Last Updated on October 1, 2026
Quick answer: Boston University notable alumni include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who earned his PhD in systematic theology at BU in 1955, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Helen Magill White, the first American woman to earn a PhD. BU graduates have also led in law, science, medicine, public service, and education.
Founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists, Boston University enrolls over 38,000 students from more than 140 countries.[1] The private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, has 17 schools and colleges offering over 300 programs of study, including the College of Fine Arts, the Questrom School of Business, and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, which have produced notable alumni over the years.
Boston University Notable Alumni: 30 Famous Graduates
Here are 30 esteemed graduates of the university, along with some of their achievements.[2]
1. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. graduated from Boston University in 1955 with a Ph.D. in systematic theology. He was a prominent leader in the civil rights movement, advocating for nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against racial segregation.
2. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (known as AOC) earned a degree in economics and international relations from Boston University in 2011. She is a U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district and the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress when she took office.
3. Helen Magill White
Helen Magill White attended graduate school at Boston University, earning her Ph.D. in Greek in 1877. She was the first American woman to earn a Ph.D. She went on to help establish the Howard Collegiate Institute and later married Cornell University co-founder Andrew White.
4. Alice Stone Blackwell
Alice Stone Blackwell was the daughter of suffragist Lucy Stone and the president of her class at Boston University. She graduated in 1881 with honors and joined the editorial staff of the Woman’s Journal.
5. Louisa Holman Fisk
Louisa Holman Fisk graduated from Boston University in 1883 and went on to work with the WYMCA. She helped fund the Fisk House on campus, which supports women in graduate school who need housing assistance.
6. John Wesley Edward Bowen
John Wesley Edward Bowen was born into slavery in 1855. He was among the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in the U.S., and the first to do so from Boston University in 1887. He would later become a clergyman, denominational official, and university educator.
7. Emma Schofield
Emma Schofield had an illustrious law career after graduating from Boston University in 1906. She served as the Vice President of the National Association of Women Lawyers, the first female Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts, and the Associate Justice of the First District Court.
8. Gleason Archer
Gleason Archer graduated from Boston University in 1904, then from law school in 1906, and went on to build an evening law school that would offer education regardless of economic class, race, or religion – now known as Suffolk University Law School.[3]
9. Priscilla Fairfield Bok
Priscilla Fairfield Bok graduated from Boston University in 1906 and became an American astronomer. She co-authored several academic papers with her husband, covering topics such as star clusters and the structure of the Milky Way galaxy.
10. Waitstill Hastings Sharp
Waitstill Hastings Sharp was a Unitarian minister involved in humanitarian and relief work in Czechoslovakia and Southern Europe during World War II (WWII). He and his wife were named Righteous Among the Nations for their work.[4] He graduated from Boston University in 1924.
11. Harry Broudy
Harry Broudy emigrated to Massachusetts from Poland in 1912. He graduated from Boston University in 1929 and went on to teach philosophy of education and educational philosophy at Adams State Teachers College and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
12. Robert Briggs
Robert Briggs graduated from Boston University in 1952 and was a scientist who worked with Thomas Joseph King to clone a frog, a technique which was integral to cloning Dolly the Sheep, and became the first successful nuclear transplantation performed in metazoans.
13. Peter Anthony Bertocci
Peter Anthony Bertocci graduated from Boston University in 1931, becoming a philosopher and Borden Parker Bowne professor emeritus of philosophy at Boston University, as well as the president of the Metaphysical Society of America.
14. Martin Berezin
Martin Berezin received both undergraduate and medical degrees from Boston University. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in WWII from 1940 to 1946 and later became a pioneer in geriatric psychiatry.
15. Robert A. Bruce
Robert A. Bruce was a cardiologist and professor at the University of Washington who developed the Bruce Protocol, a treadmill exercise test used to evaluate heart function. He graduated from Boston University in 1950.
16. Warren Alpert
Warren Alpert served in military intelligence during WWII and received a Purple Heart. He graduated in 1942 and later launched his own chain of gas stations, Xtra Marts.
