This list of St. Olaf Alumni contains links to Wikipedia articles about notable alumni and other people connected to

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint Olaf ...

, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota.

Notable alumni

Composers and conductors

* Kenneth Jennings, class of 1950 *

Dale Warland Dale Warland (born April 14, 1932, Fort Dodge, Iowa) is an American conductor, composer, founder of the Grammy-nominated Dale Warland Singers, scholar, teacher, choral consultant, and renowned champion of contemporary choral composers.Nilanjana Kun ...

, class of 1954 *

David Boe David Stephen Boe (March 11, 1936 – April 28, 2020) was an American organist and head of the organ department of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he taught from 1962 to 2008. He was most notable for his work as a pedagogue, having tr ...

, class of 1958 *

René Clausen René Clausen (born 1953) is an American composer, conductor emeritus of The Concordia Choir, and professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. His works are widely performed by high school and church choirs while his more tec ...

, class of 1974 *

Anton Armstrong Anton Eugene Armstrong (born April 26, 1956) is the conductor of the St. Olaf Choir as well as the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota, in the United States. Armstrong became the fourth di ...

, class of 1978 * Timothy Mahr, class of 1978 *

Bradley Ellingboe Bradley Ellingboe (born April 16, 1958) is an American composer, conductor, and bass-baritone singer. Biography Born in Lakeville, Minnesota, Ellingboe is a 1980 graduate of Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he received a degre ...

, class of 1980 * Craig Hella Johnson, class of 1984 *

Jocelyn Hagen Jocelyn Hagen is an American composer. She composes primarily for voice: solo, chamber and choral, but also has composed for chamber, wind, and orchestral ensembles. She has explored large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, an ...

, class of 2003

Politicians, Statesmen and Judges

Russell A. Anderson Russell A. Anderson (May 28, 1942 – September 15, 2020) was an attorney who served as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He served as an associate justice of the court from September 1, 1998 until he was sworn in as chief justice on ...

, class of 1964, Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court *

August H. Andresen August Herman Andresen (October 11, 1890 – January 14, 1958) was an American lawyer and politician from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. Congress as a Republican for thirty-one years. Background August Herman Andresen was born in Newark, Illino ...

, class of 1912 *

Arnie Arnesen Deborah "Arnie" Arnesen (born October 1, 1953), is an American radio show host and former politician, serving for eight years as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Early life Arnesen was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Nor ...

, class of 1975, fellow of Harvard Institute of Politics and member of

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

David Bly David Bly (born January 8, 1952 in Dubuque, Iowa) is an American politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 20B, which include ...

, class of 1974?, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives * Satveer Chaudhary, class of 1991, former member of the Minnesota State legislature *

Raymond Cox Raymond R. Cox (June 26, 1951 – November 3, 2017) was a Minnesota politician and a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 25B, which includes the communities of Belle Plaine, Minnesota, Belle Plaine, Bridgewate ...

, class of 1974, former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives *

Kim Elton Kim Steven Elton (born April 9, 1948) is a journalist, commercial fisherman, government official and Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Alaska. Elton represented Juneau in the Alaska House of Representatives for two terms, from 1995 to ...

, class of 1968, former member of the

Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gub ...

* Arlen Erdahl, class of 1953, United States Representative from Minnesota *

Joan Ericksen Joan N. Ericksen (born October 11, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Early life and education Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, ...

, class of 1977, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota *

Tom Fiebiger Tom Fiebiger is a North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party politician who served as a member of the North Dakota Senate from District 45 from 2006 to 2010. External linksNorth Dakota State Legislature - Senator Tom Fiebigerofficial ND Senate websiteP ...

, class of 1978, member of the North Dakota Senate *

Mary Forsythe Mary MacCornack Forsythe (May 23, 1920 – September 6, 2007) was an American politician and music teacher. Born in Whitehall, Wisconsin, Forsythe graduated from Whitehall High School and then received her bachelor's degree from St. Olaf Co ...

, class of 1922, member of Minnesota House of Representatives *

Ian C. Kelly Ian Crawford Kelly (born 1953) is an American retired Foreign Service Officer and Ambassador (ret.) currently serving as the Ambassador in Residence at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He is an American former statesman and senior for ...

, class of 1977 * David L. Knutson, class of 1982, Minnesota State Senator of District 37, 2003-2004{{cite web , title=Knutson, David L. , url=https://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail?ID=10336 , publisher=Minnesota Legislative Reference Library , accessdate=2 November 2018 *

John Marty John J. Marty (born November 1, 1956) is a member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 40, which includes parts of Ramsey County in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area. As a young state senator, he ran for governor of Minnesota ...

, class of 1978 *

David Minge David R. Minge (born March 19, 1942) is an American former judge and politician. David Minge served as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 2002 until retiring at the end of March 2012. Previously, Minge was a Democratic–Farmer–L ...

, class of 1963 * Erik Paulsen, class of 1987, United States Representative from Minnesota *

Al Quie Albert Harold Quie ( ; born September 18, 1923) is an American politician and farmer. Quie, who served as member of the United States House of Representatives and Governor of Minnesota, is regarded as a moderate Republican. Quie was strongly c ...

, class of 1950 * Karl F. Rolvaag, class of 1941 *

Steve Sviggum Steven A. "Steve" Sviggum is a Minnesota politician, a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, and an executive assistant to and communications director for the Republican caucus in the Minnesota Senate. A former Speaker and memb ...

