Famous people typically have an ordinary background, but we never consider commonalities we have with them. Some of these including hometown, birthdays, nationalities, or in this case, college. Here are a few of notable Ohio University alumni who have made it big.
1. John Newton Templeton
John Newton Templeton is one of the oldest and most significant alumni to graduate from Ohio University, in the class of 1928. Not only was he the first African American to graduate from the University, he was a former slave and continued to be of importance as he worked for the emancipation of African Americans. Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on campus, was partly named after him.
2. Paul Newman
Paul Newman briefly attended the University in 1968, living in Scott Quad, before pursuing acting. He won an academy award for the film "The Color of Money" and has also voiced animations such as Doc Hudson in "Cars."
3. Marie Tharp
Marie Tharp, an oceanographic cartographer, was one of two people who created the first scientific map of the Atlantic Ocean floor. Although at the University she studied English, music, alongside four minors! She studied geology and oceanography at multiple other universities after OU.
4. Ed O'Neil
Ed O'Neil, famously known for the shows "Married with Children" and "Modern Family" didn't start off in acting. He attended the university on a football scholarship majoring in history, although transferred after one year. He did graduate from Youngstown State University and became a substitute teacher before turning to acting.
5. Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright, voice actress known for the voices of Bart Simpson and Chuckie Fisher, attended the university on a scholarship. She's one of the few famous alumni who actually studied what the placed a career in.
6. Maya Lin
Native to the city itself where Ohio University is located, Maya Lin took independent courses at the university before attending Yale. At only 21 years old, her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington was chosen. She also had input on the creation of Bicentennial Park at Ohio University.
7. Matt Lauer
Lauer received his degree in communication in 1997, at 39 years old. He previously dropped out of the same institution almost 20 years prior. Since, he has donated money to the University. Most well known for his role on "The Today Show" and "NBC News" he has interviewed people such as Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Tom Cruise, Prince William and Harry. In 2017, Lauer was fired from NBC for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.
8. Piper Perabo
Piper Perabo, most well known for her part in the film "Cheaper by the Dozen" graduated from the university in 1998 with a bachelors in theater. She has since returned to the university to give lectures to students along with workshops.
9. Logan Paul
One alum of Ohio University who is always the white elephant in the room when talking about famed people from this school is Logan Paul. Majoring in industrial engineering, Logan Paul dropped out in 2014 after he became vastly famous off the now nonexistent app, Vine. He is now famous from Disney Channel alongside YouTube. Although, he has often been under hot controversy in the past year due to imbecile actions.
Who knows, maybe one of the creators in Ohio University's Community on Odyssey will be in an article similar to this, one day
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