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FALL 2017
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Sally Beauty Holdings CEO Chris Brickman ’86
The New Millennials: Oxy’s Class of 2021
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FALL 2017
Photo by Nick Jacob
After Joscelyn Guzman ’18 received admission decisions from the four schools she applied to, “I talked to students at each institution, and the Occidental student I talked to made an effort to honestly answer all the questions I asked him,” recalls the firstgeneration college student, a religious studies major from Modesto. “After talking to him, I knew that I wanted to attend a school like Oxy where the students were kind, patient, and committed to supporting their peers. I wasn’t even an Oxy student yet, and I was already welcomed into the Oxy community.” How did you choose your major? After two years of academic exploration, I discovered that I was drawn to classes in the religious studies department. Being able to study and think critically about religion excited me, and all of the professors in the department are exceptional. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and they have reminded me of how fun learning can be. What’s been among your favorite classes? Last spring, I took a class titled Death, Dying, and Afterlife in the Ancient Mediterranean World, taught by Professor [Kristi] UpsonSaia. Her constant positivity—and her immense knowledge on the topic—motivated me to continue learning and finish the school year on a strong note. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the semester, my grandfather passed away. Afterward, I struggled with grief and staying on top of my work, but Professor Upson-Saia was very understanding—and being in a class that focused on death and dying was a surprisingly therapeutic process. I was able to bring my grandfather into discussions, readings, and assignments, and I am incredibly grateful to have had that opportunity. What did you learn from your Campaign Semester experience? I spent the fall 2016 semester in North Carolina doing research for Roy Cooper’s gubernatorial campaign. The race was extremely close, and my candidate ultimately won by only about 10,000 votes out of 4.6 million votes cast! Being a part of the victory in such a close election was emotional but rewarding, and the whole process taught me that people can truly make a difference.
INTRODUCING THE BARACK OBAMA SCHOLARS PROGRAM /// CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CURRICULUM
Your Oxy Fund Gift Motivates Joscelyn Guzman
What opportunities do you hope to pursue as a senior? Being a student of color has shaped my experience at Oxy, and I want to get more involved with Multi, a club for multiracial/ multicultural individuals. I look forward to continuing the research I began over the summer with the Undergraduate Research Center. Lastly, I want to engage more with Los Angeles, specifically with the Eagle Rock community. Thousands of alumni and friends of the College support the Oxy Fund each year. What would you like to say to them? Your generosity directly impacts students’ lives. I never imagined I would experience the opportunities I have had at Oxy, and I am thankful for your commitment to the institution. So, thank you. You motivate me to follow your example.
oxy.edu/giving
Armed with a smartphone and an open heart, Kevin F. Adler ’07 combats homelessness by rebuilding social support systems— one message at a time
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Invest in the kind of education that can only happen at Occidental. Please make your gift to the Oxy Fund.
Miracle Worker
OXYFARE 
Snapshots Volume 39, Number 4 oxy.edu/magazine
Four Oxy Legends Enter Hall of Fame Z Blair Slattery ’94 is Occidental’s all-time
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
Tatiana Garnett ’21 Daughter of Yadira Barajas ’97, Assistant Controller
Owen Keith ’21 Son of Robin Craggs, Executive Director of International Programs
Jacob Montag ’21 Son of Dolores Trevizo ’87, Professor of Sociology, and Warren Montag, Professor of English
Jonathan Veitch President Wendy F. Sternberg Vice President for Academic Aairs and Dean of the College Rhonda L. Brown Vice President for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity OďŹƒcer Charlie Cardillo Vice President for Institutional Advancement Vince Cuseo Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admission Rob Flot Vice President for Student Aairs and Dean of Students Amos Himmelstein Vice President & Chief Operating OďŹƒcer Marty Sharkey Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jim Tranquada Director of Communications
career scoring (1,676 points) and rebounding (1,034) leader in men’s basketball. The 6'7", 225-pound forward later played pro ball for ďŹ ve years in Europe, leading Germany’s Munster Basketball Club to a 34-2 record in his ďŹ rst season. Returning to the game after completing his MBA studies at USC, he was a member of the 2001 champion Svendborg Basketball Club in Denmark. In addition to his hoops prowess, Slattery also was the College’s 1994 champion in caps: “It’s like a drinking game, but it takes a little athletic talent as well,â€? noted Tor Myhren ’94 (below, right, with teammates Slattery and Sandy Brown ’94).
Y The 1982 women’s tennis team won the ďŹ rst NCAA Division III championship in the sport, defeating UC San Diego in Jackson, Miss., in May 1982. Coached by Lynn (Pacala) Mehl (standing, far right), the 11-member squad included (standing, l-r) Sue (Rene) Brazee ’82, Kathleen (McFadden) Parker ’82, Jean (Gilliland) Stivers ’83, and Wendy (Antisdel) Bothell ’84; (kneeling, l-r) Tina Martin ’85, Maria Newton ’85, Jean-Marie (Sanders) Szakovits ’84, and Yvonne (Orozco) Pedersen ’84. (Not pictured: Susan Eidson ’84, Suzanne (Davies) Farr ’85, and Cynthia (Day) Sabin ’85.) “What made this team so special?â€? Parker asked. “I think it was the undeniable chemistry we had that made a good team great.â€? (Above right, l-r: Bothell, Szakovits, Newton, Mehl, Sabin, Brazee, Parker, and Rob Flot, vice president and dean of students, who presented the honors.)
editorial staff
Dick Anderson Editor Samantha B. Bonar ’90, Jasmine Teran Contributing Writers Marc Campos Contributing Photographer Gail (Schulman) Ginell ’79 Class Notes Editor SanSoucie Design Design DLS Group Printing OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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 OďŹƒce of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Tatiana: Full zip hooded distressed print Oxy sweatshirt by Wideworld Sportswear. Sizes S-XL. $56.95 Owen: Oxy Tigers palm tree T-shirt by Wideworld Sportswear. Sizes S-XXL. $16.95 Jacob: Occidental College traditional T-shirt. In black, charcoal, Oxford, and white. Sizes S-XXXL. $16.95
Tatiana, Owen, and Jacob Occidental magazine, Fall 1999 Occidental College Bookstore oxybookstore.com To order by phone: 323-259-2951 All major credit cards accepted
Letters may be edited for length, content, and style. Occidental College online Homepage: oxy.edu Facebook: facebook.com/occidental Twitter: @occidental Instagram: instagram.com/occidentalcollege Cover photo: Jim Block Oxy Wear photo: Marc Campos
W In an emotional tribute to their son, the late Andy Collins ’07, parents Betty and Mike Collins thanked the teammates, coaches, trainers, and equipment personnel—“everybody working for that common goal of just getting out there on that ďŹ eld ‌ and being the best that you can be.â€? With Collins as quarterback, the Tigers went undefeated in conference play from 2004 to 2006, won 26 straight regular season games, and advanced to the postseason each year, including a trip to Division III’s Elite Eight in 2004. “To all of you who were with Andy here during those wonderful, exciting, amazing three years, Andy could not have accomplished what he did here at Oxy without all of you,â€? said Mike (front row, second from left, with Betty and Andy’s widow, Brooke Olzendam, second from right). “Every one of you owns a part of this.â€?
Y One of Oxy’s most versatile all-around runners, Steve Haas ’63 set school records in the 100, 220, 440, and 880 during the 1963 season. He also was a member of Oxy’s school record 2-mile relay team. “I thrived at Oxy in the environment here, with the coaching that we had and the competition that we had, the trips that we took, and the camaraderie,â€? said Haas (above, right, with wife Margaret and brother-in-law Mel Peters, left) in accepting the honor. “I’ve spent 43 years of my life as a track coach because of my involvement in track and ďŹ eld here, so a big part of who I am is a result of what it was for me to be a part of the track program here at Occidental.â€?
Photo credits: Marc Campos (Hall of Fame), Lynn Mehl (tennis), Alison Slattery (Slattery), Kirby Lee (Collins), Occidental College Special Collections (Haas)
alumni.oxy.edu
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Features 14 An Occidental Truth For students and faculty across multiple disciplines, climate change is real—and they’re exploring solutions through classroom study and field research.
18 Ian Van Dusen ’20 takes a long drink from an Arctic river during a field research expedition to the central Icelandic Highlands.
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Departments
24 Beauty Is in the Eye of the Shareholder Responding to shifts in the retail landscape and partnering with online influencers, Sally Beauty Holdings CEO Chris Brickman ’86 makes believers out of analysts and investors.
32 OxyTalk New deans Rob Flot and Wendy Sternberg work together to create synergies between students, faculty, and the offices that support them.
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First Word President Veitch on students’ obligations as active citizens and the role of the liberal arts as preparation. Also: readers’ memories of Joe Rohde’s cafeteria hats, comps, and Oxy’s “unknown” soldiers.
From the Quad Occidental creates the Barack Obama Scholars Program, Tigers football begins a long rebuilding process, a new computer science major rolls out, and students and faculty explore Costa Rica’s biological wonders.
Page 64 With an ingredient list high in protein and low in “weird stuff,” Anthony Ostland ’08 and Michael Winchell ’07 create a Mammoth Bar to their liking.
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New Faces of 2021 Ambitious, thoughtful, quirky, worldly —and smarter than most of us were at that age—the third-largest entering class in Oxy history is ready for its closeup.
Someone’s Somebody Entrepreneur and sociologist Kevin F. Adler ’07 tackles the nation’s homeless crisis by rebuilding social support systems and reconnecting loved ones —one Miracle Message at a time.
Tigerwire Class notes for even years.
CREDITS: Darren Larsen An Occidental Truth | Max S. Gerber New Faces of 2021 | Joe Rohde ’77 First Word | Marc Campos From the Quad, OxyTalk | Anthony Ostland ’08 Page 64
FIRST WORD » FROM PReSideNT VeiTCh
‘Wicked Problems’? Avoiding Easy Answers Convocation and flag photos by Marc Campos
The value of a liberal arts education is a perennially contentious subject that has engaged philosophers, politicians, and more than one long-winded college president. While one of the most frequent modern criticisms of a liberal arts education is that it isn’t terribly useful, the most common counterargument you will hear at Occidental concerns students’ role as active citizens. Our students are at a crucial point in their lives in which our society issues an invitation to them to assume membership as citizens. That’s a pretty big deal. As newly minted citizens—most of our students still come to us at age 18—we believe it is incumbent upon them to understand not just their rights, but their obligations to the shared enterprise of living with and among their fellow citizens. That entails a deep understanding of the political, cultural, and historical dimensions of some of our most vexing social problems: the persistence of poverty, racism, sexism, and inequality; the negative and positive impacts of the marketplace; democracy and its discontents; and the science behind global warming and effective modes of its redress.
Veitch President Veitch President addresses the the addresses Classsymposium of 2021 Oxy at Convocation immigration on on March August10. 28. on
Most of all, our students need to cultivate respect for complexity. We live in a world in which simplistic solutions are being proffered by populists on the right and the left. Such solutions sometimes have the virtue of moral clarity, but they often lack a sophisticated understanding of the problem they are intended to address. If any of these issues were easy, they would have been solved by now. They are what might be described as “wicked problems.”
