• Print
  • Email
 

Public Service

Both President Barack Obama '83 and former Congressman and Republican leader Jack Kemp '57 have credited their years at Oxy with shaping their future careers. Both have displayed the same qualities - a lifelong love of learning; an openness to and engagement with the world; an ability to reach out across the aisle; eloquence as speakers and writers - that reflect the liberal arts education they received at Occidental. Other examples of the century-old tradition they exemplify include:

Elected Officials

  • Tomilea Radosevich Allison '55, mayor of Bloomington, Ind., 1983-1995
  • Kathy Augustine '77, Nevada State Controller
  • Robert Badham '51, Congressman, ranking member, House Armed Services Committee; six terms in California State Assembly
  • Patricia Bates '61, Orange County 5th District Supervisor; former California Assemblywoman; mayor, city of Laguna Niguel, Calif.
  • Alphonso E. Bell '38, eight-term Congressman; member, GOP National Committee; participated in the 1963 March on Washington; played key role in creation of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
  • Julie Bunn '79, Minnesota State Representative
  • Carmen Chu '00, San Francisco County Supervisor
  • Conway Collis '70, chair, California State Board of Equalization; domestic policy advisor to U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston; counsel, U.S. Senate Labor & Human Resources Committee
  • Hector De La Torre ‘89, former California State Assemblyman, former South Gate mayor
  • Mike Hernandez '74, Los Angeles City Councilmember
  • Charles Imbrecht '71, California State Assemblyman, chair, California Energy Commission
  • John T. Knox '49, Chairman of the Board of the California Council for Enviromental and Economic Balance; California State Assemblyman 1960-1980, speaker pro tem 1976-1980
  • Joe Krovoza '85, mayor, city of Davis (Calif.)
  • Gordon McInness '63, 20-year member, New Jersey General Assembly, former state senator, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Education
  • Ara Najarian '82, mayor, city of Glendale (Calif.), director, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  • Chris Norby '72, California State Assemblyman, former Orange County (Calif.) Supervisor
  • Thomas M. Rees '50, six-term Congressman; World War II combat infantryman; expert in international trade, banking, and housing issues
  • Acquanetta Warren '78, first African-American to serve on the Fontana (Calif.) City Council
  • Steve Worthley '75, Tulare County (Calif.) Supervisor

Government Service

  • Mike Bonetto '92, healthcare advisor to Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber
  • Jeffrey Bucher '54, attorney; member, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
  • Rick Cole '78, Ventura, Calif., city manager; Governing Magazine's 2006 Public Official of the Year; former mayor of Pasadena, Calif.
  • Ruth Coleman '82, director, California State Department of Parks and Recreation
  • Aubrey Davis '39, chair, Washington State Transportation Commission; founding member and chief executive of Group Health Cooperative
  • Gloria Duffy '74, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Club; former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction
  • Fred DuVal '76, White House deputy chief of protocol, director of intergovernmental relations, Clinton Administration
  • Richard Falkenrath '91, former deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, New York Police Department; deputy homeland security advisor, George W. Bush Administration
  • Robert Finch '48, California lieutenant governor, secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Reagan Administration
  • John K. Geoghegan '55, director, California State Department of Commerce; California State Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing
  • Dennis Hayashi '74, Superior Court Judge, Alameda County; director of the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Health and Human Services, Clinton Administration
  • Joanne McNabb '66, director, California State Office of Privacy Protection
  • Dennis R. Patrick '73, chairman, Federal Communications Commission
  • Alan Post '38, California Legislative Analyst
  • Janette Sadik-Khan '82, Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation
  • Thomas Sawyer '69, undersecretary, Department of Health Education and Welfare; special assistant to Ronald Reagan as California governor and president
  • Kathryn Shaw '76, member, White House Council of Economic Advisors, Clinton Administration
  • Linda Lorraine Smith '69, senior policy advisor, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle

