Facts & Stats: UW Alumni MVPs

 

With more than 158,175 total alumni around the world, the University of Wyoming has no shortage of MVPs. They are most valuable players in their fields — leading companies, nonprofits, innovation, sports and all variety of industries. In this list and throughout UWyo Magazine, you will read about a small sampling of these impressive alumni.

 

Note: This is not a comprehensive list but rather a sampling of impressive alumni.

 

Alan Simpson — U.S. senator and philanthropist (B.S. history 1954, J.D. 1958, honorary degree 1999)
Art Howe — Major League Baseball player (B.S. business administration 1969)
Caitlin Long — blockchain and bitcoin pioneer (B.A. political economy 1990)
Cliff Hansen — politician (B.S. animal production 1934, honorary degree 1965) 
Curt Gowdy — sports broadcaster (B.S. statistics/C&I 1942, honorary degree 1972)
David Love — renowned geologist (B.A. geology 1933, M.A. geology 1934, honorary degree 1961)
Dick Cheney — 46th vice president of the United States (B.A., political science 1965, M.A. political science 1966, honorary degree 1990)
Emory S. Land — U.S. Navy officer and submarine architect (B.A. 1898, M.A. 1907, honorary degree 1939)
Fennis Dembo — National Basketball Association player (B.S. administration of justice 1988)
George Frison — famed archaeologist and educator (B.S. anthropology 1964)
Gerry Spence — famed trial lawyer (B.S. English 1951, J.D. 1952, honorary degree 1952)
Harriet Byrd — first African-American elected to the Wyoming Legislature (M.A. elementary education 1976)
John Bugas — FBI agent and Ford Motor Co. executive (B.S. civil engineering 1939)
June Downey — psychologist, author and professor (B.A. Greek, B.A. Latin 1895)
Ken Sailors — National Basketball Association player (B.S. physical education teaching 1943)
Malcom Floyd — National Football League player (B.S. health science 2004)
Mike Sullivan — United States ambassador to Ireland (B.S. petroleum engineering 1961, J.D. 1964, honorary degree 2008)
Milward Simpson — politician (B.A. 1921, honorary degree 1955)
Mohamed Al Mady — Saudi business leader (M.S. chemical engineering 1975)
Nancy D. Freudenthal — U.S. Senior District Judge for the District of Wyoming (B.A. philosophy 1976, J.D. 1980)
Peter Schoomaker — four-star U.S. Army general, 35th chief of staff (B.S. physical education teaching 1969)
Reggie Slater — National Basketball Association player (B.S. social science 1992)
Samuel C. Phillips — U.S. Air Force four-star general and director of NASA’s Apollo program (B.S. electrical engineering 1942, honorary degree 1963)
Solomon Trujillo — global business executive (B.S. business administration 1973, MBA 1974, honorary degree 2000)
Susan Pamerleau — U.S. Air Force Major General and U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas (B.A. sociology 1968)
W. Edwards Deming — author, scholar, business consultant, statistician (B.S. electrical engineering 1921, honorary degree 1958)
Zenobia Powell Perry — composer, professor and civil rights activist (M.A. music 1954)

 

By the Numbers (Data as of October 2024)
Total alumni: 158,175
Received degrees: 110,662 
Attended at 
least one semester: 47,513
Alumni in Wyoming: 59,479 (Includes unknown county data)