Our students need a deep understanding of the political, cultural, and historical dimensions of some of our most vexing social problems. For many students, their four years at Oxy constitute a political awakening. They inevitably find the persistence of these problems outrageous, even as the solutions they seek may differ. However, in order to have any impact, they need the full arsenal of skills that are part and parcel of their liberal arts education—the skills that are instrumental to first-rate research, numeracy, effective communication, and the ability to evaluate evidence and negotiate positions with which you disagree. 2
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And wicked problems, by definition, are characterized by multiple determinants—in short, by their complexity. In addition, our students need a number of softer skills that they acquire both inside and outside the classroom—especially in heated late-night conversations in their dorm rooms. These crucial skills include open-mindedness, empathy, and a willingness not just to challenge positions with which they disagree, but to listen carefully to them. We live in a world that has
become so partisan that we imagine the forces of light arrayed against the forces of darkness, with no common ground between them. We seek out those with whom we fervently agree to reinforce those points of commonality with an almost religious zeal, and have lost the capacity to grow and listen and change our understanding of the world. Of course, at Occidental the liberal arts involve not just preparation for active citizenship. We also provide our students with basic skill-building and teach them the value of advanced scientific research through an unencumbered pursuit of the truth and the importance of passing on of one’s cultural heritage (however fraught that might be). All of these approaches are foundational to the work we do, informing decisions about what gets taught and how, and jostling each other by making sometimes contradictory claims on our students. My guess is that if our students were to ask their professors which “justification” hews closest to their own beliefs, they would get many different answers. And that is as it should be. There is another justification for liberal arts education that you rarely hear—one that extends back at least to Aristotle. That is the defense of education as essential to nothing less than our students’ future happiness. This approach asks our students to consider what makes for a life well lived. For the 19th-century English philosopher John Stuart Mill, that meant developing some notion of your life’s purpose and realizing your full potential—encumbered to be sure by the limitations of circumstances, but not so encumbered that it doesn’t admit the freedom to choose. There is real joy in that, and a very deep satisfaction. While arguments over which majors deliver the highest salary grab the headlines, in the end joy and satisfaction are results we hope all of our students find for themselves.
FIRST WORD
Photo courtesy Joe Rohde ’77
» FROM The ReAdeRS
numerology Crazy Over Comps
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Loved the story in the Occidental about comps (“Extra Stresstrial,” Summer). Mine was original research on Prop 8 [an amendment of the California constitution relating to the assessment of property values] in 1978. David Axeen and Rodney Hoffman gave me a lot of support. David Axeen yelled at me when I expressed doubts about being able to do it. I owe him a great deal for that.
Getty Center Scholars-in-Residence for 2017-18 working on a range of topics on the theme of “Iconoclasm and Vandalism.” Among them is Occidental history professor Lisa Sousa, whose research will examine the desecration of sacred sites and objects in colonial Mexico. She will be in residence at the Getty Research Institute from January to June 2018.
Keith Malone ’85 Los Angeles
After reading your informative article about comps, I remain unsure about whether I had to jump through this hoop in 1956. I even tracked down my handwritten copy of my transcript—struck out! Nonetheless, you did a nice job of describing one facet in the life of an Oxy student. I appreciate your research but wonder how students from the five-year, 10-year, and 20-year anniversary classes feel about the value of comps during the years following graduation. Best wishes for Oxy’s continued success. During the near-term, I’ll be focused on helping my 12 grandchildren pay for their degrees. Long term? Their well-educated parents will carry the ball for me. Dick Sovde ’56 Lacey, Wash.
Hats Entertainment Joe Rohde ’77’s successful and wildly c reative career with Disney Imagineering comes as no surprise to anyone who knew him at Oxy (“Mr. Rohde’s Wild Ride,” Summer). He was a remarkable and wellknown figure on campus, always colorfully costumed or adorned. He was best known for the incredibly intricate headdresses (“hat” is much too simple a word for these creations) that he constructed, then wore all around campus. I worked on Clancy’s serving staff with Joe, and witnessed firsthand the fascination Joe’s changes of headgear held for every student who passed through the serving line. We enjoyed Joe’s creations then, and have long admired his work in the various Disney parks. Sue (York) Rose ’79 Pasadena
One of Joe’s many Oxy looks: “Teddy Rohdevelt.”
Who could forget those amazing and intricate art creations that seemed to grow out of Joe Rohde’s Clancy-required, cafeteriaserver hats at dinnertime? Did anyone take photos? The line for “with or without” slowed while we all admired and commented on his talents—we knew he had an exciting future in store. Laurie (Clark) Gardes ’76 Pullman, Wash.
Thanks for Peter Gilstrap’s terrific article on Joe Rohde. Joe’s one of a kind ... in a very special way! In addition to the accomplishments mentioned, we shouldn’t forget that Joe designed the Occidental Rose Parade float that celebrated the College’s centennial in 1988. As Joe admitted, he was so tired from the construction effort that he slept through most of the parade! Woody Studenmund Laurence de Rycke Professor of economics
Prayers and Thanks When I was at Oxy, most of my classes were in Johnson Hall. Regularly as I passed by the wall where the memorial plaques were located, I’d stop and pray for those (to me) unknown soldiers who had died in various wars. Now, thanks to Paul Robert Walker ’75’s stories in the Spring 2017 issue (“Life During Wartime” and “Gold Stars for Seven Sons”), I know more about them. Thanks for these informative articles. Adriana Martinez ’95 indio
2,997 Miniature U.S. flags planted on the north end of the Quad by Conservatives of Occidental, a registered student organization, as a tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11. In stark contrast to a similar memorial in 2016, the flags went undisturbed, and a second group of students created an alternative 9/11 memorial on the lower half of the Quad.
80 Percentage of influential positions creating Hollywood blockbusters held by men, according to a white paper issued by the Women’s Media Summit outlining a plan of action for eliminating gender inequity in film, television, and streaming media. “A lot of smart people have been working on gender injustice in entertainment media for decades, but progress has been slow and stagnant in recent years,” says Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics and co-author of the paper. FALL 2017
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“My Voice Could
Make a Difference” Occidental launches the Barack Obama Scholars Program to honor the president’s legacy, empowering future generations of students dedicated to the public good Photos by Tom Grauman ’83
top: Obama often studied in “the Fishbowl,” located on the lower level of Mary Norton Clapp Library. above: Obama sits with roommate Hasan Chandoo ’81 at a dinner in honor of Black History Month. right: Students gather at an anti-apartheid rally outside the Coons Administrative Center on Feb. 18, 1981, where Obama gave his first public speech.
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“My years at Occidental College sparked my interest in social and political causes, and filled me with the idea that my voice could make a difference,” said President Barack Obama ’83. “And throughout my time in public service, I’ve tried to use my voice to bring people together, in common effort, around the idea that we could give every young person in America the chance that America gave me.” With the support of alumni and friends of the College who share President Obama’s ideals, Occidental announced the creation of its Barack Obama Scholars Program on September 27 to empower exceptional students committed to the public good as it honors and perpetuates the principles Obama has advanced throughout his life. In a statement issued with the announcement, Obama wrote: “I’m so humbled by the Barack Obama Scholars Program at Oxy, and proud of its mission to identify promising young people from all backgrounds—with an emphasis on first-generation students, our veterans, and community college transfers— not only to give them access to higher education, but to train the next generation of leaders and active citizens, and fill them with the conviction that they too can change the world.” Beginning in fall 2018, Occidental will endow two scholarships and thereafter ramp up to 20 scholarships for a select group of students, providing a singular liberal arts education designed to equip them to bring about meaningful change in the world. Prior to the public launch, Oxy raised $7 million
FROM THE QUAD
Photo by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images
in current and planned gifts from a wide range of supporters drawn from alumni and friends of the College, including Ann and Bruce Blume, Jane and Glenn Hickerson, Aileen and Leif Isaksen ’62, and Janice Gonzales ’63. The program represents Occidental’s investment in students who aspire to become change agents but lack the opportunity to fully realize their goals, and continues the legacy of leadership embodied by Oxy’s most famous alumnus. Each Obama Scholar will be awarded a four-year scholarship, providing loan-free funding for the entire cost of an Occidental education, in addition to summer enrichment programs such as the Kahane United Nations Program and Campaign Semester. Scholars also will have access to mentoring by Occidental faculty and the program’s advisory council, which includes prominent alumni, former administration officials, and some of President Obama’s friends. “So many of our challenges are immensely complicated and vexing, and it’s crucial that we provide our students with the skills to be able to address them,” said President Jonathan Veitch. “Whether they do that as a mayor of a city or as a state legislator or in Congress, in business, medicine, or journalism, whatever avenue they want to pursue—we want to make sure that they’re equipped to be effective change agents.” For a long time, Occidental has been considering how best to honor the legacy of Obama, who has frequently cited the two years he spent at Oxy before transferring to Columbia In creating the Obama Scholars Program, “We University as transformative. Ultiwanted a living legacy,” President Jonathan mately, College leaders felt the best Veitch told the Los Angeles Times. “Our goal is to educate students who emulate President tribute would be a comprehensive, Obama’s values and qualities—students who merit-based program similar to the are committed to the public good.” Morehead-Cain scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We are delighted to have President Obama’s support for a program that has such potential to have a far-reaching of Homeland Security and Obama Scholars Advisory Council member Jeh Johnson impact in the public sphere,” Veitch said. “There is no better inspiration in the (whose son, Jeh Jr., graduated from Oxy in world today than Barack Obama, and this May). “The Obama Scholars Program will program seeks to build upon his legacy that unleash a continuous flow of change agents began at Occidental,” said former Secretary eager to engage in issues that strongly and
positively affect the advancement of our modern society and unite our country.” For more information on the Barack Obama Scholars Program at Occidental College, visit obamascholars.oxy.edu.
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FROM THE QUAD
Photos by Nick Jacob (practice) and Ed Ruvalcaba (vs. Redlands)
“There is no quick or easy way to solve the challenges in front of us,” President Veitch wrote in reaffirming Oxy’s commitment to a robust football program.
A Season on the Brink With new head coach Rob Cushman at the helm and a short roster riddled by injuries, Oxy’s storied football program looks to rebuild for next year
One hundred years after Oxy’s first home football game at Patterson Field—a 13-7 victory over Los Angeles Athletic Club—the Tigers cancelled their home opener to the 2017 season, two days prior to their September 16 contest with Pacific University of Oregon. “Since last week’s game against the University of Puget Sound [a 61-6 road loss], the size of the team roster has diminished to the point that we cannot effectively field a team this weekend,” director of athletics Jaime Hoffman wrote in an email to the Oxy community. “This is a painful decision.” In the weeks that followed, the health of the roster was monitored closely not only by new head coach Rob Cushman and his assistants, but by Hoffman, President Jonathan Veitch, and senior administrators. Although the Tigers would regroup to play their next two games—losing at home to defending SCIAC champion Redlands 72-13 on September 30, and mustering a scant 115 yards in a 37-0 road loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on October 7—further injuries, especially on defense, prompted the College to cancel Oxy’s Homecoming contest October 13. 6
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Four days later, it became apparent that the roster’s strength in numbers would not improve to the point “where we can safely field a team for the remainder of this season,” Veitch wrote in announcing the decision to cancel the remaining four games on the 2017 schedule. “Making this decision now provides needed clarity to players, their parents, coaches, and other SCIAC members.”
Cushman speaks to the team prior to kickoff against Redlands.
