Terrance Osborne ’00 - is a Fine Arts graduate and has quite literally painted his way into the fabric of New Orleans history. The acclaimed New Orleans artist’s 2007 Official Jazz and Heritage Festival poster entitled “Rebirth” quickly became one of the most sought after posters of the year. Terrance’s artistry has led to collaboration with Nike, a partnership that created a relationship with the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets (currently the Pelicans).
Dr. John T. Scott ’62 (deceased) - Nationally acclaimed sculptor, painter, and printmaker; late faculty, Xavier Art Department. Winner of the MacArthur “Genius” award
Dr. Michael White ’76 - Eminent Jazz historian and performer
Christina Francis ‘86 - President, Magic Johnson Enterprises
Harry Johnson ’77 - is the President and CEO of the Friends of the Memorial Foundation, Inc. Prior to this role he led the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation as President and CEO since 2002. Mr. Johnson and his team is credited for raising over $120 million dollars to build the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
Reverand Dr. Starsky Wilson ‘99 - President and CEO, Children’s Defense Fund
Dr. Gilda Barabino ’78 - President of Olin College of Engineering and President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAS)
Dr. Norman C. Francis ’52 - President Emeritus, Xavier University of Louisiana First African American graduate of Loyola University-New Orleans Law School
Dr. Marie McDemmond '68 - First female president of Norfolk State University (1997-2006). Dr. McDemmond is a founding member of the Board of the Lumina Foundation for Education, where she served as Chair for three years.
Dr. George McKenna III '61 - Currently serves as a Board Member for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is the former superintendent of the Inglewood Unified School District in Los Angeles, Calif. While serving as principal at Washington High in Los Angeles, he turned a "bad" urban school into an educational model of excellence, the basis for the TV movie "The George McKenna Story," starring Denzel Washington.
Dr. Gordon Milton ’57 (deceased) - Former President of Cal State Fullerton
Dr. Larissa Littleton-Steib ’94, ‘99 - Chancellor, Delgado Community College
Dr. Carmen J. Walters ‘90 - President Tougaloo College
Dr. Christie Gooden ‘98 - Abdominal Transplant Surgeon. She is the first African-American female to graduate from the University of Alabama, Birmingham General Surgery Residency Program and the first African American to graduate from the University of Michigan Transplant Surgery Fellowship. She is only the 4th African-American female trained in transplant surgeon in this country. As an attending surgeon, she performed a first of its kind dialysis access surgery.
Dr. Lavar Walker ‘12 – is a self-described comedian and pharmacists. Lavar has appeared on BET’s comic view, Jamie Foxx’s Laffapalooza, NBC’s Last Comic Standing, NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity, and the Monique Show. He has performed with Rickey Smiley, Katt Williams, Kevin Hart and many others. He was also the 2012 winner of the Miller Lite Comedy Competition.
Dr. Regina Benjamin '79 - 18th U.S. Surgeon General - appointed by President Barrack Obama in 2009. Private physician and founder of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, which serves the poor, uninsured and other underserved patients in Mobile County AL. Awarded the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 1997 and a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 2008. Dr. Benjamin is currently serving as the Endowed Chair for Public Health Sciences at Xavier University.
Percy Bland ‘93 - the first African American Mayor of the City of Meridian, Mississippi.
Dr. Jerryl Briggs Sr. ‘85 - President, Mississippi Valley State University
Mayor LaToya Cantrell ’97 - First Female Mayor of the City of New Orleans
Kemba Hendrix ‘98 – Director of the House Democrats’ Diversity Initiative
Alexis Herman ’69 - 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor Former Assistant to the President/Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement
The Honorable Brian Jackson ’82 - Chief United States District Judge U.S District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
Dr. John H. Jackson ‘94 - President, Schott Foundation. Former National Director of Education and Chief Policy Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Dr. Jackson has also conducted extensive research at the Harvard Civil Rights Project on civil rights and opportunity gap issues.
The Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle ’71 - Senior District Judge of the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana
Dr. Rudy Lombard ’61(deceased) - is credited for convincing former Xavier University President, Dr. Norman C. Francis ’52 to house the freedom riders after their bus had been bombed in route to New Orleans. As a student at Xavier and after his graduation, Dr. Lombard led and participated in several Canal Street sit-ins and his arrest at McCrory’s Five and Dime led to a U.S. Supreme Court case bearing his name, Lombard v. Louisiana.
Ernest Dutch Morial ’52 (deceased) – A trailblazer in American law and politics Ernest Dutch Morial was elected the first African American Mayor of New Orleans. Ernest Morial was also the first African American graduate of LSU School of Law; first African American lawyer to serve in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Louisiana; first African American in the State House of Representative since Reconstruction; first African American judge in Juvenile Court and first African American to be elected to the State Appeals Court.
The Honorable Karen Wells Roby ’83 - Chief United States Magistrate Judge U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
Admiral Stephen W. Rochon ’84 - Former Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard Former Director of the Executive Residence (White House)