Bob Dole (J.D. '52; LLD '69) – former U.S. Senator from Kansas and Senate Majority Leader, Republican candidate for President of the United States (1996)[3]
Charles D. McAtee – Director of Kansas penal institutions during the last executions held in Kansas; candidate for Congress and attorney general (Republican)
Warren W. Shaw – Kansas State Representative (1951–1957); candidate for Governor of Kansas (1956); member of the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame
Jim Slattery – Kansas State Representative (1973–1979); U.S. Representative from Kansas's 2nd congressional district (1983–1995); candidate for Governor of Kansas (1994), candidate for the U.S. Senate (2008)[10]
Eric F. Melgren (b. 1956) – District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (2008–present)
Loren Miller (1903–1967) Municipal Court Judge, County of Los Angeles, California (1964-1967)
Nancy Moritz (J.D. '85) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2011–2014); Judge for 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (2014–present)
Joseph Wilson Morris – senior partner, Gable & Gotwals (1984–present); general counsel of Shell Oil (1978–1983); Chief Judge, Eastern District of Oklahoma (1974–1978); Dean, University of Tulsa College of Law (1972–1974)
Lauren Drain – nurse and author known for writing the 2013 book Banished, which chronicles her experiences and eventual banishment from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church
Robert Whittaker (1920–1980) (B.S. '42) – plant ecologist; known for first proposing the five kingdom taxonomic classification and Whittaker Biome Classification.
Military service
Brigadier GeneralArthur S. Champeny (1893–1979) – only man in U.S. history to receive the Distinguished Service Cross in three separate conflicts: World War I, World War II and Korea
Brigadier GeneralClarence T. "Curly" Edwinson (1912–1985) – flew 30 missions as a World War II fighter pilot; Commander, 42nd Air Division, U.S. Air Force; all conference halfback at Washburn
ColonelLeroy W. Stutz (b. 1939) – U.S. Air Force pilot; shot down on his 85th mission in Vietnam; spent 2,284 days as a prisoner of war, including time at the "Hanoi Hilton" (attended WU in 1960, transferred to Air Force Academy)
Ernest Bearg (1893–1971) – WU football coach (1918–1919, 1929–1935), Nebraska coach (1925–1928), Nebraska football Hall of Fame (1988), Washburn Athletics Hall of Fame (1973–1974)
Kurt Budke (1961–2011) – WU basketball and graduate assistant, head coach for Louisiana Tech (2002–2005) and Oklahoma State (2005–2011) women's programs
^"Jim Slattery". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
^"Obituaries: RADM Stanley Thomas Counts, USN (Ret) '49". The USNA Alumni Association San Diego Chapter Newsletter (May). The USNA Alumni Association: 2&3. 2015.