Each piece of news rippled through Tigers gridiron circles, angering many current players, their parents, and generations of football alumni. How could one of the most storied small-college football programs in the West —one that has produced the likes of Jack Kemp ’57, Jim Mora ’57, Ron Botchan ’57, Vance Mueller ’86, and more recently Andy Collins ’07 (whom former head coach Dale
Widolff called “the best player” in SCIAC history)—have fallen so far in so little time? And can the program rebuild in short order? Coming off a 1-8 campaign in 2016, this season was expected to be a rebuilding one for the Tigers. But following the unexpected retirement in mid-July of four-year head coach Doug Semones, Oxy was left scrambling for a replacement. On August 1, the College announced the hiring of Cushman, who inherited a winless University of Minnesota-Morris team in 2014 and went 6-4 in his second year. Fifty-seven players were expected to report to training camp August 14. But Semones’ departure, coupled with the August 3 exit of offensive coordinator Darnell Arceneaux, apparently took a toll on the number of players returning to the squad. The Tigers kicked off the season against Cushman’s alma mater, Puget Sound, with 47 players to the Loggers’ 91. After the loss, a couple more players left the team, and a spate of injuries left Oxy reeling with a healthy roster of 37 players—13 of them on defense—ready to suit up against Pacific. A strategic plan for athletics presented to the Board of Trustees in 2014 addressed such a scenario. “Although we do not believe discontinuing football should be considered at this time, recent studies on head injuries raise increasing concerns regarding the health and safety of football players,” the report noted. “The College must remain en-
above left: Coach Rob Cushman and the Tigers take to the field for Oxy’s home opener against Redlands. above: “These guys are learning lessons about attitude and hanging in there and perseverance and commitment,” Cushman told the Occidental Weekly. below left: Quarterback Cameron Yowell ’21 takes some snaps in practice September 21. left: Sophomore backs Harrison Wakefield and Javion Tinsley and a sign of the times.
gaged in promoting rule changes and other safeguards to protect its student-athletes. Should the competitive level of the team create an unsafe environment, the administration will need to intervene.” Following the trustees’ regular meeting in September, “we emerged with a clear consensus affirming our commitment to a healthy football program,” Veitch said in a September 26 email to football parents and alumni. Minus the arm of Bryan Scott ’16 (who threw for 27 touchdowns in 2016) or the legs of Kwame Do ’15 (who rushed for 1,571 yards in 2015), the Tigers have struggled offensively compared to recent teams. Among the bright spots individually are senior linebacker Chris Garcia, who had 10 tackles each in the first two SCIAC games, and senior wide receiver Ian Bonde, who caught two touchdown passes from freshman quarterback Jake Willemsen against Redlands. Oxy’s abbreviated season may ultimately be remembered for the huddling that took place off the field. A task force including Hoffman, trustees, alumni-athletes, senior administrators, faculty, and other sharehold-
ers will address what the College must do to sustain a competitive football program. And on October 9, Veitch met with a subcommittee of former players led by Mueller and Mike Tromello ’04 M’05. Among the most vocal critics of the administration are those former Tigers who played under Widolff, who in 30 years as head coach led the Tigers to 11 SCIAC championships, 178 victories, and seven postseason appearances. Widolff was dismissed in 2012 after violating NCAA regulations over email recruiting of student-athletes at other schools—leaving scars that have yet to heal. “This is not the way I would have hoped to introduce myself,” Cushman wrote in a letter to the Oxy football community posted September 16. “We need everyone to support these players and this team. We will survive and get better.” A tweet by @oxy_football on the evening of October 17, accompanied by a photo of Patterson Field at dawn, reinforced that message with a quote from Victor Hugo: “‘Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.’ #Iotriumphe #Fight4EveryStripe” fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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FROM THE QUAD
“To prevent sexual misconduct we need to change behavior,” Jones says. “There is still much work to be done.” Photo by Marc Campos
Bringing Integrity to Equity As Oxy’s first full-time Title IX coordinator, Ruth Jones championed transparency in dealing with sexual misconduct and gender equity issues
When Ruth Jones arrived on campus in February 2014 as the College’s first full-time Title IX coordinator, Oxy was in the midst of a painful and very public debate over its handling of sexual assault. When she left in August to begin the next chapter of her life, new policies and procedures were in place, a major investigation by the U.S. Department of Education had been resolved, and a new level of transparency had been achieved. 8
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“Ruth has had an enormous impact on the College’s response to sexual violence, harassment, and other equity issues,” said President Jonathan Veitch. “Her integrity, her empathy and wisdom, her patience and skill in cultivating trust, and the collaborative approach she has fostered have inspired us and moved us forward.” Before her final day on campus, Jones sat down to discuss not only the evolution of Oxy’s response to sexual misconduct but what’s ahead on the national level. Where are we today in the fight against sexual misconduct? I took this position because I believed that we were at a unique time in history, when the motivation to address sexual violence on campus and within the broader society was very high. It was a chance to really confront some of the underlying causes of sexual assault and shape an appropriate response. In order to solve this, we have to collectively think about how to support survivors, what a fair process looks like, how to manage a process that sometimes gives us results we are unhappy with, and how to address the underlying causes of sexual violence and design effective prevention programs. That window may be quickly closing. I fear that the Trump administration will be focused on a misguided effort to incorporate criminal law due-process requirements into college administrative processes. What’s the difference between the administrative process used in campus sexual misconduct cases and criminal law? During the last few years, colleges have been accused of not providing sufficient due-process protections to those accused of sexual violence by comparing due-process protections that students receive to protections against criminal defendants. But the colleges’ process is not designed to determine if a student has violated criminal law. Rather, colleges determine if an individual has violated the college’s policies or student code. During this administrative process, students have due process rights but not the same rights as a criminal defendant. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have held that due process in college administrative proceedings generally means notice of the allegations and an opportunity to be heard—that is, to challenge the evidence. How do you think we’re doing relative to other campuses?
I’m not sure it’s helpful to compare ourselves to other schools. At Oxy, I think awareness today might be greater—people know we have a policy and an affirmativeconsent standard. But that has been insufficient to get people to change their behavior. We need to have a climate in which students actually seek affirmative consent, rather than just knowing how to define it. While we have certainly made progress, to prevent sexual misconduct we need to change behavior, and we have to do that within a culture that still unfortunately supports misogyny. There is still much more work to be done. How would you compare today’s situation at Oxy with the one that you found when you arrived? One major difference is in having a fulltime Title IX coordinator. I have only one goal and one priority every day, and that is to advocate for gender equity. I don’t have to balance it with other parts of my portfolio. I think that’s been helpful to the community. What are you proudest of during your tenure at Oxy? Transparency. To the greatest extent that we could, we shared what we do with the community. That includes administering the campus climate survey, sharing the results, providing community reports, and detailing how we resolved formal complaints. Is the elimination of sexual violence a realistic goal? That has always been the goal. But it can only be reached with collective, collaborative effort. We need everyone thinking about it and how they can make a contribution. We are a community in which learning is valued, in which students come in and go through wholesale changes before they graduate. That’s why it’s appropriate for colleges to be leaders in addressing sexual violence. I believe that we can eliminate sexual violence, and I always saw that as my objective. What is the hardest part of the job? There’s never a successful complaint resolution process. When there’s a complaint, there’s only sadness, because whatever happens as a result of the complaint, we have students who have been impacted by sexual violence. The student who brought the complaint, the student who is accused, and all the witnesses involved are often all in the same group of friends. So every time there was a complaint, it is a failure—we didn’t prevent it. That’s the hardest part.
FROM THE QUAD
New Campus Safety policies and procedures have been implemented since 2013. Photo by Marc Campos
Making Things Right Department of Education review cites Oxy for past violations of the Clery Act, finds the College now in compliance with federal crime-reporting laws
Occidental is now in compliance with the Clery Act, the federal crime-reporting law, but fell short in “numerous, serious, persistent, and systemic” ways between 2009 and 2013, according to a lengthy review by the U.S. Department of Education. The 58-page review, which the College made public after it was delivered in August, found that over the five-year review period Occidental failed to meet its obligations in a number of areas that include failing to accurately compile and disclose crime statistics, issue timely warnings of potential safety threats, maintain accurate daily crime logs, and have adequate policies and procedures in place. On August 23, in announcing the results of the department’s review, President Jonathan Veitch wrote: “These conclusions do not come as a surprise. We failed to get this right. Our own assessment, confirmed by the findings of the review, makes it clear that we simply did not dedicate sufficient time, resources, and expertise to Clery reporting.” “As we and many of our peer institutions have learned, the requirements of the Clery Act are more complex and require more resources than previously believed,” Veitch continued. “Since 2013, we have fully coop-
erated with the review and significantly invested in remedying our shortcomings. The safety of the Oxy community is a paramount concern, and we have learned much from this experience.” On September 27, the DOE levied fines totaling $83,000 on four of the nine adverse findings against the College. “The College will not appeal, and will draw from reserves to pay the fines,” Veitch wrote in a message to campus October 6. The Clery review was triggered by a formal complaint filed in April 2013 by Oxy students and faculty alleging that the College was in violation of the Clery Act, the 1990 federal consumer protection law that mandates the public reporting of campus crime statistics. Clery reports detail certain categories of crime that occur on campus and on properties owned or controlled by a college, or owned by organizations recognized by a college. By law, each Clery report covers a calendar year, which combines the spring semester of one academic year with the fall semester of the following academic year. While the 2013 complaint focused on the College’s reporting of sexual assault cases, the review examined every aspect of the College’s crime reporting, which includes such
crimes as murder, arson, robbery, burglary, and assault as well as sexual assault. The review found a total of 315 reporting errors, many of which had been previously disclosed in the College’s self-reported revisions to its 2013, 2014, and 2015 Clery reports. Of that total, 79 were crimes that should have been included, but were not, and 236 were crimes that should not have been included. The overreporting was the result of the College erroneously including crimes that occurred in the Campus Safety escort zone, which is bounded by York Boulevard on the south, Eagle Rock Boulevard on the west, Yosemite Drive on the north, and Avenue 51 on the east. Other crimes were misclassified: burglary as grand theft, for example. Reaction to the review, both on campus and off, was muted. In contrast to the filing of the complaint, the review’s conclusions received little media attention with the exception of a story in the Los Angeles Times. Faculty critics praised the activists who filed the complaint and set a lengthy process of self-correction in motion. “It took many years, and it took federal complaints, but the College has made some significant progress on this issue,” associate professor of politics Caroline Heldman told the Occidental Weekly.
PROGRESS IN THE PROCESS The College’s process of addressing its shortcomings began with an extensive internal review launched in 2013 before the complaint was filed. Since then, Oxy has taken a number of steps to improve its reporting of crime statistics: • Creating an internal Clery Compliance Team in June 2013 with representatives from Campus Safety, Title IX, Residential Education, and Human Resources. • Hiring a new Campus Safety chief in August 2013. • Hiring a full-time Clery coordinator in July 2014. • Providing additional training for staff responsible for Clery reporting. • Increasing professionalization of Campus Safety policies and procedures. • Bringing in outside consultants to advise on ways to improve policies and procedures. • Improving transparency measures for issues on campus that present safety concerns, whether required by Clery or not. Examples: issuing community-wide safety bulletins and an annual Title IX report of formal and informal complaints. The full Clery review can be found at sites.oxy.edu/ marketing/20170811_Clery_Final-program_Review_ Determination.pdf.
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FROM THE QUAD
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Costa Rica Classroom For three Oxy professors and a research team of eight undergraduates not afraid of a little rain, La Selva Biological Station is the ultimate field trip
Hannah Hayes ’18 spent two weeks of her summer in Costa Rica studying grasshoppers. A biology major from Dana Point, “I originally was planning to study neurobiology,” she explains—but after taking a marine biology class at Oxy, “I realized that you can be a scientist and be outside and still ask important questions.” A friend who worked in the Vantuna Research Group told her about her experience doing her own research project at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. “I really wanted to do that,” she says. Soon after, Hayes was talking to biology professor Beth Braker about grasshoppers, and back in June she made her second trip to La Selva, battling humidity and discovering wonders in the tropical rain forest while photographing 22 varieties of grasshoppers (and researching an additional 15) for a series of field guides. “A lot of these hoppers are really not well known because they’re rare or arboreal so they only hang out in the tops of 10
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Biology professor Beth Braker with a frog, Cruziohyla calcarifer, on her shoulder.
the trees,” she explains. “You just can’t find any information on them.” Braker’s first time at La Selva was as a study-abroad student at Bryn Mawr, during a tour of Costa Rica. “It involved a 5-hour bus ride, a 30-minute boat ride, and a climb up a steep set of steps,” she recalls. “That was
my first introduction to a real rain forest, and it was fantastic.” Over the decades, she’s watched La Selva grow from “a little shack on the riverbank to being the preeminent research station for work in tropical forests,” she says. “That’s because of a lot of hard work, all the incredible science that has been done here over the years.” Sitting on 3,900 acres of mostly tropical rain forest, La Selva is one of three stations in Costa Rica operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, a nonprofit consortium of universities, colleges, and research institutions that purchased the property in 1968. (Braker currently serves as secretary of the OTS board of directors.) Oxy has sent close to 150 students since the 1990s, thanks to support from the National Science Foundation and various College sources, and an anonymous foundation gift will fund Oxy’s work at La Selva for the next four years. “La Selva is a place for any student interested in living things,” says biology professor Gretchen North, who studies the plant biology of the region and made her first trip to Costa Rica on an ecological tour of coffee plantations organized by Braker in 2005. Together with Braker and associate professor of philosophy Clair Morrissey, North shepherded a group of eight Oxy undergrads on a two-week research trip to La Selva in June. “It’s very hard to get lost, even if you are by yourself,” she says, “as long as you stay on the trails.”
