F.A. 1994) – Chicana fiction writer
Peter Wild (M.F.A. 1969) – poet, historian, and professor of English at the University of Arizona

Music

Kei Akagi – toured as pianist for jazz musician and composer Miles Davis
Joey Burns – frontman of Calexico
Clara Chung (B.A. 2009, Psychology) – guitarist and singer
Gregory Coleman (M.A. 2005, Fine Arts) – classical guitarist, recording artist, composer, arranger, educator
Members of Farside – hardcore punk band
Kaba Modern – Asian-American dance group established in 1992; six alumni dancers appeared on America's Best Dance Crew
Till Kahrs (B.A. 1979, Social Science) – recording artist, singer-songwriter, communication skills expert
Coco Lee (attended) – Chinese pop star
Kevin Kwan Loucks (B.M. 2004, Piano Performance) – international concert pianist; president and co-founder of Chamber Music OC; member of classical music ensemble Trio Céleste
Members of Milo Greene – indie/pop band
Jeffrey Mumford (B.A. 1977) – classical music composer
Aubrey O'Day (B.A. 2005, Political Science) – member of Danity Kane (Making the Band 3 contestant)^[4]
Members of SLANDER – trap DJ duo^[5]^[6]
Savitree Suttichanond (B.A. 2007, International Studies) – Thai singer and actress, Academy Fantasia Season 5
Members of Thrice – hardcore/rock band
Joseph Vincent – YouTube singer/songwriter
Teal Wicks (B.A. 2005, Drama) – singer and stage actress, best known for playing the role of Elphaba in the Broadway production of the musical Wicked
Vanness Wu – Taiwanese singer, actor, director, producer, member of F4

Baseball

Brady Anderson (attended, Economics) – former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder for the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, three-time American League all-star^[7]
Dylan Axelrod (B.A. 2007, Social Ecology) – former MLB pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds^[8]
Christian Bergman – former MLB pitcher for the Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners^[9]
Nathan Church – MLB outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals^[10]
Calvin Faucher – MLB pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins^[11]
Keston Hiura – MLB infielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, and Colorado Rockies^[12]
Christian Koss – MLB infielder for the San Francisco Giants^[13]
Doug Linton – former MLB, Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), and Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) pitcher^[14]
Ben Orloff – former minor league baseball player and current UCI head coach^[15]
Andre Pallante – MLB pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals^[16]
Bryan Petersen – former MLB outfielder for the Florida Marlins^[17]
Taylor Rashi – MLB pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks^[18]
Sean Tracey – former MLB pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox^[19]
Gary Wheelock – former MLB pitcher for the California Angels and Seattle Mariners^[20]

Basketball

Scott Brooks (B.A. 1987) – NBA coach and former player; former head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards, point guard on the 1994 NBA Champion Houston Rockets
Steve Cleveland (B.A. 1976) – former men's head basketball coach at Brigham Young University and Fresno State University
Kevin Magee (1959–2003) – basketball player
Tod Murphy (B.A. 1986) – former NBA player and third-round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1986 NBA draft; former assistant coach for the UCI men's basketball team
Angie Ned (B.A. 2007) – college basketball coach^[21]
Tom Tolbert (transferred) – former NBA player and former color-commentator for ABC Sports

Olympians

Peter Campbell (B.A. 1982) – won two silver medals (1984 and 1988) Olympics (water polo)
Jennifer Chandler – gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics (diving)
Gary Figueroa (B.A. 1980) – silver medalist in the 1984 Olympics (water polo)
Brad Alan Lewis (B.A. 1976) – gold medalist in the 1984 Olympics (rowing), author of Assault on Lake Casitas
Greg Louganis (B.A. 1983) – four-time Olympic gold medalist (diving)
Lovre Miloš (B.A. 2016) – Croatian Olympic water polo team (2020)
Amber Neben (M.S. Biology) – U.S. National Road Race Champion, 2005 & 2006 Tour de l'Aude winner, 2008 World TT Champion, and placed 33rd in the road race at the 2008 Olympics
Mike Powell – world long jump record-holder; two-time Olympic silver medalist (track and field)
Steve Scott (B.A. 1978) – American record holder for the indoor mile (3:58.7); world record holder for the most sub-four-minute miles (136)

