Meet the Occidental College senior staff team.
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Rob joined Occidental College in July of 2017 as the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. He is native of Illinois. Rob earned his BA in psychology, his master’s in clinical psychology from Eastern Illinois University, and completed Ph.D. coursework in counseling psychology from...
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Amos and his team generate financial strategies, oversee finance and budget management, develop institutional policies, and improve operational functions to meet the College's goals and objectives. He is responsible for the Business Office, Budget and Institutional Planning, Facilities Management, H...
General Counsel
Nora joined the College as general counsel in 2021. A transplant from Memphis, Nora has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2014 and spent her first seven years of practice as a litigator at O'Melveny & Myers. As a member of the firm’s colleges and universities practice and its labor and...
Vice President for Marketing & Communications
Rod serves on the president's senior staff and directs the Office of Marketing and Communications, which addresses the communication needs of the entire College. A Covina native and first-generation college student, Rod earned a degree in communications at Cal Poly Pomona. He spent the first decade...
Vice President of Enrollment
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Maricela originally joined Oxy Admission in 2001, having begun her career in admissions while completing her undergraduate degree in Art History and Latin American Studies at Wellesley College. Maricela has also worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's...
Chief of Staff, Secretary of the College
Priya has served as the Chief of Staff to President Elam since 2021. In addition to overseeing the Office of the President, she collaborates with senior staff to advance the President’s and the College’s priorities. Priya co-chaired the integrated strategic planning effort that resulted in the...
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College
Wendy Sternberg has served as the vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Occidental since 2017. Prior to joining Oxy’s Dean’s Office, she served as the Dean of Academic Departments and Programs at Union College (N.Y.), her alma mater, and as the Associate Provost at Haverford...
Vice President for ITS, Chief Information Officer
James joined the Oxy community in September 2010 as Associate Vice President for ITS. He earned the title of Chief Technology Officer in 2012 and that of Chief Information Officer three years later. He has been a member of the senior leadership team since 2013. James has a BA in political science...