Best-selling

“I loved my experience at OWU, so it was great to go back and think about what it was like to be in college again.”

Richard North Patterson ’68 (History major), a former trial attorney, is the author of a series of critically acclaimed suspense novels, including a string of international bestsellers. He recently returned to OWU for background research for his 2009 novel, The Spire, set on a college campus. He is also a sought-after speaker on social, political, and legal issues such as gun control and family violence, and was the chair of Common Cause, the grassroots citizens’ lobby. (J.D., Case Western Reserve University).

 

Life-changing

“With opportunity comes responsibility. How could I not do something to help?”

Zack Rosenburg ’95 (Politics and Government and Sociology/Anthropology major) and Liz McCartney co-founded the St. Bernard Project in 2006 after witnessing the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which left nearly 70,000 people homeless in St. Bernard Parish. The project was spotlighted in October 2010 by U.S. News & World Report as one of “10 service groups that are making a difference.” Rosenburg left his Washington, D.C., law practice to become CEO of the project, which now has more than 20,000 volunteers who have reconstructed more than 300 homes over the past three years.

 

Legendary

“Ohio Wesleyan University has been very largely responsible for whatever is good in me, and is to be credited with whatever good I may have done.”

Branch Rickey, Class of 1904, literally changed the face of America when he signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945, breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Rickey was named ESPN’s Most Influential Sports Figure of the 20th Century.

 

Award-winning

“I believe in Ohio Wesleyan University. The liberal arts education provided here is second to none.”

Emmy Award-winner Byron Pitts ’82 (Journalism and Speech Communication major) is currently chief national correspondent for The CBS Evening News and a contributor to 60 Minutes. He recently visited campus to talk to students about his career and his book, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges.

 

Entertaining

“…a group of my [OWU] friends and I get together every year now…And we realize that we’ve known each other since we came of age and that we are some of our favorite people.”

The former star of Just Shoot Me, actress Wendie Malick ’72 (Fine Arts major) is now co-starring with Betty White in Hot in Cleveland, TV Land’s most-watched series ever. Honored by Women in Film as a “Woman of Vision,” she is an advocate for the Humane Society and Planned Parenthood, a member of the Environmental Media Association, and a Washington, D.C., lobbyist for federal funding of the arts in education, among other causes.

 

Motivating

“OWU was a nurturing environment where the professors believed in me and in my dreams. It was the first place where I realized that I had the ability to reach my potential.”

Nicole Detling Miller ’97 (Psychology and Sports Science double major) served as the sports psychologist consultant for the 2010 Olympic U.S. Speedskating team and, as a guest on The Colbert Report (one of the team’s corporate sponsors), welcomed Stephen Colbert as her honorary assistant. She runs her own private consulting firm, HeadStrong Consulting, and is a member of the Exercise and Sport Science faculty at the University of Utah. (Ph.D., University of Utah)

 

 

A few more alumni of all generations