Ruby Dee
The acclaimed actress and social activist Ruby Dee graduated in 1945 with a BA from Hunter College, and later studied acting with renowned Hunter College theatre professor Lloyd Richards. She was known for her distinguished career in theatre and film, pioneering civil rights activism, and her artistic partnership with her husband, Ossie Davis.
Martina Arroyo
Arroyo is a renowned American opera singer who has left a lasting impact on the world of classical music. Born in 1936 in New York City, to a father from Puerto Rico and a mother from South Carolina, Arroyo and her family settled in Harlem.
Audre Lorde
A self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre Lorde was a graduate of both Hunter High School (1951) and Hunter College (1959). She went on to serve as Thomas Hunter Distinguished Professor (1981–82), and as a member of the Hunter English Department faculty until 1986. The Hunter College “Audre Lorde Award,” a prize for excellence in poetry and prose, is given in her honor.
H.W. Hitchcock
Born in Detroit, Hugh Wiley Hitchcock is regarded as a leading scholar of American music and the founding director of the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College.
Simone Forti
Simone Forti is widely celebrated as a pioneering and innovative dancer, choreographer, artist, and writer, working at the nexus of minimalism and postmodern dance. Her contributions to the Fluxus movement have made her a highly influential figure, and Forti’s seminal work Dance Constructions (1960-61) was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.
Harold Clurman
Renowned American theatre director, producer, and drama critic Harold Clurman was also a beloved and influential Hunter College faculty member from 1967 to 1980. During his tenure at Hunter, Clurman brought colleagues like Arthur Miller and Walter Kerr to teach Hunter students as visiting faculty.
Rhea Perlman
Award-winning actress Rhea Perlman graduated with a BA from Hunter College in 1968. Having studied theatre and drama as a Hunter student, she began her prolific acting career with small roles in Off Off Broadway productions and bit roles in films. One of her first notable performances was a recurring role on the television show Taxi, playing Zena, the girlfriend of Perlman’s future husband, Danny DeVito.
Ellen Barkin
Actress Ellen Barkin is known for her powerful performances and versatile roles on both stage and screen. Born and raised in the Bronx, Barkin grew up in a middle-class Jewish family, where her passion for acting developed at a young age. She actively pursued theater while attending Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts, then enrolling at Hunter College, where she graduated with a double major in drama and history.
Dorothy M. Vislocky
Dorothy M. Vislocky was an accomplished choreographer and Hunter College graduate, who left an indelible mark on the world of dance. Born in Brooklyn in 1927, Vislocky was drawn to dance from a young age, and began studying ballet at the age of six. Her long and distinguished career as a dancer and choreographer started in 1952, when she was a founding member of the Alwin Nikolais Dance Company.
Alice Aycock
Artist Alice Aycock was not only a graduate of Hunter College, but also an esteemed professor at the school. Former students have equally praised her as a dedicated educator and prolific sculptor. Aycock has lived in New York City since 1968, when she moved to the city for the MA program at Hunter College. Active in the downtown art community in the 1960s and ’70s, she exhibited at 112 Greene Street, an experimental space run by her friend and fellow artist Gordon Matta-Clark.
Lloyd Richards
An esteemed director, educator, and actor—and one of the most important figures in American theatre during the latter half of the 20th century—Lloyd Richards was also a beloved Hunter College professor. A committed acting coach, he was instrumental in the careers and lives of countless students, including actress and Hunter graduate Ruby Dee, a student and collaborator.
Wilbur “Buck” Clayton
An accomplished jazz trumpeter, band leader, composer, arranger, and educator, Wilbur “Buck” Clayton started teaching at Hunter College in 1975.
His career as a professional musician began as a member of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra, then Clayton joined Count Basie’s band in Kansas City in 1936, playing his first prominent solo on the iconic “Fiesta in Blue.”
Roy DeCarava
Roy DeCarava was an American artist, photographer, and educator known for his groundbreaking photographs of African Americans revealing a unique sensitivity and intimacy. Born in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in 1919, DeCarava graduated with honors from the Textile High School in 1938.
Maurice Berger
Esteemed cultural historian, writer, curator, and educator Maurice Berger graduated with his BA from Hunter College in 1978. He continued on to earn a PhD in art history and critical theory from CUNY’s the Graduate Center, where he studied with former Hunter faculty member Rosalind Krauss.
Tom Finkelpearl
Author, curator, and educator Tom Finkelpearl received his MFA from Hunter College in 1983. Former commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and former director of the Queens Museum, Mr. Finkelpearl is currently the Teaching Scholar-in-Residence at the Social Practice CUNY initiative.
Lisa Corinne Davis
Artist Lisa Corinne Davis is best known for her abstract paintings and works on paper resembling multilayered maps exploring perceptions of racial, social and psychological identity. Born in Baltimore, and currently living and working in Brooklyn, Davis received her MFA from Hunter College in 1983—studying with Lynda Benglis, Rosalind Krauss and Ron Gorchov.
Roxana Marcoci
Innovative curator of contemporary art and photography, Roxana Marcoci is currently the David Dechman Senior Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Marcoci was immersed in the performing and visual arts as a child through her parents’ careers; her mother worked as an actress and her father was an architect.
Holland Cotter
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Holland Cotter is the co-chief art critic at The New York Times and a graduate of the Master’s in Art History program at Hunter College. After earning his BA from Harvard College in 1970, Cotter moved to downtown Manhattan and found work as a freelance writer and eventually as a contributing editor at Art in America.
Nari Ward
Esteemed artist Nari Ward is both a graduate of Hunter College and a distinguished faculty member. A longtime resident of Harlem, Ward’s family immigrated to New York from Jamaica when he was 12 years old. After earning his BA at Hunter in 1989 and then an MFA at Brooklyn College, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and was included in the 45th Venice Biennale just a few years out of school.