17. Fran Perlmutter
Fran Perlmutter graduated from Boston University in 1944 and was recruited as a cryptanalytic aide in the Army’s codebreaking division, the Signal Intelligence Service (SIS).[5] She and her team deciphered tens of thousands of messages and helped end the war.
18. Virginia Burns
Virginia Burns graduated in 1946 and worked to establish programs to support people in the juvenile justice system. She convened the first National Conference on Girls in Crisis. She served as a special assistant in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and in the Kennedy Administration.
19. Eugene Callender
Eugene Callender was an American pastor and activist in the Civil Rights Movement and the first black ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church. He graduated in 1947 and served as deputy administrator of the NYC Housing and Development Administration.
20. F. Bradford Morse
F. Bradford Morse graduated in 1948 and served in WWII in the Army, later serving as a private practice lawyer and law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and professor at Boston University School of Law.
21. Hideo Itabashi
Hideo Itabashi was the son of Japanese immigrants. His high school education was interrupted by his family’s internment during WWII, but he attended Boston University before being drafted at age 19 to serve as a translator in the military. He went on to have a distinguished career in medicine.
22. Nathan Azrin
Nathan Azrin was a behavioral modification researcher, psychologist, and university professor who graduated from Boston University in 1951. He founded several research methodologies, including Token Economics and the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA).
23. Robert Vance Bruce
Robert Vance Bruce graduated in 1953 and went on to become an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. He won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book, The Launching of Modern American Science, and became a professor at Boston University.
24. Constance A. Morella
Constance A. Morella is an American politician and diplomat representing Maryland’s 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 2003. She graduated from Boston University in 1954.
25. William Francis Buckley
William Francis Buckley graduated from Boston University and became a United States Army officer in the Green Berets and a CIA Station chief in Beirut. He was awarded two Purple Hearts for his time as a Prisoner of War, as well as a Distinguished Intelligence Cross, the Silver Star, and others.
26. Chester C. Langway Jr.
Chester C. Langway Jr. was a scientist who specialized in polar caps and climate change. Graduating from Boston University in 1955, he was part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
27. Joshua Smith
Graduating from Boston University in 1955, Joshua Smith was the fourth president of Borough of Manhattan Community College and oversaw the construction of the BMCC campus in downtown Manhattan. An Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the School of Education, he’s cited by Diverse Issues in Higher Education as one of the most influential figures in higher education in the 20th century.[6]
28. Phyllis Brauner
Phyllis Brauner graduated from Boston University in 1959. She is a professor of chemistry at Simmons College and was active in the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, becoming the first woman to preside as chair of this section in 1974.
29. Nelson Butters
Nelson Butters graduated in 1960 and became a clinical neuropsychologist and president of the International Neuropsychology Society. He’s also pioneered research in amnesia with alcoholic Wernicke-Korsakoff’s syndrome, cognitive deficits underlying human amnesia, and Huntington’s disease.
30. John Robinson
Graduating from Boston University in 1961 and law school in 1964, John Robinson served as a Boston University trustee and board secretary. He’s now the president of the Widgeon Point Charitable Foundation and Skerryvore Foundation Inc. These nonprofits provide funding for environmental protection, higher education, human services, religion, and the arts. He was also the senior executive vice president and director of Sperry & Hutchinson Company.
What Boston University Notable Alumni Can Teach You About BU
Look closely at this list and a pattern appears: these graduates came from very different corners of the university. Boston University has 17 schools and colleges and the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, with more than 300 programs of study. [1] Theologians, lawyers, astronomers, physicians, historians, and members of Congress all trace their training back to that range of programs.
If BU is on your list, use its alumni as a starting point for research rather than as a talking point. Here is how to turn what you learned into a better application:
- Find the program behind the name. Note which school or college an alum attended, then explore the courses, research, and activities it offers today.
- Connect BU to your own goals. Admissions readers want to know why BU fits you, so tie specific programs to experiences you already have. Our tips for the Why This College supplemental essay show how.
- Compare BU with similar schools. If you are also considering a nearby campus, our breakdown of Boston College vs Boston University explains how the two differ.
- Build a balanced list. BU belongs on a list that includes reach, target, and likely schools. Our guide on how to make a college list walks you through each step.
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