FALL 2023
Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Nonprofit U.S. Postage Paid Occidental College
How the Campaign Changed the College for Good
Philosophy at Oxy: Expanding the Canon
Address Service Requested
FALL 2023
is currently executive director of the California Parks Hospitality Association, and son David Griswold ’84 recently sold Sustainable Harvest, a fair trade coffee importing company he founded and ran for 25 years. More recently, a third generation of Griswolds has passed through campus: Granddaughter Jean Coleman ’14, a diplomacy and Then and now: Bill world affairs (DWA) and Spanand Jean Griswold at their home in ish studies double major, is an Fort Collins, Colo. economic development specialist for Sacramento County, and the principles that would guide grandson Gavin Griswold ’23 graduated them throughout their careers as last May as a DWA major. educators. After four years teaching Jean and Bill’s deep gratitude for Oxy in Turkey, Bill attended graduate school at was an important reason for their deciUCLA, completing his dissertation in Mid- sion to include the College in their will. dle Eastern studies. He joined the faculty (When he arrived at Occidental, Bill got a of Colorado State University (CSU) as a job at the President’s House, where he says professor of history in 1965, teaching for President Arthur G. Coons 1920 and wife 30 years. Jean completed her master’s in Edna treated him like a son, and he and teaching English as a foreign language Arthur Jr. ’52 became close friends.) Bill’s at CSU and helped launch the Fort Collins own experience, aided by the G.I. Bill and International Center in 1969. She later part-time jobs on campus, highlighted in served as director of International Student their minds the importance of scholarServices at CSU until her retirement in ships for deserving students. 1995. The couple’s Sunday waffle break“We want to ensure that future generfasts—which they hosted at their home for ations will have access to the same transmore than 45 years for international visi- formative opportunities we enjoyed,” Bill tors, staff, and students—are legendary in says. “It is our way to help Occidental conthe CSU community. tinue its role in shaping the lives of future Jean and Bill raised three children, two students, the same way it did for us.” of whom followed in their footsteps to Oxy. Daughter Ruth Griswold Coleman ’82 H’12
oxy.edu/giving
New Faces of 2027
Oxy’s 140th-anniversary class is teeming with artists, athletes, advocates, and entrepreneurs— including beekeeper and ballplayer Alex Ryan Nielsen COLLECTOR’S COVER 1 OF 4
oxy.edu/magazine
As a sophomore at Occidental, Bill Griswold ’50 was active in the College’s Student Church and aspired to a leadership role in the organization. He heard about a new student named Jean Stiver ’51 “who was going to do great things” for the group, “and I was not at all sure that we needed that change,” he recalls with a laugh. Hubert Noble ’28, College chaplain and assistant professor of religion, assured Bill that Jean would be a great addition to the group—and sure enough, Jean became co-chair of Student Church while Bill led its choir. This was the start of a relationship that has endured for over 72 years of marriage. In a recent conversation at their home of more than 48 years in Fort Collins, Colo., Bill and Jean shared fond memories of their undergraduate days. Bill, a philosophy major from Bellingham, Wash., recalled how the Student Church held a “very successful” hot dog sale during a victorious Oxy football game. Jean, an education major, began her time at Oxy commuting to Eagle Rock with her brother, Jim Stiver ’50, from their home in Pasadena. In later years, she lived in Erdman Hall: “Once I moved on campus, student life was so much more fun!” Occidental played an indelible role in shaping the course of their lives, Bill notes, providing them with an exceptional education, valuable teaching credentials, and
A Q&A WITH PRESIDENT ELAM /// GETTING TO KNOW OCCIDENTAL’S 14 NEW FACULTY
A Remarkable Journey
FALL 2023
Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Nonprofit U.S. Postage Paid Occidental College
How the Campaign Changed the College for Good
Philosophy at Oxy: Expanding the Canon
Address Service Requested
FALL 2023
is currently executive director of the California Parks Hospitality Association, and son David Griswold ’84 recently sold Sustainable Harvest, a fair trade coffee importing company he founded and ran for 25 years. More recently, a third generation of Griswolds has passed through campus: Granddaughter Jean Coleman ’14, a diplomacy and Then and now: Bill world affairs (DWA) and Spanand Jean Griswold at their home in ish studies double major, is an Fort Collins, Colo. economic development specialist for Sacramento County, and the principles that would guide grandson Gavin Griswold ’23 graduated them throughout their careers as last May as a DWA major. educators. After four years teaching Jean and Bill’s deep gratitude for Oxy in Turkey, Bill attended graduate school at was an important reason for their deciUCLA, completing his dissertation in Mid- sion to include the College in their will. dle Eastern studies. He joined the faculty (When he arrived at Occidental, Bill got a of Colorado State University (CSU) as a job at the President’s House, where he says professor of history in 1965, teaching for President Arthur G. Coons 1920 and wife 30 years. Jean completed her master’s in Edna treated him like a son, and he and teaching English as a foreign language Arthur Jr. ’52 became close friends.) Bill’s at CSU and helped launch the Fort Collins own experience, aided by the G.I. Bill and International Center in 1969. She later part-time jobs on campus, highlighted in served as director of International Student their minds the importance of scholarServices at CSU until her retirement in ships for deserving students. 1995. The couple’s Sunday waffle break“We want to ensure that future generfasts—which they hosted at their home for ations will have access to the same transmore than 45 years for international visi- formative opportunities we enjoyed,” Bill tors, staff, and students—are legendary in says. “It is our way to help Occidental conthe CSU community. tinue its role in shaping the lives of future Jean and Bill raised three children, two students, the same way it did for us.” of whom followed in their footsteps to Oxy. Daughter Ruth Griswold Coleman ’82 H’12
oxy.edu/giving
New Faces of 2027
oxy.edu/magazine
As a sophomore at Occidental, Bill Griswold ’50 was active in the College’s Student Church and aspired to a leadership role in the organization. He heard about a new student named Jean Stiver ’51 “who was going to do great things” for the group, “and I was not at all sure that we needed that change,” he recalls with a laugh. Hubert Noble ’28, College chaplain and assistant professor of religion, assured Bill that Jean would be a great addition to the group—and sure enough, Jean became co-chair of Student Church while Bill led its choir. This was the start of a relationship that has endured for over 72 years of marriage. In a recent conversation at their home of more than 48 years in Fort Collins, Colo., Bill and Jean shared fond memories of their undergraduate days. Bill, a philosophy major from Bellingham, Wash., recalled how the Student Church held a “very successful” hot dog sale during a victorious Oxy football game. Jean, an education major, began her time at Oxy commuting to Eagle Rock with her brother, Jim Stiver ’50, from their home in Pasadena. In later years, she lived in Erdman Hall: “Once I moved on campus, student life was so much more fun!” Occidental played an indelible role in shaping the course of their lives, Bill notes, providing them with an exceptional education, valuable teaching credentials, and
A Q&A WITH PRESIDENT ELAM /// GETTING TO KNOW OCCIDENTAL’S 14 NEW FACULTY
A Remarkable Journey
Oxy’s 140th-anniversary class is teeming with artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, and advocates— including ‘Rising Star’ Fatima Flores
COLLECTOR’S COVER 2 OF 4
FALL 2023
Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Nonprofit U.S. Postage Paid Occidental College
How the Campaign Changed the College for Good
Philosophy at Oxy: Expanding the Canon
Address Service Requested
FALL 2023
is currently executive director of the California Parks Hospitality Association, and son David Griswold ’84 recently sold Sustainable Harvest, a fair trade coffee importing company he founded and ran for 25 years. More recently, a third generation of Griswolds has passed through campus: Granddaughter Jean Coleman ’14, a diplomacy and Then and now: Bill world affairs (DWA) and Spanand Jean Griswold at their home in ish studies double major, is an Fort Collins, Colo. economic development specialist for Sacramento County, and the principles that would guide grandson Gavin Griswold ’23 graduated them throughout their careers as last May as a DWA major. educators. After four years teaching Jean and Bill’s deep gratitude for Oxy in Turkey, Bill attended graduate school at was an important reason for their deciUCLA, completing his dissertation in Mid- sion to include the College in their will. dle Eastern studies. He joined the faculty (When he arrived at Occidental, Bill got a of Colorado State University (CSU) as a job at the President’s House, where he says professor of history in 1965, teaching for President Arthur G. Coons 1920 and wife 30 years. Jean completed her master’s in Edna treated him like a son, and he and teaching English as a foreign language Arthur Jr. ’52 became close friends.) Bill’s at CSU and helped launch the Fort Collins own experience, aided by the G.I. Bill and International Center in 1969. She later part-time jobs on campus, highlighted in served as director of International Student their minds the importance of scholarServices at CSU until her retirement in ships for deserving students. 1995. The couple’s Sunday waffle break“We want to ensure that future generfasts—which they hosted at their home for ations will have access to the same transmore than 45 years for international visi- formative opportunities we enjoyed,” Bill tors, staff, and students—are legendary in says. “It is our way to help Occidental conthe CSU community. tinue its role in shaping the lives of future Jean and Bill raised three children, two students, the same way it did for us.” of whom followed in their footsteps to Oxy. Daughter Ruth Griswold Coleman ’82 H’12
oxy.edu/giving
New Faces of 2027
oxy.edu/magazine
As a sophomore at Occidental, Bill Griswold ’50 was active in the College’s Student Church and aspired to a leadership role in the organization. He heard about a new student named Jean Stiver ’51 “who was going to do great things” for the group, “and I was not at all sure that we needed that change,” he recalls with a laugh. Hubert Noble ’28, College chaplain and assistant professor of religion, assured Bill that Jean would be a great addition to the group—and sure enough, Jean became co-chair of Student Church while Bill led its choir. This was the start of a relationship that has endured for over 72 years of marriage. In a recent conversation at their home of more than 48 years in Fort Collins, Colo., Bill and Jean shared fond memories of their undergraduate days. Bill, a philosophy major from Bellingham, Wash., recalled how the Student Church held a “very successful” hot dog sale during a victorious Oxy football game. Jean, an education major, began her time at Oxy commuting to Eagle Rock with her brother, Jim Stiver ’50, from their home in Pasadena. In later years, she lived in Erdman Hall: “Once I moved on campus, student life was so much more fun!” Occidental played an indelible role in shaping the course of their lives, Bill notes, providing them with an exceptional education, valuable teaching credentials, and
A Q&A WITH PRESIDENT ELAM /// GETTING TO KNOW OCCIDENTAL’S 14 NEW FACULTY
A Remarkable Journey
Oxy’s 140th-anniversary class is teeming with athletes, advocates, entrepreneurs, and musicians— including saxophonist Arjun Singh COLLECTOR’S COVER 3 OF 4
FALL 2023
Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Nonprofit U.S. Postage Paid Occidental College
How the Campaign Changed the College for Good
Philosophy at Oxy: Expanding the Canon
Address Service Requested
FALL 2023
is currently executive director of the California Parks Hospitality Association, and son David Griswold ’84 recently sold Sustainable Harvest, a fair trade coffee importing company he founded and ran for 25 years. More recently, a third generation of Griswolds has passed through campus: Granddaughter Jean Coleman ’14, a diplomacy and Then and now: Bill world affairs (DWA) and Spanand Jean Griswold at their home in ish studies double major, is an Fort Collins, Colo. economic development specialist for Sacramento County, and the principles that would guide grandson Gavin Griswold ’23 graduated them throughout their careers as last May as a DWA major. educators. After four years teaching Jean and Bill’s deep gratitude for Oxy in Turkey, Bill attended graduate school at was an important reason for their deciUCLA, completing his dissertation in Mid- sion to include the College in their will. dle Eastern studies. He joined the faculty (When he arrived at Occidental, Bill got a of Colorado State University (CSU) as a job at the President’s House, where he says professor of history in 1965, teaching for President Arthur G. Coons 1920 and wife 30 years. Jean completed her master’s in Edna treated him like a son, and he and teaching English as a foreign language Arthur Jr. ’52 became close friends.) Bill’s at CSU and helped launch the Fort Collins own experience, aided by the G.I. Bill and International Center in 1969. She later part-time jobs on campus, highlighted in served as director of International Student their minds the importance of scholarServices at CSU until her retirement in ships for deserving students. 1995. The couple’s Sunday waffle break“We want to ensure that future generfasts—which they hosted at their home for ations will have access to the same transmore than 45 years for international visi- formative opportunities we enjoyed,” Bill tors, staff, and students—are legendary in says. “It is our way to help Occidental conthe CSU community. tinue its role in shaping the lives of future Jean and Bill raised three children, two students, the same way it did for us.” of whom followed in their footsteps to Oxy. Daughter Ruth Griswold Coleman ’82 H’12
oxy.edu/giving
New Faces of 2027 oxy.edu/magazine
As a sophomore at Occidental, Bill Griswold ’50 was active in the College’s Student Church and aspired to a leadership role in the organization. He heard about a new student named Jean Stiver ’51 “who was going to do great things” for the group, “and I was not at all sure that we needed that change,” he recalls with a laugh. Hubert Noble ’28, College chaplain and assistant professor of religion, assured Bill that Jean would be a great addition to the group—and sure enough, Jean became co-chair of Student Church while Bill led its choir. This was the start of a relationship that has endured for over 72 years of marriage. In a recent conversation at their home of more than 48 years in Fort Collins, Colo., Bill and Jean shared fond memories of their undergraduate days. Bill, a philosophy major from Bellingham, Wash., recalled how the Student Church held a “very successful” hot dog sale during a victorious Oxy football game. Jean, an education major, began her time at Oxy commuting to Eagle Rock with her brother, Jim Stiver ’50, from their home in Pasadena. In later years, she lived in Erdman Hall: “Once I moved on campus, student life was so much more fun!” Occidental played an indelible role in shaping the course of their lives, Bill notes, providing them with an exceptional education, valuable teaching credentials, and
A Q&A WITH PRESIDENT ELAM /// GETTING TO KNOW OCCIDENTAL’S 14 NEW FACULTY
A Remarkable Journey
Oxy’s 140th-anniversary class is teeming with athletes, advocates, entrepreneurs, and artists— including dramatist Destiny Lee COLLECTOR’S COVER 4 OF 4
OXYFARE
Gauging Attitudes and Measuring Connections Volume 45, Number 4 oxy.edu/magazine OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
Harry J. Elam, Jr. President Wendy F. Sternberg Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Rob Flot Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Amos Himmelstein Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Suzanne LaCroix Vice President for Institutional Advancement Rod Leveque Vice President for Marketing & Communications Maricela L. Martinez Vice President of Enrollment James Uhrich Vice President & Chief Information Officer editorial staff
Dick Anderson Editor Marc Campos College Photographer & Videographer Laura Paisley, Kelly Young ’12 Contributing Writers Gail (Schulman) Ginell ’79 Class Notes Editor SanSoucie Design Design DLS Group Printing
As part of The Oxy Campaign For Good (page 10), one key initiative that was not measured in dollars was “Tiger Connections”—a metric that includes alumni gatherings on campus, online, or elsewhere; mentoring a student; or volunteering in an affinity or leadership group. (Class notes—a vital component of the magazine and the Oxy community—also counted toward that total.) Over the last seven years, we tallied 261,171 connections—roughly 10 engagements per alum. Not every Tiger is looking for the same kind of engagement. And in an effort to better understand your perspectives and attitudes about Oxy, we conducted our second alumni attitude survey in the last four years. The survey (conducted late last year) showed Occidental alumni were most likely to say that: Oxy graduates are likely to be successful in their career; the current faculty is excellent; they understand how alumni giving furthers the College’s mission; and the leadership of Oxy is committed to the College’s vision and mission. The majority of respondents have a positive opinion of Occidental. In fact, 94% of respondents rate their choosing to attend Oxy as a “good” to “great” decision. In addition, 66% of respondents describe their experience as an alum as “good” to “excellent.” Approximately 94% of respondents describe their overall current opinion of Occidental as “good” to “excellent.”
