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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Chang-rae Lee
Celebrated novelist Chang-rae Lee was the first director of the Creative Writing MFA program at Hunter College, from 1999 to 2002. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Lee emigrated to the United States when he was three, and his work often explores themes of immigration, assimilation, and the modern Asian and Asian-American experience.
Peter Carey
One of the world’s leading novelists, Peter Carey is among only five writers who have won the Booker Prize twice, first for Oscar and Lucinda in 1988 and then for True History of the Kelly Gang in 2001. Frequently cited as Australia’s next contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, the celebrated author was the director of the Hunter College Creative Writing MFA program from 2003 to 2021.
Tina Howe
Award-winning playwright Tina Howe served as the head of Hunter’s MFA in Playwriting program from 2010 until 2015. An esteemed educator as well as a formidable playwright, Howe was a beloved member of the artistic community to which she belonged, and well-known to have infused her art into the everyday. Most recognized for her Tony-nominated play Coastal Disturbances, Howe wrote 14 full-length plays, including two Pulitzer prize finalists, Pride’s Crossing and Painting Churches.
Ryan Ponder McNamara
Brooklyn-based artist Ryan McNamara is both a member of the Hunter College faculty and a graduate of the MFA program. He works in a multitude of media and methods including performance, installation, photography, drawing, and sculpture.
Kathryn Alter
Kathryn Alter is a choreographer, teacher, dancer, and musician. She was a 2014 recipient of a CUNY Dance Initiative residency, and a 2018 Dance at Socrates Artist. A member of the Limón Dance Company for fifteen years, Alter was named the Associate Program Director for the Limon Professional Studies Program in 2018.
Colson Whitehead
Celebrated author and Hunter College faculty member Colson Whitehead has published eleven books since 2001 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice. Whitehead was born and raised in Manhattan, and after graduating from Harvard College started working at the Village Voice, where he wrote reviews of television, books, and music.