By Cole Hatcher
When teenage Wendie Malick was choosing a college, she got some good advice from her family.
“I remember my parents saying, ‘Why don’t we go to Ohio? They have more schools per capita than any state in the union,’” Malick recalled during a recent virtual interview conducted by current Ohio Wesleyan University senior Miko Harper.
“I discovered Ohio Wesleyan, and there was something about the vibe of that school that just made me feel like that’s where I was supposed to be,” said Malick, who graduated from OWU in 1972 with a major in fine arts and a minor in theatre. “I was like kismet. I just looked at it, and I could see myself on that campus.”
A Golden Globe and Emmy nominee, Malick is known for movie and television roles including “The American President,” “Scrooged,” “Bugsy,” “Dream On,” “Just Shoot Me,” and “Hot in Cleveland.”
Malick spoke with Harper, a Black World Studies and theatre double major and dance minor, from Sandy Springs, Georgia, as part of the “Women of Ohio Wesleyan” (WOW) speaker series. Launched in 2016, WOW seeks to inspire, motivate, empower, and more deeply connect OWU’s women graduates, students, employees, parents, and friends.
During the hourlong interview, Malick also said a liberal arts education was perfect for her, as she arrived on campus with academic interests not only in fine and performing arts, but also in veterinary science, French, and creative writing.
“It made sense to be in a school where I could experience all of that,” Malick said, adding that her OWU experience also resulted in lifelong friends who “have made me a better human being.”
“I learned a lot but not just in the classroom,” she said. “You learn a lot about just life and support and loyalty and camaraderie, and just being there for each other. … There was nothing like it.”
Watch the complete “Unplugged with Wendie Malick ’72” special event at owu.edu/stream and visit owu.edu to learn more about enrolling at Ohio Wesleyan and the OWU experience.