Assembling a Queer History of the College
Project Greenlight Winner Meko Winbush ’03
What else did we learn? Alumni believe strongly that their Oxy education prepared them most for “commitment to continuous education” and “further graduate education.” Alumni are focused on how their degree helped them in their lives and how the degree enhances their career. They also want to know that the Alumni Association is playing an important role in improving the student experience. Conversely, Oxy students seeing alumni making a difference in their college experience helps lay a foundation of lifelong support. Events offer an interesting opportunity for the College. If alumni attend events, there is a greater likelihood that their overall engagement will increase, which often leads to philanthropic support as well. Even those alumni who never attend an event—and we encourage you to join us!—believe that there is an intrinsic value to these activities and knowing that their alma mater is vibrant. If you were among those alumni who responded to our survey, again, we thank you. If not, we want to hear from you—and hope to see you engaging with Oxy in the coming year. Io Triumphe! Brenda Barham Hill ’71 P’03 President, Board of Governors
Alumni Attitude Survey Highlights by Generations While Oxy pride remains strong across the decades, what matters to alumni most? The answer varies by generation. Here’s a sampling: 1974-1980 Value, respect, history, and tradition have a significant impact on their opinion of Oxy 1981-1993 Think Oxy did a good job preparing them for further education and career opportunities 1994-2000 Believe it is important for alumni to provide job opportunities for new students 2001-2008 Want to get together with other alumni to learn more about financial planning, parenting, etc. 2009-2014 Want to network with other alumni in their area 2015-2019 Want to know more about how current students are developing skills and training and how alumni can help identify jobs for graduates 2020-2022 Want networking opportunities with other alumni and more information about Oxy’s diversity and inclusion initiatives Survey results based on 1,122 responses from alumni in 48 states representing the classes of 1950 to 2022. Among all respondents, 45% identified as male and 55% identified as female.
Snapshots From Homecoming & Family Weekend
SUMMER 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
Jocelyn Pedersen Coordinator, Book Arts and History of Print Cultures Program
Published quarterly by Occidental College Main number: 323-259-2500 To contact Occidental magazine By phone: 323-259-2679 By email: oxymag@oxy.edu By mail: Occidental College Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314 Letters and class notes submissions may be edited for length, content, and style. Occidental College online Homepage: oxy.edu Facebook: facebook.com/occidental Instagram: instagram.com/occidentalcollege TikTok: occidentalcollege Twitter: @occidental Cover photos by Max S. Gerber Oxy Wear photo by Marc Campos
Vintage orange fleece crew sweatshirt with “Occidental College” in cream lettering by MV Sport. 65% Cotton/35% Polyester. Sizes S-XL. $46.95 Mug All Over Print by Julia Gash Design. $19.99
Occidental College Bookstore oxybookstore.com To order by phone: 323-259-2951 All major credit cards accepted
DIGITAL-ONLY ISSUE
Bright Lights, Big Kitty
1
2
3
1. Latine Student Union rolled to victory in Oswald’s Homecoming Spirit Parade. 2. Art Chmielewski P’24, father of senior forward Marcus Chmielewski, blows on a vuvuzela during the men’s soccer win over Whittier. 3. Media Arts & Culture Professor Broderick Fox, left, moderated an alumni panel on careers in entertainment with Project Greenlight filmmaker Meko Winbush ’03, Oscarwinning producer Caitrin Rogers ’04, and Illumination chief marketing officer Sam Bergen ’04.
Nikita, a cougar living in the Verdugo mountains, and her Angeleno neighbors come into view in an eye-opening exhibit on urban wildlife
In case you missed it: An urban wildlife exhibit with deep ties to the Tiger family, composer Adam Schoenberg’s fanfare for a “cool cat,” Project Greenlight winner Meko Winbush ’03, and Out@Oxy’s new name and renewed mission are all featured in the Summer 2023 Occidental magazine, which is available exclusively online. To view this and past issues, please visit oxy.edu/magazine.
On November 15, L.A.-area Tigers went to the Laugh Factory in Hollywood to enjoy an evening of comedy. The lineup for this special night featured three hilarious Oxy alumni (l-r): Eddie Gorton ’01, David Murphy ’02, and Paul “PK” Kim ’98. Occidental hits the road this spring! Join us in L.A., D.C., and Seattle for engaging conversations with students and faculty and hear updates from College leadership. Keep an eye out for dates soon!
alumni.oxy.edu
FALL 2023
10
Features
10
10 For Access. For Distinction. For Campus. For Today. The Oxy Campaign For Good checked all the boxes—and the College is already realizing its benefits.
14
The men’s soccer team won its first SCIAC tournament crown November 4 en route to the NCAA Division III national playoffs. A recap of the Tigers’ historic season will appear next issue.
Departments 26 OxyTalk Occidental’s largest-ever cohort of new tenuretrack faculty brings a world of ideas to the classroom. Also: Anna Dalton ’12 climbs the ranks of competitive technical runners.
New Faces of 2027 Occidental’s 140th-anniversary class is among its most diverse—and they have a lot to say about everything from activism and athletics to culture and chocolates.
20 The New Philosophers Building on an academic legacy as old as the College itself, Occidental’s Philosophy Department has evolved to include a mix of voices far beyond the traditional canon.
25
2
6
33
First Word After four years at the College, President Harry J. Elam, Jr. will depart next June—but he has a full agenda as The Occidental Promise comes into focus.
From the Quad Oxy welcomes a new class into the Athletics Hall of Fame; Jack Kemp Lecturer Adam Kinzinger makes the case for democracy; and two Oxy seniors explore the SoCal coastal ecosystem.
Tigerwire Class notes for all years. Also: remembrances of emeriti professors Brice Harris, above, and Hal Lauter.
The Other Side of Roland Griffiths The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor, who died in October, was lauded for his “mindblowing” studies of psychedelics. But Barry Sears ’68 remembers his “wicked sense of humor.” About the Cover(s) To celebrate the Class of 2027, we created four separate covers featuring Alex Ryan Nielsen, Fatima Flores, Arjun Singh, and Destiny Lee. Visit oxy.edu/magazine to see them all!
PHOTO CREDITS: Sam Leigh Men’s soccer | Marc Campos Campaign, First Word, From the Quad | Anna Dalton ’12 OxyTalk | Occidental College Special Collections Brice Harris
FIRST WORD » A Q&A WITH PRESIDENT ELAM
‘I Wish I Could Be Here Longer’ After four years at the College, President Harry J. Elam, Jr. will depart next June—but he has a full agenda as The Occidental Promise comes into focus
President Elam addresses a Thorne Hall audience for the inaugural talk in the Oxy Live! series on October 3.
On August 22, days before the start of the new academic year, President Harry J. Elam, Jr. shared some unexpected news with the Occidental community: “I was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a neuro-degenerative movement disorder. Please know that I am doing well, with excellent medical care and a strong support system. But in order to prioritize my health and time with family, I have made the difficult decision not to serve the final year of my five-year term as president. June 30, 2024, will be my last day.” In the aftermath of his announcement, “The community’s response was wonderful,” he says. “The compassion and empathy I’ve felt is very much true to what we try to be about at Oxy. I’ve heard from students and 2
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
parents, and I’m appreciative and thankful. I wish I could be here longer.” On October 20—at the start of an event-filled Homecoming and Family Weekend—Elam sat down with Occidental magazine editor Dick Anderson to discuss his priorities for the coming months. First of all, how are you doing? I’m doing well. As a lot of people know, Parkinson’s is a slow-moving degenerative disease, which is a good thing. And I’m happy with my doctors. A lot of exciting things seem to be happening in the world of Parkinson’s, so I’m hopeful about that, but I know that stress is a key factor. Having brought The Oxy Campaign For Good to a successful conclusion, how do you feel it has changed the College?
There are some concrete ways, such as supporting new endowed professorships. That’s going to make a difference as we look to grow our faculty. Also, we’ve made renovations to buildings so that the campus looks all the better and can do more, trying to accommodate space needs for everything from music to chemistry. We’re still working on funding for Norris Hall. It hasn’t been easy to achieve, but we’re committed. Every new endowed scholarship will make a difference in what we can do in having the kind of socioeconomic diversity that we want as part of the Oxy experience. In terms of athletics, we’ve added several assistant coaches, and we have a new turf. The College is also doing more to support students’ mental health and wellbeing through the support of several generous donors. That’s already making a difference in working to be preventative and proactive rather than just reactive. Finally, we’ve seen Oxy’s endowment over the time I’ve been here go from $400 million to around $600 million. Out of all the money raised through the campaign, about $150 million is earmarked for the endowment—and that’s going to make a substantial difference in everything we do. What are your priorities this year? With The Occidental Promise, we are working on ensuring academic excellence. That has us working on faculty retention and recruitment and building up our tenure-track faculty. We’re also developing a first-year program that includes practical experiential learning. We already offer immersive courses as part of our curriculum— like Campaign Semester or the Oxy at the U.N. program—but how can we scale our efforts so that we can develop different experiences for each incoming class? We’re looking to partner with the faculty so that
FIRST WORD
Photos by Marc Campos
we can make some concrete impact by the end of the academic year. Another platform of The Occidental Promise is educating the whole student. And that includes addressing the concerns of transfers and also the experience of firstgen students when they arrive as those numbers continue to grow over time. With veterans, how do we help them transition as well? We have a committee under the Division of Student Affairs looking at these questions and by the end of the year we’re going to have answers as to how we’re going to work with those students as they progress through Oxy. Like the Class of 2024, you arrived at Occidental just after the outset of the pandemic. Do you feel the College has fully recovered at this point? We’re further along in many ways but “Not yet” is the answer. But I’ll start with a story. I was out in the Quad when the trustees were meeting in October, and three students came over to talk to me. One was a junior and the other two were seniors, and I asked them that same question. And their feeling was that it’s taken a long time to return this sense of community that existed prior to the pandemic. The classroom experience has gone through changes as well in terms of coming back into the classroom and potentially a different type of pressure or rigor. That’s been an adjustment for students. Socially and academically, there’s been progress but we still have a ways to go. Are there conversations about how AI is affecting the classroom experience— for better or for worse? Yes. There’s a committee headed by Wendy Sternberg [vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College] to look into that question. Also, the Center
left: President Elam and Board of Trustees Chair Lisa H. Link P’18 celebrate the successful conclusion of The Oxy Campaign For Good on October 5 in Cannon Plaza. above: Talking with Fetch Clay, Make Man director Debbie Allen at the Gathering Spot Los Angeles in June.
for Teaching Excellence is looking at it from the angle of how to pick up if students are using AI in ways they shouldn’t. From another angle, AI could really personalize the process of education and learning. Can we find ways to use it that can augment a variety of courses? Professor Katherine Leonard in computer science is interested in exploring this question as well as whether Occidental, as a small liberal arts college, can do some things that big research schools can’t do in the classroom using AI. So, we shall see. One of your most significant contributions to Oxy has been the emphasis on a culture of care. What does that mean to you? The basic idea behind a culture of care is showing a compassion for everyone who’s part of the Oxy community and beyond—that we can find pathways out of mutual respect to really care for each other, even as we may have differences of opinions on issues. More than that, the culture of care is asking: What type of college do we want to be—and what are our values? I think the idea of the culture of care does resonate with students, but it has to resonate with everybody in the Oxy community. These are emotionally trying times, where people have very strong opinions. If ever we needed a culture of care, it’s now. We touched a little bit on the physical plant, but what will it take to address
structural needs for science, music, media arts and culture, computer science? One of the things I’d like to facilitate before I leave is a master plan: What do we want the campus to look like in 10 years, and what’s the path to get there? The master plan will also bring in questions of landscape, deferred maintenance, and landscape issues related to sustainability. We’ve got a lot of grass to water here. Can we do better with native plants while maintaining the beauty of our campus? In terms of our academic programs and departments that are growing and thriving, media arts and culture has outgrown its space; that’s something we have to address. Same thing with computer science—and it’s exciting what’s happening with music. Down the line there will be another capital campaign, and I’m striving to do all that I can to leave Oxy in a good place for the next president. The search process is under way to identify Oxy’s 17th president. What advice would you give the search committee? To be honest, I want to stay away from giving them advice. They have to make a decision on what they think is best for the College. What I see myself doing is leaving things in a good place for the next person to pick up. One thing that happened with Jonathan Veitch is that he never really tried to influence or second-guess what was FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
3
FIRST WORD
From left, Jeff Goldstein ’86, Vance Mueller ’86, former Coach Dale Widolff, and President Elam at a celebration of the 126-year legacy of Oxy football in November 2022.
happening. He didn’t do it. So, I want to be like that. At the same time, I hope I can provide any information that’s helpful to my successor once they’re in place. But the decision really is up to the trustees. Based on your own experience, would you say that Occidental was as advertised? Yes. But it was even better than advertised. In terms of amazing students, dedicated faculty, innovative ideas, and people willing to collaborate and work together, all those things were better than I expected. Is there a day or a memory that stands out to you? I’d say Commencement last May. Isabel Wilkerson’s speech was called one of the year’s best graduation speeches [by The Guardian newspaper], so there was that. But there was also the feeling that maybe we were not totally over the pandemic but that we’re going to be more than all right. It wasn’t just a sense of surviving, it was moving into a new category of being prepared to thrive. So that stood out to me. Let me share another story. We’ve done the Moonlight Breakfast for the last few years. It’s wonderful to see 400 students lined up for pancakes served by the senior staff, but my colleagues stopped me from serving anymore because I was asking students too many questions. I heard you were holding up the line. Right (laughs). Instead, I walked the line and talked to people about what they’re studying and how they’re feeling getting ready for exams. Back in June, I was at an event in Culver City, talking to director Debbie Allen. [Assistant Professor] Will 4
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
Power’s play Fetch Clay, Make Man was opening and one of our students was doing her summer internship at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. And she told me, “You know, my favorite day of the year is when you serve pancakes.” I asked her, “Why?” And she said, “I love the feeling that everybody is just there and together and feeling that sense of unity was something.” Students know who I am here, and having the chance for impromptu conversations is something I take seriously. We’ve barely talked about athletics, but one of your most difficult decisions was to discontinue the football program. That was an incredibly difficult decision, and one that impacted many people. Last fall, we had a really good event to celebrate the legacy of Oxy football, with more than 80 players returning to campus along with Coach Dale Widolff. The feeling that night was great, and I don’t want to lose that energy or let them think that this is just a one-off. We are going to establish an archive and I intend to do that for the legacy of football at Oxy. [Former players] Vance Mueller ’86 and Jeff Goldstein ’86 were very helpful in pushing the issue in different ways. And they are just great people. When I made the
announcement that I was stepping down, Vance and Goldie were two of the first people I heard from. If you were to direct another play, what would it be? I would love to direct a student production of Hamilton, with a student artistic director. It’s not available yet for rights. So, it’s not something immediate. Do you have a wish list of people who you would like to bring to campus? We’re working with the Hameetman Career Center to set up a series featuring alumni talking about their post-Oxy life. If we were featuring artists, for instance, I’d want it to be something like “Art as My Occupation,” so students could see there’s a variety of careers in art other than just being an artist. We have alumni doing exciting work in all sorts of spaces. Why not a Harry J. Elam, Jr. Alumni Speaker Series? I would like that. Have you given any thought to what you’ll say at Commencement next May? Some ideas have flashed into my mind, but nothing concrete. Right now we’re trying to figure out who’s going to be the speaker. Coming in and going out with the Class of ’24, we’ve had some shared experiences.
Photos by Don Milici (football) and Sarahi Apaez (breakfast)
President Elam chats with students waiting in line for pancakes during Moonlight Breakfast on the Quad in 2022.
