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This is a list of notable alumni and faculty of the University of California, Riverside.
Notable alumni
Nobel laureates
- Richard R. Schrock – Chemistry, 2005, professor at University of California, Riverside
Academia, science, and technology
- Peter Adriaens – professor of engineering and entrepreneurship at the [selling Biology textbook
- Mason Gaffney – professor of economics and prominent Georgist
- Harmohinder Singh Gill – plant pathologist who pioneered fungus classification by disc electrophoresis
- Lynn G. Gref – technologist and systems engineer
- Matthew Haughey – blogger and founder of MetaFilter
- Anthea M. Hartig – director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History (2019 - present)
- Marigold Linton – director of American Indian outreach at the University of Kansas
- Todd D. Little - professor of Educational Psychology, Texas Tech University
- Gary North – economist and author
- Arthur Riggs – director of the Beckman Research Institute and former geneticist with Genentech and father of modern biotechnology
- Pedram Salimpour – physician-scientist, author, and professor
- Bettie Steinberg – microbiologist, Chief Scientific Officer for The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
- Peter Steinberger – Dean of the Faculty at Reed College, Robert H. and Blanche Day Ellis Professor of Political Science and Humanities
- Tim White – professor of integrative biology and research, paleoanthropologist
- Jennifer Wilby – director of the Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull
- Charles E. Young – first UCR student body president and former chancellor at the University of California, Los Angeles
Arts, film, and literature
- Mark Andrus – Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, As Good as it Gets
- Earl W. Bascom – inventor, actor, rodeo cowboy, Hall of Fame inductee, international artist and sculptor
- Frank Bidart – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
- Amine Bouhafa – Tunisian composer and engineer, winner of the 2015 César Award for Best Music for the movie Timbuktu
- Steve Breen – 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
- Joanna Cameron - actress and model The Secrets of Isis
- Jamie Chung – actress, TV series The Real World: San Diego and films, such as I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Sorority Row, Grown Ups, The Hangover II
- Billy Collins – eleventh US Poet Laureate
- Katherine Fugate – screenwriter Valentine's Day and creator of Army Wives TV series
- Elizabeth George – mystery writer
- Barbara Hambly – novelist and screenwriter
- Howard Hendrix – novelist
- Ryan Holiday – author of Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator; director of marketing for American Apparel
- Lisa Kekaula – lead singer for The Bellrays
- Patricia Ja Lee – actress known for role as Cassie Chan as the Pink Ranger in the television series Power Rangers: Turbo and Power Rangers in Space
- Nakul Dev Mahajan – choreographer
- Daryl F. Mallett – author, editor, publisher
- Fatima Farheen Mirza – novelist, A Place for Us
- Steve Nguyen – film director, producer
- Ruben Quesada – poet
- Lindsay Ridgeway – actress, Boy Meets World
- Charlyne Yi – actress, comedian, and performance artist ( Knocked Up)
- Philip Michael Thomas – actor, Miami Vice
Athletics
- Matt Andriese – Major League pitcher for the Seattle Mariners
- Michael Basinger – former professional football player for the Green Bay Packers
- Jennifer Bermingham – golfer
- Pat Hill – head football coach of Fresno State
- Butch Johnson – former professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos
- Joe Kelly – Major League pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers
- Aaron Long – professional MLS soccer player for the New York Red Bulls
- John Lowenstein – former Major League Baseball player
- Steve Lubratich – former Major League Baseball player and current Cleveland Indians Special Assistant to the GM
- AnnMaria De Mars – 1984 Judo World Champion, mother of Ronda Rousey
- Brenda Martinez – track and field athlete
- Gary McCord – professional golfer, CBS announcer and analyst and won the DII individual golf championship in 1970
- Troy Percival – all-time saves leader for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- Dan Runzler – Major League pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
- Marc Rzepczynski – Major League pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks
- Michael Salazar – professional MLS soccer player
- Eric Show – former professional baseball player for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics
- Chris Smith – Major League pitcher for the Oakland Athletics
- Erasmo Solorzano – professional MLS soccer player for the Chivas USA acquired in the 2007 draft
- Brendan Steele – professional golfer on the PGA Tour
Business
- Gary North – economist
- Shelli Taylor – CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (2020 - present)
Politics and law
- Ruben Barrales – deputy assistant to President Bush and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House, former San Mateo County supervisor
- Sabrina Cervantes – current California State Assemblywoman for the 60th District
- Paul Cook – former U.S. Member of Congress for the CA-08 district, current Supervisor for San Bernardino County
- David S. Cunningham, Jr. – Los Angeles City Council member, 1973–87
- Patricia Lock Dawson – Mayor of Riverside, 2020 - present
- Julie Furuta-Toy – current U.S. Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea
- Eduardo Garcia – current California State Assemblyman for the 56th District
- Sherilyn Peace Garnett – United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of California (2022 - present)
- Michael Huerta – former Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
- Jerold Krieger – Judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court (1988-2002)
- Lloyd Levine – former California State Assemblyman for the 40th District
- Jose Medina – current California State Assemblyman for the 61st District
- Holly J. Mitchell – current California State Senator for the 30th and 26th (2013–2014) District, former California State Assemblymember to the 54th and 47th (2010–2012) Districts
- Ronald Neumann – former U.S. Ambassador to Algeria
- Rod Pacheco – former Riverside County District Attorney, California Assembly member
- Virginia A. Phillips – senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
- Anthony Rendon – Speaker of the California State Assembly (2016-2023)
- Gloria Romero – former State Senate Majority Whip, former California Assembly member, 49th District
- Stefanie Schaeffer – defense attorney, 2006 winner of The Apprentice
- Marc Steinorth – current California State Assemblyman for the 40th District
- Mark Takano – current U.S. House of Representative for the 41st District
Other
- Jeff Cooper – creator of the modern technique of shooting; firearms expert who defined the modern scout rifle
- John Mack Faragher - Historian
- James Holmes – gunman in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting; currently serving a life sentence for murder
- Shruti Kapoor – economist, women's right's activist, and social entrepreneur
- Anil Raj – humanitarian activist killed in 2019 in a terrorist attack in Kabul while working for U.N.