FROM THE QUAD
Photos by Marc Campos
1. Biology major Cora Davies ’19 tags a Pentaclethra macroloba tree under the jungle canopy. 2. From left, Hannah Fishbein ’19, Clara Sophia Gust ’18, Bryce Lewis-Smith ’20, Ben Scott ’17, and Madeline Gillman ’18 scan the canopy for monkeys. 3. The strawberry poisondart frog, Oophaga pumilio.
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4 4. Gust talks philosophy with associate professor Clair Morrissey as they wait out the rain. It was Morrissey’s first time at La Selva. 7. The Caligo illioneus is an owl butterfly with huge yellowrimmed eyespots.
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6 5. A Hercules beetle wanders around the camp kitchen. 6. The Stone Bridge connects the station’s main buildings with the research area, living quarters, and jungle access. 8. With his distinct musky odor telegraphing his presence, a collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu) ignores a Cabin Residents Only sign.
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9. Pentaclethra macroloba seeds are numbered and weighed for LewisSmith’s research project. 10. Braker’s son, Ben Scott ’17, first came to La Selva when he was 6 months old. 11. Professor Gretchen North studies La Selva’s plant biology. 12. Biology major Hannah Hayes ’18 is creating a series of field guides on the grasshoppers of La Selva.
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FROM THE QUAD
Photos by Marc Campos
Students in professor Kathryn Leonard’s Machine Learning class (Comp 347), including Shasta Clokey ’19, foreground, left, and Grey Hutchinson '21.
Bo Gao ’18 uses a k-means clustering algorithm to distinguish real from counterfeit currency.
A Logical Progression Six years after its introduction as a minor, Oxy’s new computer science major encourages students to explore cyber connections with the liberal arts
Oxy junior Drake Song of Irvine didn’t always want to be a computer science major. In fact, he explored three other career paths en route to his epiphany—film (“I’m not creative enough”), law (“I don’t enjoy reading”), and math (“It’s simply too hard—I’m sure many people will agree with me”). Then along came Oxy’s new computer science major and department, which the College rolled out this fall. “The thing that convinced me to declare a computer science major is the community,” Song says. “There are so many resources and open-source projects that anyone with a connection to the Internet can discover that for once, I didn’t feel overwhelmed; in fact, I felt excited. I wanted to be a part of the community where people don’t only focus on personal gains but rather utilize their given resources to contribute to creating a better world.” Three seniors, 11 juniors, and six sophomores—a mixture of nine women and 11 men—immediately declared the major, and the College expects to confer its first degrees 12
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in the interdisciplinary field this spring. Oxy will continue to offer a six-course computer science minor, which was introduced in 2011. In its proposal for the new major, a computer science advisory committee (made up of faculty from several academic departments) successfully argued that a liberal arts college is an ideal place for an interdisciplinary computer science program. “At its core, computer science is the systematic study of the organization and processing of information, a definition that makes clear the connection between computer science and essentially every department at Occidental.” For example, in the natural, physical, and social sciences, computer-based methods have greatly enhanced the ability to generate, collect, and interpret large amounts of data, while simultaneously allowing it to be presented in understandable ways. In the arts and humanities, computer science has provided not only a new medium for analysis, but new ways of expression through social media, animation, and interactive games.
“I’m thrilled,” says associate professor of cognitive science Carmel Levitan, who cochaired the advisory committee. “We’ve been having discussions about a major for more than five years, and I think we’ve designed an excellent program that will serve Oxy students well.” “A lot of people across the campus have worked very hard to see this major happen, and we are always looking for additional interdisciplinary collaborations,” adds Justin Li, assistant professor of cognitive science, who also served on the committee. “Computer science has become a standard tool in lots of fields. A basic understanding of the power and limitations of computers is critical, even if students do not do work directly with computation.” The initial computer science department faculty will consist of Li, adjunct assistant professor Jeff Miller, and newly hired cognitive and computer science professor Kathryn Leonard, as well as other adjunct faculty on special appointment. The major will address not only the technical knowledge, but also the context within which technology is used and what problems it may create. It includes three potential pathways: a computer science curriculum, a mathematics emphasis, and a major including an interdisciplinary concentration, which will allow students to explore the intersection of technology with other academic interests. “The program that we’ve designed encourages students to explore connections between technology and other disciplines,” Levitan says. “Students with widely varying levels of background in computer science— or no background, but keen interest—can successfully complete this major.” “My interest in computer science has always come from my drive to solve complicated problems,” says Shasta Clokey ’19 of
Los Osos, one of six students to declare computer science as a second major this fall (adding it to his mathematics major). An “incredible” summer experience working as a software engineer for VMUV, a virtual reality startup in San Luis Obispo, cinched his decision. “After graduation, I hope to move back to San Luis Obispo and start a career in embedded systems engineering and continue working to get VMUV off the ground,” he says. “A liberal arts institution of Occidental’s quality and ambition needs a computer science major, and the unique addition of the computer science interdisciplinary pathway will really set Oxy apart,” says Daniel Chamberlain, director of Occidental’s Center for Digital Learning and Research. “In addition to giving our students the opportunity to integrate computational thinking into their scholarly work, we also need to make sure that we are helping them learn to train their critical and analytic capabilities on the very tools, structures, and systems that make up the digital cultures they inhabit.” “One of the things that I love most about Oxy students is that they are committed to improving the world,” Levitan says. Through the computer science major, “Our students will use their liberal arts training to ask insightful questions and to come up with creative solutions to problems.” “I have liked computers and programming since middle school, but chose a liberal arts school like Occidental because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in,” says Charlotte Cullip ’18, a chemistry and computer science double major from Harbor Springs, Mich. “After taking a few classes toward the minor, I realized I enjoyed learning about computers and how they work and wanted to pursue the field further. Whereas biology is the study of living organisms, chemistry is the study of matter at an atomic level, and physics is the study of the laws and dynamics of nature, computer science is completely manmade. It uses physics and chemistry for the hardware components, but software, programs, and the computer systems are all created by humans in a logical, organized, and abstract mathematical way—and that I find really cool.” —samantha b. bonar ’90
» MIXED MEDIA Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age, by Caroline Heldman (Cornell University Press; paperback, $27.95). Social media has revolutionized the use and effectiveness of consumer activism— but how did we get there? Heldman analyzes the democratic implications of boycotts, socially responsible investments, social media campaigns, and direct consumer actions, highlighting the ways in which such consumer activism serves as a countervailing force against corporate power in politics. Blending democratic theory with data, historical analysis, and coverage of consumer campaigns for civil rights, environmental conservation, animal rights, gender justice, LGBT rights, and other causes, Heldman considers activism in the marketplace dating back to the Boston Tea Party. An associate professor of politics at Oxy, Heldman also is the coauthor (with Lori Cox Han) of Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States (Oxford University Press; $39.95), a timely and engaging analysis of classic and contemporary gender-related issues, focusing on the role of women as active participants in government and the public policies that affect women in their daily lives. The Historian’s Narrative of Frederick Douglass: Reading Douglass’s Autobiography as Social and Cultural History, by Robert Felgar ’66 (Oxford University Press; $125). American abolitionist, author, and orator Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) dedicated his life to the pursuit of freedom and equality for not just African Americans, but for all people of all races. To celebrate the bicentenary of his birth, Felgar’s annotated edition of Douglass’ classic memoir shows how his insights on slavery, racism, and the pursuit of self-reliance are still highly relevant today in 21st-century America. Felgar is
professor and head of the English department at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala. Your Obsolete Brain: Life and Death in the Age of Superintelligent Machines, by Dennis Lee Foster ’69 (Life Science Institute; $11.75). As superintelligent machines ascend, will they inherit human drives to compete, exploit, and dominate? Will people someday achieve immortality by uploading their minds into computers? Who will be the real master of future civilizations: humans or machines? Foster draws from recent breakthroughs and groundbreaking research to answer these and other questions. While dispelling many of the misconceptions about artificial intelligence, he also reveals how civilization will be impacted by autonomous weapons, planned obsolescence, stock market manipulation, the Internet of things, and current research aimed at uploading a human mind to a computer. Foster has written 18 nonfiction books, 30 textbooks, five novels, and a collection of poems. His artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationwide, and his photography has appeared in numerous books and magazines. He lives in Kailua Kona, Hawai‘i. Stage Management, by Lawrence Stern and Jill (Johnson) Gold ’83 (Taylor and Francis; $49.95). In assembling the authoritative resource for stage management—now in its 11th edition—Stern and Gold share their own expertise as well as practical advice from working stage managers of Broadway, off-Broadway, touring companies, regional, community, and 99-seat Equity-waiver theaters. Updates include new information on Equity contracts, social media applications in stage management, and working with high school productions. A theater major at Oxy, Gold began stage-managing under the mentorship of professor Alan Freeman ’66 M’67, and as a junior she wrote a letter to Stern that’s been excerpted in his book ever since. She lives in Los Angeles. fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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AN OCCIDENTAL
TRUTH For students and faculty across multiple disciplines, climate change is real— and they’re exploring solutions through classroom study and field research
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By Andy Faught | Illustration by Richard Mia
pproximately 4,400 miles from los angeles, with arctic winds coming from all sides, a four-member team from occidental plunged their spades into icelandic earth in august looking for clues. Dozens of glaciers already have disappeared from a land carved by ice and forged by volcanic violence, evidence of climate change. led by assistant geology professor and glacier expert Darren larsen, who supervised the nearly two-week project, the team dug holes 10 feet deep in iceland’s Highlands region, with langjökull, the nation’s second largest ice cap, glistening in the distance. members collected data by analyzing sediments and layers of tephra—or volcanic ash—to draw conclusions about the changing landscape and publish their findings. “Basically, we would find these escarpments, because there’s a lot of desertification happening in the Highlands,” says isaac glanzrock ’17, a geology major with an environmental science concentration. “We were trying to tie that to either climate change, or perhaps the introduction of sheepherding in the Highlands. We can’t necessarily call it climate change without further research.” “i find it very important for students to understand where scientific data comes from, and that’s all about going out to the field and actually getting your hands dirty,” says larsen, who addresses global warming in his geo 245 course, earth’s Climate: past and future. “glaciers are one of the most visible and acceptable signs of a changing climate—they’re a signal of a canary in a coal mine.” glaciers have no adaptation strategies, he adds: “they’ll respond to changes in climate in a relatively straightforward way. the icelandic Highlands present a unique opportunity to study the impacts of climate change and human activity on fragile environmental systems. glaciers there are melting, and the landscape is being stripped of vegetation and soils.” larsen’s efforts are just one way in which occidental students and professors across academic disciplines are considering the role of climate change on an evolv-
1. From left, geology students Isaac Glanzrock ’17, Lori Berberian ’20, and Ian Van Dusen ’20 after a long day of fieldwork in the central Icelandic Highlands. 2. Berberian and Van Dusen excavate an ancient soil section preserved below a remnant patch of Arctic willow. 3. Geology assistant professor Darren Larsen stands next to a recently dug trench. Clues contained in the soils, including the presence of volcanic ash deposits, are studied to determine the timing and underlying drivers of erosion. 4. Van Dusen prepares equipment onshore as Larsen and Glanzrock survey the water depth of a small lake basin. Sediments preserved at the bottom of such lakes hold answers to questions about past climate and environmental changes in Iceland. 5. An unusually warm summer day draws few complaints from team members working along the river Svartá in the central Highlands. Photos courtesy Darren Larsen
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Photos courtesy Gretchen North
right: Tad Garret ’09 and Cam van Huynh ’10 measure chlorophyll responses in heat-stressed Joshua trees in the Lucerne Valley. below: When growing in rocky soil, the Chihuahuan Desert cactus Ariocarpus fissuratus (flowering, left, and dead, right) can survive temperatures up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit by contracting its roots.
ing planet. several courses are taking on warming as a pressing topic of our time. it’s a subject that students have approached with gusto, hoping to play a role in stewarding the health of the planet. While researchers agree that climate change is occurring on earth (with a consensus that warming is likely tied to humans), the exact causes are murkier. “everybody can look at temperature records and see that we’re on a steady increase,” says biology professor gretchen north, whose Bio 380 class, plant physiological ecology, considers the role of
A seal swims into view of the Vantuna during a marine biology excursion along the California coast in February 2013.