MIXED MEDIA
When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America, by Kevin F. Adler ’07 and Donald W. Burnes (North Atlantic Books). An estimated 6 million people experience homelessness in the United States each year. In When We Walk By, an urgent look at homelessness in America, authors Adler and Burnes introduce the concept of “relational poverty,” a dangerous form of isolation and loneliness. Through a combination of alienation, social exclusion, and learned assumptions about who becomes homeless and why, many people unwittingly choose not to see or engage with their un-
housed neighbors. This poses material emotional and physical harm to those experiencing homelessness, “while costing each of us our full, shared humanity,” the authors argue. When We Walk By takes seriously the real, intersectional reasons everyday people become housing insecure: eviction, domestic violence, racism, inadequate wages, medical emergencies, an inhumane criminal justice system, and more. Through conversations, stories, and interviews with unhoused neighbors, the book explores the complexity and nuance of America’s housing crisis while offering a profoundly relatable and optimistic guide to ending chronic homelessness within our lifetimes. The authors write: “When We Walk By offers an intimate look at how and why we unwittingly treat those without stable housing as problems to be solved rather than people to be loved.” Adler is founder and CEO of the nonprofit Miracle Messages. (He was profiled in the Fall 2017 magazine.) Burnes is co-founder of the Burnes Institute for Poverty Research at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois, by Larry A. McClellan ’66 (Southern Illinois University Press). Decades before the Civil War, Illinois’ status as a free state beckoned enslaved people, particularly those in Kentucky and Missouri, to cross porous river borders and travel toward new
Learning to Imagine: The Science of Discovering New Possibilities, by Andrew Shtulman (Harvard University Press). The science of cognitive development shows that young children are wired to be imitators. When confronted with novel challenges, they struggle to think outside the box, and their creativity is rigidly constrained by what they deem probable, typical, or normal. Of course, children love to “play pretend,” but they are far more likely to simulate real life than to invent fantasy worlds of their own. And they generally prefer the mundane and the tried-and-true to the fanciful or the whimsical. Children’s imaginations are not yet fully formed because they necessarily lack knowledge, and it is precisely knowledge of what is real that provides a foundation for contemplating what might be possible. The more we know, the farther our imaginations can roam. As Learning to Imagine demonstrates, the key to expanding the imagination is not forgetting what you know but learning something new. By building upon the examples of creative minds across diverse fields, from mathematics to religion, we can consciously develop our capacities for innovation and imagination at any age. Shtulman is the author of Scienceblind (2017) and professor of psychology at Occidental, where he directs the Thinking Lab. His award-winning research has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
lives. While traditional histories of the Underground Railroad in Illinois start in 1839, and focus largely on the romanticized tales of white men, McClellan reframes the story, not only introducing readers to earlier freedom seekers but also illustrating that those who bravely aided them were Black and white, men and women. McClellan features dozens of individuals who made dangerous journeys to reach freedom as well as residents in Chicago and across northeastern Illinois who made a deliberate choice to break the law to help. Onward to Chicago charts the evolution of the northeastern Illinois freedom network and shows how, despite its small Black community, Chicago emerged as a point of refuge. McClellan, emeritus professor of sociology and community studies at Governors State University, has been instrumental in adding listings to the National Park Service Network to Freedom register of the Underground Railroad. Pomes: Writing Like There’s No Tomorrow. The Collected Poetry of Douglas Lowry, edited by Ralph W. Kuncl ’70 (University of Rochester Press). Receiving a diagnosis of multiple myeloma may have created a sense of urgency in Douglas Lowry, emeritus dean of the Eastman School of Music, who wrote these over several years prior to his death in 2013. In one of his many speeches Lowry talked of “the theatre of ideas; not just musical ideas inspired by somebody else’s musical ideas, but the mosh pit of literature, visual art, drama; of the sciences, of social friction, of politics; in short, the mosh pit of the human condition.” His tentacles of interest reached every corner of the human condition, delusions, fantasies, memorable characters in literature, mythology, and life experiences. Toward the end, resignation set in with his realization, “Days and nights aren’t nearly as immortal as they used to be, are they?” Kuncl is a neurologist and president emeritus of the University of Redlands. FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
5
FROM THE QUAD Hall of Fame inductees and presenters for the Class of 2023. Seated, l-r: Assistant Coach Mike Joseph, Greg Butler ’77, Cresey Stewart Maher ’87, Nadine Felix Guest ’70, Director of Athletics Shanda Ness, Jeff Czworniak ’78, and Kraig King ’77. Middle row: Walt Rohlfing ’66, Gary Le Cheminant ’77, Professor Emeritus Mike McAleenan, Assistant Coach Scott Larson ’71, Head Coach Bill Westphal, John Zorotovich, Rich Roche ’77, Steve Snodgress ’78, and Bob Corral ’76. Back row: Dave Trotter ’77, Bruce Metzger ’76, Tom Ratkovich ’77, and Coach Bill Harvey ’67. Photo by Marc Campos
Welcome to the Athletics Hall of Fame Record-setting champions in swimming and track, a pair of dominant hoops teams, and a triple threat in basketball, softball, and volleyball earn their stripes After a four-year hiatus, Occidental inducted four new members—three individual icons and a tandem of basketball titans—into the Athletics Hall of Fame on October 22 as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend. Addressing the Sunday-morning gathering in Cannon Plaza, Director of Athletics Shanda Ness said, “I’m sure you all realize that we’re standing on the old Taylor Pool. Needless to say, athletics has changed a bit at Oxy since you were here. But one thing that never changes is the lifelong friendships and amazing memories that stick with you.” A triple threat in basketball, softball, and volleyball, Nadine Felix Guest ’70 made her biggest impact as a point guard in basketball. As a senior, she led the Tigers by averaging 25 points a game while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor. The previous year her buzzer-beater gave Oxy the margin of victory over AIAW powerhouse Long Beach. “Whether she was skying for a kill in volleyball or leaping up for a rebound in basketball, this young woman could elevate,” said 6
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
three-sport teammate Judy Bjorndal ’70, who introduced Guest at the ceremony. “More than that, she was a wonderful teammate and leader. She made us all better.” Unlike many of its competitors in the pre-Title IX era, Bjorndal said, Occidental’s women’s teams “actually drew a crowd when we played. And part of that was because we were winning all the time. But the other part, I think, was Nadine. People came to see her because she was such a joy to watch, and she was a joy to play with as well.” “It’s Thanksgiving for me,” said Guest, who acknowledged the administration and staff “who took a personal attention to me and helped me to grow.” Playing for Coach Ruth Berkey—who encouraged her to consider a major in physical education—Guest said she “fell in love” with the subject, and even though she didn’t stay in physical education for her entire career, “It gave me a great head start.” In additional to her athletics accolades, Guest was elected Homecoming Queen her
senior year. “Do you think that when Nadine came here from Stockton she was expecting to become Homecoming Queen?” Bjorndal asked. “I don’t think so. It’s a reflection of her personality, how people felt about her, how she reflected the ideals of Occidental.” As a senior, Walt Rohlfing ’66 won the 200 freestyle at the National NAIA Swimming & Diving Championships in March 1966, setting an NAIA record (1:50.7), and finished second in the 100 freestyle. When Coach Roy Dennis ’33 went on sabbatical in 1963, he asked former Oxy swimming standout Burt Kanner ’61 to step in as swimming coach. “On that first day at the pool, I saw Walt Rohlfing and I thought, ‘I’ve got something here,’” Kanner recalled. Oxy won four straight SCIAC championships in swimming during the Rohlfing era. At a time when freshmen were ineligible to compete at varsity level, Rohlfing dominated his competition. “In 1963, if Walt had been swimming varsity, he would have won the 200 free by about five seconds,” Kanner said.
FROM THE QUAD
Photos courtesy Occidental College Special Collections
From left: Nadine Felix Guest ’70, Walt Rohlfing ’66, the 1974-75 men’s basketball team, and Cresey Stewart Maher ’87.
Rohlfing, who grew up in Fresno and majored in biology at Oxy, cites the History of Civilization program as sparking his interest in the College. Later in life, he said, “I traveled in an RV for 20 years around the country and I got to see a lot of my old colleagues from Oxy. Everyone wishes they had studied harder in History of Civ.” In his remarks, Rohlfing cited Biology Professor John Stevens as making the biggest impact on him academically. Prior to the launch of the Vantuna, the Biology Department’s research vessel, “We shlepped the [oxygen] tanks down the cliffs, down to the ocean, and back up each weekend that we went diving. And we loved it.” The 1974-75 and 1975-76 men’s basketball teams went 40-15 over those two seasons, finishing 10-2 in conference play each season and winning back-to-back SCIAC championships for the first time in 20 years. Led by John Zorotovich ’75 (averaging 20.6 points per game) and Kraig King ’77 (14.8 ppg), the 1974-75 squad finished 19-8 and advanced to the NAIA District III Championship. Anchored by First Team All-Conference players Steve Snodgress ’78 (17.3 ppg) and King (14.4 ppg), the 1975-76 squad went 21-7 and earned a second straight berth in the NAIA District III Tournament. Professor of Sociology and Law Emeritus Mike McAleenan, who introduced the teams, recalled spending those two seasons “pretty well enraptured by the way that group played basketball.” The 1975-76 squad notched a “remarkable” 52.6 percent shooting average for the season. The key to the Tigers’ turnaround was Head Coach Bill Westphal, who arrived in 1973. “He had rigorous practices and demanded extreme precision in the execution of very complex offensive and defensive schemes,” McAleenan said. On the court, the
players “were a fiercely competitive bunch, but their approach to the game was characterized by decisions resulting from a high basketball IQ and learning to play the right way.” “To be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a team is a wow moment and very cool,” said Dave Trotter ’77, who played forward for the Tigers. “But we wouldn’t be here without Coach Brian Newhall ’83. This wasn’t on anyone’s radar until Brian made it happen.” During Westphal’s first season at Oxy, “We were 9-17, just trying to figure things out,” Trotter said. But the following season, after learning what he called Westphal’s “intricate—one might even say sadistic— offensive and defensive schemes,” the Tigers surged to their first outright SCIAC title in 11 years, winning by an average of 20.3 points. “Fifty years ago, this group of people walked on a court together, basically into Oxy together, and we bonded,” said Rich Roche ’77, the teams’ 6'8" center. Acknowledging his teammates, he added, “This isn’t the biggest or most athletic group you’ve ever seen. But Bill Westphal was able to convince us that we were mean, and tough, and big and strong—everything that we weren’t.” “It was an honor to be your coach,” said Westphal, whose 42-year career in basketball included stints in high school, college, and the NBA. Nine of those years were at Oxy, “and probably my strongest memory today is of this group. Congratulations on making it to the hall.” A two-sport All-American (in track and field and cross country), Cresey Stewart Maher ’87 set a national record in the 1500meter run at the 1987 Division III Track and Field Championships in Naperville, Ill., with a time of 4:27.11. A mathematics major at Occidental, Maher graduated cum laude with a 3.9 GPA and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Mortar Board.
Maher turned down a full-ride scholarship from a Division I school to enroll at Occidental, she said, thanks in large part to the efforts of Bill Harvey ’67, Oxy’s track and cross country coach from 1979 to 1999, who persistently called her northern Washington home until she finally committed to Oxy. But her college career was interrupted by both injury and financial hardship. “At the end of my sophomore year I was wearing a back brace and I had a broken foot, and I was out of money,” she recalled. After having foot surgery, she started her junior year in a boot at Cal State Long Beach, and by the spring semester she began to run again. The Division I experience, she found, was “really not what it’s cracked up to be, at least for me.” So Maher returned to Oxy as a senior, where she “took more than a full load” academically while running her way into the record books. “It was tough but it was worth it. I’m glad I did it.” Prior to her record-setting run in the 1500—two seconds better than the old mark and five seconds better than her previous best—Maher recalled, “I was thinking about the 800 because I thought for sure that’s what I’d be running at nationals. Coach Harvey scratched me out of that and put me in the 1500 and told us all we were running the 1500. [Teammate Michele Trimble ’89 finished third, capturing All-American honors.] I was a little surprised by it. He said it was a no-brainer, but I didn’t know.” Maher’s record in the 1500 lasted for 16 years before it was broken, Harvey said in his induction remarks. At nationals, he recalled, a coach from St. Olaf College in Minnesota asked Harvey how he thought she was going to do in the 1500. His reply? “Well, the race is over—it’s just a question of how fast she has to run in order to win.” —dick anderson FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
7
FROM THE QUAD
Making the Case for Democracy Jack Kemp ’57 Distinguished Lecturer and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger has a message for students: “You will be the generation that changes everything”
Adam Kinzinger, a former congressman and member of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6, 2021, Attack on the U.S. Capitol, made his case for the protection of democracy and stressed the importance of the 2024 presidential election in a spirited address as Occidental College’s 2023 Jack Kemp ’57 Distinguished Lecturer. “We’re going to be going through an election season, and it’s going to be pretty messy,” Kinzinger said on September 7 to an audience of more than 300 in Thorne Hall that spanned eight decades of alumni, including contemporaries of Kemp’s from the 1950s. “But the one thing I want you to keep in mind through all of that is that there has to be an alliance for the preservation of democracy that’s basically never existed in our country before. … Disagreeing on issues is actually a luxury. Being able to have different viewpoints is actually an honor, because that’s what it means to be self-governed.” Peter Dreier, the E.P. Clapp Professor of Politics, suggested a kinship between Kinzinger and Kemp. “Kemp was a conservative, a Republican, and a man of conscience, just like our speaker,” he said. Kinzinger “recognizes the difference between conservatism and authoritarianism. He’s the kind of conservative who reflects the values of Jack Kemp.” Following his remarks, Kinzinger—a senior political commentator at CNN and author of Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country—engaged in a discussion with Assistant Professor of Politics Isaac Hale ’11 on topics such as U.S. foreign policy, the political fallout from Kinzinger’s vote to impeach President Donald Trump, and the future of the GOP. “The rot on January 6 is everything that happened prior to that,” said Kinzinger, who served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022, representing Illinois’ 16th Congressional District. He called his decision to impeach Trump—one of only 10 Republicans to do so—“actually 8
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
“We are a country that has to believe in justice,” Kinzinger told the Thorne Hall audience of more than 300. “No one is above the law.”
the easiest decision I’ve ever made in my life. … What was hard was knowing what the cost was going to be and steeling myself for it.” While Kinzinger feels “vindicated” by his vote to impeach Trump in light of the former president’s ongoing legal battles, “I truly don’t celebrate the indictment of Donald Trump because I’m worried about the third of the country that truly believes the election was stolen.” If he had believed that, he added, “I would have been on the Capitol [among the protesters] on January 6.” During his talk, Kinzinger revealed that he will “probably” vote Democratic in the 2024 election. For now, he said, he’s not shedding his label as a Republican “because I haven’t changed and I refuse to let them bully me out of the label. But I feel no identity with the Republican Party anymore because it is not something that I see eye-to-eye with.” The only way to save the Republican Party, he suggested, is for the GOP “to burn”—and by that he means lose election after election. “It’s out of the ashes that it
can rise again, but short of losing more and more elections, this fever will not die.” Looking to the 2024 election, he said, “There’s a lot of big issues out there. But the only thing I care about personally, this election cycle, is do you believe in democracy or not? Do you believe that self-governance is important to this country or not? If you’re an American in here, we don’t have a right to give up on this country because there have been generations that have come before us that have sacrificed so much more than any of us in here could ever imagine.” Turning to the students in the audience, he continued, “If you’re young and you’re looking forward and you’re saying, ‘What is going to be my future? Politics is broken, everything doesn’t work, and nobody gets along.’ Well, that’s true. But I’m going to tell you, we’ve been in a similar situation like this before. And it hasn’t been the people in power that have come along and changed it. It’s been the people sitting where you’re sitting right now that are pissed off at what’s going on and want to do something different. “Some of you out there have solutions or ideas that none of us have even thought about yet,” he continued. “You’re part of the generation that can take this torch and fix this country. The challenge you have is you’ve never seen an environment where actual politicians got along. Jack Kemp was one of those guys. He knew how to respect people. He knew how to honor the fact that somebody could be very different” in their beliefs. “You can be as negative on the country as you want, but you will be the generation that changes everything,” he told Oxy students. “I truly believe that if my grandfather [an Army Air Corps sergeant in WWII] was alive today and he could tell you what he went through and what he saw and the sacrifices he made for this country, he would look at you and say, ‘If I can do that, you can do it too.’ ”—dick anderson
FROM THE QUAD
worth noting
From left, Ruby Siehl ’24, Professor Shana Goffredi, and Bianca Dal Bó ’24 aboard the R/V Atlantis, which was built with six science labs. Photos (pages 8-9) by Marc Campos
A Vessel for Student Research Biology Professor Shana Goffredi and two Oxy seniors explore the ecosystem off the Southern California coast
Professor of Biology Shana Goffredi has used research, which inspired me to emulate their submersibles for almost 25 years as part of her work styles and learn from their independence as work in marine biology. “There is really no sub- I continue with my own research,” says Ruby stitute for seeing the ecosystems with your own Siehl ’24, a biology major from Seattle. eyes, making observations, conducting seafloor Bianca Dal Bó ’24, a biology major from Berkeexperiments, and selecting samples,” she says. ley, studies deep-sea invertebrates—namely, In July, Goffredi had the opportunity to har- sponges, sea spiders, worms, and snails—that ness this technology alongside two Oxy Science inhabit the diverse ecosystem of the Del Mar Scholars as participants in a two-week oceanic methane seep off the Southern California coast. expedition aboard the R/V Atlantis. Owned by the Throughout the expedition, “I learned about deep U.S. Navy and operated by the sea oceanography, microbiolWoods Hole Oceanographic ogy, geology, and chemistry Institution, the ocean research from experts in the field,” she ship is specifically outfitted says. “This voyage gave me for launching the deep-sea, unparalleled access and opporhuman-occupied submersible tunity to scientifically further Alvin, which allows two scienmy project.” tists at a time to explore the The expedition’s research Go aboard the R/V ocean at depths reaching 6,000 Atlantis in our latest ultimately will improve scienvideo, “A Deep Dive meters. tific understanding of methane’s Into Student Research The San Diego-based expecontribution to deep-sea diverat Occidental College.” dition, funded by the National Scan the QR code at sity and ecosystem function, Science Foundation, was led by right to visit Occidental’s YouTube page. which has implications for an all-female team of scienmanagement and conservation tists, including Goffredi. Its research explored actions in United States waters. “I continue to be the role of large and small deep-sea organisms in amazed by how much of the seafloor remains determining levels and impacts of methane on unexplored,” Goffredi says. “To be physically Pacific continental margins. immersed in that world, seeing it with my own Workdays on the vessel were long, often run- eyes, is an incredible opportunity, but it also ning up to 18 hours. “Working in the same spaces comes with great responsibility to convey how as graduate students and postdocs [from Cal- much these diverse seafloor habitats are worth tech, UCLA and Scripps Institution of Oceanog- caring for and protecting.” raphy] allowed me to observe how they conduct —laura paisley
“Oxy Live!”—a conversation series highlighting a diverse lineup of cultural luminaries at the forefront of their fields— launched its inaugural season October 3 with internationally celebrated writer, artist and nonbinary activist ALOK (above, talking to interviewer and cultural interlocutor Paul Holdengräber). Scheduled guests include sociologist Ruha Benjamin (11/20), historian and activist Rebecca Solnit (11/28), visual artist Julie Mehretu (2/21/24), and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson (spring 2024). The eclectic lineup is curated by Oxy Arts and is funded through the generosity of trustee Lisa Coscino ’85. To learn more, visit oxy.edu/oxylive. Occidental rose two places in US News & World Report’s 2024 Best Colleges rankings, landing at No. 35 nationally, a 14-year high. The College also jumped 44 spots to No. 26 in the publication’s Top Performers on Social Mobility index, which looks to measure how well schools graduate economically disadvantaged students. Occidental received additional recognition in the Best Value Schools and Undergraduate Economics Programs categories. In addition to the US News rankings, Occidental also ranked highly in several other 2023-24 college guides, including Princeton Review, Washington Monthly, Forbes, and Money. FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
9
For Access For Distinction For Campus For Today The Oxy Campaign For Good checked all the boxes— and the College is already realizing its benefits By DICK ANDERSON Illustration by TAYLOR CALLERY
ince Raja Bella Hicks ’25 transferred to Occidental as a sophomore, she’s wasted no time immersing herself in the community. She has worked with local high school students as an Upward Bound mentor; she volunteered on the campaign of Los Angeles’ first female mayor, Karen Bass; and she has taught community dance classes to fourth and fifth graders through Oxy Arts. “It’s been nice to show these kids that dance is something that can grow their confidence,” says Hicks, a diplomacy and world affairs major from Salt Lake City, Utah, who worked with artist-in-residence Yasmine Nasser Diaz as an archivist research fellow last spring on a show titled For the Sake of Dancing in the Street. “That was a fusion of the
two things that I love most—diplomacy and world affairs and dance.” After Oxy, she plans to attend law school or pursue a master’s degree in international affairs. “Occidental has been so welcoming,” adds Hicks, who was selected last spring as one of eight Obama Scholars for the 2023-24 academic year (and interned in the office of the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles last summer). “My ideas feel welcomed, my identity feels welcomed. And the location of Oxy makes it really special.” Opportunities such as Hicks’ are a testament to the impact of The Oxy Campaign For Good —the largest fundraising initiative in College history. The seven-year campaign, which concluded June 30, outpaced its initial goal by more than $27 million, raising $252.8 million from more than 15,000 individual donors.
