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).

Occidental launches the Barack Obama Scholars Program to honor the president’s legacy, empowering future generations of students dedicated to the public good
Fall17_Veitch
‘Wicked Problems’? Avoiding Easy Answers
JoeRohde
Memories of Joe Rohde’s cafeteria hats, senior comps, and Oxy’s “unknown” soldiers
Retiring professor Diana Card Linden made the leap from biology to cognitive science, building a program into a department while being mindful of her students
Summer17_Nersissian
Remembering associate professor of chemistry Aram Nersissian and former track and field head coach Jim Bush
OxyTalk_Schell
Retiring professor of psychology Anne McCall Schell urged every student to be their Best Possible Self—and she took her own advice to heart
Page64_Eamon
Eamon Armstrong ’06 travels the planet researching the best festivals of every flavor—and he won’t stop until he’s built a global community
Oxy Logo
Facts and figures pertaining to all things Oxy
Summer17_MixedMedia
New books, music, and movies with an Oxy connection
Summer17_3rdLA
Three popular mayors and an unpopular measure take center stage as Oxy’s 3rd LA resumes the dialogue
Summer17_sports
From nine All-Americans and two SCIAC players of the year to a no-hitter in baseball and a tryout with the Rams, spring was a highlight reel for Oxy sports
Summer17_ClimateSurvey
A new study on sexual assault at Oxy underscores a perceptual gap between survivors and bystanders
Summer17_Scholarships
For seven out of 10 students, financial aid helps enable the path to Oxy. Three recent grads recount their journeys, discoveries, and what comes next
Summer17_Commencement
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra implores Oxy’s Class of 2017 to swing for the fences in fostering change
Summer17_Manzanar
Seventy-five years after the Japanese-American ­incarceration, students in Paul Nam’s Modern Japan class visit an internment camp and discuss its legacy

Features

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 Oxy, 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, Occidental College 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
Filmmaker Angelina Lee '22
Farm to Film
Combining her interest in sustainability with her prowess behind the camera, Angelina Lee ’22 harvests a new documentary around permaculture

First Word

From the Quad

New tenure-track faculty at Occidental College, 2024-25.
All Paths Lead to Oxy
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 Oxy 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

Oxy 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 Oxy
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 Oxy, Professor Eileen Spain pivots to prepare future generations of faculty in the physical sciences

Last Page

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