Binghamton University’s Innovative Technologies Complex in Vestal, New York. Photo by Steve Cwik / Shutterstock.com.
People sometimes think of Binghamton University as a place where students go to prepare for careers in business, science, law, and other demanding fields. That is certainly part of its reputation. Yet the university has also educated actors, comedians, musicians, writers, television personalities, political leaders, and people who helped build major American companies. Some of those names are so familiar that their connection to this SUNY campus in New York’s Southern Tier comes as a surprise.
The university’s history makes those accomplishments particularly interesting. Binghamton began in 1946 as Triple Cities College, a branch of Syracuse University in Endicott established to help meet the educational needs of returning World War II veterans. It joined the State University of New York system as Harpur College in 1950, moved to its Vestal campus in 1961, and became the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1965. The shorter name Binghamton University was adopted in 1992. Harpur College survives today as the university’s liberal arts and sciences college.
What strikes me about this list is the variety. A student who once performed in a campus theater went on to star in Mad About You. A future television host studied English and rhetoric before entering the legal profession. A graduate who loved mathematics helped develop the technology used on Wall Street. Another student became a founding member of one of alternative rock’s most influential bands. They took very different roads after college, but their academic stories intersected at Binghamton.
For this article, graduation matters: the people included earned bachelor’s or graduate degrees from Binghamton University or its predecessor, Harpur College. An honorary doctorate alone does not qualify, and neither does simply attending classes. The graduates did not all come from New York originally, which is part of the point. This is a look at what one New York university has contributed to the wider world.
1. William Baldwin
William “Billy” Baldwin graduated from Binghamton University in 1985 with a degree in political science. Before Hollywood audiences knew him as an actor, he was a college wrestler who had to balance training and competition with his academic responsibilities. His wrestling background is an important part of his Binghamton story, one that the university and the wider SUNY system have continued to recognize.
Baldwin became one of the recognizable film actors of the 1990s, appearing in Backdraft, Flatliners, and Sliver. He later worked in television, including roles in Gossip Girl and Parenthood, and appeared in the acclaimed independent film The Squid and the Whale. His degree and athletics career are reminders that his path to acting began in a setting far removed from the movie industry.
2. Paul Reiser
Paul Reiser earned his music degree from Binghamton University in 1977. During his student years, he became involved with Hinman Little Theater, part of a campus performance culture that allowed students to experiment in front of an audience. In a later interview with the student newspaper, Reiser recalled participating in theater and watching concerts on campus, including a Billy Joel performance that stayed with him.
Reiser developed a career as a stand-up comedian before becoming a television star. He co-created and starred opposite Helen Hunt in Mad About You, one of the defining sitcoms of the 1990s. His acting credits also include Diner, Aliens, Stranger Things, and The Kominsky Method. For many readers, discovering that the man associated with these familiar productions studied music at Binghamton is precisely the sort of unexpected college connection that makes this series enjoyable.
3. Hakeem Jeffries
Hakeem Jeffries graduated from Binghamton University in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he attended Midwood High School before heading upstate. His undergraduate years preceded graduate study in public policy at Georgetown University and a law degree from New York University, where he served on the law review. Those educational experiences helped prepare him for a career that combined legal practice and public office.
Jeffries served in the New York State Assembly before winning election to the United States House of Representatives in 2012. He became House Democratic leader in 2023, the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress. His career has made him one of Binghamton’s most visible graduates in American public life, and the university has recognized his achievement as part of its alumni history.
4. Sunny Hostin
Sunny Hostin entered Binghamton University through its Educational Opportunity Program when she was just sixteen. Raised in the Bronx, she found herself in a very different setting in the Southern Tier. She graduated in 1990 with a degree in English and rhetoric, a combination that makes sense when looking at the legal and broadcasting careers that followed. She has spoken publicly about the importance of her time at Binghamton and the opportunities it opened for her.
After earning a law degree from Notre Dame, Hostin worked as a federal prosecutor and eventually became a television legal analyst. She joined ABC’s The View as a co-host in 2016, bringing legal experience and a distinctive perspective to the program. Hostin also became an author. Her Binghamton education was an early step toward careers in two professions that demand the ability to listen, question, and explain complicated subjects.
5. Stephanie Courtney
Stephanie Courtney graduated from Binghamton University in 1992. Long before she appeared in advertisements seen across the country, she studied theater and began developing the performing skills that would serve her in both acting and comedy. She later joined the Groundlings comedy community in Los Angeles, where improvisation and character development became central parts of her work.