THE OXY CAMPAIGN FOR GOOD
Through direct support and estate planning, that extraordinary generosity will grow the College’s endowment by more than $150 million—including more than $15 million in unrestricted support—and preserve the Oxy experience for generations to come. “The energy and enthusiasm generated by the campaign will propel Occidental into the future, positioning us to execute on our vision and remain committed to the College’s mission,” says President Harry J. Elam, Jr. “We’ve had small gifts, large gifts. What matters is that sense that we’ve all come together, that we represent what Oxy can and will be.” By every measure, the campaign demonstrated the dedication of the Occidental community. Alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends stepped up to support the cause—demonstrating their resilience even in the face of the pandemic.
Unrestricted Endowment $15.4 million Undesignated $15.7 million
Overall campaign goal: $225 million For Access $97.5 million
For Today $37.7 million
Final total: $252.8 million
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
112.4%
175
200
225
250
For Campus $31.6 million For Distinction $54.9 million FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
11
Obama Scholar Raja Bella Hicks ’25, a diplomacy and world affairs major from Salt Lake City, Utah.
Two-thirds of all gifts were made by alumni, while past and current Oxy parents contributed $12.5 million to the campaign. Many of those parents designated their gifts toward athletics, with $7.8 million raised to support Oxy’s teams and facilities. Gift planning was another success story. A pair of Legacy Gift Challenges secured 55 newly documented planned gifts totaling more than $15 million—and another $550,000 was contributed to the Oxy Fund through a matching incentive program, the brainchild of campaign co-chair Gil Kemp P’04.
For Access Financial Aid Endowment
community raised $97 million for access, creating 69 new endowed scholarships and $1.7 million in funding for internships and student research experiences. One such effort is the Research Early Access Program (REAP), launched in 2021 with a three-year, $247,500 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation. REAP aims to increase the number of academically talented underrepresented and first-generation students pursuing degrees in the sciences by recruiting first-year students and pairing them directly with a faculty mentor for an immersive summer research experience. The College is committed to sourcing philanthropic support to continue this program beyond 2024. “Early hands-on research opportunities give students the chance to participate in science as it is truly practiced,” says Professor of Philosophy Clair Morrissey, who as faculty director of the Undergraduate Research Center is leading the program with Professor of Chemistry Emmanuelle Despagnet-Ayoub. Other student experiences that benefited from the campaign are Oxy’s signature immersive programs. Bolstered by a lead gift from Bonnie Mills ’81 and a dedicated committee, the Andy Beattie ’75 Endowment for Campaign Semester reached its $500,000 goal. And campaign co-chair Bill Kahane ’70’s continuing support of the William and Elizabeth Kahane United Nations Program—now in its 38th year—will ensure the future of the nation’s only full-time residential internship program at the United Nations at a time when its mission has never been more important.
Final total: $97.5 million
“Every year, Occidental loses great students to UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and other UC campuses because their families don’t qualify for most forms of financial aid at Oxy,” says former trustee Louise D. Edgerton ’67 M’69. To increase endowed scholarship funds for middle-income families in California, in 2020 Louise and husband Brad created the Edgerton-Occidental Merit Scholarship Challenge with a $1.6 million campaign gift. Matched by $1.6 million from Oxy, the challenge raised $6 million, creating 10 new endowed scholarships. Occidental is dedicated to giving promising scholars access to a transformative education by committing to meet 100 percent of a student’s demonstrated financial need. During The Oxy Campaign For Good, the 12
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
For Campus Capital Projects Final total: $31.6 million
One of Jonathan Veitch’s final construction projects as president was the reimagining of Taylor Pool, completed in 1930, into a multipurpose outdoor space for the Oxy community. Trustee and campaign co-chair Anne Wilson Cannon ’74 provided the lead gift for the construction of Cannon Plaza, which restores the Mediterranean Revival features of Myron Hunt’s original design. Hunt’s fingerprints were all over the campus during the campaign, including the renovation and redesign of Sycamore Glen, the Fletcher Jones Foundation Computing Classroom in the Academic Commons, and a new percussion studio and Choi Family Music Production Center in Booth Hall. Occidental’s athletics complex was expanded and enhanced through the campaign. Concurrent with the completion of the De Mandel Aquatics Center in 2020, the newly expanded McKinnon Family Tennis Center and Robinson Family Terrace were realized with the support of campaign co-chair Ian McKinnon ’89 and steering committee member Steve Robinson ’77. Not only did their generosity allow the Tigers to play their matches at home in front of supportive crowds, the new facilities have boosted Oxy’s recruiting efforts. Case in point: Matthew O’Connor ’23, an economics major from Oak-
Hicks and Campaign photos by Marc Campos | O’Connor photo by Sam Lee/Sam’s Photo Services
Matthew O’Connor ’23 finished his senior year ranked 13th among all Division III men’s tennis players in the country.
Photo by Colson Griffith
left: From left, Priscilla Chan, President Elam, and Gary Kaplan ’71 at the campaign celebration in October. above: Nick Lee ’10, right, at an alumni reception in San Francisco in January 2017.
ton, Va., finished his senior year ranked 13th among all Division III players in the country. Notably, the completion of the Oxy Arts building on York Boulevard in 2019 expanded the College’s outreach into the Highland Park community. Oxy Arts has presented 12 exhibitions and hosted over 125 events including dance performances, concerts, film screenings, workshops, and the Oxy studio majors senior comps, all open to the public. Support from donors such as Linda and Tod White ’59 and the Kathryn Caine Wanlass Charitable Foundation were instrumental in the construction of the building. Fundraising priorities coming out of the campaign include the expansion and modernization of Norris Hall of Chemistry, which has raised nearly $14 million to date, as well as future efforts to support Oxy’s burgeoning Music, Media Arts and Culture, and Computer Science departments.
For Today The Oxy Fund Final total: $37.7 million
The inaugural Day For Oxy, April 20, 2020, was conceived as a largely virtual endeavor to generate community spirit and philanthropic support. After the campus shut down in the wake of COVID-19, the event went fully remote, with a modest goal of raising 420 gifts on Founders Day. Shattering all expectations, the 36-hour marathon brought
in 2,594 gifts totaling over $1.6 million. Over the last four years, the annual day of giving has generated more than $6.5 million to support the student experience. The Oxy Fund’s impact can be felt in every area, from financial aid and academics to student life and athletics. During the height of the pandemic, gifts to the Oxy Fund were instrumental in supporting the shift to online learning; funding technology requests from students and faculty, including laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots, and software needs; and providing daily COVID testing, PPE, and vaccine distribution to the Oxy community. Over the course of the campaign, gifts to the Oxy Fund totaled $37 million, all of which supports the College’s bottom line. Unrestricted annual gifts provide approximately 4 percent of Oxy’s operational budget. Day For Oxy has provided a rallying cry to support everything from Oxy athletics to reunion gift challenges to new scholarship endeavors, such as the Nick Lee ’10 Endowed Financial Aid Fund. Lee was a familiar voice to thousands in the Oxy community from his days as a Telefund caller. An economics for business and management major, he raised over $220,000 cold-calling alumni, parents, and past parents on behalf of the College. Lee’s unexpected death in August 2019 prompted his Oxy friends to create an endowed scholarship fund in his memory, with a five-year goal of $100,000 to fully endow it. Thanks to Day For Oxy and a matching gift challenge from the Lee family in 2023, they’re now within $5,000 of that goal.
For Distinction Endowed Funds for Academics and Student Experience Final total: $54.9 million
As a student at Occidental, Gary Kaplan ’71 was a member of the search committee that brought Wellington K.K. Chan to campus as a professor of history. Chan taught at Oxy for 39 years, retiring in 2010. And now Kaplan has made a deferred gift to create the Gary Kaplan ’71 Endowed Faculty Research Fund and complete the funding of the Wellington Chan Endowed Chair in Chinese Studies. All totaled, eight endowed professorships and directorships were established or fully realized during the campaign across a range of disciplines, including Black studies, chemistry, computer science, history, instrumental activities, religious life, and science. It’s the kind of support that attracts top talent and enables compelling teaching and research, all of which contributes to the success of the College’s most valuable commodity. “There is no one kind of student who is attracted to Oxy and who can thrive here,” observes Wendy Sternberg, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College. “From the natural sciences to social sciences to the arts and humanities, The Oxy Campaign For Good will shape the academic future—and the student-faculty relationship at the heart of the student experience will be preserved for generations to come.” FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
13
Occidental’s 140th-anniversary class is among its most diverse—and they have a lot to say about everything from activism and athletics to culture and chocolates By PETER GILSTRAP | Photos by MAX S. GERBER
As high school students, Arjun Singh and Mia Steadman found their footing in the saxophone and soccer, respectively.
Arjun Singh During high school, Arjun Singh spent a good deal of time as a volunteer at Emanate Health Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora. “I would go around to patients’ rooms and just make the hospital more hospitable,” he says. “Sometimes I was just being a support system, someone who could really listen.” Empathy and community are second nature to Arjun, a Southern California native of Indian heritage, who co-founded the Mixed Students Union at Glendora High School. “We celebrated students’ cultures from all across the world,” he says. “Growing up in Glendora, you disconnect with your culture a bit. However, coming to Occidental and being in the multicultural housing with other Indians, I feel like I’ve been able to reconnect in a deeper way with my own culture.” In high school, Arjun also embraced the international language of music, finding his voice on the alto saxophone. As a fifth-grader, he recalls, “I watched the high school jazz band perform and I just remember everyone looking in awe. I was really inspired by those guys and I just wanted to pursue jazz.” Influenced by sax greats Dexter Gordon and Stan Getz, Arjun became a standout improviser as a member of the Glendora High jazz ensemble (the school’s 53rd annual Bandorama, featuring his solo of “Living on a Dream,” is on YouTube). “Just playing the notes kind of makes you feel like you’re floating,” he says. “It’s almost magical in a way.” Growing up with an Oxy mom (Sapna Singh ’00, a diplomacy and world affairs major and now a senior vice president at City National Bank), Arjun says, “Occidental’s values of equality and advocacy for marginalized groups resonated with me—of being a very supportive environment regardless of gender, religion, or sex. It’s just a great fit.”
Mia Steadman Midway through her first semester at Oxy, Mia Steadman may still be settling into her studies, but she’s already a star on the soccer field. In only her second game as a Tiger, her bicycle kick—a gravity-defying, Mia Hammworthy move—secured a tie with visiting Westcliff University. But let’s hear Mia S. describe the kick: “You turn your body away from
Alex Ryan Nielsen gets an “A” for starting an apiary and many “Bees” for his efforts.
the goal and you jump into the air, swing one leg over the other, and use your momentum to hit the ball with your foot while in the air.” When Mia was 8, her family moved from Corrales, N.M., to Palo Alto. Her father, Will, works in an automotive retail dealer group; her mother, Amy, is chief human resources officer at See’s Candies—a gig with serious benefits. “When Mom first got the job, she was coming home with bulk boxes of incorrectly made candies—which taste the same, anyway,” Mia says. “We would have something like 20 pounds of chocolate in our house at all times.” Mia comes to Oxy from Henry M. Gunn High School, which has an enrollment of about 1,900 and a reputation for academic rigor. “My teachers pretty much changed my life,” she says. “But at the same time, there was a lot of pressure within the student community. Everyone at Gunn thought that going to an Ivy League school is the only way you could get a decent college education.”
Despite the peer pressure at Gunn to aim for an Ivy, Mia says, “Something kind of switched junior year where I stopped listening to everybody.” That—and the urging of Oxy neighbor Patty Wipfler ’68—is how she ended up playing for a SCIAC crown instead. “Soccer is the biggest part of my life and always has been,” says Mia, whose older sister, Summer, plays at New York University. “The second we could stand up, our dad [who played soccer at UCLA] just put a ball in front of us and hoped for the best. Obviously, it worked out.”
Alex Ryan Nielsen Sometimes it takes more than good grades to make a college application stand out. “A friend and I were talking about things to put on a resume that are different from anybody else, and my dad said, ‘You should be a beekeeper,’” says Alex Ryan Nielsen of Provo, FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
15
Utah. But what started out as a joke, he adds, “turned into this thing that was really cool.” Alex bought all the necessary gear, including 100,000 bees. Things were going well. The bees were buzzing, and harvest time came—and that’s when Alex and his buddy made a rookie mistake. “Our first idea was, ‘Let’s just take all of the honey,’” he says—which they did. But a couple of weeks later, the bees had all died.
“We were scratching our heads, like, ‘What happened?’ But we blanked on the fact that bees survive on their own supply of honey.” Entrepreneurial dreams notwithstanding, Alex was creating some buzz on the pitcher’s mound at baseball at Spanish Fork High School. He’s a lefty with a wicked changeup, and the summer after his junior year he attended “a bunch of showcase baseball camps,” he recalls. “I met Coach Luke
Thinking out loud: Ryan Hogan is a fan of Ed Sheeran.