Notable faculty
- Chris Abani – professor of creative writing and recipient of the Pen Center Freedom to Write Award, Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
- Reza Aslan – Professor of Creative Writing, writer, producer, critic, religion scholar, television celebrity James Joyce Award
- John Baez – professor of mathematics, mathematical physicist
- Alexander A. Balandin – professor of electrical engineering
- Lindon W. Barrett – professor and cultural theorist
- Bir Bhanu – Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering, director of the Center for Research in Intelligent Systems
- Alfred M. Boyce – first dean of the College of Agriculture
- Patricia Cardoso – Award-winning filmmaker, Professor of Film
- Christopher Chase-Dunn – sociologist, contributor to world-systems theory
- Sean Cutler – plant scientist noted for discovery of pyrabactin
- Mike Davis – Emeritus Professor, urban theorist and author MacArthur Fellow in 1998. He won the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction
- James H. Dieterich – Distinguished Professor of Geophysics, member of the National Academy of Sciences
- Kim Yi Dionne – political scientist
- Josh Emmons – American novelist
- Steve Erickson – Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, American author, essayist, critic Lannan Literary Award Guggenheim
- John Martin Fischer – professor of philosophy, Vice-President of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, primary proponent of semi-compatibilism
- Katie Ford – American Poet
- Theodore Garland, Jr. – a founder of the field of evolutionary physiology
- Gail Hanson – Distinguished Professor of Physics
- Allison Adelle Hedge Coke – Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, poet, writer, editor, China's First Jade Nurtured SiHui Female International Poetry Award, a Witter Bynner Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholar, American Book Award,
- Juan Felipe Herrera – Emeritus Professor, poet, Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair, National Book Critics Circle Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, PEN USA Poetry Award, American Book Award, California State Poet Laureate, United States Poet Laureate
- Ivan Hinderaker – former chancellor
- Nalo Hopkinson – Professor of Creative Writing, science fiction and fantasy writer Andre Norton Award and British Fantasy Award
- Theodore L. Hullar – former chancellor
- Laila Lalami – professor, Pulitzer Prize finalist
- Perry Link – Chancellorial Chair, professor of China Studies
- Ronald O. Loveridge – Mayor of Riverside, California
- Tom Lutz – Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, author, literary critic, founder and editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books
- Robert Nisbet – conservative sociologist and early Dean of Letters and Science at UCR
- John W. Olmsted – first chairman of the Humanities division
- Raymond L. Orbach – former chancellor and first Under Secretary of Energy for Science
- Michelle H. Raheja – Associate Professor of English, autobiography, visual culture, and film critic, Director of California Center for Native Nations, Fulbright Scholar awarded the first annual Emory Elliott Book Award
- David Reznick - Distinguished Professor of Biology, Evolutionary Biologist
- Robert Rosenthal – professor of psychology, former chair of Harvard's psychology department
- Irwin Sherman – professor of biology, specializing in malariology
- George Edgar Slusser – professor of comparative literature, science fiction expert
- Andrea Smith – Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Cultural Studies, Nobel Peace Prize nominee
- Jane Smiley – Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, writer, Pulitzer Prize winning author
- Harry Scott Smith – entomologist
- Susan Straight – Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, writer, National Book Award finalist Lannan Literary Award
- Karl Taube – professor of anthropology, specializing in research into pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures
- Bob Toledo – former UCR football coach, 13th head coach of UCLA
- John V. Tunney – professor of business law, former United States Senator and member of Congress
- Jonathan H. Turner – sociologist, one of the last remaining grand theorists in the discipline, author of Structure of Sociological Theory and Emergence of Sociological Theory
- Seymour Van Gundy – former dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
- Georgia Warnke – Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Ideas and Society