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climate change on flora. “Whether it’s caused by anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, i don’t know.” this much is known: the planet’s surface temperature has climbed by nearly two degrees fahrenheit since the late 19th century, according to nasa, whose data shows 2016 was the warmest year on record. in the last 650,000 years, nasa reports seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. California’s historic five-year drought, which ended earlier this year, cannot be conclusively tied to climate change, scientists say. still, circumstantial evidence, including Hurricanes Harvey and irma’s recent assaults on the gulf Coast, continues to spur academic inquiry into linkages. “as recently as maybe five years ago, i used to speak of climate change as perhaps hypothetical,” north says. “i no longer do that. i think it’s as hypothetical as gravity right now.” north’s work has centered on how the Chihuahuan Desert cactus Ariocarpus fissuratus, a small tan and gray-green succulent that grows flush to the ground, can survive temperatures as high as 140 degrees fahrenheit by contracting its roots. she also teaches a field course on the flora of southern California. Her classes travel to Deep Canyon near palm Desert, where students see firsthand the role of climate change on the terrain. “for the last five years, it’s almost been like going to a lunar landscape in some of the desert sites and chaparral sites,” north says. after California’s wettest winter in more than a century, she adds, “this year was great.” Whatever the cause of the drought and climate variations, students don’t have to look far to see the stress facing los angeles’
trees. “the woody population has been hit really hard, first by drought, which causes pests to come in and bring their own fungi,” says north. Her office overlooks sycamore glen, where two western sycamores already have been removed, and more dying trees may be taken out this year. “people who work with the urban forests of los angeles are really concerned.” at the nearby Huntington Botanical gardens, about a third of the trees have died in recent years, some of them due to an infestation of the polyphagous shot hole borer beetle, a newly introduced pest that drills into trees and transmits a pathogenic fungus. While trees are struggling, weedy species such as Bermuda grass, crabgrass, and russian thistle do better in warmer temperatures. academically, north approaches climate change “in a very scholarly, straightforward manner,” she says. “students come into these classes alert, but they come out informed. We’re emphasizing the ability for them to do a little elevator talk on climate change, on what they’ve seen out in the field to suggest that climate change is real. one of the things that oxy needs to do a better job of—that i think every scientist needs to do a better job of—is telling stories to the public in a way that doesn’t turn them off.” north, who participated in the march for science in Washington, D.C., last april, calls climate change a “call to arms” to colleges and universities: “things are happening more rapidly than predicted, which means that we have to change our behavior more rapidly.” The College’s investigations into climate change aren’t limited to terra firma. the Vantuna research group has been collecting data on life in southern California’s nearshore habitats for more than 50 years, forming one of the largest scientific data banks on the region. every week, as many as 25 students, most of them biology majors, take to the pacific waters to collect information. organizations such as the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, the California Department of fish and Wildlife, and the Bureau of ocean energy management all use the research group’s findings. much of the group’s work focuses on developing restoration programs in nearshore waters between point Conception and the U.s.-mexico border. the stretch is a hot spot for biodiversity, drawing reef and bay
left: In April 2016, Oxy hosted a daylong TEDx conference devoted to global development and sustainability issues. below: Members of Fossil Free Occidental held a rally outside the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center in November 2014 in an effort to persuade the Board of Trustees to divest Oxy of fossil-fuel company stocks.
Vantuna and TEDx photos by Marc Campos
fish, as well as whales, dolphins, birds, and invertebrates. But there are abiding challenges. “generally speaking, southern California has been overfished for decades, and there are other challenges associated with pollution and climate change,” says Dan pondella ’87 m’92, director of the Vantuna research group. “We’re trying to figure out how to work with all of these problems to improve habitat quality and be a resource for the region.” pondella poses an analogy: a sick patient is susceptible to secondary illnesses. “But if you’re a generally very healthy person, and something comes up, you’re more easily able to fight it off,” he says. “one of our goals is to improve overall habitat quality to make it more resilient to change. it has the potential to teem with lots of biomass, more than it currently does.” While the research group does not engage in specific climate-change research, it does look at the change of organisms over time and “we’ve kind of backed ourselves into dealing with the issues of climate change, just because that’s one factor of many that have changed what we see on our coastline over the last five decades,” pondella adds. “Whenever young people are asked what their priorities are, climate change is always at the top of the list,” says mijin Cha, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy. “the challenge that we face is no joke, and i think students are often surprised by both the level of the challenges and also the level of inaction.” for the first time last spring, Cha taught a course (Uep 230) titled Climate Justice: theory and practice, which considers how marginalized communities, such as neigh-
borhoods of color and low-income communities, bear a disproportionate amount of environmental burden. reports say climate change could affect the U.s. gross domestic product, with the country’s poorest third of counties unable to sustain economic losses. lending credence to that idea is the research of James sadd, professor of environmental science and a member of the oxy faculty since 1988. “a preliminary environmental equity assessment of California’s Cap-and-trade program,” a 2016 study coauthored by sadd, found that higher proportions of greenhouse gas-emitting facilities are located in more disadvantaged communities. Keegan mcChesney ’16, a Uep major from seattle, has consulted with sadd in hopes of building on the research as part of his postgraduate work toward a joint international master’s in sustainable development. “i’m considering looking further into the health impacts, focusing on specific emitting facilities on the most disadvantaged or focusing on the largest overall polluters in the state of California and tracking how they’ve either been decreasing or increasing their emissions,” says mcChesney, whose senior comp at oxy was titled “from risk to resilience: examining environmental Justice indicators in los angeles’ most Climate Vulnerable Community.” from an institutional standpoint, oxy has long been committed to advancing policy and learning that protects the future health of earth. in June, a week after president Donald J. trump announced that the United states would withdraw from the paris Climate agreement (in which 160 countries committed to mitigating global warming), president Jonathan Veitch was one of 180 college and university leaders who signed a
pledge vowing continued commitment to the paris goals. meanwhile, the College’s sustainability committee implements earth-friendly and forward-looking initiatives, including using green products that are composted, recycled, or biodegradable. and since its completion in march 2013, oxy’s 1-megawatt ground-mounted solar array has generated more than 12 percent of the College’s electricity each year. for his part, glanzrock, who helped on the iceland research, is hoping to play a continued role in attempts to drop the mercury. after a visit to Denmark, where plenty of people ride bikes to their destinations, he wants to bring a similar ethic to the United states as a transportation/environment and sustainability analyst. Cars are a prime source of unhealthy emissions. “if we can move toward more sustainable ways of getting around without relying on fossil fuels,” he says, “then that’s my interest in climate change.” Faught profiled emeriti professors Diana Card Linden and Anne McCall Schell in the Summer issue. Fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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Ambitious, thoughtful, quirky, worldly—and smarter than most of us were at that age— the third-largest entering class in Oxy history is ready for its closeup
NEW FACES By PETER GILSTRAP Photos by MAX S. GERBER
One hundred and twenty nine years agO, 27 men and 13 women ponied up $50 each to become Occidental’s inaugural first-year class. tuition has gone up a tad since then, and while the College still prides itself on a small, select student body, the Class of 2021 tallies in at 565, making it the third largest in Oxy’s history. Culled from 6,775 applicants, the freshmen represent a diverse and disparate group. roughly 40 percent are homegrown Californians, but the rest have traveled to eagle rock from across the country and around the globe. “One of the wonderful things about Occidental is the richness of the backgrounds and experiences of the students who apply and eventually choose Oxy, so that always makes it difficult to characterize a class,” says Vince Cuseo, vice president of enrollment and dean of admission. yet students are drawn by a few key, unchanging elements. “Certainly there’s academic and intellectual rigor— that’s part of the Occidental experience—but there’s this other piece to it that’s palpable and has something to do with a sense of community,” Cuseo adds. “i think that friendliness is a critical part to how Occidental’s community is defined.” the latest additions to that welcoming community include a dune buggy designer, a roller derby player, a patentholder for a solar-powered pool heater, and the honorary danish Maid of solvang—no doubt a far cry from the interests of Oxy’s Class of 1892, long before the unthinkable science fiction of things like dune buggies, roller derby, and solar power. yet the thirst for knowledge spans the generations. now, let’s meet nine members of the Class of 2021. 18
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k under the sea
A veteran of over 6o open-sea dives, “You have to be calm and ready for unexpected situations,” Nina says —like the time she witnessed an underwater explosion. “It was a loud noise followed by shaking of rocks around us, like an underwater earthquake,” she recalls. “It was quite scary.”
NINA SRDIC HADZI-NESIC While high school students across America performed The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Grease, and other popular fare, Nina Srdic Hadzi-Nesic’s formative stage experience in her native Serbia included somewhat different material. “I was in plays that dealt with important social issues—plays on domestic violence and genocide and war crimes,” she says of her time in Belgrade’s renowned youth theater, Dadov. “I always participated in projects that carried a message, and that changed me.” Nina was attracted to Occidental, she says, as a place “that would make me grow not only as an actress but as a human being.” She’s considering a double major in theater and diplomacy and world affairs: “Besides its rich theater life, Oxy also cares about social justice, and has a great program in international relations.” She got an early taste of diplomacy as a member of the European Youth Parliament, a forum for debates and conversation on topics such as national socialism and the Holocaust. “It made me really interested in international and social issues we’re facing as a society,” she says. “I realized that using diplomacy as a peaceful means of settling a dispute is something I would like to do—besides acting.” (She lists Tom Hanks, Julianne Moore, and award-winning Serbian actor Nebojša Glogovac as her onscreen faves.) Nina’s growth includes time spent underwater. With over 60 Mediterranean open-sea dives under her belt in the last five years, she qualifies to guide others. “I love diving, I love the feeling of flying,” she says. “It’s always my pleasure when beginners are paired with me because I love sharing my passion with other people and seeing them grow and learn.”
