Whitman graduates lead fulfilling lives and serve the world in significant ways. The following former Whitties are among those who have become public figures: 

• Matthew Ames '70, Director of Research, Mayo Clinic
• Ingrid Backstrom '00, internationally ranked free skier
• Dirk Benedict '67, actor
• Margie Boule '73, journalist
• Walter Brattain '24, Nobel laureate in physics
• Ralph Cordiner '22, CEO of General Electric
• Ryan Crocker '71, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq
• William O. Douglas '20, Supreme Court Justice
• Richard Elmore '66, Harvard University scholar
• Kathrin Ford '97, poet
• John Fulton '90, author
• W. Michael Gillette '63, Oregon Supreme Court justice
• Shane Johnson '98, actor
• Craig Lesley '67, novelist
• Rob Manning '80, chief engineer, Jet Propulsion Lab
• John Markoff '71, New York Times journalist
• Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenberger '97, NASA Teacher Astronaut
• Jim Robart '69, U.S. federal judge
• John Stanton '77, founder, Western Wireless
• Laura Valaas '06, member, U.S. Nordic ski team
• Adam West '51, actor
• Gordon Winston '50, Williams College economist
• Gordon Wright '33, Stanford University historian