From Hollywood to High Office: The Notable Alumni of Binghamton University
Binghamton University, nestled in the heart of New York's Southern Tier, has a rich history of fostering talent that has made a significant impact across diverse fields. While the region may be known for its spiedies, carousels, and the legacy of companies like IBM, it is the accomplishments of its alumni that truly set it apart. This article explores the remarkable achievements of some of Binghamton University's most distinguished graduates, showcasing their contributions to entertainment, politics, business, and beyond.
Pioneers of Industry and Innovation
The Binghamton area has long been a hub of innovation, and several individuals with ties to the region have left an indelible mark on the business world.
From Time Clocks to Tech Giant: The Bundy Brothers and IBM
The story of the Bundy brothers exemplifies the spirit of innovation that has long been associated with the Binghamton area. Living in a stately home on Main Street in Binghamton, they embarked on a venture to build time recording clocks. This small venture eventually grew into something much bigger, IBM, a company that would change technology forever.
Rockefeller’s Southern Tier Connection
Even John D. Rockefeller, known as the wealthiest American of all time, spent a chapter of his early life here. He and his family briefly lived in Owego, and he attended school at Owego Academy before building his empire.
The Shoe Company That Built a Town
Then there’s George Francis Johnson. Originally from Massachusetts, he came to Endicott to oversee a crew in part of a shoe factory. Before long, he and Henry B.
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Arts and Entertainment Luminaries
Binghamton University has produced a remarkable array of talent in the arts and entertainment industries, from actors and comedians to writers and musicians.
William Baldwin: From Political Science to the Silver Screen
William Joseph Baldwin, the second-youngest of the four Baldwin brothers, initially studied political science at Binghamton University. He has starred in the films Flatliners (1990), Backdraft (1991), Sliver (1993), Virus (1999), The Squid and the Whale (2005), Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he portrayed himself, and the Netflix show Northern Rescue (2019). Baldwin is married to singer Chynna Phillips.
Paul Reiser: Comedy, Acting, and Writing
Paul Reiser is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He played the roles of Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom My Two Dads, Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom Mad About You, Modell in the 1982 film Diner, and Detective Jeffrey Friedman in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. He has gained recognition for his roles as Jim Neiman in the 2014 film Whiplash and Dr. Sam Owens in the Netflix series Stranger Things. Reiser is a comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician. his successes also include his books Couplehood and Babyhood.
Art Spiegelman: The Power of Graphic Novels
Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman, professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel Maus. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines Arcade and Raw has been influential, and from 1992 he spent a decade as contributing artist for The New Yorker. He is married to designer and editor Françoise Mouly and is the father of writer Nadja Spiegelman. In September 2022, the National Book Foundation announced that he would receive the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson: A Triple Threat
Ruben Santiago-Hudson is an American actor, playwright, and director who has won national awards for his work in all three categories. He is best known for his role of Captain Roy Montgomery from 2009 to 2011 on ABC's Castle. In November 2011, he appeared on Broadway in Lydia R. Diamond's play Stick Fly. In 2013, he starred in the TV series Low Winter Sun, a police drama set in Detroit. In 2021, he was nominated for best adaptation by the Screen Writers Guild for the film version of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. He was writer and executive producer of Lackawanna Blues, telecast on HBO. Santiago-Hudson played Bayard Rustin in the blockbuster film Selma.
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Carol Leifer: Comedy Writer Extraordinaire
Carol Leifer is an American comedian, writer and producer whose career as a stand-up comedian started in the 1970s when she was in college. She has written many television scripts including The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld. She has received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld, the 82nd Academy Awards and the 84th Academy Awards. Leifer's inner-monologue driven, observational style is often autobiographical, encompassing subjects about her Jewish ancestry and upbringing, coming out, same-sex marriage, relationships (having been married previously to a man and now married to a woman) and parenting.
Tony Kornheiser: A Voice in Sports Media
Anthony Irwin Kornheiser is an American television sports talk show host and former sportswriter and columnist. Kornheiser is best known for his endeavors in three forms of media: as a writer for The Washington Post from 1979 to 2008, as a co-host of ESPN's Emmy Award-winning sports debate show Pardon the Interruption since 2001, and as the host of The Tony Kornheiser Show, a radio show and podcast. Longtime ESPN executive John Walsh once declared that "in the history of sports media, is the most multitalented person ever."
Victor Williams: From King of Queens to Commercials
Victor L. Williams is an American actor best known as Doug Heffernan's (Kevin James) best friend Deacon Palmer on The King of Queens. He has also appeared on several other hit TV shows, including Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, ER, New York Undercover, Girlfriends, Fringe and The Jamie Foxx Show. In 2012, Williams was seen and heard as a pitchman for Verizon Fios television commercials. Queens. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he grew up playing basketball in school. well over 6 feet during his teen years.
