Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a Big Ten university which has its main campus in Evanston, Illinois, on a 240-acre (970,000 m²) campus along the shore of Lake Michigan. Several of the university's professional schools are located in Chicago, on a 25-acre (101,000 m²) campus near the Magnificent Mile. US News & World Report ranks Northwestern 12th among national doctoral research universities. In addition, the School of Law is consistently ranked in the top ten best by the same publication. Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management consistently ranks as one of the world's best graduate business programs. Though journalism schools are not ranked, Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism is widely regarded as one of the top three journalism schools in the United States. It is always recongnized as Top Ten US college.

Notable alumni

• Saul Bellow, author and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
• Nick Chabraja, chairman and CEO, General Dynamics
• Salem Chalabi, General Director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal
• Cynthia Dobrinski, handbell composer and clinician
• Chester Gould, cartoonist and author of Dick Tracy
• Howard Hanson, composer
• Sheldon Harnick, lyricist (Fiddler on the Roof)
• Michael Isikoff, investigative journalist for Newsweek magazine
• Sherry Lansing, chairman, Paramount Pictures
• Charles H. Mayo, doctor (Mayo Clinic)
• John Meriwether, founder of Long Term Capital Management
• Newton Minow, former director of the Federal Communications Commission
• George Nemhauser, noted Operations Research figure
• Peter G. Peterson, chairman of The Council On Foreign Relations
• Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO, Aon Corporation
• Richard Skrenta, creator of the first computer virus, Elk Cloner.
• Graham Spanier, president, Pennsylvania State University
• Jacques Vallee, computer scientist, astronomer and UFO researcher

Politics

• George Ball, former Undersecretary of State
• Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois
• William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic presidential nominee
• Dick Gephardt, former House Democratic leader
• George McGovern, South Dakota Senator and 1972 Democratic candidate for president
• John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court justice
• Adlai Stevenson, Illinois governor and two-time Democratic presidential nominee
• Harold Washington, first black Chicago mayor

Actors and other celebrities

• Claude Akins, actor (Inherit the Wind, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Sheriff Lobo)
• Warren Beatty, actor (Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, Bugsy)
• Zach Braff, actor, director, screenwriter (Scrubs, Garden State)
• Stephen Colbert, actor, comic (The Daily Show)
• Cindy Crawford, model (never graduated)
• Stephanie D'Abruzzo, actress, puppeteer (Avenue Q)
• Zooey Deschanel, actress (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) (never graduated)
• Ana Gasteyer, actress, comic (Saturday Night Live, Mean Girls, Wicked)
• Marg Helgenberger, actress (')
• Charlton Heston, actor, former president of the National Rifle Association
• Martha Hyer, Oscar nominated actress (Some Came Running)
• Laura Innes, actress (ER)
• Cloris Leachman, actress (The Facts of Life)
• Shelley Long, actress (Cheers, The Money Pit)
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress (Seinfeld)
• Paul Lynde, actor, comic (Hollywood Squares)
• Stephanie March, actress (')
• Garry Marshall, director, producer (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley)
• Ralph Meeker, actor (Kiss Me Deadly, Paths Of Glory)
• Seth Meyers, comic (Saturday Night Live)
• Dermot Mulroney, actor (About Schmidt, My Best Friend's Wedding)
• Lee Phillip Bell 16 time Emmy winning talk show host and soap opera creator (The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful)
• Ann-Margret Olsson (Class of 1963), actress and singer (never graduated)
• Patricia Neal, actress (A Face In The Crowd, Hud)
• Agnes Nixon, four time Emmy winning soap opera writer/producer (All My Children, One Life to Live, Another World, As the World Turns, Loving)
• Jerry Orbach, actor (Law & Order) (never graduated)
• Barry Petersen, CBS News foreign correspondent
• Charlotte Rae, actress (The Facts of Life)
• Tony Randall, actor, (The Odd Couple) (never graduated)
• Jeri Ryan, actress, (Boston Public, ')
• David Schwimmer, actor (Friends)
• Katherine Shindle, Miss America 1998
• Jerry Springer, host of The Jerry Springer Show, former mayor of Cincinnati
• Nicole Sullivan, actress (MAD TV)
• Noah Wyle, actor, (ER)

Sports

• Darnell Autry, football player and actor
• Luke Donald, golfer
• Joe Girardi, baseball player
• Otto Graham, professional football player
• Mike Greenberg, sportscaster, ESPN
• Napoleon Harris, football player
• Mark Loretta, baseball player
• Todd Martin, tennis player
• Brent Musburger, sports announcer, ABC
• Dave Revsine, sportscaster, ESPN
• Michael Wilbon, ESPN analyst (Pardon the Interruption)