Soccer

Carlos Aguilar – forward for the Rochester Rhinos of USL Professional Division
Cameron Dunn – defender for the Los Angeles Blues of the USL Professional Division
Brad Evans – midfielder for Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer and the United States men's national soccer team
Irving Garcia – forward for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer
Anthony Hamilton (B.A. 2010, Literary Journalism) – forward for the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Professional Division
Miguel Ibarra – midfielder for Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer
Cameron Iwasa – forward for Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer
Cami Privett (Sociology) – former NWSL soccer player for the Houston Dash
Kenny Schoeni (B.A. 2006) – former goalkeeper for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer

Other athletics

David Baker (B.A. 1975) – commissioner of the Arena Football League, 1996–present
Carl Cheffers – National Football League official; head referee for Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LV^[22]
Shane del Rosario (B.A. Psychology) – professional mixed martial artist^[23]
Darren Fells (B.A. Sociology) – tight end for the Houston Texans; played basketball at UCI and professionally in Europe and Latin America
Jillian Kraus (born 1986; MBA) – water polo player
Joe Lacob (B.S. Biological Sciences) – owner of NBA's Golden State Warriors^[24]
Richard Lubner (born 1967) – South African-born tennis player

Business

Arnnon Geshuri – corporate human relations executive^[25]
Wright Massey (M.B.A. 1992) – CEO of Brand Architecture, Inc.
Betsy McLaughlin (B.A.) – CEO of Hot Topic, Inc.
Vince Steckler (B.A.) – CEO of Avast Software

Military

Fred Chasan (M.D. 1962) – U.S. Army WWII medic, U.S. Navy medical officer, owner of the Chasan Villa
John P. Condon (Ph.D. 1976) – U.S. Marine Corps major general and aviator
Leon J. LaPorte (M.B.A. 1977) – retired United States Army general who served as commander, United States Forces Korea until 2006
Laura Yeager – U.S. Army general; first woman to command an Army infantry division

Miscellaneous

Generosa Ammon (B.A. 1981) – widow of Ted Ammon
Khaldoun Baghdadi (B.A.) – Palestinian-American attorney
David J.R. Frakt (B.A. 1990, History) – lawyer, law professor, noted for his appointment to defend Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad
Erin Gruwell (B.A. 1991) – high school teacher whose real-life story inspired the movie Freedom Writers
Michael Ramirez (B.S. 1984) – 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in the Memphis Commercial Appeal; senior editor for Investor's Business Daily
Lisa Marie Scott (attended) – Playboy centerfold, February 1995

Politics and government

Ami Bera (B.S. 1987, Biological Sciences & M.D. 1991) – United States Congressman representing California's 7th Congressional District
Tim Donnelly (B.A. 1989) – California State Assemblyman representing the 59th assembly district^[26]
Jeremy Harris (M.S. Environmental Biology) – former mayor of Honolulu
Mark Keam (B.A. 1988, Political Science) – member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 35th district
Bill Leonard (B.A. 1969, History) – former California state senator
Linda Newell (B.A.) – Colorado state senator representing the 26th District
Janet Nguyen (B.A. 1998, Political Science) – member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, first Vietnamese-American to hold county office in the United States
Geoffrey R. Pyatt (B.A. 1985) – U.S. Ambassador to Greece
Michael A. Rice (PhD 1987, Comparative Psychology) – Rhode Island state representative representing the 35th District
Jose Solorio (B.S. 1992, Social Ecology) – California State Assemblyman, prior Councilmember of Ward 1 – City of Santa Ana
Audra Strickland (B.A. 1996, Political Science) – California State Assemblywoman representing the 37th assembly district
Van Tran (B.A. 1990, Political Science) – California State Assemblyman, first Vietnamese-American state legislator in the United States

