More than half a century of popular music came alive on October 18 as Occidental celebrated the establishment of the John Branca Institute for Music with an hourlong concert in Thorne Hall. In June, Occidental announced a $5 million gift from legendary attorney John G. Branca ’72—partner and head of the music department at Ziffren Brittenham, one of the world’s most respected entertainment law firms—that will establish the new music teaching and learning facility.

The Occidental Athletics Hall of Fame welcomed five new inductees into its ranks on October 20. The Class of 2024 includes:

Andy Steben ’69, who won the NAIA Men’s Championship in each of his three tries (from 1967 to 1969), and placed fifth in the 1968 Olympic trials. Steben has also served for the last 45 years as the College’s pole vaulting coach—a record untouched by any coach of any sport at Oxy.

In his bid to unseat two-term incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, Rep. Colin Allred had no bigger champion than his wife, Alexandra Eber ’11, a politics major at Occidental. But he had some additional help on the Oxy front from Alex Woo ’25, a diplomacy and world affairs and economics double major from South Korea, and Quinn Sumerlin ’26, a politics major from Arlington, Va.

There’s nothing glamorous about grassroots campaign work: Knocking on doors, spending long hours in makeshift rental offices, and making endless phone calls isn’t everyone’s idea of nirvana. But Samantha Sencer-Mura ’11 took to these tasks like Dan Rather to a metaphor.

Growing up in Sonoma County, Eileen Spain demonstrated a natural proclivity for math and science—aided, she says, by an “awesome” high school chemistry teacher. A first-generation college student, she majored in chemistry as an undergrad at Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University and as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, where she completed her doctorate in 1992.

You, Your Parent, and Your Caregiving Journey: Strategies, Resources, and Inspiration to Guide the Way, by Carole MacNeil ’84 (Gatekeeper Press). MacNeil’s work and research h

The end of the calendar year traditionally is a time for evaluating our accomplishments, planning ahead for changes yet to come, and envisioning the progress we hope to achieve as a community.

“Some people can publish books while they are teaching undergraduates,” says Professor of English Emeritus Eric Newhall ’67, “and I wasn’t one of those people.” But he had a story in him dating back to 1970, when he was released from prison after spending nine and a half months behind bars as a draft resister.

For her senior comps at Oxy, Angelina Lee ’22 made a 10-minute science fiction short titled Quercus, which is the genus name for the oak tree. The film is set in a not-so-distant future where there are no trees due to pollution and other environmental disasters, driving people to live in underground bunkers. Through advanced technology, they have a museum exhibit that’s so immersive that they can see what trees were like.

Each fall, an influx of new faces arrives on the Occidental campus—bringing with them new ideas, new dreams, and new visions that may shape our collective futures. Hyperbole, you say? It was 45 years ago that a freshman named “Barry” Obama joined the Oxy community. We introduce to you nine new members of the Tiger family—we don’t know where they’re going, but every hero has an origin story.