Courtney became nationally recognizable as Flo, the enthusiastic spokesperson in Progressive insurance commercials, a role she began playing in 2008. Her face and voice became familiar to millions of viewers, even to people who might not have known her name. The university has included her among its notable alumni, and her career is a reminder that a successful performer can find a place in popular culture far beyond films and traditional television programs.
6. Tony Kornheiser
Tony Kornheiser earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Harpur College in 1970. He worked for the campus newspaper and student radio station WHRW. There is an interesting bit of school history here: the newspaper was known as The Colonial News during most of his college years and became Pipe Dream in 1970. Kornheiser’s work there provided experience in journalism before he entered the newspaper business.
He went on to write for Newsday, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, becoming one of America’s best-known sports columnists. Television brought him another audience when he and Michael Wilbon began hosting ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption in 2001. Kornheiser returned to Binghamton in 2017 to receive an honorary degree, although it is his earned 1970 bachelor’s degree that qualifies him for this list.
7. Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Ruben Santiago-Hudson grew up in Lackawanna, near Buffalo, and graduated from Binghamton University with a bachelor’s degree in theater in 1978. His education took him from Western New York to the Southern Tier and later to Wayne State University, where he earned a master’s degree in fine arts. Theater offered him a way to develop the artistic discipline required to tell stories drawn from the world he knew.
His career includes major achievements as an actor, playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won a Tony Award for his performance in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, and his autobiographical play Lackawanna Blues became an acclaimed HBO film. He also directed Broadway productions, including works by August Wilson. Few graduates on this list have contributed so extensively to the American stage.
8. Victor Williams
Victor Williams graduated from Binghamton University in 1992 after studying theater. Raised in Brooklyn, he pursued acting with the kind of formal training that can help a performer move between comedy and drama. Binghamton’s School of the Arts lists him among its notable alumni, alongside other graduates who took their first professional steps through theater programs at the university.
Williams became best known for playing Deacon Palmer, the friend and co-worker of Kevin James’s character Doug Heffernan, on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. The show ran for nine seasons and has remained familiar through reruns and streaming. Williams continued acting in television and film after its conclusion. His steady screen career makes him one of Binghamton’s recognizable television alumni.
9. Marc Lawrence
Marc Lawrence graduated from Binghamton University in 1981 with a degree in English. His memories of campus and student housing later became especially valuable to his creative work. Although he briefly pursued law school afterward, he found his calling in screenwriting and began building a career in Hollywood.
Lawrence wrote or directed films including Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice, and Music and Lyrics. One of his most interesting projects for New York readers is The Rewrite, a 2014 film starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei about a screenwriter who takes a teaching job at Binghamton University. Lawrence described the movie as a tribute to his alma mater, and some scenes were filmed in the Binghamton area. Here is an alumnus who actually brought his college back into his storytelling.
10. Ingrid Michaelson
Ingrid Michaelson graduated from Binghamton University in 2001 with a theater degree. During her college years, she sang with the Binghamtonics a cappella group and participated in campus performance activities. Her time in the Southern Tier left a very specific musical memory: her song “The Hat” includes references to Binghamton’s blue-and-gold colors and the cold weather students remember so well.
After graduating, Michaelson worked with young performers and developed her own music career. Her songs, including “The Way I Am” and “Girls Chase Boys,” helped make her a successful independent pop artist. Television placement, particularly on Grey’s Anatomy, introduced her music to a larger audience. She later wrote the music for the Broadway adaptation of The Notebook, bringing her theatrical training and songwriting together in a new form.
11. Anita Diamant
Anita Diamant is an important example of why this article includes graduate degrees as well as undergraduate diplomas. She earned her bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Washington University in St. Louis in 1973, then completed a master’s degree in English at Binghamton University in 1975. Her graduate study forms the genuine Binghamton connection; she did not earn her first degree from Harpur College in 1973.
Diamant became a journalist and the bestselling author of The Red Tent, a novel that reimagines the story of Dinah from the Book of Genesis. The book attracted an enormous readership and was adapted for television. She has also written books about Jewish life and other novels, including The Boston Girl. Her presence here illustrates how a public university’s influence can extend through graduate education into literature and cultural life.
12. Camille Paglia
Camille Paglia graduated from Harpur College in 1968 with a degree in English and was the valedictorian of her class. She studied literature at a time when debates about culture, politics, and higher education were becoming increasingly prominent. The poet and professor Milton Kessler was among the teachers whose approach to literature influenced her thinking.