Science and technology

Paul Chien (PhD 1971) – biologist known for research on the physiology and ecology of intertidal organisms
Deanna M. Church (PhD 1997) – bioinformatics and genomics researcher
Richard James Cote (B.S. 1976) – pathologist, academic and author
Charles Falco (PhD 1974) – experimental physicist whose research resulted in the Hockney-Falco Thesis
Roy Fielding (PhD 2000) – Internet pioneer, creator of HTTP 1.1, co-founder of Apache Foundation
Efi Foufoula-Georgiou – Prof Env. Engineer on staff
Bart Kosko (PhD 1987) – hybrid intelligent system expert
Lawrence L. Larmore (PhD 1986) – online algorithms researcher, faculty member at UC Riverside and UNLV
James D. McCaffrey (B.A. 1975) – software engineer and author; see combinatorial number system and factorial number system
Paul Mockapetris (PhD 1982, Computer Science) – Internet pioneer, co-inventor of the Domain Name System
Kathie L. Olsen (PhD 1979, Neuroscience) – chief operating officer of the National Science Foundation
Andrew P. Ordon (B.S. 1972) – plastic surgeon, host of The Doctors
Cecilia Richards (PhD 1990) – mechanical engineer, first woman to earn a doctorate in mechanical engineering at the university
Jim Whitehead (PhD 2000) – originator of WebDAV, UCSC professor

Social scientists

Noeline Alcorn – education researcher
Sara Diamond (B.A. 1980) – sociologist
Kevin Nadal (BA, 2000) – professor of Psychology, author, media correspondent

