Table of Contents
Why are Austinites so proud of our local universities? Because we’ve got a Texas-sized list of names to show for it.
University of Texas
- Robert Cade | Class of 1950 | Pre-med | Cade went on to invent Gatorade.
- Laura Bush | Class of 1973 | Master of Library Science
- Neil deGrasse Tyson | Class of 1983 | Master of Astronomy
- Rick Riordan | Class of 1986 | Bachelor of English and History
- Wes Anderson | Class of 1991 | Bachelor of Philosophy | The now-famous filmmaker had an equally famous college roommate — Owen Wilson — who didn’t graduate.
- Renée Zellweger | Class of 1992 | Bachelor of English | Zellweger was featured in the Austin-filmed 1993 movie “Dazed and Confused.”
- Matthew McConaughey | Class of 1993 | Bachelor of Radio-Television-Film | McConaughey has been a visiting instructor at the university since 2015.
- Brené Brown | Class of 1995 | Master of Social Work
Texas State University
- Lyndon B. Johnson | Class of 1930 | Bachelor of History | It is TXST tradition to shake the hand of the former president’s on-campus statue at the start of each semester.
- George Strait | Class of 1979 | Bachelor of Agriculture | The country music legend was granted an honorary doctorate from the institution in 2006.
- Charles Austin | Class of 1991 | Bachelor of Business Administration | Charles took home an Olympic gold medal for the men’s high jump in 1996.
- Lizzie Velásquez | Class of 2012 | Bachelor of Communication Studies
Huston-Tillotson University
- Norman Scales Sr. | Graduated prior to 1940 | Major unknown | Norman became a Tuskegee Airman and the first Black pilot commissioned as a second lieutenant from Austin.
- Dr. Herman A. Barnett III | Class of 1948 | Pre-med | Later, Dr. Barnett became the first Black man to graduate from UT Medical School.
- Azie Taylor Morton | Class of 1956 | Bachelor of Commercial Education
Looking for names like Michael Dell, Jon Hamm, and Janis Joplin? While they attended Central Texas universities, they never made it to commencement.