Foreign Service

  • David Aaron '60, undersecretary of commerce for international trade; U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; deputy national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter
  • William Bellamy '72, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya; senior vice president, National Defense University, Washington, D.C.
  • Tim Betts '78, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy in Hungary; director of Iraq political-military affairs, U.S. State Department
  • David Dunn '71, U.S. Ambassador to Zambia and Togo; U.S. consul general, Johannesburg, South Africa; director for East African Affairs, U.S. State Department Bureau of African Affairs
  • Ray Ewing '59, U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus and Ghana
  • Kenneth Holland '29, president, Institute of International Education, the country's largest educational exchange program; helped set up Fulbright Program while serving as assistant director of the U.S. State Department's Office of International Information
  • U. Alexis Johnson '31, U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, Thailand and Japan; undersecretary of state for political affairs; chief of U.S. delegation, U.S.-Soviet SALT Talks; recipient of Presidential Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
  • Frederic W. Maerkle '68, U.S. State Department Counselor for Economic Affairs, Kabul, Afghanistan
  • Aggrey Mxolisi Mbere '69, South African Ambassador to Rwanda
  • John McIntire '72, director, World Bank rural and environmental programs, Africa
  • Toshiro Shimanouchi '31, Japanese Ambassador to Norway; Japanese consul-general in Los Angeles; English translator for Japanese prime ministers
  • Bill Schoux '61, foreign service officer, U.S. Agency for International Development
  • Robert Winchester '91, deputy national summit coordinator, U.S. State Department

The Law

  • Grant Woods '76, Arizona Attorney General
  • Diana Culp Bork '79, president, Center for Law and Public Policy; director, legal studies, Manhattan Institute; deputy general counsel and senior counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Anne Egerton '76, Los Angeles Superior Court judge
  • Walter B. Fisherow '69, deputy section chief, environmental enforcement section, environmental and natural resources division, U.S. Department of Justice; 2009 Service to America Medal winner
  • Dane Gillette '72, chief assistant attorney general, California
  • William P. Hogoboom '39, Presiding Judge, Los Angeles County Superior Court
  • H. Harry Holt '73, chief administrative judge of the Interior Board of Land Appeals, U.S. Department of the Interior
  • Simon Lorne '67, general counsel, Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Mary Lou Mobley '87, acting deputy chief, Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Jacqueline Nguyen '87, US District Court Judge, California Central District; former Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, California's first Vietnamese American woman judge
  • Michael Nott '62, California Court of Appeals justice
  • Carl West '73, Los Angeles County Superior Court judge

Military/Law Enforcement

  • Marsha Johnson Evans '68, rear admiral, U.S. Navy; president, U.S. Red Cross; national executive director, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.; acting commissioner, LPGA
  • James D. Fisk '37, deputy chief, Los Angeles Police Department
  • F. Brooke Nihart '40, colonel, U.S. Marines, author of the U.S. Military Code of Conduct
  • Carlos Ponce '79, sergeant, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, winner of the department's Medal of Valor
  • Sandy Wasson, Jr. '66, retired Los Angeles Police Department captain

Community Activism

  • Harriet Allen '35, president, Desert Protective Council, leading activist in successful fight for passage of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act
  • Dennis deLeon '70, AIDS activist; former New York City human rights commissioner, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS
  • Jim Drake '59, lead organizer, United Farm Workers Union
  • Joe Duff '68, Senior Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund; former president, Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP
  • Ernesto Galarza '27, author, labor organizer, co-founder of the National Farm Workers Union, regarded as the founder of Chicano Studies
  • Henry Santiestevan '40, director, Southwest Council of La Raza

Non-Profit Sector

  • Esther Aguilera '90, president and CEO, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
  • Carl Ballton '69, president and COO, Union Bank Foundation
  • Alice Walker Duff '69, co-founder and former president, Crystal Stairs, one of California's largest private, non-profit child development corporations, program executive, Atlantic Philanthropies' Children & Youth Program
  • Carolyn "Toc" Dunlap '63, co-founder, executive director, Creating Hope International, which works with partner groups in Asia to provide grassroots education and health assistance
  • Martin Gallegos '80, senior vice president and chief legislative advocate, California Healthcare Association; former California State Assemblyman, chair of Assembly Health Committee
  • Gene Grigsby '66, president and CEO, National Health Foundation
  • Jay Hansen '85, Chief Strategy Officer, California Medical Association; legistative director, State Building & Construction Trades Council of California