Wetmore from Oxy. He was a really smart baseball guy and I loved his philosophy, the way that he approached the game. “I visited the campus and I loved it. I loved the architecture, the layout, everything was great. So, when Coach Wetmore called me and said, ‘Hey, we have a spot for you if you apply and get in,’ I said, ‘I’ll take it.’ ” Nielsen says he’s looking into a diplomacy and world affairs major. And there’s always beekeeping to fall back on. “I’ve kind of had to put a pause on that just from moving and going to school,” he says. “But it would be cool to start back up again.”
Ryan Hogan Ryan Hogan was 13 when his parents broke the shocking news that the family would be relocating from his hometown of Los Angeles to New York. “I was freaked out enough that I gave my parents a PowerPoint presentation on why we should stay in L.A.,” he says. “I pictured us living on the 17th floor of some New York City high-rise and I said, ‘I’m gonna get pickpocketed walking to school. There’s gonna be crime everywhere.’ And they told me, ‘No, we’re moving to a lovely neighborhood in Scarsdale.’” The cross-country move, Ryan says, forced him to become more extroverted and social, and he was “a big sports guy” at Scarsdale High School. But his dreams of playing in the NBA were derailed after he took a freshman elective called Digital Music. “It covered the basics of music production, like how to use software like Logic Pro. That kickstarted my passion for music production, which is what I plan to pursue at Oxy.” Ryan comes from a family of big Beatles fans: “I’ve grown up around their music all my life.” His favorite current band is Twenty One Pilots, who—fun fact—in 2016 became the first rock act since the Fab Four to chart two singles simultaneously in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. “I’m just a big music fan in general,” he adds—other than Mozart and Morgan Wallen. “If you look at my Spotify library, I have a bit of every genre, more or less, other than country and classical.” Besides writing, producing, and recording his own music, Hogan hosts a podcast, Hero’s Journey, where he interviews artists about their music and the stories behind
16
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
Milla Clarke, left, and Elise Coffey look forward to exploring Los Angeles.
their songs. “I like to get to know them as a person and talk about how they got to where they are in their career.” Two of Ryan’s favorite guests were musicians he discovered on the Netflix hip-hop competition series Rhythm + Flow, “which I love,” he says. “I had a couple of contestants from that come on. I just watched these people on Netflix and then a couple weeks later, I’m speaking to them over Zoom— which was awesome to me, and kind of insane.”
Milla Clarke Growing up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, just off the Massachusetts coast, Milla Clarke was exposed to sailing at a very early age. “I started when I was 8 and I absolutely hated it,” she says. “I would frequently fake being sick so I wouldn’t have to go.” By the time she entered ninth grade at the all-girls Lincoln School in Providence, R.I., the lure of the high seas beckoned. “I really enjoyed the team aspect of sailing. And it’s such a confidence boost to be out on the water and feel like you’re in control. I really fell in love with it.” In June 2022, Milla sailed in the Newport Bermuda Race as part of her school crew, Team Bitter End—the youngest all-female squad ever to take part in the 117-year-old race. “It was really cool to be racing alongside 50and 60-year-old men who have been sailing their whole lives and are very, very good. And it was even cooler to beat those teams.” In fact, out of some 200 boats, Milla and her mates came in 27th in the intense competition. “It took us three days and it was 710 miles,” she says. The race is advertised as a 635-nautical-mile journey, but wind conditions increased the distance for her team. “For about 2½ days, there’s no land in sight. You go through the Gulf Stream, which is this really hot patch of water, and there’s a lot of squalls—the weather is completely unpredictable. So you’re in the middle of the ocean in 15-foot rolling waves with lightning, thunder, and pouring rain—and you can’t stop because you’re still racing.”
While landlocked Oxy doesn’t have a sailing team, the College’s L.A. location offers terra firma charms. “I have friends with cars, too,” says Milla, who hasn’t yet decided on a potential major. “It’s been great to explore such a big city.” Having regularly watched the local fireworks display from her family’s front yard, her vantage point sometimes included the College’s most famous alumnus. “When Barack Obama would come to visit the Vineyard, he would watch the end-of-summer fireworks show from our neighbor’s house,” Milla says. “That was a cool experience.”
Elise Coffey In a world where people update their cellphones with alarming frequency, Elise Coffey uses a device that hasn’t changed since the 14th century. “My mom put me in abacus classes in first grade to help improve my math skills,” she says—and she is passing that knowledge on to a new generation. “I started abacus lessons in my community because I wanted to share this tool with others,” says Elise, who is on a premed track with a possible minor in Japanese. “I love FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
17
Fatima Flores, Harper Valentine, and Destiny Lee all hail from the West. The Class of 2027 includes students from 37 states, the District of Columbia, and 24 countries.
working with kids, and now I’m hoping to go into pediatrics. I’m excited to hopefully volunteer at all of the hospitals near Oxy.” Elise was born in San Francisco to a Japanese American mother and a white father. When she was 2, the family moved to Portland, Ore., where her connection with Japanese culture blossomed. “I went to a Japanese immersion program from elementary until I graduated at Ulysses Grant High School,” she says. “It’s a way of learning the language and the culture within a tight-knit community.” When Coffey began searching for colleges, she connected with Occidental right away. “I’ve always been interested in learning in a smaller environment. When I started in the Japanese immersion, they were smaller classes and I really appreciated just being able to get to know everyone,” she says. “And coming from a predominantly white city, I was definitely interested in the diversity of Oxy and Los Angeles and just how it celebrates so many different backgrounds. 18
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
I really appreciate the way that Oxy integrates the city into its curriculum, and all the different resources here.”
Fatima Flores Aspen, Colo., is internationally known as a scenic ski resort town in the Rocky Mountains, but Fatima Flores knows another side of it. “There’s not a lot of diversity there,” she says. “It was very frustrating growing up there as a minority, and I consider myself Latina. Both my parents came there from Mexico.” As a student at Aspen High School, Fatima experienced both unintentional and intentional racism among the overwhelmingly (86 percent) white student body. “For such a long time, I felt embarrassed to be a minority,” she recalls. “I was embarrassed to be Mexican.” But those difficulties sparked her to take action. Fatima created and conducted a survey of Aspen High students and staff focusing
on microaggression and racism and shared her results in a presentation to the entire faculty. That led to a meeting with the Aspen School District superintendent of schools to discuss racial issues. “We talked about how the schools did not prioritize racial problems for the reason that our parents don’t have high-level jobs or as much power and influence. They’re immigrants, they’re minorities.” Her efforts were lauded not only by the district but by the Pitkin County Commissioners, who recognized Fatima with the Pitkin County Cares “Rising Star” award. “It really inspired me to want to help kids of color,” she says, “especially helping young Latina girls to feel safe and OK with themselves.” As a high school senior, Fatima started the Latina Girls Group in the middle school for students in sixth to eighth grade. “I’d have lunch with these girls every Friday and they would rant to me about their problems and I would tell them, ‘It’s OK, you can stand up
for yourself, you can ask for help.’ Those girls really opened up to me and I loved them so deeply. I feel like they hadn’t been told that they can do great things.” Fatima discovered Occidental at a college fair. She wanted to go to a liberal arts college in the West, and “I really liked the idea of California and specifically Los Angeles,” she says. “I also saw how high Oxy’s diversity rate was. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s amazing that an institution can actually have this many people of color.’ That was my biggest thing. “I kept learning about all the amazing opportunities,” Fatima adds. “When I found out that critical theory and social justice is a major and I could potentially minor in comparative literature, Oxy felt like a perfect fit.”
Harper Valentine There’s an old American idiom that says, “You can’t fight city hall,” but Harper Valentine had no problems making her activism known to the governmental powers in her hometown of Oakland. “Being a member of the Oakland Youth Advisory Commission was definitely a huge part of my high school experience,” she says of her four-year stint. “Kids from each district came together to talk with the mayor and with the city council about issues involving youth. It was a great way to connect with the city where I was born and raised.” One of her commission triumphs was creating “a youth-led candidates forum where young people got to talk to all the 2020 school board candidates on a YouTube live platform so that everybody could watch and ask questions. It was a space where young people got to talk to the city officials and people in power as equals.” Harper’s involvement with the Commission led to her joining the Coalition for Police Accountability in Oakland. “They were looking for somebody to help with their social media and help with their website. I was in my sophomore year when I started working with them. I did a lot of work promoting MACRO [Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland],” Harper says, a community response program for nonviolent 911 calls. “It’s an alternative to policing, like you need somebody to call, you need help, but you don’t wanna call the police. Because it’s no secret, the violent his-
tory of policing in Oakland. I really wanted to help get the word out about it.” Harper became aware of Occidental through family friend and trustee Lande Ajose ’87, managing director and chief of staff of the Waverley Street Foundation. “She really loved it here,” Harper says. “It’s definitely a really diverse school. I’m three-quarters white and one-quarter Japanese. There’s a lot of people here from different cultural backgrounds and places. That’s super cool.”
Destiny Lee Destiny Lee grew up in the small community of Sheep Springs, N.M., one of about 300 inhabitants of the tiny outpost deep in the Navajo Nation. It’s a region where local place names tell the descriptive story: Two Grey Hills, Little Water, and Shiprock, her birthplace. “You feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere,” says Destiny, who identifies as Navajo. “Your closest neighbor, if you were lucky, would be a mile or two away.” But her life wasn’t lonely in aptly named Sheep Springs. Destiny attended Newcomb High School on the reservation, an institution of some 240 students. Returning to inperson learning post-pandemic, Destiny was not only senior class president but she was heavily involved with Nizhoni’s Last Summer, an experimental theater project written by her peers in collaboration with the school’s art and drama teacher, John Templin. Destiny—a theatrical novice—won the lead role in the play, which confronted relevant contemporary issues chosen by the students, including transgenderism, substance abuse, suicide, and bullying. “We would rehearse and then wait for the teacher to develop more parts and keep creating more scenes, but it all worked out in the end.” Destiny enrolled at Oxy as a recipient of the Davis New Mexico Scholarship, which supports first-generation college students. Now that she’s in Eagle Rock—another aptly named Western community—she is happy with her experience so far. “I’m interested in studying to become either a filmmaker or an author. I thought Oxy would help expose me to the entertainment culture in Los Angeles.” Destiny even likes the autumn heat: “It kind of feels like New Mexico.” Minus the sheep. Peter Gilstrap profiled astrobiologist Jason Dworkin ’91 in the Summer 2022 magazine.
Each year, Occidental’s enrollment team sets out to fulfill the needs of over 40 academic programs and 20 athletic teams, admitting a diverse and talented set of students who are going to enrich the Oxy community. For the 2023-24 academic year, “We were tasked with bringing in 565 students— 535 first-years and 30 transfers,” says Maricela Martinez, the College’s vice president of enrollment. In the end, Oxy enrolled 573 students—532 first-years and 41 transfers from 37 states, the District of Columbia, and 24 countries. Of that group, 52% are women, 41% are men, and 7% identify as non-binary. The group is one of the most diverse in recent history, with 48% identifying as students of color. One in seven students (14%) are the first in their family to attend college, and nearly 17% are Pell Grant-eligible. Californians make up 36% of the class; the rest of the top 10 states are Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas. International students account for 7% of the class. Psychology topped the list of firstyears’ academic interests, followed by economics, biology, media arts and culture, and politics. As the admission cycle begins anew, Oxy must reckon with the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision banning race-conscious admission practices, as well as the “demographic cliff” facing all of higher education. But prospects are bright for the Class of 2028. This fall, admission officers will visit 27 states and 12 countries—and more than 10,000 visitors are expected to tour the campus in the months ahead. And that’s where the Oxy magic happens. “This isn’t just the job of enrollment,” Martinez says. “This is really a college-wide effort.”
FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
19
The New Philosophers Building on an academic legacy as old as the College itself, Occidental’s Philosophy Department has evolved to include a mix of voices far beyond the traditional canon By ANDY FAUGHT | Photos by KEVIN BURKE
ueenie Ngo ’24 developed an interest in philosophy as a member of the Human Rights Club at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, Wash., where students gathered each Monday to discuss current events. “In this horrible, treacherous, beautiful, cruel, amazing thing called life, I was looking for an instruction manual,” she says. “You’re born into this world that you’ve never been to before. You know nothing. There are a lot of people telling you what to do, but no one’s right. No one knows what they’re doing because I don’t think that humans live long enough to become wise. So, I started thinking to myself, ‘How do I do this? Someone’s got to know something.’” A double major in philosophy and theater, Ngo directed her first play, A Madness Upon Us, in April 2022 at Keck Theater. She hasn’t decided what she wants to do after graduation, but it will involve “telling stories” in a complicated world, and her philosophical grounding will be central to that: “Philosophy helps me deal with the mess and chaos, and find a way to thrive within it.” To those who might question Ngo’s choice of majors—namely, her parents—look no further than 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes, whose “I think, there20 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
fore I am” maxim often serves as the first and last words on the matter. “It’s not my job to put them at ease,” she says. “Obviously, there are things you have to do for money and survive somehow. But I don’t think the purpose of life is to labor.” Philosophy has always had an air of inscrutability, and every philosopher likely has a slightly different definition of the field. “My preferred one is that philosophy is the systematic study of which beliefs are worth believing,” says Professor Clair Morrissey, recipient of Occidental’s Linda and Tod White Teaching Prize in 2017 and the Donald R. Loftsgordon ’50 Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2023. The study of philosophy at Occidental is as old as the College itself; in those early years, it was referred to as “mental science” in the curriculum. (It was changed to “philosophy” under the presidency of John Willis Baer around 1910.) In an academic discipline that has long been dominated by the hidebound teachings of marble busts such as Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, philosophy is changing—and Occidental has reimagined its curriculum to reflect a greater diversity of global perspectives. “The profession is very different than it was when I got my Ph.D. in 2007,” says Associate Professor Ryan Preston-Roedder, who joined the College in 2017 and has chaired
Dylan Sabo Resident Associate Professor Appointed in 2010
Ryan Preston-Roedder Associate Professor Appointed in 2017
Season Blake Assistant Professor Appointed in 2023
Clair Morrissey Professor Appointed in 2010
Robert Sanchez Associate Professor Appointed in 2020
Caro Brighouse Professor Appointed in 1993
the department since 2019. (He also is faculty adviser to the Barack Obama Scholars Program.) “We keep an eye on national job searches, and you see more and more searching in non-Western philosophy or non-canonical philosophy.” Following the retirements of two of Oxy’s most beloved professors—Marcia Homiak in 2019 and Saul Traiger in 2021—“Everybody in the department weighed in on what they saw as the appropriate vision for a philosophy curriculum,” says Professor Caro Brighouse, who joined the faculty in 1993. “We ended up with something very distinctive and different from other philosophy departments.” Chief among the changes is a new requirement for philosophy majors to take classes outside the Western canon. Students now can take courses in Mexican, Chinese, and African philosophical traditions. The department now requires that students take an experiential learning course as a way to “do philosophy in the world,” Brighouse says. For example, philosophy majors work with high school students in underserved communities, teaching them logic and reason designed to help them do well on standardized tests and successfully navigate the college application process. The efforts align with moral philosophy, in which students consider how to live a good life, and how to build a better society. While the number of philosophy majors (11 in the graduating Class of 2023) will never measure up to the number of economics majors, Brighouse—who also serves as the College’s associate dean for student academic affairs—is unconcerned. “Parents have forever worried whether their students are going to take something that will help them get a job in life, and I think students are worried about that, too,” she says. “But 10 years out of college, philosophy majors earn a lot of money with respect to other professions.” Indeed, philosophy majors are well represented among doctors and physician assistants and in law, politics, computer science, and community organizing, among a “huge range of fields” that demand big answers to big questions, Brighouse notes. “Philosophers are very good at clarifying messy problems, and then finding concrete solutions to those messy problems.” Both in terms of its curriculum and its faculty, Oxy boasts one of the most diverse 22 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
philosophy departments in the country. “Our department really is a leader in this respect,” says Preston-Roedder, one of seven full-time faculty in philosophy. “We investigated what other departments were doing, and then did some reflection on how we thought it best to proceed.” Preston-Roedder teaches classes on Africana philosophy, moral and political philosophy, moral psychology, and the philosophy of religion. His wife, Resident Assistant Professor Erica Preston-Roedder, specializes in applied ethics and the application of philosophical thought, race and gender, public philosophy, and social morality. (Her current research examines the dynamics of multiracial families.) Dylan Sabo, a resident associate professor since 2010, teaches classes on philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of language. The department’s newest member, Assistant Professor Season Blake, specializes in early Chinese philosophy, while Associate Professor Robert Sanchez specializes in Mexican/Latinx/Latin American philosophy as well as existentialism, and co-hosts a blog on Mexican philosophy. When Sanchez arrived at Occidental in 2020, he was one of the nation’s lone prom-
“Philosophy helps me deal with the mess and chaos, and find a way to thrive within it,” says Queenie Ngo ’24, a philosophy and theater major from Mukilteo, Wash.