Ingrid Michaelson: Chart-Topping Singer-Songwriter
Ingrid Ellen Michaelson is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 2006 single "The Way I Am" and her 2014 single "Girls Chase Boys", both of which achieved success on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts, and received platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She has released eight independent albums.
Jenna Wolfe: From News Anchor to Fitness Guru
Jenna Wolfe is a Jamaican-born Haitian and American journalist and personal trainer. From 2007 to 2014, she was a correspondent for NBC's Today, and Sunday co-anchor from 2007 to 2012 and news anchor for Weekend Today from 2012 to 2014. On September 12, 2014, Wolfe left the weekend Today show for a new role as lifestyle and fitness correspondent on the weekday Today show and NBC News. Wolfe is a TV journalist and lifestyle and fitness expert. TODAY Show, where she was the first ever lifestyle and fitness correspondent.
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Robyn Adele Anderson: Postmodern Jukebox Star
Robyn Adele Anderson is an American singer and stage actress based in New York City. She is a cast member and featured artist for Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox with over 250 million YouTube views on her music videos. She is credited with the band's breakthrough covers of "Thrift Shop" and "We Can't Stop" in 2013. Anderson also performed lead vocals for performances on Good Morning America (ABC) in 2013, and TEDx in 2014.
Andy Kindler: Comedian and Voice Actor
Andy David Kindler is an American comedian and actor. He played the character "Andy", a fellow sportswriter and friend of sportswriter "Ray Barone" (Ray Romano) on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, was a regular guest on Late Show with David Letterman, a contributor to The Daily Show, and has performed on HBO. Kindler frequently performs as a voice actor in animated television series from producer Loren Bouchard, including roles on Dr. Katz, Home Movies, and the recurring character of Mort the mortician on Bob's Burgers.
Lee Ranaldo: Sonic Youth Pioneer
Lee Mark Ranaldo is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. In May 2012, Spin published a staff-selected top 100 guitarist list, ranking Ranaldo and his Sonic Youth bandmate Thurston Moore together at number 1.
Political Leaders and Changemakers
Binghamton University has also produced a number of influential figures in the world of politics and public service.
Hakeem Jeffries: Leading the House Democrats
Hakeem Sekou Jeffries is an American politician and attorney who has served as House minority leader and Leader of the House Democratic Caucus since 2023. representative for New York's 8th congressional district since 2013 and was a member of the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
Alexander Vindman: A Voice of Integrity
Alexander Semyon Vindman is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel who was the Director of European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC) until he was reassigned on February 7, 2020. Vindman is currently director of the think tank Institute for Informed American Leadership (IIAL). Vindman came to national attention in October 2019 when he testified before the United States Congress regarding the Trump-Ukraine scandal. His testimony provided evidence that resulted in a charge of abuse of power in the first impeachment of Donald Trump. Enrolled in Binghamton University Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in study of history.
Steven Fulop: Mayor of Jersey City
Steven Michael Fulop is an American politician serving as the 49th mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. A Democrat, he was formerly the Councilman for Jersey City's Ward E. On May 14, 2013, Fulop defeated incumbent mayor Jerramiah Healy.
Scholars and Thinkers
Binghamton University's academic strength is reflected in the accomplishments of its alumni who have made significant contributions to various fields of study.
M. Stanley Whittingham: Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Sir Michael Stanley Whittingham is a British-American chemist. He is a professor of chemistry and director of both the Institute for Materials Research and the Materials Science and Engineering program at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Department of Energy at Binghamton. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 alongside Akira Yoshino and John B. Goodenough.
Deborah Tannen: Expert in Linguistics
Deborah Frances Tannen is an American author and professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Best known as the author of You Just Don't Understand, she has been a McGraw Distinguished Lecturer at Princeton University and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences following a term in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
Camille Paglia: Social Critic
Camille Anna Paglia is an American academic, social critic and anti-feminist feminist. Paglia was a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1984 until the university's closure in 2024. She is critical of many aspects of modern culture and is the author of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990) and other books. She is also a critic of contemporary American feminism and of post-structuralism, as well as a commentator on multiple aspects of American culture such as its visual art, music, and film history.
Other Notable Alumni
The list of accomplished Binghamton University alumni extends far beyond those mentioned above. Other notable names include:
- Sunny Hostin: Lawyer, author, and television host. She is a co-host on ABC's morning talk show The View, for which she received nominations for Daytime Emmy Awards, as well as the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News.
- Dave Rubin: American libertarian-conservative political commentator. He is the creator and host of The Rubin Report, a political talk show on YouTube and on the network BlazeTV.
- Bill T. Jones: American choreographer, director, author and dancer.
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