OF
2021
Nina is in the right place for growing and learning. “I consider myself incredibly lucky to have this opportunity, so I look at it as an adventure,” she says. “I just moved to the other side of the planet where I don’t know anything or anyone and it can be overwhelming, but I already feel that sense of community here at Oxy. I just want to enjoy every bit of it.”
k one foot forward
Amber looks forward to trying new things at Oxy. At larger schools, she says, “If you want to learn dance or musical theater, you have to be at some level of proficiency to get your foot in the door. Oxy will let you in and let you learn for the first time even if you haven’t had any experience.” m yes he did
PETER BOYD Hollywood draws countless young hopefuls shooting for a career directing films and television. Peter Boyd has trained his sights on a shorter form of expression. “I really want to make commercials,” he says. “I think that’s a weird thing. I don’t think a lot of people want to make commercials, but I really like them. It’s just interesting to see how someone compressed the entity that is their brand into a 30-second visual story.” A native of Cordova, Tenn., a small town about 20 miles east of Memphis, Peter looks forward to majoring
A cousin of Peter’s pointed him toward the College: “She was like, ‘You know what? You’re going to apply to Occidental because Barack Obama went there, and you should go there!’”
in media arts and culture at Oxy. “Any career that’s more art-based would have a better chance of being successful if you go to school in California,” he says. “And that seemed like it would be a good fit for me.” “I’ve known all my life I was trans,” says Peter, who came out in his sophomore year of high school. It’s been less of an issue back home than one might expect. “This is one of the liberal corners of Tennessee,” Peter says, “so when I come to Oxy I don’t think suddenly I’ll be like, ‘Look at all these liberal people around me!’ But I think the environment will be incredibly weird to me. Like the cacti there. I’m not used to that.” Creating art, Peter says, has helped him cope with life in general. “I like stream-of-consciousness writing and videoing things. My own therapy helps my growth as a person. And those could easily branch off into artand media-related trans activism, and I hope they do.” AMBER LEE Amber Lee has a mean right body hook. Not to mention a wicked roundhouse kick. Luckily, her use of those lethal skills is confined to the boxing ring, which she first entered as a high school sophomore in Irvine. “It’s kind of funny because my personality is usually sort of like happy, outgoing, very nice, very empathetic and sweet,” Amber says. “Two of my biggest hobbies are playing drums and boxing, which are aggressive things that don’t seemingly match my personality.” Though Lee says the pugilistic arts make her “feel more comfortable in my own skin,” she faced an emotional challenge when her trainer was murdered during a morning gym class in March 2016. “I was in shock,” she says. The tragedy occurred when she was studying for the SAT, “so I had not been going to the gym, and I just feel really guilty. I really wish Fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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that I committed more to the sport that I claimed to be really invested in. Right now I’m waiting to get back into it at Oxy.” When Amber first visited campus last October, “I was impressed by everything that the tour guide and the interviewer told me,” she recalls. “I chose Occidental because it would allow me to take classes in all sorts of fields instead of having a strict major, and because of the career opportunities they could present me.” Boxing won’t be her only focus, of course: Amber speaks passionately about social justice and Asian American history. (Born in Korea, she was only 8 months old when her family moved to Southern California.) “It’s a part of history that isn’t told often,” she notes. “I’ve started to get a personal interest in my own heritage. I realized how much I did not know, and how much history can fill in the gaps about the world I live in.” DIANA FLORES BARNETT If you know anything about zebrafish, you probably own an aquarium. The little striped cuties are a common fishbowl inhabitant, part of the minnow family. And while that might not sound too impressive, Diana Flores Barnett can tell you why the zebrafish is something extra special outside of your pet shop. “Zebrafish have regenerative abilities in their heart after an injury,” says the San Fernando Valley native. “That makes them unique, and they’re used a lot for scientific research.” Diana learned this as part of the Samuels Family Latino and African American High School Internship Program at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles last summer, which coincided with an unfortunate health scare for her younger sister, Nahomi. “She had many tumors in her kidneys, but the tumors were larger than the organs themselves, so they were talking about treatments that would disintegrate the tumor,” says Diana. “Working with zebrafish, it gave me hope for my sister that this kind of work is being done for the regeneration of human organs.” Nahomi is doing much better now, thanks to “a medication sprayed on the tumors through the blood vessels, which shrinks the tumors,” Diana explains. Zebrafish also had a hand—or a small fin, at least— in landing her at Oxy. “During the internship we visited Occidental, and I was able to go into the labs and talk to the professors. I’d heard so many good things about the science program, and I want be a part of research projects, and hopefully do my own research,” Diana says. “It felt like home, so I decided on Oxy.” 20 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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coming to america j “I look forward to learning about the United States and how things work around here,” Mathilde says. “It’s very exciting, and the amount of independence I’ll have is greater than what I had in school in China.” l bioengineered
Diana hopes to mix math and biology as preparation for her master’s work in bioengineering: “At Oxy I want to focus on the basics and get a really good foundation.”
MATHILDE VENET To say that Mathilde Venet has spent her first 18 years on the move would be an understatement. “I was born in Texas from French parents, but I only lived there for three years,” says Mathilde, whose father works for Air Liquide, a French gas company that keeps him in transit. “Then I moved to France for six or seven years, after that I was in Germany for five years. Then I moved to China where I finished high school, and now I’m at Oxy.” So answering the age-old first-year question—Where are you from?—presents some problems. “I don’t want to bore people with a long story, so I stick with France,” Mathilde says. “I don’t think I really have a home, which may be a bit sad, but I’m totally cool with it. Moving is part of my life, and I can’t imagine any other life. Living in a different country every few years, you’re kind of
“I used to be very shy as a kid, so my instinct was to close into a shell,” Mathilde says, “but after a while I realized that’s not the way to go.” forced to embrace new culture. I tried to integrate myself in those cultures as much as possible.” That attitude and experience were invaluable when she participated in the Model U.N. program during high school in Shanghai. “Students act as delegates in committees that are represented in the United Nations,
BRYCE COYNE “My first time hearing about Occidental was watching ‘SportsCenter,’” recalls Bryce Coyne. The Tigers made headlines back in February 2011 in notorious fashion— on the losing end of a 46-45 basketball game that ended a 26-year, 310-game conference losing streak by the Caltech Beavers. The ESPN story “mentioned how prestigious the school was, and that President Obama had gone there.” Baseball—not basketball—is the sport of choice for the 6'3" right-hander from Woodinville, Wash., who first stepped onto the diamond at age 6. To be sure, playing ball in a town that averages about 45 inches of rain per year can make for some soggy innings.
“Bryce should compete for a rotation spot early in his career,” says baseball coach Luke Wetmore. “He put up strong numbers in high school and has gotten even more physical since he graduated.” debating current, real world issues,” says Mathilde, who found herself representing Cuba. “You might not agree with the views of the country you’re assigned, but you have to put yourself in the shoes of that country, and it helps to understand why countries do what they do. I’m really hoping I can do something similar at Oxy.” As with all of her moves, there’s going to be an adjustment period as she’s exposed to the nuances of American culture. “There are some things that are a little bit shocking to me,” Mathilde admits. “Like the portion sizes are unreal. I ask for a small and I get a massive bucket. That’s something I have to get used to.” Mathilde’s desire to study international relations first led her to investigating colleges on the East Coast, she says, “but when I compared Oxy to universities in Virginia and Pennsylvania, the program here was a lot fuller and more interesting and complete. Also, I feel like Los Angeles is an amazing place, and kind of a bonus because I came here for the academics. It all just clicked; it was a match immediately.”
k here’s the pitch
Is a professional baseball career in the cards for Bryce? “It’s definitely an option if I’m able to develop at Oxy, but that’s four years away,” he says. “I made my choice to go to Oxy and put my career as a student and the real world ahead of that.”
“We have a turf field, so we’re able to play through the rain,” says Bryce (who roots for the Cleveland Indians over the long-beleaguered Mariners). “We get lucky most of the time, but this year we weren’t as lucky, our practices were pretty miserable. I don’t throw as well in the rain, which is one reason I’m excited to come down and play baseball in California.” Recruited by Oxy associate head coach Jesse Rodgers, Bryce brings his formidable 12-6 curveball, as well as an attraction to the school’s 3-2 engineering program, which allows qualified students to obtain dual degrees from Oxy and either Caltech or Columbia. When he visited campus last October, it was a home run. “The whole atmosphere is something I really enjoyed, like the intangible, Southern California feel to the school, the personality it had,” Bryce says. “When you move out of your house and into the unknown it’s a scary time, but I think Occidental’s this really cool place where I might struggle, but I’ll have a support system. If I want to be successful, I can and will be at Oxy.” Fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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Saira, who was inspired by the communitydriven Mathare Youth Sports Association. “And then we decided to focus on health. We do physical and sexual education, and courses on gender-based violence and sexual violence at home.” At more than 2,000 members and still growing, GOAL! has “gotten a little bit big for me to manage on my own, but I definitely hope to still be involved in all of it at Oxy,” says Saira. She has been aided by her parents, who also do nonprofit work, and “a lot of great adult mentors around me who helped me through the process.” Saira’s other passion is politics—she’s considering a major in politics geared toward international relations—and the intersection
An enthusiastic soccer player since she was 3 years old, Saira seized the opportunity to connect with young girls through the sport in the poorest regions of Kenya.
SAIRA YUSUF Though Saira Yusuf hails from Palo Alto, her interest in helping others—and passion for soccer—has taken her some 10,000 miles away to the horrendous Mathare slums in Nairobi, Kenya. After visiting Kenya and Tanzania on a volunteer mission with her family at age 10, she started GOAL! (Go Out and Lead) in January 2015. The program helps young women navigate the issues attendant with their impoverished environments. “I’ve been on a soccer team since I was 3 years old, so that was a starting-off point for the project,” says 22 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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k opportunity knoxy
In looking at colleges, “I really liked how Oxy was in a big city with access to all of those resources and the opportunities that you get there,” Saira says.
with her Muslim heritage and the 45th president. “In terms of Trump, I think it was his harmful rhetoric giving way to a lot of very polarizing opinions that made me feel like I had to either identify as a devout Muslim or sort of disown my Muslim identity, neither of which I wanted to do,” says Saira, who did not grow up in a religious family. “I think there’s been such a big shift in our political climate, so it’s been interesting to find how my identity fits into all of that as an individual.” Saira has no qualms about fitting into Occidental. “It was one of the first schools recommended to me by my counselors and friends,” she says. “I love the small environment. I’m really excited to be in Los Angeles. It’s close to home, but far away enough that it doesn’t feel like home.”
TOBIAS & NICHOLAS LARKIN Let’s get a few key Larkin facts out of the way. Tobias and Nicholas are identical twins. They do not finish each other’s sentences. They do not stand in for one another in social or academic situations. But yes, they’re going to the same college, which happens to be Oxy. “I think it was more important to our parents,” says Tobias with the keen, worldly insight one might expect from the eight-minute head start he has on his brother. “But for us, we were fine if we did and fine if we didn’t.” “Our interests are really similar,” offers Nicholas. “I guess it’s not surprising that we both liked most of the schools that we applied to and we both liked Occidental.” The brothers were raised in Dover, N.H. Their mother, Evelyn, is Chinese American; their father, Benjamin, is Caucasian. “I would say coming from a diverse background was pretty unique—to be a child who’s interracial, especially in New England, which is not the most diverse place,” says Nicholas. The brothers share an interest in Mandarin Chinese, which they hope to pursue at Oxy. “Some of my relatives on my mom’s side, they speak Chinese. That helped prompt me to learn Chinese in school,” says Nicholas, who—along with Tobias—attended Berwick Academy in Maine. “I found it really fascinating and a way to connect to my culture.” Though the brothers have a common love of music and play jazz piano duets together, they did diverge on high school projects. As a member of the Berwick Conservation Club, Tobias created a hibernaculum for his
m first impressions
Why Occidental? “Our college counselor puts up posters of colleges every year,” says Tobias. “Around my junior year I saw an Oxy poster and I thought, ‘Oh, that looks kind of cool.’” band of brother n Nicholas studied piano throughout elementary and middle school, developing an appreciation of music in the process. An inductee into the Tri-M Music Honor Society in high school, “I was always in my school band, where I played percussion,” he says. “I like most types of music. I guess it helped me have a different perspective.”