ulgators of Mexican philosophical traditions. In both his undergraduate and doctoral studies, he was dissuaded from exploring philosophers that diverged from European traditions. “There’s this general suspicion about the existence and the value of Mexican philosophy as a tradition, but more broadly about these other non-Western traditions,” Sanchez says. Part of the challenge is that there have been few writings that have been translated into English. Sanchez is working to change that. He published Mexican Philosophy in the 20th Century (Oxford University Press) in 2017. With the support of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, he’s working on a translation and commentary of Samuel Ramos’ Toward a New Humanism (1940) for Routledge. One of Sanchez’s courses is Mexican Philosophy: Thought and Culture, which studies the work of 20th-century Mexican philosophers Samuel Ramos, José Vasconcelos, and Emilio Uranga, as well as their 17thcentury progenitor, Juana Inés de la Cruz. In one lesson, Sanchez challenges Western concepts of beauty dating back to the days of Plato. Western philosophy holds that beauty is about symmetry, ratio, and proportion. Sanchez considers Aztec statues that by West-
ern standards were considered “hideous” and “scary-looking.” “These statues ride roughshod over the classical theory of beauty,” he says. “It makes us wonder whether the idea of perfection, mathematical precision, and the idea that we can make sense out of the universe isn’t misguided. Maybe life is fundamentally ambiguous.” No matter the changing look of the field, some constants remain. Philosophy majors are taught to be discerning readers: Is a statement clear or ambiguous? They bring equal precision to writing, offering solutions only after “pursuing relentlessly” all relevant information, Brighouse says. “We are looking very closely at what different philosophers have said about something. It’s not to endorse someone or to necessarily mimic their methodology but to find the strengths and weaknesses of an argument, and how to make better arguments.” “We have beliefs about how to live a good life, what’s right and wrong, but we also have beliefs about the nature of the universe, how we’re connected to it, what it means to be conscious, this huge set of different kinds of things that we have beliefs about,” Morrissey says. “And we can step back from those beliefs and then ask, which ones are mine, which do I have good reason to believe?” Before graduation, the department asks its senior philosophy majors a pointed question: What did you get out of the major? “One of the things that they say most frequently and vehemently is that they’re far more openminded than when they started, that they are able to see multiple sides of issues,” Morrissey says. (A former chair of the department, she is currently director of Occidental's Undergraduate Research Center.) “They’re open to the idea that they might be wrong, and being wrong doesn’t scare them. That’s one of the biggest things that philosophy can help with: letting go of that need to always be right. It’s humbling.” One of Morrissey’s current students, Idris Smith ’24 of Pasadena, readily attests to the phenomenon: “Philosophy helps me get into other people’s head space. I have the ability to basically understand and respect others’ arguments, and not necessarily see my own as the most valid.” Smith started at Occidental as a computer science major, but got to thinking of the reading he did in high school on Plato’s
“I’m inspired to be the best person I can be and the most educated person I can be, and philosophy has always helped me do that,” says Idris Smith ’24, a philosophy major from Pasadena.
Cave, an allegory in which characters emerge from intellectual darkness by bravely experimenting with new ideas. The writing deeply affected him. “I’m inspired to be the best person I can be and the most educated person I can be, and philosophy has always helped me do that,” says Smith, who hopes to teach philosophy at the secondary or college level. Growing up in a bilingual household in San Francisco, Cléo Charpantier ’19 always wondered how her languages—French and English—helped to shape her understanding of the world, and how words simultaneously contributed to “meaning-making.” She took her first philosophy course as a high school senior, wrestling with what she calls “the big questions of life”: Do we have free will? Are faith and reason contradictory? She enrolled at Oxy intent on majoring in economics with a minor in philosophy. That changed during her sophomore year, when she took Philosophy of Language with Sabo. “That class confirmed that this was the right major for me,” Charpantier says. Her philosophical interests broadened to gender and the writings of Sally Haslanger,
Ford Professor of Philosophy at MIT, who spoke on “Ideology and Moral Knowledge” at Oxy in October 2017. (Following the talk, Charpantier got to talk to Haslanger over dinner with her professors.) “Studying philosophy gives us the tools and the time to better understand our world, ourselves, and our lives,” says Charpantier, who is currently working toward a master’s in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. “When looking for work after college, I was driven to do work that felt impactful, and that made a difference.” Eliza Kirk ’24 planned to major in biology, which would satisfy premed requirements. It was while enrolled in the Oxy Immersive Semester in 2020—in which students enroll in a cluster of coursework and communitybased/internship components—that she fell in love with philosophy. The classes, which were being taught remotely during the pandemic, were centered on medical ethics. The program is an innovative introduction to Oxy, providing three interrelated courses, and giving an interdisciplinary focus on the liberal arts. FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 23
Ironically, one of the courses was a philosophy class titled Being With People, taught by Morrissey. “I was doing it alone in my basement on Zoom,” says Kirk (who first met her high school and Oxy classmate, Queenie Ngo, in Kamiak’s Human Rights Club). “The course was about the power dynamics between patients and their healthcare providers and the racial and gendered things that shape those interactions. I immediately knew after taking that class that I wanted to be a philosophy major.” Kirk plans to become a pediatrician. Having a philosophy background will allow her to bring “a lot of care and a lot of thought” to her patients, many of whom struggle for access to healthcare. “It’s not that I’ll be pulling out Descartes all the time, but it will have a big impact on my approach to medicine,” she says. “It will make me a more thoughtful doctor.”
“The ‘big picture’ is that I can use philosophy to go into a field that will help people and benefit the ‘greater good,’ ” says philosophy major Sera Chang ’25.
24 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
For Sela Moretti-Hitchcock ’23, philosophy gave her a map to understand her place in the world. “I started to think very critically about what it means to be a good person,” she says. “Philosophy wasn’t a subject that I had ever considered before, but I found that it studied everything I was interested in. We study philosophy to learn more about ourselves, what we know—or think we know—and why we believe the things we do.” After taking a class titled Contemporary Moral Issues as a first-year student at UC Riverside, Moretti-Hitchcock transferred to Oxy and declared philosophy as her major soon after. The subject fed her love of debate, while sharpening her ability to consider issues from all sides. Moretti-Hitchcock graduated summa cum laude from Occidental with a B.A. in philosophy and a minor in cognitive science and
was awarded the Philosophy Department’s Lauter Prize for best senior comprehensive project. (The award is named for Professor Emeritus Hal Lauter, who taught at Oxy from 1963 to 1991 and died on September 27.) She’s particularly drawn to the writings of Aristotle, who nearly 2,400 years ago advanced the idea that ethics require practice. Moretti-Hitchcock, who is studying for the LSAT and teaching music lessons in Burbank, has heeded the call. “We become virtuous by practicing virtuous activities, even if we don’t have it all figured out yet,” she says. “I’ve taken this attitude into my career search as well. I may not have it all figured out yet, but all I can do is keep taking steps forward.” Asked if she identifies with a particular philosopher, Sera Chang ’25 replies, “It used to be Immanuel Kant”—the 18th-century German philosopher and advocate of human autonomy—“but, after learning more viewpoints, I am not so sure anymore.” As Chang tells it, “I have always innately asked the BPQs—the Big Philosophical Questions—and tried to live a ‘good life’ accordingly. Apparently, I was practicing philosophy before I had ever taken my first class without any knowledge that it was something I could seriously study!” The Alhambra native, who transferred to Oxy as a sophomore, says she was pushed into philosophy by “a really amazing and polarizing professor, Justus Richards,” from whom she took an applied modern ethics class as a first-year student at Pasadena City College. As a philosophy major, Chang says, “I have enjoyed all of my classes thus far. Right now, I am really loving my Happiness, Meaning, and the Good Life class with Professor Ryan Preston-Roedder.” Chang hopes to use her Oxy degree “to go into a field that will help people and benefit the ‘greater good,’” she adds. “I hope to contribute to society in some meaningful way, though I am still figuring out what that is.” Even if they choose another major, she says, “I encourage anybody with any interest in learning more about their relation to themselves and the world at large to at least take a few classes in philosophy. Although many questions will not have straightforward answers, they are out there somewhere waiting to be found.” Andy Faught is a freelance writer in Fresno. He profiled Associate Professor Bhavna Shamasunder in the Spring 2023 magazine.
Griffiths was photographed by Dennis Drenner in 2009 for a profile for Occidental magazine.
The Other Side of Roland Griffiths
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor, who died in October, was lauded for his ‘mind-blowing’ studies of psychedelics. But Barry Sears ’68 remembers his ‘wicked sense of humor’ After a routine colonoscopy in November 2021 led to a diagnosis of late-stage colon cancer, Dr. Roland Griffiths ’68—a pioneer in the study of psychedelic and mood-altering drugs—channeled his energies toward the creation of an endowed professorship at Johns Hopkins University to continue his research with psychedelic substances “to advance understanding of well-being and spirituality in the service of human flourishing for generations to come,” as he put it. The fund raised more than $24 million prior to Griffiths’ death on October 16 at his home in Baltimore. Following his passing, Occidental magazine reached out to Dr. Barry Sears ’68 to look back on his longtime friendship with Griffiths. Sears responded with the following:
It was with great personal sadness that I heard of the passing of my great friend, Roland Griffiths ’68. Roland was my senior year roommate at Oxy, the best man at my wedding, and a lifelong sounding board to discuss the essential things in life. After reading Roland’s obituary in The New York Times, I asked myself who was that person. It certainly wasn’t the Roland I had known for 59 years. He was a vastly more interesting and complicated person. My first recollections of Roland could have been more promising. Although we both joined SAE fraternity as freshmen, Roland appeared reserved. It turned out that he was a physics major and hated physics. It
was only when he attended a lecture by Psychology Professor Luther Jennings that the light bulb went off that psychology was the area he wanted to study, and he became a completely different person. The first scientific publication for Roland and me was one with Professor Jennings on transferring learned responses by transferring isolated brain DNA into untrained rats. Norris Hall was the crime scene, with Roland training the rats in the basement and me isolating the DNA from their brains for reinjection on the upper floor. It was a goofy experiment but the first of many scientific publications for both of us. Most people probably think of Roland as a stern, rigorous, no-nonsense scientist. I don’t. I would best characterize Roland as being mischievous with a wicked sense of humor. Until he began working with psychedelics, Roland was best known for studying caffeine addiction. Although psychedelic research was much more interesting, there was no funding for it. As Roland’s research studies on psychedelics increased, his productivity in his government-supported work dropped. At our 50-year reunion, Roland told me that the government had not renewed his grants. I told him this presented the most incredible opportunity that could have happened to him. If he wanted to pursue studying psychedelics, he would have to go out and seek outside funding for his research to keep his office and salary at Johns Hopkins. It would be like Cortés burning his ships; there would be no turning back. He did a remarkable job of doing that, raising more than $17 million from private donors to establish the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins in 2019. The rest is history. Roland and I had many spirited discussions about psychedelics in general. I felt they would never be a replacement for religion or philosophy to understand the meaning of life, as there is no shortcut to years of study and pondering to achieve an understanding of our reason for existence. I am confident I will see Roland again on the other side to continue our discussions about the meaning of life, but until that time, I will miss him greatly. FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 25
OXYTALK Photos by Marc Campos
From left, assistant professors Sohaib Khan (religious studies), Season Blake (philosophy), Jamie Amemiya (psychology), and Zachary Silver (psychology).
Thinking Globally Occidental’s largest-ever cohort of new tenure-track faculty brings a world of ideas to the classroom
When Sohaib Khan was looking at tenuretrack teaching opportunities, “Two things about Occidental stood out to me: its urban campus in the middle of a bustling metropolis and the Equity and Justice Agenda,” he says. “Los Angeles is a mini-mosaic of the Islamic world and home to a rich variety of Muslim communities. As a first-generation immigrant and a Muslim faculty of color, it was really important for me to live and work in a diverse environment.” Khan—a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and assistant professor of religious studies—is one of 14 tenure-track faculty to join the College for the 2023-24 academic year. He 26 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
comes to Occidental from Pomona College, where he taught Islamic studies as a visiting assistant professor. He received a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies from Columbia University, an M.A. in religion from Duke University, and a B.Sc. in economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. Khan is a scholar of comparative Islamic studies with an interest in connections between religion, secularism, and economic life in Muslim societies. His research and teaching lie at the intersection of Islamic legal studies, anthropology, postcolonial studies, and histories of capitalism in South Asia and the Middle East.
“Occidental provided the perfect opportunity to tap into L.A. as an extended classroom and fieldwork site,” says Khan, an ethnographer trained in people-centered research. Of the courses he’ll be teaching, he is particularly excited about Islam and Capitalism, “an interdisciplinary exploration of historical, conceptual, and material connections between Islam and capitalism—two avowedly religious and secular entities seen at odds with each other.” Growing up in Oman and Pakistan, Khan studied economics as an undergraduate but developed an appetite for history and philosophy through courses taken outside his major. “When my family immigrated to the United States in 2009, I wanted to make sense of the disjuncture between my rich religious and cultural heritage and the racialized identity that was thrust upon me as a brown Muslim male,” he says. “Religious studies provided an interdisciplinary space that could feed my intellectual curiosity.” But as his graduate studies progressed, Khan became interested in understanding the fate of religion under capitalist modernity. “How were Muslim communities coming to grips with dramatic shifts in the legal and cultural landscapes of finance? My Ph.D. studies at Columbia allowed me to pursue these questions from an interdisciplinary lens of Islamic legal studies and anthropology.” Khan is writing a book, Translating Capitalism: How Muslim Jurists and Bankers Invented Shari’a Compliance, that tells the story of Islam’s convergence with global finance through a history of Sharī’a Compliance— a legal code that prescribes best practices for today’s rapidly expanding $3 billion Islamic finance industry. “These best practices reconcile financial discipline with devotion to God by aligning Muslim ethics with the practical imperatives of finance,” Khan says. “The most rewarding aspect of my research is that it allows me to indulge in my twin interests in religion and capitalism,” he adds. “I am fascinated by the many ways in which religion can serve as a means of resistance against capitalist exploitation but also become coopted and assimilated into capitalist projects. I am a firm believer in the notion that learning about non-Western societies
OXYTALK
and cultures happens best when we do the reflexive work of learning from them. To learn from Islamic history and culture is to listen to Muslims and take their knowledge traditions seriously as constructive sources of theoretical and ethical reflection.” Season Blake (assistant professor, philosophy) comes to Occidental from Skidmore College, where they were a teaching professor of philosophy. Blake has a Ph.D. from Indiana University, a master’s from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College—all in philosophy. Their teaching and research interests include theory of knowledge, early Chinese philosophy, philosophy of perception, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. Blake has been published in The Senses and the History of Philosophy (Routledge) and the Journal of Chinese Philosophy. “Occidental takes seriously the need for ongoing conversations about social justice, both in classes and in the community at large,” Blake says. “I especially value the ways that the Philosophy Department lives these values through classes that focus on topics of social justice, and the ways the department asks students to act on the ideas we discuss in class. Blake presented their ideas on “Knowledge and Power” in Morrison Lounge in October as part of an ongoing lecture series, Philosophy in 15 Minutes. “I have felt such a warm welcome from everyone I’ve met at Oxy,” Blake says. “I love all the classes I’ll be teaching, but there is something special about classes where many students are first discovering philosophy. I remember how exciting my first exposures to philosophy were—how they challenged my ways of thinking about the world and gave me the ability to think through new ideas on my own.” Jamie Amemiya (assistant professor, psychology) comes to Occidental from the University of Chicago, where she was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. She has an M.S. and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in biological science with a minor in psychology from UC Irvine. Amemiya is a developmental psychologist interested in the development of social cognition as it relates to how children and adults think about and respond to societal problems. Her current research interests include how children and
adults reason about the causes of social inequality, how they represent social categories and societal hierarchies, and their reasoning about why people disagree. “I have always enjoyed working with children,” says Amemiya, who initially thought about becoming a pediatrician or child therapist. “Once I got research experience, I found that I loved the idea of asking questions that hadn’t been addressed before and realized that developmental psychology was a great fit.” This fall, Amemiya is teaching classes on two topics that she is especially passionate about—developmental psychology and adolescence. “I love to show students how we can study topics such as the development of stereotyping in childhood using the scientific method. It has been fun to see what new ideas they come up with as they learn the creative ways that we can gain insight into children’s developing minds.
