By L. Anne Newell
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 7, 1997

The Rich and the Famous: UA Style

Arizona Daily Wildcat Dennis DeConcini, a law senior in this 1963 Desert Yearbook photo, received two degrees from the UA, in 1959 and 1963 respectively. DeConcini later became a U.S. Senator. Joan Ganz Cooney (Joan Riordan Ganz), an education senior in this 1951 Desert Yearbook photo, went on to create "Sesame Street" and was the president of the Children's Television Workshop. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Phi Lambda Theta.

You can never know every person you go to school with in a university of nearly 40,000. Someone you sat next to in English 101 might be a future movie star, television producer, presidential nominee or trash-talking talk show host.

In fact, they have been.

If Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus decided to go to college, they might chose the University of Arizona. That's because "Sesame Street" creator and University of Arizona alumna Joan Ganz Cooney walked among these very same buildings more than 40 years ago on the way to her elementary education classes. Cooney, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Phi Lambda Theta, received her degree in 1951.

During her career, she also created "3-2-1 Contact" and was the president of the Children's Television Workshop.

"I believe that cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society," Cooney told one interviewer.

Cooney was honored with an Emmy for a television documentary on poverty and was named Woman of the Year in Communications by the Philadelphia chapter of Theta Sigma Phi in 1966. More than a decade later, in 1978, she received a Friend of Education Award from the national Education Association.

Then there's the well-dressed guy who sat next to you in political science 100. Arizona politician Dennis DeConcini received his bachelor's degree from UA in 1959 and his law degree in 1963.

Before becoming a U.S. senator from Arizona, DeConcini worked for two Arizona law firms, was deputy attorney for Pima County School District One and served as county attorney.

DeConcini was given an American Mining Hall of Fame Award by the university in 1984.

During his time at the UA, DeConcini was a member of ROTC, Phi Delta Theta and Delta Sigma Rho.

Daytime talk-show host Geraldo Rivera, who achieved widespread fame by attacking a chair with his nose during a controversial episode on Ku Klux Klan feelings, received a marketing degree in 1965. Nose breaking was not offered as a major back then.

"I'm not well-educated," Rivera told Entertainment Weekly in 1993. "When I was young, I never read the things most people did. So now I'm trying to re-educate myself."

Rivera is owner of the Investigative News Group, the company that produces news specials and his daily show. Before being categorized with the likes of Rikki Lake, Rivera was a news correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight," "20/20," "Good Morning America" and WABC "Eyewitness News."

He also has authored several books, including Puerto Rico: Island of Contrast, A Special Kind of Courage and Miguel Robles: So Far.

Rivera was known to use a stick to take out his aggressions. While attending the UA, he was a member of the lacrosse team, Tau Delta Phi, Sigma Delta Chi and Alpha Kappa Phi.

A woman of firsts also hails from the UA. Judith M. Sweet, the first female president of the NCAA, received a physical education master's degree from the university in 1972.

Three years after her UA graduation, Sweet was named director of athletics at the University of California, San Diego, where she became one of the first women in the nation selected to direct a coed intercollegiate athletics program.

She was elected NCAA secretary-treasurer in 1989, becoming the first woman to serve in that position also.

She was named an honorary letterman in 1983 because she was never involved in UA sports. Instead, she was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, and the senior honorary Mortar Board.

Not every proud Wildcat alumni actually received a diploma from the UA. To be considered an alumni, a student must have completed 30 credit units at a particular school, said Carolyn James, a UA Alumni Association official.

We were this close to claiming a U.S. president as one of our own. Former presidential candidate and now part-time actor Bob Dole was a UA Kappa Sigma member. He was on track to graduate with a bachelor's degree in government in 1949, but transferred instead.

Producer, writer and director of the '80s John Hughes, known for such long-lasting films as "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," "Weird Science" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," dropped out after his first year. He would have received a creative writing degree in 1972.

Every UA student is related to Paul McCartney, if you believe in six degrees of separation.

Linda Eastman-McCartney, former member of Wings and wife of McCartney left the university before she could receive a geology degree in 1964. She went to London in 1967, where she met McCartney and married him one year later.

"She flunked everything, even spelling," McCartney said of his wife's scholastic career.

Eastman-McCartney reportedly spent most of her time in Tucson riding horses in the Catalina Mountains.

Politician Barry Goldwater dropped out in 1929 after the death of his father, but received an honorary degree in 1969.

Goldwater represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate for more than 30 years and was the

1964 Republican candidate for president.

At the UA, Goldwater was a member of Sigma Chi and lettered in swimming. He was given the Air Force Military Service Award in 1974 and named an honorary Bobcat and letterman in 1986.