furry woodland neighbors. “You dig a hole in the ground and put a lot of brush in,” he explains, “then in the winter animals can go into it, and it helps trap the warmth so they don’t die when it’s freezing.” Nicholas followed a more indoor path, authoring Atrulia, a 300-plus-page YA fantasy novel influenced by authors George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien. “I started writing it when I was a sophomore,” he says of the book he hopes to get published. “I really liked writing and reading, and it occurred to me that I should start writing. And I should do it earlier rather than later.” Obviously, the Larkins agree on Occidental. “We really liked the atmosphere of the school,” offers Tobias. “It’s also something very different from New Hampshire, and I wanted something different and diverse.” “I thought it was really welcoming and inspirational and everyone there seems to want everyone else to succeed,” says Nicholas. “Everyone cares about each other, and it’s a great feeling to be part of a community that’s really dedicated to making you achieve your goal and making others around you do the same thing.” Peter Gilstrap lives in Los Angeles. He wrote “Mr. Rohde’s Wild Ride” in the Summer issue. Fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 23
BEAUTY is in the
EYE of the
SHAREHOLDER RESPONDING TO SHIFTS IN THE RETAIL LANDSCAPE AND PARTNERING WITH ONLINE INFLUENCERS, SALLY BEAUTY HOLDINGS CEO CHRIS BRICKMAN ’86 STRIVES TO MAKE BELIEVERS OUT OF ANALYSTS AND INVESTORS By DICK ANDERSON Photos by JEREMY ENLOW
hrisBrickman’86washeadinguptheoperationsofKimberly-ClarkInternational—a $9-billionbusiness—whenhe was invited to speak at an MBAconferenceinNewYork City.“Itwaslike500MBAs,andtheyhad askedmetotalkaboutmycareer,”herecalls. Hecouldhaveretracedhisresume—seven companiesand12jobsover28years—buthe didn’t want to come off as some kind of preachyknow-it-all.Instead,hedecidedto focusonsomeofthemisstepsinhiscareer andthelessonshelearnedalongtheway.His presentationwaswell-received—somuchso thatashorttimelater,priortojoiningSally BeautyHoldingsaspresidentandCEO-elect inJune2014,heexpandeditintoabook. 24 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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“ItwasironicthatIspentthefirstpartof mycareertryingtocoverupmyinsecurities andimperfections,onlytodiscoverlaterthat beingopenlyimperfectactuallymadepeople feelbetteraboutmeasapersonandmore trustingasaleader,”BrickmanwritesinThe Brilliance in Failure (ArchwayPublishing). Withonlytwomonthstodraftamanuscriptandnotimetodoresearch,hedrew fromhisownexperiences,front-loadingthe book with “the most embarrassing stuff I couldwrite”—includingthetime,asasenior at Oxy, he wore spandex tights (in lieu of longunderwear)underhisbusinesssuitfor adayofinterviewsinChicagowithArtPeck ’77andhisteamatBostonConsultingGroup. “Ipulledmysocksupashighaspossible that morning, before my second round of
i nterviews,sothatnoonewouldnoticethe leopard-print fabric on my lower legs,” Brickmanwrites(hehadpurchasedthemfor anairbandcompetitioninwhichhedressed asBillyIdol).“Onthewaytotheofficefrom the hotel, I realized that I did not have enoughmoneyforcabfare,soIhadtogetout ofthecabsixblocksshortofmydestination and walk the rest of the way in 15-degree weatherandalightsnow,withnoovercoat.” Brickmangotthejob,launchingacareer thatnowfindshimatthehelmofa$4-billion beautyproductsenterpriseatacriticaljunctureforretailers.Whilehisbookendsprior to his joining Sally Beauty Holdings, if he weretoaddanotherchapter,“Iwouldwrite hownaiveIwascomingintotheCEOrole,” hesayscandidly.“Ididn’tfullygetit.”
Brickman at Sally Beauty Holdings headquarters in Denton, Texas. “The only way to learn being CEO is in the role,” he says, “so I decided it would be better to make the jump and try it.”
Growing up in San Diego asthesonoftwo physicians,Brickman’sjourneytoOxywas “somewhathaphazard,”hesays.“MyDadwas pushingmetogotheEastCoast,butafriend ofmine[VictorPesqueira’86]wasgoingto Occidental.Iwantedtohavesomefoundationoffriendshipswalkinginthedoor.” Aneconmajor,Brickmandevelopedan appetiteforbusiness(“Thereissomuchactiveproblem-solvingandlearning”)andregardedhisfavoriteprofessor,RobbyMoore, as “the ultimate economist—there was no emotioninvolvedinadecision,justthefacts.” “Thirty-fiveyearsago,Iwasprettyarrogantandopinionatedandambitious,”headmits—traitsthatcarriedoverthroughmany of his early-career jobs as well (BCG, the NutraSweetCo.,CSCIndexConsulting,and Guinness/UnitedDistillers).“Alotofthat was trying to prove myself,” he explains. “Overtimeyougetcomfortablewithwho youare,andyoustartlearninghowtolisten andtakefeedbackandmodulate.”
In1998,atage34,Brickmanwasnamed presidentandCEOofWhitlockPackaging, thelargestU.S.specialtybeveragepackager. By2003hewasaprincipalofMcKinsey& Company,themanagement-consultingfirm, andin2008hejoinedKimberly-Clarkaschief strategyofficer. Twoyearslater,hewasnamedpresident ofKimberly-ClarkProfessional,andinMay 2012hewaspromotedtopresidentofKimberly-ClarkInternational,aglobalbusiness withoperationsinmorethan80countries andthreepresidentsreportingtohim. Shortly after Brickman moved back to DallastorunKimberly-ClarkInternational, oneofhislargestcustomers—adirectorof Sally Beauty Holdings in nearby Denton, Texas—approached him about joining the board.AlthoughSallyBeautyHoldingswas smallerthanKimberly-Clark, theroad-weary Brickmansawitasanopportunitytolearn thepubliccompanygovernancerole“withouthavingtogetonaplane,”hesays.
“Now we’re really focused on the message that salon brands are selling you a marketing story, not better ingredients— we’re just selling you better ingredients.”
top: This fall, Sally Beauty is rolling out Col-lab, a new line of makeup created by beauty influencers. above: Influencers include Leesha from Arizona (@xsparkage on Instagram), Wesley from California (@wesleybenjamincarter), and Sam from Virginia (@saaammage).
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Prior to his appointment, Brickmanadmits, hedidn’tknowalotaboutSallyBeautyHoldings,whichwasfoundedin1964withasingle storeinNewOrleansandwasspunoffasa standalonebusiness(withmorethan3,100 stores)in2006byAlberto-Culver,whichhad ownedthecompanysince1969.Thecompanyisdividedintotwodistinctbusinesses. About $2.5 billion is retail, 80 percent of whichisderivedfromSallyBeautystoresin theUnitedStatesandCanada.Another$1.5 billion comes from direct sales to stylists throughmorethan1,100CosmoProfstores andanetworkofabout950consultantsoperatedbyBeautySystemsGroup. When Brickman joined the board, the SallyBeautyHoldingsCEOwasinhisearly 60s,andtheboardwasgroomingasuccessor whoultimatelydidn’tworkout.Incasting aboutforareplacement,hesays,“theyfelt one of their best successor opportunities was me.” And with Kimberly-Clark’s CEO locked into his job for at least five years,
Brickman’sopportunitiesforadvancement wereonhold.“Theonlywaytolearnbeing CEOisintherole,”hesays,“soIdecidedit wouldbebettertomakethejumpandtryit.” AftertwoyearsatthehelmofKimberlyClarkProfessional,Brickmanthoughthehad ahandleonwhatitwasliketobeachiefexecutive.Instead,hesays,“TheCEOroleis completelydifferent.Youspend20percent ofyourtimewiththeboard,20percentwith investors, and 20 percent on infrastructure—everythingfrombenefitstohealthinsurancetoITsecuritytopayroll.Youhave about40percentleftforperformancemanagementofthesebusinessesandstrategy.” Walking over to a whiteboard in his office,Brickmandrawsalinedenotingthe spectrum of business philosophies: “methodical and steady” toward the left end, “visionary and passionate” on the right— addingthateverythingabouttheCEOpositiontendstopushyoutowardtheleft. “Themostexcitingpartofthejobisseeingpeoplegrowasleaders,”hesays.“The otherpartIloveisthestrategyandtheproblem-solving.”The tradeoff between being CEOandpresident,hesays,isthatasCEO “You have more opportunity to shape the strategy working with the board, but less timetodotheproblem-solving.” “Retail is not an easy business tobeinthese days,”Brickmanadds.“It’sharderandharder tofindgrowth,especiallyontheretailside. Competitionisbecomingtougher,moreof the business is shifting online, and our modelhadprobablygottenalittlestale.” SallyBeauty’sbusiness,hepointsout,“is stillprofitable,buttheentireretailsector has been revalued as growth expectations havedeclinedandanalystsworryaboutonlinecompetition.”ThishasrequiredBrickmantomakesometoughdecisions. Earlierthisyear,followingthedeparture of the president of Sally Beauty Holdings’ largestbusinessunit,Brickmanactedquickly toappointasuccessor.“Sometimesyouhave toadmityoumadeamistakeandmoveon,” hesays.“Onceyoucompletetheteamwith talentedleadersasIbelievewehavenow,you alwayslookbackandwonderwhyyoudidn’t makethedecisionearlier.” Brickmanhimselfbought30,000shares ofcompanystockinlateAugust,andhe’snot aloneinhisbullishness.Hisboardrecently authorizedabuybackprogramtorepurchase
left: “We’re taking time to refresh the model,” Brickman says of Sally Beauty’s 5,000 stores. above: Brickman dedicated The Brilliance in Failure to his wife, Cindy, “who has walked every step of the journey with me,” and his dog, Eddie, “who somehow manages to greet every person he meets with kindness and joy.”
upto$1billionincompanystockoverfour years,and14of16analystswhofollowthe businessratethestocka“buy”ora“hold.” “SallyBeautyHoldingsisinauniqueposition because of our scale,” Brickman explains.“BetweenBeautySystemsGroupand SallyBeauty,we’reprobablythelargestbuyer ofprofessionalcolorintheworld.Wecan takethatscaleandgodirecttothemanufacturer and have salon-quality products, but thenwecutoutallthemarketingandmiddleman.Webringtop-shelfingredientsand productstotheconsumerbutatatrade-up pricepoint.Andwe’vegottogetthatmessageout.” To that end, Sally Beauty is embracing socialmedia.InAugust,Brickmanmetmore than1,000digitalinfluencers atBeautycon Los Angeles, the largest event of its kind. Thisfall,SallyBeautystoreswillrolloutCollab,anexclusivenewlineofproductsselected byahandfulofbeautyinfluencers. “Socialmediaisturningbrandbuilding onitshead,”saysBrickman(whosepersonal
I nstagramaccounthas367followers—and growing).“Weareneophytesatit,butwe’re goingtogetbetterandbetteratit.Weare reallyfocusednowonleveraginginfluencers to tell the Sally Beauty story. If I say that salonbrandsareoverpricedandwecangive youthesameingredientsatabettervalue, peoplewillsay,‘Yeah,that’smarketing—I don’tknowifItrustyou.’Butifaninfluencer saysit,theybelieveitbecausethey’reobjectiveintheirmind.” Inhisbook,Brickmandevotesachapter tothetopicof“piercingthebubble”—the subtlechangesthatputa distancebetweena CEOandhisemployees. “Everything that happens around the CEO startstocreateabiggerandbigger bubble,” he says. “If you don’tpopthatbubble,you’rein trouble.Ifyoudon’tactivelytry toconnectwithpeopleatalllevels ofyourorganization,you’regoingto payaprice.You’regoingtobecomemore disconnectedovertime,andthelessyouun-
derstandthebusiness.”Accordingly,every weekBrickmangetsonthephonewithtwo tothreedistrictmanagerswhorun15to20 stores,talkingtothemaboutwhat’sgoingon intheirarea. Growingupasaleader,“Itprobablytook melongerandgettingwhackedonthehead morethanotherpeople,”hesays.“Mywife andIaregoingon27years,andshe’llcallme outifsheseessomethingshedoesn’tbelieve in—inapositivewaythatstillgoestothe heart of the issue. I’m still the one that scoops the kitty litter in the morning— there’snoonedoingthatforme,”headds withalaugh. “I’vealreadydecidedwhatmy nextbookisgoingtobe,”Brickman declares. “My wife’s dog, Otter[left],isachihuahuawho manipulateseveryoneinthefamily.SoIwanttowriteaboutmyexperiencelivingwiththismanipulative 7-lb.dog.”Thebook’sworkingtitle?Seven Pounds of Evil. Fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 27
s ’ e n 0 Some y d o b e Som
Entrepreneur and sociologist Kevin F. Adler ’07 tackles the nation’s homeless crisis by rebuilding social support systems and reconnecting loved ones— one Miracle Message at a time By ASHLEY FESTA Photos by JIM BLOCK
opposite & above: Eddie McLeod, center, reconnects with son Darren, thanks to the efforts of the Miracle Messages led by Adler, right. right: When Adler (front row, left) was growing up, his Uncle Mark (back row, center) was the guest of honor at every Thanksgiving and Christmas family gathering. Even though he spent most of his adult life living on and off the streets and dealing with schizophrenia, “he remembered every birthday,” Kevin says. To learn more, visit miraclemessages.org.