“The more we understand about dogs, the better equipped we are to provide a good life for the dogs that we live alongside and interact with daily,” Silver says. “Occidental provides a unique opportunity for both teaching and conducting research,” she adds. “One of my favorite things so far is hearing students’ responses to research that I am very familiar with. They give me a fresh perspective and raise questions that challenge my own thinking.” Zachary Silver (assistant professor, psychology) comes to Occidental from Yale University, where he recently completed his Ph.D. in psychology. He has a B.A. in psychology and music from Illinois Wesleyan and a pair of master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in psychology from Yale. As a researcher at the Canine Cognition Center at Yale, he studied how animals learn from and about humans. His research has been featured in both academic and mainstream media, including Smithsonian. “One of my primary goals is to bridge my teaching and research such that my students have the opportunity to experience every step of the scientific process—from the conceptualization of ideas to the gradual theoretical advancements that occur over time,”
Silver says. “I value the opportunity to build impactful relationships with my students, and Occidental’s academic environment and culture is the perfect setting to do so.” Since arriving on campus, he adds, “I’ve found myself continually impressed with Oxy students’ motivation to understand complex psychological phenomena and their enthusiasm for the scientific process. From my firstyear seminar, Animal Intelligence, to my course on evolutionary psychology, my students’ deep engagement with the course content and their passion for learning have made my first semester at Oxy quite inspiring.” Similarly, Silver is “overjoyed” by his students’ interest in getting involved in his canine cognition research. “I’ve always been fascinated by the bond between humans and dogs,” he says. “The way that dogs represent a key component of human life and the mutual benefit humans and dogs receive from their interactions was one of my earliest scientific curiosities. Having lived with some exceptionally intelligent dogs in my life, I then became interested in how dogs could have become so smart. After studying psychology as a college student, I became committed to understanding the nuances of dogs’ intelligence.” What can we learn from studying dogs, you might ask? “Because dogs have lived alongside humans for over 40,000 years, the study of canine cognition helps us understand the role of domestication and social environment on the evolution of key cognitive abilities,” Silver says. “Essentially, humans shaped dogs to understand us and cooperate with us effectively. As such, modern dogs reflect millennia of selection pressures for human-like intelligence. “The more we understand about dogs, the better equipped we are to provide a good life for the dogs that we live alongside and interact with daily,” adds Silver—whose black lab mix, Maritza, “loves the Occidental campus. You’re sure to see us running up the hills and strolling down the Quad every day.” Claire Cahen (assistant professor, urban and environmental policy) comes to Oxy from Virginia Tech, where she was an assistant professor of urban affairs and planning. Cahen has an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in environmental psychology from the City University of New York and a B.A. in English from Pomona. An urbanist, researcher, and educator, Cahen studies municipal austerity and public sector FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 27
OXYTALK
union renewal—how workers are responding to decades of cuts to public services, how they are forming new labor-community alliances in the process, and the relationship between inequality and the privatization of public goods, especially public education. Her work has been published in Environment and Planning D, the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City, and Antipode. As a union organizer in Los Angeles for four years, “Many of my co-workers came from Occidental,” Cahen says. “The Urban and Environmental Policy Department was known for nurturing community and labor leaders, for introducing students to organizing and fostering critical analysis on pressing issues. It is a dream to be back in L.A.” It’s been a busy year for organized labor, with high-profile strikes across multiple industries—from actors and screenwriters to auto workers and the healthcare industry. “We are at an inflection point: If workers do not stand up collectively, inequality and class polarization will continue to accelerate,” she says. “At the same time, workers know that jobs and wages used to be better not so very long ago. They believe that conditions can— must—be improved again. This is a very positive sign for the future of organized labor.” This semester, Cahen is teaching Community Organizing, which “involves a good mix of history, theory, contemporary case studies, and practice,” she says. “We do periodic role-plays of community meetings and labor negotiations. In their first role-play, students may be shy or uncertain. By midsemester, they are not just more confident; they demonstrate real organizing skills and savvy. They are honing their craft. It is moving and powerful to see their growth.” Karla Peña (assistant professor, urban and environmental policy) comes to Oxy from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a Provost Early Career Fellow and Lecturer in American studies for the last two years. She has an M.S. and a Ph.D. in developmental sociology from Cornell University, a master’s in natural resources and environment from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in liberal studies from Cal State Northridge. Having grown up in Eagle Rock, Peña says, “I am wholeheartedly thrilled to return to the neighborhood—and to work in a department with community ties around issues of labor rights, and food, environmental, and 28 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
climate justice, which are central tenets to my own research, teaching, and activism.” Peña’s parents are from Ecuador, and she grew up visiting family in Guayaquil and the Galapagos Islands. “As an undergraduate, I studied abroad in Latin America and lived in Ecuador, too, ultimately shaping my career trajectory,” she says. “I am writing a book about bananas from Ecuador to California—tracing how the trade between both places got started, the annual Banana Festival at the Port of Hueneme, and the pathway of bananas to supermarkets and schools,” she says. “Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of bananas, and California is a major consumer. How can we produce bananas equitably and sustainably in the age of climate change? The book combines my collaboration with social movement organizations and research with banana producers and plantation workers in Ecuador with new research here in Los Angeles.”
“Oxy students are curious and invested in campus and community issues,” Cahen says. “For them, schoolwork is not about ego. It’s about ideas, political knowledge, and skills.” Peña is “excited” to design a new research methods course centered on parks and public spaces for the 2024-25 academic year. On October 29, she and her UEP 101 students biked to Arroyo Fest, which closed the 110 Freeway to vehicle traffic for four hours to allow the public to experience the national historic byway up close. Thanks to organizer Izzy Wang ’25 and Oxy’s Bike Share Program, Peña says, “Students were able to observe firsthand the interplay of the natural environment, urban planning, and community that I hope encouraged them to reimagine mobility and the use of public space in Los Angeles.” Min Joo Lee (assistant professor, Asian studies) comes to Oxy from Indiana University Bloomington, where she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Research on Race & Ethnicity in Society and a visiting assistant professor of gender studies. She has a master’s and a Ph.D. in gender studies from UCLA and a B.A. in comparative literature and
women’s, gender, and sexuality studies from Williams College. Lee’s research focuses on the transnational popularity of Korean popular culture (also known as the Korean Wave or Hallyu), gender and race politics in Korea, and feminist media theory. Lee is excited by the prospect of introducing students to the long history of Korean presence in Los Angeles and incorporating Koreatown’s rich Korean diasporic culture into her teaching and research. “I’ve always been a fan of Korean popular culture,” she says. As an elementary school student in Michigan, she would drive with her parents to a Korean grocery more than an hour away from home to rent videotapes of Korean TV dramas. “It was only natural that my research focused on something I had an interest in for most of my life,” she says. Her first book project, tentatively titled Finding Mr. Perfect: Korean Television Dramas, Romance, and Race, focuses on some Korean popular culture fans who, after watching transnationally popular Korean TV dramas, travel to Korea to find Korean boyfriends in real life. “I examine their desires from a racial, gendered, and geopolitical lens.” A second book project examines another, darker form of transnational media: illicit sex videos produced in Korea and disseminated worldwide. “I hope to critically engage in conversation about how we need to rethink sexual consent, censorship, and racism in the face of rising cases of digital sex crimes.” Bringing it back to Korean popular culture, Lee invites the Oxy community to share what they’ve been watching. “If there’s a Korean TV drama, film, or music video that you found particularly interesting, send me an email or find me in my office,” she says. Syeda ShahBano Ijaz (assistant professor, diplomacy and world affairs) comes to Occidental from UC San Diego, where she completed her Ph.D. in political science in June. Prior to that, she earned an M.A. in politics from New York University and an MSc. in economics for development from the University of Oxford as a Commonwealth Scholar. At Oxy, she’ll be teaching courses on international development, globalization, foreign aid, and democratic processes in South Asia. Ijaz is a scholar of the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia and the domestic consequences of foreign aid. “As someone who grew up in
OXYTALK
a developing country, I was interested in the broad field of development studies, and then development economics, from the very beginning of my educational career,” she says. While attending graduate school at Oxford, “I became fascinated by how much of the variation in the world—such as why some countries are poorer than others—could be explained by economic models and numbers,” she continues. “The journey from there to political economy came about through the realization that even when something improves welfare, or is profitable, the resulting profit or welfare may not be equitably distributed. And even when everyone benefits, it is important to ask who benefits disproportionately more and who benefits much less.” As an immigrant attending grad school in the United States, “These questions became more than just academic concerns for me,” Ijaz says. “My Ph.D. became an endeavor to understand the political economy of foreign aid in South Asia from a more intimate lens: conducting fieldwork in Pakistan to find out who does aid really benefit, who it hurts, and along what dimensions.” Two years of fieldwork in Pakistan provided the foundation for Ijaz’s book project, Aiding Accountability: The Politics of Last-Mile Service Delivery in Pakistan. “Aiding Accountability centers the agency of foreign aid recipients in determining whether aid benefits them and how,” she says. Ijaz, a Muslim and immigrant woman of color, is aware of the differential challenges that minoritized and first-generation students face in U.S. institutions. “My aim is to challenge conventional knowledge in the classroom while offering support in navigating the hidden curriculum outside the classroom. I remain committed to encouraging respectful debate and making sure everyone’s voices and viewpoints are heard.” Vivian Wenli Lin (assistant professor, media arts and culture) has a Ph.D. in media art from City University of Hong Kong, an MFA from Sandberg Instituut in the Netherlands, a master of professional studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a B.A. in psychology with an Asian American studies minor from UC Berkeley. Lin is a media artist and educator with a background in psychology, documentary film, video art, and interactive installation. Her research interests focus on issues of representation,
Seated (l-r): Assistant professors Claire Cahen (urban and environmental policy), Karla Peña (urban and environmental policy), and Min Joo Lee (Asian studies). Standing: Syeda ShahBano Ijaz (diplomacy and world affairs) and Vivian Wenli Lin (media arts and culture).
gender, migration, and the Asian diaspora. Lin’s work with participatory video began at NYU, working on video self-portraits with young women from New York City’s Chinatowns. “When I moved to the Netherlands, I was attracted to other migrant and diasporic communities and wanted to learn more about them,” she says. She started Voices of Women Media to enable members of those communities to create their own narratives. Although a lot of Lin’s courses focus on the Asian diaspora, “They attempt to mix theory and practice,” she says. “This semes-
ter, she is teaching Women Make Waves: Women’s Media and Migration in collaboration with criminologist Julie Ham at Brock University. We are giving students a framework to think about women’s migration and to apply this to a video project on issues of gender, labor, and migration.” Lin joined Occidental in 2020 as a visiting assistant professor of media for social change. She worked remotely from Tokyo during the pandemic, teaching classes at 2 a.m. local time—“crazy hours,” she recalls. “Looking back, I cannot believe I was coherent.” FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 29
OXYTALK
From left: Evan Dethier (geology), Nikki Seymour (geology), Teddy Max Pozo (computer science), and Alexandria Pivovaroff (biology). Not pictured is Natasha Sekhon (geology).
Evan Dethier (assistant professor, geology) comes to Occidental from Bowdoin College, where he was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Oceanographic Studies. He has a master’s and a Ph.D. in Earth science from Dartmouth College and a B.A. in geosciences and English from Williams College. Dethier’s teaching and research focuses on water—flooding, drought, and water quality—using data science to better understand Earth’s threatened water resources. As a Ph.D. student and postdoctoral researcher at Dartmouth, he built on his master’s work studying rivers in New England, tackling issues related to climate change, floods, and land use change, working on human-water-environment interactions. “I was drawn to Occidental by the value placed on undergraduate education and faculty collaboration, especially in the Geology Department,” Dethier says. “I also study modern challenges with water resources, which could not be more pressing than here in Los Angeles and the Southwest.” Dethier’s class has taken several field trips this fall to significant geological locations in and near L.A. “My students have had a great time rediscovering the place they live and seeing it from a new perspective.” 30 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
This semester, Dethier is teaching a course where students learn field methods for geology, largely through hands-on experience outdoors and in the computer lab. “It’s helped me gain some familiarity with the region and has been a great introduction to Occidental students,” he says. “I’ve always enjoyed being outside and working through interesting problems to try to find a solution. Earth science combines these interests, and I get to address questions about how the world works and how our society should work to live sustainably in our natural setting.” Nikki Seymour (assistant professor, geology) joined the Oxy faculty as a visiting assistant professor in 2022. Prior to that, she was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford and UC Santa Cruz. She has a Ph.D. from Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources, a master’s from the University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, and a BBA from UT-Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Seymour’s research primarily addresses how deformation related to plate tectonic motion is accommodated in the middle to upper crust, the interactions between magmatism and deformation, and effects of sediment sub-
duction at convergent plate boundaries. She is particularly interested in the tectonic evolution of the Western United States and how deep rocks are exhumed to the surface. “Geology is a field-based science, and there are few places in the world with better access to geologic field sites,” Seymour says. “It’s an incredible laboratory for teaching and research, and Oxy prioritizes this kind of immersive educational experience.” Seymour is currently teaching Geologic Resources for the Green Economy, which focuses on how critical commodities like copper, lithium, rare-earth elements, and other important metals are concentrated and ultimately found. “These resources are central to the technologies we are developing to move away from a hydrocarbon-based economy, and studying them draws on a wide range of geologic disciplines. It’s exciting to see Oxy students draw from across their full range of classes to make connections in this applied setting! “I was drawn to plate tectonics right from the beginning in my Physical Geology class,” she adds. “It’s incredible that there are places we can walk on the exhumed deep mantle or that one continent can be stitched to another, and more importantly, that we can explain how that’s possible. I am continually impressed by the ability of plate tectonic theory to simply explain the magnitude, rates, and other key aspects of how the Earth works.” As “elegant” as many of the first-order explanations are, Seymour says, “We still have a lot to learn about plate tectonics. The advances we have made in geochronology— a set of techniques used to establish temporal records of Earth processes—are opening new doors to study when and how quickly rocks respond to plate tectonic stress.” Teddy Max Pozo (assistant professor, computer science) is a multimedia writer and artist whose academic articles have been published in journals such as Game Studies, Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, New Review of Film and Television Studies, Porn Studies, Mediascape, and Media Fields; anthologies including Digital Love and Rated M for Mature; the Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory; and the Encyclopedia of Video Games. Their peer-reviewed academic article, “Queer Games After Empathy: Feminism and Haptic Game Design Aesthetics From Consent to Cuteness to the Radically Soft,”
OXYTALK
available online, has been included in multiple game studies and game design syllabi. Pozo has a B.A. in film and media studies and French literature from Swarthmore College and a master’s and a Ph.D. in film and media studies from UC Santa Barbara. They are currently working on a book, Touchy Feely Games, about the sense of touch, focusing on haptic technology and haptic aesthetics in queer and trans game design. Their art practice combines conductive materials with clay sculptures and original game designs to create unique game arcade machine and console installations. Pozo’s original course, designed while they were a Mellon Postdoctoral Media Arts and Culture Fellow at Occidental, invites students to create their own versions of such haptic media: physically and emotionally touching game design installations. Their games, documentation of works in progress, and games by their students can be found at drpozo.itch.io. Pozo also is co-creating and expanding the new Comp 101 course Justice and Equity in Technology, now required for all majors to take before their junior seminar. Comp 101 challenges students to engage in discussions about race, gender, disability, social stratification, class/caste, design, workplace culture, AI, algorithmic bias, global infrastructures and economies of computing, and imagination to challenge existing forms of extraction and exploitation. “These experiences prepare students to work toward dismantling systems of oppression created or encoded by computing, whether on a personal, community, national, or global level,” Pozo says. Alexandria Pivovaroff (assistant professor, biology) comes to Occidental from Glendale Community College, where she was a tenure-track biology instructor. Pivovaroff is a global change biologist who specializes in plant water relations, hydraulics, and functional traits to understand how forests are responding to changes in the environment. During her postdoc with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, she examined how tropical forests respond to increasing soil drought and atmospheric dryness and employed models to understand and forecast future responses. As a postdoc at UCLA’s La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science and in collaboration with the National Park Service, Pivovaroff studied how chaparral and coastal
sage scrub shrublands respond to heat waves, drought, and fire. She completed her Ph.D. in plant biology from UC Riverside, where as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow she studied chaparral, coastal sage scrub, and desert responses to environmental change. She also has a B.A. in biology from Whittier College. “Doing undergraduate research was such a pivotal experience for me,” says Pivovaroff, whose research adviser was Biology Professor Emeritus Cheryl (Colee) Swift ’78 M’83. “No one in my family had ever gone to college, so to be doing research in college was never something I expected to do, but I loved it!” When she started looking for faculty positions, “I wanted to be at a place where I could mentor students on their own science, education, and research journeys. Oxy turned out to be the perfect fit for that.” This semester, Pivovaroff is co-teaching Biostats with Associate Professor Amanda Zellmer, and she’s developing her own course, Global Change Biology, which she’ll be teaching next semester. She’s come a long way
“The Geology Department at Occidental is energetic and engaged—you can feel we’re on the cusp of an exciting new chapter,” Seymour says. from even her first two years of college, when “I actually hated biology,” she admits. “I was originally a chemistry major. But in Ecology and Evolution of Organisms, there was a lecture on plant water transport—and I was riveted. I walked out of that lecture and down the hall to knock on the door of the professor who happened to be doing research on that. She immediately let me join her lab, and I’ll never forget my first fieldwork experience. We did some work in the wetlands along the Gulf Coast, and one morning we were up before dawn, waist-deep in swamp water, and someone ended up with a leech on their back. I loved it, and here I am today.” Natasha Sekhon (assistant professor, geology) will join the Oxy faculty in January from Brown University, where she is studying the history of droughts and floods in the Philippines alongside Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra. A low-temperature geochemist and
paleoclimatologist, her research combines concepts from karst and speleothem sciences to investigate the hydroclimate of terrestrial environments varying on seasonal to millennial time scales. Her Ph.D. work explored the utility of stalagmites from near-entrance cave settings in New Mexico as potential recorders of recharge episodes. Sekhon earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in Earth system sciences with a minor in comparative literature at UC Irvine. She earned her master’s and Ph.D. in geological sciences at the Institute for Geophysics and Department of Geological Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, respectively. “I am excited to be a part of a community where deep disciplinary understanding, embracing student research, with interdisciplinary practice is encouraged,” Sekhon says. “I look forward to establishing an invigorating classroom and becoming a better teacher.” Next semester, Sekhon will be teaching GEO210, Water in a Changing World, and GEO105, Earth: Our Environment. “The former will explore the physical principles, processes, and dynamics of the water cycle, including how and where water is transformed and transported around the planet, and the latter will emphasize the physical processes that shape the environment on the Earth’s surface.” In fall 2024, “I’ll be teaching a lab-based course on geochemistry and paleoclimatology with hands-on experience at the 300 level. Down the line, I am also interested in co-developing courses around environmental history and time series analysis with faculty across different disciplines. “I remember being curious about the climate and how it shapes cultures around the world since I was a kid,” Sekhon says. “During my undergraduate years, I really enjoyed classes in my major, Earth system sciences, but still felt a pull toward the humanities and ended up a few classes short of a double major in comparative literature. After working in multiple labs at UC Irvine and University of Edinburgh, I found my niche in geochemistry and paleoclimatology, which merges my interests in the sciences and humanities, and I’ve not looked back since. “If I’m not teaching in the classroom, mentoring students with research projects, or in the lab, you’ll find me exploring a cave system,” she adds. “I look forward to getting some cave monitoring sites up and running in Southern California.” FALL 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
31
OXYTALK
Left photo by Kirby Lee | Right photo courtesy Anna Dalton ’12
far left: Dalton competing for Oxy in 2011. left: Running the Mount Marathon Race (the “toughest 5K on the planet”) in July 2017, Dalton finished fourth among all women with a time of 59:13.
