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Life After Fire illustration for Occidental magazine, Spring 2025
Life After Fire
The Eaton and Palisades fires in January took their toll on members of the Occidental family, including students, alumni, faculty, and administrators. With a long rebuilding process ahead, they find strength and support among the...

Occidental magazine brings you campus news, in-depth features, and profiles of exceptional alumni. For the 2024-25 academic year, the magazine will publish two print and digital issues (Fall 2024 and Spring 2025) and one digital-only issue (Summer 2024).

A view of the AGC administration building
The ҹ糡 Board of Trustees welcomed six new members to its ranks in July. Trustees are elected to four-year terms and can serve up to 12 consecutive years following their...
ҹ糡 President Harry J. Elam, Jr.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decisions on race-conscious admission practices, Occidental is committed to adhering to the cornerstones of its historic mission
Keegan McChesney '16 and David Wigglesworth '50 M'53
Separated by 66 years but drawn together by an ҹ糡 bumper sticker, David Wigglesworth ’50 M’53 and Keegan McChesney ’16 became fast friends a decade ago. Keegan remembers his oldest friend...
ҹ糡 Professor of Chemistry Frank Lambert
Fifty-seven years after an ill-fated grade placed his academic dreams in jeopardy, Dr. Elliott Oppenheim ’69 recalls the counsel of his mentor, Professor of Chemistry Frank Lambert
18 Young Scientists to Watch
Occidental’s labs are the launching pads for countless careers in the sciences—and here are 18 graduates of the last 20 years, nominated by their former faculty mentors, doing exemplary work...
Illumination Chief Marketing Officer Sam Bergen '04
Following the record-shattering box office launch of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination Chief Marketing Officer Sam Bergen ’04 recounts his journey from Campus Road to Rainbow Road
Professor Linda Besemer, working with a straight edge on a lift at their studio in 2022.
Retiring from teaching—but not from painting—following their Guggenheim sabbatical year, Besemer says of their time at the College, "Occidental gave me a life where I could thrive"
ҹ糡 Professor Nina Gelbart
Occidental's longest currently active faculty member reflects on her 48 years at the College, selecting the subjects of her books, and her plans for retirement
Professor of French and Spanish Studies Emeritus Arthur Saint-Aubin
From writing about a 19th-century French novelist to 20th-century rock 'n' roll pioneers, the newly emeritus professor of Spanish and French studies juggles multiple projects as he prepares...
Professor Bhavna Shamasunder and her research team
Guided by rigorous research and a moral compass, Associate Professor Bhavna Shamasunder exposes the environmental injustices affecting the health of Angelenos
Richard Carlson '60, author of Mekong Medicine
U.S. Army Medical Corps veteran Richard Carlson ’60 on his Vietnam memoir, Mekong Medicine, and more
 Tye Hernandez ’23 (track and field), an economics/politics double major from Brea.
Ten standout student-athletes from Occidental’s Class of 2023 discuss the challenges and rewards of sticking with their sport through the pandemic
The 2023-24 Barack Obama Scholars at ҹ糡.
Meet the eight sophomores and juniors selected for Occidental's premier leadership training program
Occidental's solar array reflects a colorful sunset in 2014.
Ten years after its installation, Occidental’s solar array produces 12 percent of the College’s energy usage
Campaign Button for Distinction
As The ҹ糡 Campaign For Good sprints to a successful conclusion, the Board of Trustees endorses an integrated strategic plan for 2030

Features

Marcel Ophuls '50 in an undated photo
Contrarian Documentarian
Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls ’50, who attended Occidental for three years before dropping out to finish his studies at the Sorbonne, died May 24 at the age of 97...
Life After Fire illustration for Occidental magazine, Spring 2025
Life After Fire
The Eaton and Palisades fires in January took their toll on members of the Occidental family, including students, alumni, faculty, and administrators. With a long rebuilding process ahead...
Assistant Professor Janna Ireland
Advanced Projects in Photography
With two exhibits opening simultaneously and a new teaching space at ҹ糡, Assistant Professor Janna Ireland navigates her burgeoning career as she parents two growing boys
Eddie Gorton ’01, Paul “PK” Kim ’98, and David Murphy ’02
Sitting Down With the Stand-ups
Paul “PK” Kim ’98, Eddie Gorton ’01, and David Murphy ’02 trace their comic odysseys from talent shows and laundromats to Thorne Hall and the Laugh Factory
Professor William D. Ward at his desk in the Hall of Letters on Occidental’s Highland Park campus.
Unseen Occidental
From 1898 to 1914, ҹ糡 called Highland Park home—and a treasure trove of photos from the 1910s offers a glimpse of campus life before the move to Eagle Rock

First Word

From the Quad

New tenure-track faculty at ҹ糡, 2024-25.
All Paths Lead to ҹ糡
Hailing from China, India, Mexico, and all over the United States, Occidental’s newest cohort of tenure-track faculty embraces the liberal arts in Los Angeles
Chris Kim, the Choi Family Director of Instrumental Music, conducts the Occidental Symphony in a performance of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.”
The Sounds of Branca
A concert for the ages celebrates the generations-spanning clientele of music attorney John Branca ’72 and the launch of the John Branca Institute for Music
Members of the Pacific Crossings “Dream Team”: From left, Nakatsuka, Gilder Lehrman program coordinator Leah Baer, administrative assistant Thea Wilson ’24, and Hong.
Teachable Moments
Associate Professor Jane Hong and a “dream team” of educators bring 150 years of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history into focus

Mixed Media

Terry Kitchen '81 performs "We All Dream."
Mixed Media
A host of new works by ҹ糡 alumni explore explore themes of democracy, resilience, and human connection—as well as our fascination with horses, dragons, and ocean life
Carole MacNeil ’84 with her mom, Eleanor, in 2019.
Mixed Media
New books by Carole MacNeil ’84, Jessica C. Harris ’08, Jessica Keith ’00, Marsha de la O ’74, and the latest documentary short by César Martínez Barba ’17

ҹ糡 Talk

Administrative Law Judge Brian Gee ’87
Judgment Calls
Separated by 2,700 miles, National Labor Relations Board administrative law judges Brian Gee ’87 and Ira Sandron ’71 find common ground in ҹ糡
As program director of Research Corporation for Science Advance- ment’s RCSA Fellows Initiative, Spain will support postdocs in physics, astronomy, and chemistry as they transition into their faculty careers.
To Chemistry and Beyond
After 28 years in the classroom and mentoring 74 students in her lab at ҹ糡, Professor Eileen Spain pivots to prepare future generations of faculty in the physical sciences

Last Page

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