, class of 1979 * Eric C. Tostrud, class of 1987, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota * Andrew Volstead, class of 1881, US house of representatives for Minnesota, introduced

National Prohibition Act The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was an act of the 66th United States Congress, designed to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919), which established the prohibition of alcoholic d ...

Writers

* Robert Bly, class of 1950 (transferred out), leader of the Mythopoetic men's movement * Kristina Halvorson, class of 1993 * Michelle Hoover, class of 1994 *

Siri Hustvedt Siri Hustvedt (born February 19, 1955) is an American novelist and essayist. Hustvedt is the author of a book of poetry, seven novels, two books of essays, and several works of non-fiction. Her books include ''The Blindfold'' (1992), ''The Ench ...

, class of 1977 * Kij Johnson, class of 1982 *

Peg Kerr Peg Kerr (born 28 April of undisclosed year) is an American fantasy author. Biography She was born in a suburb of Chicago and moved to Minnesota to attend St. Olaf College. She received an M.A. in English Literature in 1990, specializing ...

, class of 1982 *

Sarah Lindsay Sarah Lindsay (born 1958) is an American poet from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition to writing the two chapbooks ''Bodies of Water'' and ''Insomniac's Lullabye'', Lindsay has authored two books in the Grove Press Poetry Series: ''Primate Behavio ...

, class of 1980 * Timothy Mason, class of 1972, playwright *

Emily Rapp Emily Rapp Black (born July 12, 1974) is an American memoirist. When she was six years old, she was chosen as the poster child for the non-profit organization March of Dimes, due to a congenital birth defect that resulted in the amputation of h ...

, class of 1996 * Mark Rein•Hagen, author of Vampire: The Masquerade class of 1988 * Ole Rolvaag, class of 1905, author of '' Giants in the Earth''

Religion

* Johan Arnd Aasgaard, class of 1898, American Lutheran church leader * Alan M. Olson, class of 1961, philosopher, Boston University, 1974-2013 * Stuart E. Barstad, class of 1951?, Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force from 1985 to 1988 * David Ede, class of 1957,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

scholar of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

Other

* Edward Sövik, class of 1939, architect and later St. Olaf faculty member * Roger Grimsby, class of 1950, television news anchor *

Willis H. Flygare Willis H. Flygare (July 24, 1936 – May 18, 1981) was an American physical chemist and professor at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Background Flygare was born in Jackson, Minnesota. He was the son of Willis B. and Doris H. Flyga ...

, class of 1958, chemist credited with "outstanding contributions to the understanding of molecular electronic structure" * John Enemark, class of 1962, American biochemist * Barry Morrow, class of 1970, Oscar-winning screenwriter * Gretchen Morgenson, class of 1976,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning journalist *

Joan N. Ericksen Joan N. Ericksen (born October 11, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a Senior Status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Early life ...

, class of 1977, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota *

Cheryl Willman Cheryl Lynn Willman (born November 5, 1954) is an American cancer researcher and executive director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. Early life and education Willman was born on November 5, 1954, in ...

, class of 1977, cancer researcher and executive director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs *

David L. Rose David L. Rose (born February 19, 1967) is a product designer and entrepreneur, and the CEO of Clearwater AR. Early life Rose was born on February 19, 1967, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina when his father, James Rose, was in medical school. Ro ...

, class of 1989, tech entrepreneur and inventor *

Margaret Sordahl Margaret Sordahl ( – ) was an ornithologist who worked for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. She collected two holotype specimens, '' Erythropygia coryphaeus abboti'' and '' Serinus albogularis sordahlae,'' the latter of which was name ...

, ornithologist * Ward Sutton, class of 1989, cartoonist and illustrator, 2018 Herblock Award winner * Dean Buntrock, founder and former chairman and CEO of

Waste Management, Inc. Waste Management, Inc., doing business as WM, is a waste management, comprehensive waste, and environmental services company operating in North America. Founded in 1968, the company is headquartered in the Bank of America Tower in Houston, Tex ...

and largest school benefactor * Jason DeRose, class of 1997, Western Bureau Chief for National Public Radio News * Amanda Cox, class of 2001, Editor of The Upshot section of the New York Times

Notable faculty

, conductor of the St. Olaf Choir *

Kenneth O. Bjork Kenneth O. Bjork (19 July 1909 – 11 August 1991) was an American professor, historian and author. He served as managing editor for publications at the Norwegian-American Historical Association over a twenty-year period. Background Kenneth O. Bj ...

, historian and educator * F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf Choir * John Ferguson, organist and composer * Kenneth Jennings, composer and former conductor of the St. Olaf Choir *

Robert Jenson Robert William Jenson (August 2, 1930 – September 5, 2017) was a leading American Lutheran and ecumenical theologian. Prior to his retirement in 2007, he spent seven years as the director of the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton Theol ...

, theologian * Chris Meidt, head football coach (2002–2007), assistant coach with Washington Redskins *

Anantanand Rambachan Anantanand Rambachan is a professor of religion at St. Olaf College. Education Rambachan completed his undergraduate studies at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. He received his M.A. (Distinction) and Ph.D. degrees fr ...

, Hindu scholar * Ole Rolvaag, author * Edward Sövik, class of 1939, architect and later St. Olaf faculty member * Lynn Steen, mathematician *

Charles Taliaferro Charles Taliaferro is an American philosopher specializing in theology and philosophy of religion. He is an emeritus professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Faithful Research, and a member of th ...

, philosopher

References

St. Olaf College people ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

St. Olaf College people