Setting the Pace Anna Dalton ’12 traded the tracks for the trails and is climbing the ranks of competitive technical runners
Montana’s Rut Mountain Run is a challenging 50k race with steep ascents, rugged ridgelines, and demanding descents. This race is so technical, there is a disclaimer on the website highlighting the extreme nature of the course that warns, “The result of a fall in these sections could be injury or death.” The average person would be unable to hike this, let alone run for time. Put another way, the 10,500 feet vertical gain/loss over the 31 miles is double the elevation gain and distance of Mount Wilson, a popular hiking spot for Los Angeles locals. On September 15, Anna Dalton ’12 placed fourth among women and 20th overall in the Rut Mountain Run with a time of 6:08:38. It’s her latest standout performance in a string of extremely challenging races and national competitions. Dalton earned a national title when she won the 2022 USATF Trail Running Championship with a time of 1:30.17. The year before, she ran in the USATF Mountain Running Championships, finishing ninth with a time of 48:28. As an urban and environmental policy major (with minors in biology and sociology) 32 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2023
at Oxy, Dalton ran both cross country and track and field for the Tigers, serving as a team captain for two out of her four years. After graduation, she went to La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica with Professor of Biology Beth Braker for research and did the occasional jog. Upon returning to her native Alaska a few months later, however, “I was burned out, anemic, and had no plans of continuing to compete in running,” she recalls. It wasn’t until a friend got Dalton involved in an informal trail race series that she rekindled her competitive drive. She later joined a running group, and “that was the foundation for my introduction to a whole new type of running as an adult,” Dalton says. “I trained for a marathon that winter with new friends, and was hooked.” Coming from a traditional running background, Dalton has competed in the Rut twice with soaring success. Her first time on the mountain course at Big Sky was in 2017, which also was her first real mountain run. She finished fourth among the women and 23rd overall with a time of 6:43.02. (Her efforts last month showed an improvement
of 35 minutes.) What makes her 2023 time even more impressive is that up until five weeks prior to the Rut, Dalton had planned on running the Berlin Marathon in late September. She made the last-minute pivot because she was enjoying running in the mountains with friends and was unable to commit to the rigorous training schedule for a road marathon. Although Dalton has been able to avoid the stereotypical runner maladies, she has not been immune to injury. Following her venture into technical running, she had an unfortunate fall that resulted in her needing surgery for a torn patellar tendon a few years ago. After recovering, Dalton got back to work, which has obviously paid off. Away from the trails and mountains, Dalton works to protect Alaska’s land, waters, wildlife, and ways of life as director of grants and programs for the Alaska Conservation Foundation in Anchorage, which she joined in 2014. Her efforts help secure the necessary funding and connections to sustain Alaska’s wildlife, coastlines, and mountains from the effects of climate change. “The most fulfilling part of my role is leading a network that’s collectively focused on the issue of hard-rock mining in Alaska and its impact on frontline and Indigenous communities,” she says. “Part of my job is helping to ensure that people in those communities have a voice in the decision-making process through free, prior, and informed consent, so that those communities have the power to say no to a mining project that is not wanted.” Having a fondness for both road and mountain running, Dalton is mindful of her training routine and knows how to find the right balance. “At this point in my life, I know what a good tempo workout is and what a good speedwork looks like, and not every day can be a good day,” she says. “Mountain running provides freedom from those same metrics, and is a chance to explore beautiful places and appreciate the scenery and the adventure more than the time and the pace. That being said, I still don’t think there’s anything more satisfying than absolutely nailing a hard track workout.” —kelly young ’12
OXYFARE
Gauging Attitudes and Measuring Connections Volume 45, Number 4 oxy.edu/magazine OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
Harry J. Elam, Jr. President Wendy F. Sternberg Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Rob Flot Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Amos Himmelstein Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Suzanne LaCroix Vice President for Institutional Advancement Rod Leveque Vice President for Marketing & Communications Maricela L. Martinez Vice President of Enrollment James Uhrich Vice President & Chief Information Officer editorial staff
Dick Anderson Editor Marc Campos College Photographer & Videographer Laura Paisley, Kelly Young ’12 Contributing Writers Gail (Schulman) Ginell ’79 Class Notes Editor SanSoucie Design Design DLS Group Printing
As part of The Oxy Campaign For Good (page 10), one key initiative that was not measured in dollars was “Tiger Connections”—a metric that includes alumni gatherings on campus, online, or elsewhere; mentoring a student; or volunteering in an affinity or leadership group. (Class notes—a vital component of the magazine and the Oxy community—also counted toward that total.) Over the last seven years, we tallied 261,171 connections—roughly 10 engagements per alum. Not every Tiger is looking for the same kind of engagement. And in an effort to better understand your perspectives and attitudes about Oxy, we conducted our second alumni attitude survey in the last four years. The survey (conducted late last year) showed Occidental alumni were most likely to say that: Oxy graduates are likely to be successful in their career; the current faculty is excellent; they understand how alumni giving furthers the College’s mission; and the leadership of Oxy is committed to the College’s vision and mission. The majority of respondents have a positive opinion of Occidental. In fact, 94% of respondents rate their choosing to attend Oxy as a “good” to “great” decision. In addition, 66% of respondents describe their experience as an alum as “good” to “excellent.” Approximately 94% of respondents describe their overall current opinion of Occidental as “good” to “excellent.”
Assembling a Queer History of the College
Project Greenlight Winner Meko Winbush ’03
What else did we learn? Alumni believe strongly that their Oxy education prepared them most for “commitment to continuous education” and “further graduate education.” Alumni are focused on how their degree helped them in their lives and how the degree enhances their career. They also want to know that the Alumni Association is playing an important role in improving the student experience. Conversely, Oxy students seeing alumni making a difference in their college experience helps lay a foundation of lifelong support. Events offer an interesting opportunity for the College. If alumni attend events, there is a greater likelihood that their overall engagement will increase, which often leads to philanthropic support as well. Even those alumni who never attend an event—and we encourage you to join us!—believe that there is an intrinsic value to these activities and knowing that their alma mater is vibrant. If you were among those alumni who responded to our survey, again, we thank you. If not, we want to hear from you—and hope to see you engaging with Oxy in the coming year. Io Triumphe! Brenda Barham Hill ’71 P’03 President, Board of Governors
Alumni Attitude Survey Highlights by Generations While Oxy pride remains strong across the decades, what matters to alumni most? The answer varies by generation. Here’s a sampling: 1974-1980 Value, respect, history, and tradition have a significant impact on their opinion of Oxy 1981-1993 Think Oxy did a good job preparing them for further education and career opportunities 1994-2000 Believe it is important for alumni to provide job opportunities for new students 2001-2008 Want to get together with other alumni to learn more about financial planning, parenting, etc. 2009-2014 Want to network with other alumni in their area 2015-2019 Want to know more about how current students are developing skills and training and how alumni can help identify jobs for graduates 2020-2022 Want networking opportunities with other alumni and more information about Oxy’s diversity and inclusion initiatives Survey results based on 1,122 responses from alumni in 48 states representing the classes of 1950 to 2022. Among all respondents, 45% identified as male and 55% identified as female.
Snapshots From Homecoming & Family Weekend
SUMMER 2023
OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
Jocelyn Pedersen Coordinator, Book Arts and History of Print Cultures Program
Published quarterly by Occidental College Main number: 323-259-2500 To contact Occidental magazine By phone: 323-259-2679 By email: oxymag@oxy.edu By mail: Occidental College Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314 Letters and class notes submissions may be edited for length, content, and style. Occidental College online Homepage: oxy.edu Facebook: facebook.com/occidental Instagram: instagram.com/occidentalcollege TikTok: occidentalcollege Twitter: @occidental Cover photos by Max S. Gerber Oxy Wear photo by Marc Campos
Vintage orange fleece crew sweatshirt with “Occidental College” in cream lettering by MV Sport. 65% Cotton/35% Polyester. Sizes S-XL. $46.95 Mug All Over Print by Julia Gash Design. $19.99
Occidental College Bookstore oxybookstore.com To order by phone: 323-259-2951 All major credit cards accepted
DIGITAL-ONLY ISSUE
Bright Lights, Big Kitty
1
2
3
1. Latine Student Union rolled to victory in Oswald’s Homecoming Spirit Parade. 2. Art Chmielewski P’24, father of senior forward Marcus Chmielewski, blows on a vuvuzela during the men’s soccer win over Whittier. 3. Media Arts & Culture Professor Broderick Fox, left, moderated an alumni panel on careers in entertainment with Project Greenlight filmmaker Meko Winbush ’03, Oscarwinning producer Caitrin Rogers ’04, and Illumination chief marketing officer Sam Bergen ’04.
Nikita, a cougar living in the Verdugo mountains, and her Angeleno neighbors come into view in an eye-opening exhibit on urban wildlife
In case you missed it: An urban wildlife exhibit with deep ties to the Tiger family, composer Adam Schoenberg’s fanfare for a “cool cat,” Project Greenlight winner Meko Winbush ’03, and Out@Oxy’s new name and renewed mission are all featured in the Summer 2023 Occidental magazine, which is available exclusively online. To view this and past issues, please visit oxy.edu/magazine.
On November 15, L.A.-area Tigers went to the Laugh Factory in Hollywood to enjoy an evening of comedy. The lineup for this special night featured three hilarious Oxy alumni (l-r): Eddie Gorton ’01, David Murphy ’02, and Paul “PK” Kim ’98. Occidental hits the road this spring! Join us in L.A., D.C., and Seattle for engaging conversations with students and faculty and hear updates from College leadership. Keep an eye out for dates soon!
alumni.oxy.edu
FALL 2023
Office of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Nonprofit U.S. Postage Paid Occidental College
How the Campaign Changed the College for Good
Philosophy at Oxy: Expanding the Canon
Address Service Requested
FALL 2023
is currently executive director of the California Parks Hospitality Association, and son David Griswold ’84 recently sold Sustainable Harvest, a fair trade coffee importing company he founded and ran for 25 years. More recently, a third generation of Griswolds has passed through campus: Granddaughter Jean Coleman ’14, a diplomacy and Then and now: Bill world affairs (DWA) and Spanand Jean Griswold at their home in ish studies double major, is an Fort Collins, Colo. economic development specialist for Sacramento County, and the principles that would guide grandson Gavin Griswold ’23 graduated them throughout their careers as last May as a DWA major. educators. After four years teaching Jean and Bill’s deep gratitude for Oxy in Turkey, Bill attended graduate school at was an important reason for their deciUCLA, completing his dissertation in Mid- sion to include the College in their will. dle Eastern studies. He joined the faculty (When he arrived at Occidental, Bill got a of Colorado State University (CSU) as a job at the President’s House, where he says professor of history in 1965, teaching for President Arthur G. Coons 1920 and wife 30 years. Jean completed her master’s in Edna treated him like a son, and he and teaching English as a foreign language Arthur Jr. ’52 became close friends.) Bill’s at CSU and helped launch the Fort Collins own experience, aided by the G.I. Bill and International Center in 1969. She later part-time jobs on campus, highlighted in served as director of International Student their minds the importance of scholarServices at CSU until her retirement in ships for deserving students. 1995. The couple’s Sunday waffle break“We want to ensure that future generfasts—which they hosted at their home for ations will have access to the same transmore than 45 years for international visi- formative opportunities we enjoyed,” Bill tors, staff, and students—are legendary in says. “It is our way to help Occidental conthe CSU community. tinue its role in shaping the lives of future Jean and Bill raised three children, two students, the same way it did for us.” of whom followed in their footsteps to Oxy. Daughter Ruth Griswold Coleman ’82 H’12
oxy.edu/giving
New Faces of 2027
Oxy’s 140th-anniversary class is teeming with artists, athletes, advocates, and entrepreneurs— including beekeeper and ballplayer Alex Ryan Nielsen COLLECTOR’S COVER 1 OF 4
oxy.edu/magazine
As a sophomore at Occidental, Bill Griswold ’50 was active in the College’s Student Church and aspired to a leadership role in the organization. He heard about a new student named Jean Stiver ’51 “who was going to do great things” for the group, “and I was not at all sure that we needed that change,” he recalls with a laugh. Hubert Noble ’28, College chaplain and assistant professor of religion, assured Bill that Jean would be a great addition to the group—and sure enough, Jean became co-chair of Student Church while Bill led its choir. This was the start of a relationship that has endured for over 72 years of marriage. In a recent conversation at their home of more than 48 years in Fort Collins, Colo., Bill and Jean shared fond memories of their undergraduate days. Bill, a philosophy major from Bellingham, Wash., recalled how the Student Church held a “very successful” hot dog sale during a victorious Oxy football game. Jean, an education major, began her time at Oxy commuting to Eagle Rock with her brother, Jim Stiver ’50, from their home in Pasadena. In later years, she lived in Erdman Hall: “Once I moved on campus, student life was so much more fun!” Occidental played an indelible role in shaping the course of their lives, Bill notes, providing them with an exceptional education, valuable teaching credentials, and
A Q&A WITH PRESIDENT ELAM /// GETTING TO KNOW OCCIDENTAL’S 14 NEW FACULTY
A Remarkable Journey