Paglia became a professor, essayist, and public intellectual known for strongly argued interpretations of art, literature, sexuality, and popular culture. Her book Sexual Personae attracted considerable attention and controversy, and her essays continued to provoke debate across academic and public audiences. Whether readers agree with her interpretations or not, her career has made her one of the most widely discussed graduates of Binghamton’s early years as a SUNY university center.
13. Eugene Vindman
Eugene Vindman earned a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University in 1997. Having immigrated to the United States from Ukraine as a child, he grew up in Brooklyn and attended Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School. At Binghamton, he studied history and participated in Army ROTC. The combination of academic study and military preparation shaped his decision to accept a commission and begin a long Army career.
Vindman served as a military officer and lawyer and later worked on the National Security Council staff. His name became publicly known during the events surrounding the first impeachment of President Donald Trump; his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, was also involved in those events. Eugene Vindman subsequently entered electoral politics and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia in 2024. His route from a SUNY campus to military and congressional service adds another dimension to the university’s alumni history.
14. Nathan Englander
Nathan Englander graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in English. His later recollections of college show that the friendships and intellectual opportunities of Harpur College continued to matter to him long after graduation. He went on to study at the University of Iowa’s renowned writing program, developing the fiction career that would bring him wide literary recognition.
Englander became known for his short-story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and for What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His work explores identity, history, faith, and moral choices. When Binghamton recognized him with an honorary doctorate in 2017, he emphasized the importance of public higher education in making his writing career possible.
15. Karl Ravech
Karl Ravech’s college story has an important distinction. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Ithaca College in 1987 and then completed a master’s degree at Binghamton University in 1990. That Binghamton graduate degree qualifies him for this article. It would be inaccurate, however, to describe him as a member of Binghamton’s undergraduate class of 1987.
Ravech joined ESPN in 1993 and became closely associated with the network’s baseball coverage, particularly Baseball Tonight. His work has also included play-by-play assignments and coverage of major baseball events. For fans who have watched ESPN over several decades, his is a familiar voice. His inclusion is another useful reminder that Binghamton’s alumni accomplishments are not limited to students who completed their first degree there.
16. Jeff Yass
Jeff Yass earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Binghamton University in 1979. Those two subjects provided a particularly relevant academic foundation for his later work in securities trading, where probability, market behavior, and risk are central concerns. His education was not simply a background detail; it related directly to the professional field in which he made his fortune.
Yass became a founding partner of Susquehanna International Group, one of the major firms associated with options trading and other financial-market strategies. His business success made him a billionaire and a prominent participant in philanthropy and political spending. His story represents a very different side of Binghamton’s alumni achievements from those of the actors, musicians, and writers on this list.
17. Steve Koren
Steve Koren graduated from Binghamton University in 1988. His professional career began with the difficult business of getting comedy material noticed. According to Binghamton’s alumni profile, he worked as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center and took opportunities to pass jokes to established comedians and television figures before earning a place on a writing staff.
Koren went on to write for Saturday Night Live and became a writer and producer on Seinfeld. His credits include memorable episodes such as “The Serenity Now” and “The English Patient.” He also worked on feature-film comedies. Unlike a performer whose face audiences recognize, Koren is one of the writers whose work helped create familiar moments in American television comedy.
18. Lee Ranaldo
Lee Ranaldo earned his bachelor’s degree in studio art from Binghamton University in 1978. His interests crossed the boundaries between visual art, sound, and performance. That combination proved significant as he began working in experimental music after college. Ranaldo’s Binghamton years were part of the artistic education he brought to New York City’s alternative music community.
Ranaldo co-founded Sonic Youth in 1981 with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon and became known for innovative guitar techniques, alternative tunings, and a willingness to challenge conventional rock arrangements. The band helped shape the sound of alternative rock and influenced generations of musicians. Ranaldo also developed a solo career in music and visual art. Binghamton awarded him an honorary Doctor of Music in 2024, decades after his earned studio-art degree.
19. Jami Floyd
Jami Floyd graduated from Binghamton University in 1986 with a degree in political science. She had a particularly active campus life, working at the WHRW radio station, contributing to student journalism, and participating in student government. Those activities gave her practical experience in communication and public affairs before she went on to law school.
Floyd earned her law degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and later pursued further legal study at Stanford. She became an attorney and then a journalist and legal commentator, working in television and public radio, including WNYC. Her career brought together the fields that had interested her as a student: law, politics, broadcasting, and public discussion.
