Occidental Magazine

December 6, 2024

Before arriving at Occidental, these eight members of the Class of ’28 (and a transfer student from the Class of ’27) discovered their superpowers in the classroom, in their communities, in competition, and in service to their...

Occidental Magazine

Occidental magazine brings you campus news, in-depth features, and profiles of exceptional alumni. For the 2024-25 academic year, the magazine will publish two print and digital issues (Fall 2024 and Spring 2025) and two digital-only issues (Summer 2024 and Winter 2025).

Features

Professor William D. Ward at his desk in the Hall of Letters on Occidental’s Highland Park campus.

�� History

Unseen Occidental

From 1898 to 1914, �� called Highland Park home—and a treasure trove of photos from the 1910s offers a glimpse of campus life before the move to Eagle Rock

Academics

Red States, Blue Fates

Election Day produced surprises, concessions, and a ballot box full of lessons to unpack

Sustainability

Farm to Film

Combining her interest in sustainability with her prowess behind the camera, Angelina Lee ’22 harvests a new documentary around permaculture

Ben Dalgetty ’10 in the Office of the Mayor in Seattle.

Profiles

Campaign Trails

Campaign Semester can be a gateway to a career in politics, advocacy work, or even elected office, as seven seasoned campaigners will attest

Members of the Occidental Class of 2028.

Academics

Origin Stories

Before arriving at Occidental, these eight members of the Class of ’28 (and a transfer student from the Class of ’27) discovered their superpowers in the classroom, in their communities, in...

Campaign Semester participants Cady Carr '27 and Rachel Obbard '27

Academics

Ground Game

For Campaign Semester students in battleground Pennsylvania and 13 other states, the road map to Election Day entails knocking on every door

Obituaries

Remembering the "Dean of NFL Referees"

With three Super Bowls on his resume, Jim Tunney '51 (1929-2024) became the face of football officiating

Alumni Engagement

Sustaining the Alumni Community

��'s Alumni Board of Governors is actively working to expand and promote alumni activities not just on campus, but around the world—and you're encouraged to get involved

Obituaries

Remembering Professor Tamás Lengyel

A internationally renowned scholar in the math community, a mathematical constant and a sequence of numbers were named in his honor

First Word

President Stritikus

Building Occidental’s Future Together

Although the outcomes of November’s elections will impact higher education, Occidental’s mission will not change

From the Quad

Chris Kim, the Choi Family Director of Instrumental Music, conducts the Occidental Symphony in a performance of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.”

Academics

The Sounds of Branca

A concert for the ages celebrates the generations-spanning clientele of music attorney John Branca ’72 and the launch of the John Branca Institute for Music

Members of the Pacific Crossings “Dream Team”: From left, Nakatsuka, Gilder Lehrman program coordinator Leah Baer, administrative assistant Thea Wilson ’24, and Hong.

Academics

Teachable Moments

Associate Professor Jane Hong and a “dream team” of educators bring 150 years of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history into focus

Members of the 2024 Occidental Athetics Hall of Fame.

Athletics

Earning Every Stripe

The Occidental Athletics Hall of Fame adds to its ranks with a 10th outstanding class

Projects for Peace participants Stephen Amankonah Sekyere ’27 and Eleanor Goddard ’25

Student Life

A STEM Grows in Ghana

Projects for Peace participants Eleanor Goddard ’25 and Stephen Amankonah Sekyere ’27 bring technology—and hope—to middle-schoolers in West Africa

Tylor Lee '26 interned with Healthcare in Action, which provides healthcare and social services to unhoused people.

Los Angeles

Summer in the City

A 10-week summer internship program pairs 28 �� students with 20 community partners to contribute to the work of advancing social justice in Los Angeles

Rebecca Solnit and Paul Holdengraber onstage at an �� Live! event at ��

Los Angeles

An Evening of Eavesdropping

�� Live!—the College’s new conversation series featuring a world-class lineup of artists—engages audiences in dialogues about culture and society

Mixed Media

More Mixed Media

Carole MacNeil ’84 with her mom, Eleanor, in 2019.

Arts

Mixed Media

New books by Carole MacNeil ’84, Jessica C. Harris ’08, Jessica Keith ’00, Marsha de la O ’74, and the latest documentary short by César Martínez Barba ’17

Author Susan Coll '81, photographed at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.

Arts

Mixed Media

Susan Coll ’81’s latest comic novel, Professor Amy Lyford’s examination of the art and life of Dorothea Tanning, and more

�� Talk

More �� Talk

As program director of Research Corporation for Science Advance- ment’s RCSA Fellows Initiative, Spain will support postdocs in physics, astronomy, and chemistry as they transition into their faculty careers.

Faculty

To Chemistry and Beyond

After 28 years in the classroom and mentoring 74 students in her lab at ��, Professor Eileen Spain pivots to prepare future generations of faculty in the physical sciences

Suke Takayuki Kubota in an undated photo.

Obituaries

��’s Samurai Grandmaster

Soke Takayuki Kubota (1934-2024) became a martial arts legend, developing his own karate style and amassing a worldwide following. And for more than 40 years, he taught his methods to the...