Oxy in the News

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April 14, 2008

• Former President Susan Prager's appointment as executive director of the Association of American Law Schools was reported in the April 11 Chronicle of Higher Education.
   
• Heidi VanDerveer's appointment as women's basketball coach was reported in the April 8 Los Angeles Times and the April 9 San Jose Mercury News and San Francisco Chronicle.
   
• Aaron Henne '00 won a 2008 L.A. Weekly Theater Award for playwriting for his original work, "Sliding Into Hades," at the 29th annual awards ceremony April 7.
   
• Joanna Gleason '72's performance in the new play "Something You Did" was reviewed in the April 2 New York Times.
   
• Steve Coll '80's new book, "The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century," has been widely reviewed, including in the April 1 editions of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Coll's on-air interviews have included NPR's "Fresh Air" and Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show." 
   
• Barack Obama '83's time at Occidental was discussed at length in a March 31 Newsweek cover story titled, "When Barry Became Barack." The Newsweek piece was quoted in a March 24 blog post in the Wall Street Journal. Stories in the April 10 New York Times and the March 23 London Sunday Times on March 23 also mentioned his years at Occidental. An article in the March 3 Columbia Spectator about Obama's ties to Columbia University quoted Columbia professor David Eisenbach as saying: "Obama probably transferred after two years at Occidental because he felt that degree wouldn't get him where he wanted to go. He transferred out of ambition rather than any affection for Columbia or for New York."
   
• Nash Petrovic '08 was quoted in the March 24 New York Times about the pro-Serbia banner he brought to a tennis meet in Indian Wells, which was confiscated by officials.
   
• Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics Peter Dreier was quoted in a March 24 Los Angeles Times story about California regions' battle over housing money. In the Los Angeles Daily News on March 2, he was quoted about major sports figures playing an unprecedented role in the presidential campaign. Dreier also co-authored an editorial in the March issue of Dissent magazine about the television drama "The Wire," and was quoted in a March 20 article in the Pasadena Star-News about Iraq war protests. 
   
• Joel Sheldon '66, CEO and owner of Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, was featured in a front-page March 22 Pasadena Star-News article about Vroman's selection as the nation's best independent bookstore by Publisher's Weekly.
   
• Occidental Director of Financial Aid Maureen McRae Levy was profiled in the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 21. "I have to be a tax-enforcement agent, lawyer, accountant, and social worker," Levy said.
   
• A column by Gloria Duffy '75 on the current challenges facing higher education that mentions Occidental appeared in the March issue of Commonwealth magazine.
   
• English and Comparative Literary Studies Professor Gabrielle Foreman's "An Open Letter to Geraldine Ferraro" appeared on the Huffington Post on March 17.
   
• Don Rowe '11 writes a monthly column for the Los Angeles Peninsula News & Rolling Hills Herald. His last piece, about becoming a resident advisor for his sophomore year, was published March 15.
   
• Stephen Fox '69 wrote an article about the artificial sweetener Aspartame and efforts in Hawaii to ban its use in the March 13 Hawaii Reporter.
   
• A March 9 article in the Los Angeles Times about the 1968 L.A. school walkout by Mexican American students singled out Paula Crisostomo, director of government and community relations at Occidental. Crisostomo's participation in the walkout also was festured in an article in the March Tu Ciudad.
   
• Ariel Ceja '05 and his family's Napa Valley Winery were the subject of a piece in the March 7 Napa Valley Register. The article mentioned Ceja's film studies at Oxy. "He's putting his film studies to good use by launching video blogs and a new cooking show on the Internet."
   
• A March 2 front-page Los Angeles Times article about an alleged tax-fraud scheme involving donations of overvalued art to four local museums quoted Sheryl Gillett '72, a senior member of the American Society of Appraisers. 
   
• Mark Vallianatos, director of Oxy's Center for Food and Justice, and Moira Beery, the California Farm to School Program manager at the center, co-wrote a March 2 editorial in the Pasadena Star-News criticizing the food available in public schools.
   
• An article in the Sunday, March 2 Travel section of the Los Angeles Times featured the Rinconada Dairy, co-owned by husband and wife team Christine Maguire and her husband, Jim Maguire '65. 
   
• Associate Dean and Mathematics Professor Mickey McDonald's appointment as provost at Kalamazoo College was reported in the Feb. 23 Kalamazoo Gazette.
   
• Jennifer Marsh '88's book Welcome to Jordan was reviewed in the Jordan Times on Feb. 18.