20. John W. Mannion
John W. Mannion earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Binghamton University in 1990. A native of the Syracuse area, he followed his undergraduate studies with a master’s degree from SUNY Oswego and spent many years teaching science. His professional background as an educator is an important part of his public story, rather than simply a stepping stone to politics.
Mannion served in the New York State Senate before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024. He began serving in Congress in January 2025. His path from Binghamton’s science classrooms to a public-school teaching career and then elected office demonstrates the varied ways that a science education can be applied outside a laboratory.
21. Thomas Secunda
Thomas Secunda earned a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University in 1976 and a master’s degree in mathematics in 1979. His mathematical training gave him the tools for a career at the intersection of finance and computing. These were fields undergoing rapid technological change, and the ability to organize information and present it quickly would become increasingly valuable.
Secunda was a co-founder of Bloomberg L.P. and played a central role in the development of the Bloomberg Terminal, the financial information system widely used by investment professionals. The company became an international force in financial news, data, and technology. Secunda’s achievements demonstrate how Binghamton graduates have helped shape not only entertainment and public life but also systems used in the global economy.
22. Dave Rubin
Dave Rubin graduated from Binghamton University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Raised on Long Island, he studied subjects that would later connect, at least in a broad sense, with his work discussing public affairs. His first career efforts after college, however, were in stand-up comedy and entertainment rather than electoral politics or government service.
Rubin became a podcast and online video host, eventually establishing The Rubin Report as a platform for interviews and political commentary. His political outlook changed over the years, and he became associated with conservative commentary. Whatever readers think of his opinions, he is a recognizable figure in the world of internet-based political media and an alumnus of the university’s political science program.
23. Norman Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein graduated from Binghamton in 1974 with a degree in history. Born in Brooklyn to parents who survived the Holocaust, he later pursued graduate study at Princeton University. His undergraduate education in historical inquiry preceded a career focused on modern political conflicts and disagreements over how historical evidence should be interpreted.
Finkelstein became an author and political scholar whose books address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Holocaust memory, and debates about scholarship and public policy. His work has drawn both supporters and strong critics. Titles such as Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict and The Holocaust Industry made him an internationally discussed, sometimes controversial figure. His Binghamton degree is documented in biographical records held by New York University.
24. Marjorie Cohn
Marjorie “Margie” Cohn graduated from Binghamton University in 1978 with a background in fine art and English. She has recalled that she originally imagined a career in the arts before discovering that television production offered a way to combine creativity with teamwork. Her route into entertainment was not through acting. It was through the decisions and collaborations that shape what audiences eventually see on screen.
Cohn spent many years at Nickelodeon, where her work touched some of the network’s best-known children’s programming. She later helped build DreamWorks Animation’s television operation and became president of DreamWorks Animation. Her credits as an executive are less visible to viewers than those of an actor or host, but they have affected the television watched by families around the world. She is a good example of the influential people whose names may be unfamiliar even when their work is not.
25. Jay Walder
Jay Walder graduated from Binghamton University in 1980. He went on to build a career in transportation management and public policy, an area of particular interest to New Yorkers who depend on trains, buses, and other mass-transit systems. His experience eventually took him into leadership positions responsible for moving millions of people in major cities.
Walder served as chairman and chief executive officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and later led Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation. He also worked in bicycle-sharing and other transportation ventures. His career gives this list an important connection to New York infrastructure. The decisions made by transit leaders may not attract the same attention as a television performance, but they influence daily life on a remarkable scale.
Looking across these 25 graduates, it is difficult to reduce Binghamton University to a single specialty. Harpur College’s liberal arts tradition helped educate people whose interests later led them into performance, writing, journalism, politics, and public service. Mathematics and other disciplines provided foundations for careers in finance and technology. Graduate programs also contributed, as the stories of Anita Diamant and Karl Ravech demonstrate.
There is something particularly appealing about discovering a university’s history through the lives of its former students. Buildings, departments, and academic rankings tell one part of the story, but graduates carry a college’s influence into the world. Binghamton has been doing that since its days as Triple Cities College, and these names offer a memorable way to see what that educational history has produced.
For more New York college and university history, read our articles on 25 famous people who graduated from SUNY schools, 25 famous people who went to college in Upstate New York, the history of the SUNY system, and 25 famous people from Greater Binghamton. The last article focuses on people from the region, rather than people who graduated from the university.