Faculty

Vartkess Ara Apkarian – Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and director of Center for Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit
Francisco J. Ayala – 2001 National Medal of Science, 2010 Templeton Prize, founding director of the Bren Fellows Program, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and of Philosophy
Ricardo Asch – fertility doctor and fugitive, accused of stealing ova from women while a UC Irvine employee
Pierre Baldi – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science and director of the Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics
Lindon W. Barrett – director of African Studies, professor and cultural theorist
Gregory Benford – physicist, science fiction author of the Galactic Center Saga
George W. Brown – Information scientist and dean of the business school
Jan Brueckner – Distinguished Professor of Economics
Ron Carlson – professor of English, MFA Programs in Writing
Leo Chavez – anthropologist and author
Erwin Chemerinsky – founding dean of the UCI School of Law, lawyer, law professor, and United States constitutional law and civil procedure scholar
Robert Cohen – acting teacher and author
Rui de Figueiredo – research professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Mathematics
Jacques Derrida (1986–2004 [his death]) – philosopher
Paul Dourish – Professor of Informatics
Nikil Dutt – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science
David Eppstein – professor of Computer Science
Martha S. Feldman – professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, Johnson Chair for Civic Governance and Public Management
Zachary Fisk – professor of physics and astronomy
Walter M. Fitch – professor of Molecular Evolution
Victor Fleischer – professor of Law
Matthew Foreman – professor of Mathematics^[27]
Michael Franz – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science
Robert Garfias – musicologist, awarded the Order of the Rising Sun
Jean-Luc Gaudiot – professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering^[28]
Amy Gerstler – poet, professor of English, winner of National Book Critics Circle Award
Michael T. Goodrich – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science
Louis A. Gottschalk – neuroscientist, professor emeritus
Nancy Guerra – psychologist and dean of the School of Social Ecology
Jutta Heckhausen – professor of Psychological Science^[29]
William Heidbrink – professor of physics and astronomy
James D. Herbert – professor and chair of the Art History department
Payam Heydari – Chancellor's Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Dan Hirschberg – professor of Computer Science
Donald Hoffman – professor of Cognitive Science
Hamid Jafarkhani – professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Ramesh Jain – Bren Professor of Computer Science
Valerie Jenness – professor of Criminology, Law & Society, Sociology, and Nursing Science
David Kirkby – professor of physics and astronomy
Murray Krieger – literary critic and theorist
Michelle Latiolais – professor of English, MFA Programs in Writing
Elizabeth Loftus – psychologist, Distinguished Professor in the School of Social Ecology
R. Duncan Luce – cognitive psychologist, 2003 National Medal of Science, Distinguished Research Professor of Cognitive Science
Penelope Maddy – Distinguished Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics, famous for her work in philosophy of mathematics
David B. Malament – Distinguished Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science, best known for his work in the philosophy of physics
George Marcus – Chancellor's Professor of Anthropology
Athina Markopoulou – Chancellor's Professor of Engineering
James McGaugh – research professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, founding director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Donald McKayle – choreographer
J. Hillis Miller – literary critic
Bonnie Nardi – professor of Informatics
Peter Navarro – professor of business, incumbent director of the White House National Trade Council
David Neumark – Professor of Economics, expert on labor economics
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o – author of A Grain of Wheat, Distinguished Professor in the School of Humanities and director of the International Center for Writing and Translation
James Nowick – professor of Chemistry
William H. Parker – professor of Physics
Richard E. Pattis – author of the Karel programming language
Elizabeth D. Peña – professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Development & Diversity^[30]
Lyman W. Porter – dean of UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business from 1972 to 1983^[31]
Curt Pringle – mayor of Anaheim, former speaker of the California State Assembly
R. Radhakrishnan – Chancellor's Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Nasrin Rahimieh – Howard Baskerville Professor of Humanities in the Department of Comparative Literature; director of the Humanities Core program^[32]
Frederick Reines (deceased) – Nobel laureate, Physics 1995; faculty from 1966 to 1998
Eric Rignot – professor of Earth System Science
Irwin Rose – Nobel laureate (Chemistry 2004)
F. Sherwood Rowland – Nobel laureate (Chemistry 1995), research professor in Chemistry and Earth System Science
Donald G. Saari – Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Economics
Dr. William Sears – Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, author of the Sears Parenting Library
Patricia Seed – professor of History
Barry Siegel – Pulitzer Prize winner
Brian Skyrms – philosophy of science expert, Distinguished Professor of social science
David A. Snow – Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Etel L. Solingen – Tierney Chair, professor of Political Science, former President of the International Studies Association, 2012–2013, author of award-winning Nuclear Logics^[33]
George Sperling – cognitive psychologist, Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science
Grover C. Stephens (faculty 1964–2003, deceased) – professor and dean of Biological Sciences
Lee Swindlehurst – professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Rein Taagepera (until 1991) – Estonian politician and political scientist
Timothy M. P. Tait – Chancellor's Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Edward O. Thorp – author (Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One), professor of mathematics
Deborah Vandell – founding dean of the School of Education, expert on child care and after-school programs
Frederic Wan – professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics
Martin Wattenberg – political scientist
Douglas R. White – social anthropologist and network sociologist, author of Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems
Daniel Whiteson – American experimental particle physicist and professor of Physics and Astronomy
Kumar Wickramasinghe – Henry Samueli Endowed Chair and inventor of Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy and other microscopy techniques
Jon Wiener – historian
Geoffrey Wolff – co-director of a writing program
Jenny Y Yang – chemist

Administrators

List of chancellors (1962–present)

The follow persons served as chancellor of University of California, Irvine:^[34]

More information No., Portrait ...

No.	Chancellor	Term start	Term end	Refs.
1	Daniel G. Aldrich	January 20, 1962	August 31, 1984	^[35]^[36]
2	Jack W. Peltason	September 1, 1984	September 30, 1992	^[37]^[38]
acting	L. Dennis Smith	October 1, 1992	June 30, 1993	^[39]
3	Laurel L. Wilkening	July 1, 1993	June 30, 1998	^[40]
4	Ralph J. Cicerone	July 1, 1998	June 30, 2005	^[41]
5	Michael V. Drake	July 1, 2005	June 30, 2014	^[42]^[43]
interim	Howard Gillman	July 1, 2014	September 18, 2014	^[44]
6	Howard Gillman	September 18, 2014	present	^[44]

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