As AU becomes more and more prestigious under the ill-fated Ben Ladner's surprisingly effective plans, it's important for students to acknowledge the illustrious past that they'll soon be able to show off to the next pool of prospective freshmen. Included in that past is a veritable laundry list of notable alumni. Sadly, we could not include the phenomenal body of work from Kermit Washington, Barry Levinson or Willard Scott. But please peruse this list and garner inspiration from AU's alumni network. There's no telling who'll be the next Star Jones.
STAR JONES REYNOLDS
Almost every tour given to prospective students these days somehow mentions the fact that Star Jones had a stint as an AU student (it's almost more captivating than that rumor that Goldie Hawn lost her virginity in Hughes). Reynolds may be one of the more notorious AU alums right now, having been the source of copious (and perhaps overdone) media coverage and SNL skits regarding her fluctuating weight issues. A 1983 SPA graduate, Reynolds went on to get her law degree from the University of Houston and pass the New York Bar and work at the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. Sometime after that she wound up on "CourtTV" and, most importantly, "The View." Thanks to her work on "The View," Reynolds won an Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show in 1997 and has gone on to write a bunch of books and do about a million different things with other famous folks. Reynolds also visited AU in November of 2005 and brought together 15 members of the 11 sororities on campus and provided viewers of "The View" a glimpse at daily life at AU. Not to mention her sweet deal with Payless Shoes Source.
JUDGE JUDY
Judith Sheindlin, formerly Judith Blum, graduated with a bachelor's degree from the School of Public Affairs in 1963. After her graduation, she attended New York Law School and received her law degree in 1965, graduating at the top of her class. Her career began in Family Court as a prosecutor for the state of New York in 1972 before being appointed in 1982 to a judge in Family Court. As a judge, she pioneered the concept of an open court policy that allowed the public and the media to track her daily activities. As her reputation for a sharp, no-nonsense judge and lawyer increased, she attracted the attention of the Los Angeles Times and was the subject of an article in 1993. This caught the eyes of "60 Minutes," which ran a segment on her, and then, she was contact by Harper Collins publishing to write a book on her experiences. Since then, she has published a total of four books. After her appearance on "60 Minutes," she was approached to preside over real cases with real consequences for a television show. Her self-titled show premiered in 1996. Sheindlin is married to Jerry Sheindlin, and between them they have five children.
BENJAMIN SALISBURY
While he may have been an upper-crust child charmer as Brighton Sheffield (the little blond smarty-pants) on TV's beloved comedy "The Nanny," Benjamin Salisbury escaped the loving grasp of Fran Drescher and joined the AU student body. Salisbury is the most recent graduate in this pooling, having completed a bachelor's in Broadcast Journalism in 2003. He entered the school in 2000, shortly after the show's end in 1999. According to imdb.com, Salisbury graduated magna cum laude, was on the Dean's List for the School of Communication and interned down on the Hill for then-minority leader Richard Gephardt during his freshman year in 2000. Moreover, the SOC web site mentions Salisbury as an honored inductee into the Kappa Tau Alpha honor society for journalism students. Before working on "The Nanny," (which would later become the stuff class-less afternoons in a dorm room are made of), Salisbury's credits also included such gems as "Captain Ron" and "D3: The Mighty Ducks." And after graduating from AU, Salisbury's acting bug could just not be caught, and 2002's "S1M0NE" was made, where he starred opposite Al Pacino. So for all those SOC students out there wondering if they'll ever get places in life, have hope and maybe Fran the Nanny will come a-calling.