E
ddie McLeod was a standout basketball player at UNLV, averaging 8 points per game and 5.5 rebounds for the Runnin’ Rebels his senior year. Although the 6'8" center never suited up in the NBA after being a ninthround draft pick by the San Antonio Spurs in 1979, he played hoops overseas and went on to coach basketball in elementary and middle schools. Through good times and hard times—and he had experienced more of the latter in recent years—there was one person from his past who was never far from his thoughts: son Darren, whom he hadn’t seen for the better part of three decades. McLeod was staying at San Francisco’s largest homeless shelter earlier this year when he met an intern from Miracle Messages named Alexandra Weltman. Weltman helped McLeod record a video message to his long-lost son, then hopped onto Facebook to do some sleuthing. It wasn’t long before she located Darren in his native Ireland, who recorded a video reply to his dad—a message that Weltman delivered to McLeod on a subsequent visit to the shelter. In tears, he couldn’t wait to record a followup message to Darren. McLeod got another surprise that day. Miracle Messages founder and CEO Kevin F. Adler ’07, who was visiting the shelter as well, realized that McLeod had been his sixth-grade basketball coach. “I hadn’t seen him in 20 years, and here we are getting reconnected,” Adler says. “We’re all interconnected.” That’s the core of Miracle Messages —recognizing the value of every human being to society as a whole. Over the last three years, the San Francisco-based nonprofit has recorded more than 300 messages, each with the goal of reconnecting homeless people with their loved ones, sometimes after being separated for decades. Almost half have been successFall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 29
fully delivered; nearly all have been positively received. The organization has facilitated dozens of reunions, and more than 30 percent of reunions have led to stable housing. “We’re not just reconnecting people with their loved ones,” says Adler, who combines the critical thinking of a sociologist with the drive and resourcefulness of an entrepreneur. “We are reconnecting society to those who experience homelessness.” “If we met at a Christmas party, we know how to begin a conversation,” Adler said in a TED Talk last December. “We can look at each other, envision a back story filled with people and possibility, and go from there. Not so much when we see somebody living on the streets. Society has already defined them for us.” Adler dislikes using the word “homeless” to describe people who experience homelessness. “We aren’t called ‘housed’ people, so why are we defining them as ‘homeless’?” he asks. “In our society, we define value by who we know, how we look, what we do professionally, where we went to school. But we’re so much more than that.” Seeing the inherent value in a group of people who are often overlooked in society, Adler set out to help them become visible again. Having co-founded three edtech startups—alumn.us, a fundraising platform for underserved schools; Entangled Ventures, an edtech incubator; and BetterGrad, an online mentoring nonprofit—Adler saw his smartphone as an opportunity to help reintegrate people who have become disconnected from the world they knew. So he took a walk down San Francisco’s Market Street in December 2014 offering warm tea, hot biscuits, and a simple question: “Do you have any family or friends you’d like to record a message to for the holidays?” One of the men he met that day was Jeffrey Gottshall, who hadn’t seen his family in 22 years. He recorded a video to his sister, niece, and nephew, which Adler posted a few days later on a Facebook group connected to Gottshall’s hometown of Montoursville, Pa. Someone tagged his sister within a few hours. After local news picked up the story, Adler says, “messages poured in from former classmates and neighbors who knew Jeffrey and wanted to help.” Gottshall is now reconnected with his family after having been listed as a missing person for 12 years. 30 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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Perry Thornley, far left, was living on the streets of Burlington, Vt., when Adler met him in October 2015. In his Miracle Message to his children, Thornley said, “Don’t forget your Dad loves you.” Months later, he was reunited with son Joey, left and below, after 18 years apart.
Photos (pages 29-31) courtesy Kevin F. Adler ’07
Emboldened by that success, Adler founded Miracle Messages to scale this work. In September 2016, he was selected as one of 20 participants in the TED Residency program, a four-month, in-house incubator for breakthrough ideas. While Adler is thankful that the TED program “added legitimacy” to his work with Miracle Messages, he says it was the people he met who enriched his experience. Hailing from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, his fellow TED residents spoke on topics ranging from marine biology to prison reform, fashion to litter removal. “These people lived the problems they were trying to address. They experienced these things in their own lives in some way. It was personal, not just theoretical,” says Adler, whose own uncle suffered from schizophrenia and spent 30 years on and off the streets before he died at age 50. “I never saw him as a homeless man—he was my uncle,” Adler says. “He remembered every birthday and was the guest of honor at Thanksgiving. It didn’t make sense to me why
my uncle might be disregarded by society when he was so important to me.” After his uncle’s death in 2003, Adler says, “I started saying hello and having conversations with people in similar situations —to hear their stories and to try to understand their world. What I heard surprised me. Over and over, I heard different versions of the same story: ‘I never realized I was homeless when I lost my housing—only when I lost my family and friends.’” Adler defines homelessness as “the lack of stable housing and the loss of a social support system and sense of belonging”—what he calls the “social home.” “Our social support systems shelter us from homelessness,” he adds. “So what about for the others?” Growing up in the East Bay city of Livermore, Berkeley was Adler’s dream school, “so I assumed I would go there,” he admits. “Then I didn’t get in.” Adler channelled his frustration into contemplation by writing a letter of appeal (“You made a mistake,” he began) and reevaluating some half a dozen
left: A conversation with Jeffrey Gottshall, right, on San Francisco’s Market Street in December 2014 led Adler to found Miracle Messages: “Many people have families and people who miss them and love them.” below left: Adler records a Miracle Message from Gregory Daugherty in Boston to his brother, David, in 2015. bottom left: Juanita Haugabook of Fort Lauderdale, Fla, flew to Hartford, Conn., to reunite with her family after a 29-year absence. below: Adler hopes to scale Miracle Messages into a global movement linking local chapters through social media.
other schools he had been looking at—including Occidental, where he had applied on the recommendation of a favorite teacher, Ron Nicola (whose cousin, James Sadd, is a professor of environmental science at Oxy). During a campus visit, he recalls, “I was incredibly impressed by Occidental’s diversity, the warmth and intellect of the students I met, and the caliber of the professors and resources. I decided that it would be my school.” He returned home to find a big acceptance packet in the mail from Berkeley, his 1,235-word appeal having prompted the admissions office to reverse its decision. “I was incredibly grateful,” he says, “but I followed my instinct and the words of Mr. Nicola: ‘You will do very well at Berkeley or wherever you go. But at Occidental, you will make it your own.’” A politics major, Adler credits Oxy professor Roger Boesche—who died in May just days after his retirement—as one of the most influential people of his life. In a reference letter for Adler’s TED Residency application, Boesche wrote: “In 40 years of teaching, Kevin is the single best student I have ever had. … Watch this man; he is going places.” Of the many lessons Boesche taught him, “Basic decency is where it starts,” he says. “You aren’t born understanding someone else’s experiences. You have to walk over and look over someone’s fence, go to a neighbor with a cup of tea in your hand. We need to hear each other’s story and build relationships with each other.”
Miracle Messages hopes to partner with local service providers to reunite 1 million people—just 1 percent of the world’s estimated homeless population—by 2023. The organization is creating those connections all across the country as local chapters are springing up in other cities. In April, Adler earned a one-year, $200,000 grant to launch the first pilot in San Francisco, allowing the organization to help homeless shelters and service providers implement the Miracle Messages resources at their facilities. Adler is also participating in Mass Challenge, a tech accelerator, in hopes of funding a second pilot in the Boston area. Already, Miracle Messages is in conversation with the office of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, the Pine
Street Inn homeless shelter, and the city’s public library system and police department. Back in the Bay Area, McLeod has been in regular contact with his son since their initial conversation in July, as well as other family members, according to Adler, and they are arranging an in-person visit around the holidays. “Darren plans to surprise Eddie with a special gift for his birthday,” he adds. Reuniting 1 million people will require more than a few partners, but Adler is committed to his mission. “Everyone is someone’s somebody—perhaps even someone’s uncle,” he says in his stump speech. “Maybe we just need to begin with a few simple questions.” Ashley Festa wrote “The Gray’s the Thing” in the Winter magazine. Fall 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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The Power of Two New deans Wendy Sternberg and Rob Flot discuss the opportunities and synergies of building bridges between faculty, students, and the offices that support them
Prior to starting at Oxy in July, the new deans met for the first time when Sternberg was visiting Chicago in April. “There wasn’t any instruction for us to do that,” Flot recalls with a laugh. Photo by Kevin Burke
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Photos (pages 33-34) by Marc Campos
When it became apparent in late July that the Class of 2021 was going to be considerably larger than projected, Wendy Sternberg and Rob Flot wanted to let faculty and staff know what to expect. Even though neither had fully unpacked their offices since their own arrival earlier that month—Sternberg as dean of the College and Flot as dean of students—the two sat down together and quickly composed a message to campus. “We didn’t have to negotiate on whether or not it was a good idea,” says Flot. “I think some things that will come naturally and easily to Wendy and me will be welcome here on campus. We get the sense that it’s been a while since the two deans have had the kind of partnership that we have begun to establish.” “We’re all here to educate the students, and the closer the relationship and the integration between Rob’s and my position, the better it will be for students,” says Sternberg, who met Flot in person during a visit to Chicago back in April (the two had communicated sporadically by email since her appointment in January). “I think we’re getting a lot of buy-in from the faculty on that notion, and there seems to be an eagerness in moving forward in finding ways that we can work together.” What attracted you to Oxy? Flot: I was attracted to the opportunity to be in a leadership role that allowed me to guide a transformative process for student affairs. It’s an opportunity to effectively engage and connect with students, serve as an advocate for students, and work to build bridges between the student body and student affairs, and senior administration and faculty. Highly attractive to me was the fact that Oxy is so culturally diverse and pays attention to issues of social justice and equity. And finally, to have a liberal arts college in a major metropolitan center is a powerful part of the student experience. Sternberg: When I was a graduate student at UCLA, I would come to Oxy for the summer theater productions, and I would walk around this campus and think this is my dream job, to be a professor at a place like Oxy. So part of my interest in coming to Oxy is that liberal arts college atmosphere, where students and professors can have relation-
above left: Flot talks to a first-year parent during Orientation on August 24. above right: Sternberg addresses the Class of 2021 at Convocation in Thorne Hall on August 29. left: With President Jonathan Veitch at an ice cream social in the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center rotunda welcoming the new deans August 1.
ships inside and outside the classroom. Ultimately, there were a variety of factors: wanting to be at a liberal arts college in Southern California, Oxy’s academic reputation, its excellent faculty, and its beautiful campus. Most academics don’t start out their careers thinking, “I want to be a dean.” What was your career path into administrative roles? Sternberg: I thought I always would be a faculty member—I really thought I would do it forever. But during my 18 years at Haverford, I started to become more attracted to the kind of impact I could have working with other faculty. As I took on more responsibility, I found that I really enjoyed the work. It’s challenging, and you get to use those creative problem-solving skills you learned as a student at a liberal arts college. Flot: After I finished my pre-doctoral internship at a university counseling center, I continued at that counseling center for 8½ years, primarily as a senior clinician. In that role, you are most often responding to a student who is struggling, and I found it would be more useful to prevent problems from happening to begin with. To do that, I moved into administrative roles. Initially I thought
there might be a limit to my interest, but being a senior student affairs officer is the position that offers me the best opportunity, especially at a small institution. This morning, I was talking to RAs in the residence halls, I’m meeting with trustees for lunch, and the president and I are taking a walking tour of res halls this afternoon. I can’t imagine a better situation for someone like me, who loves engaging and interacting with students and also wants to be able to influence the system. What are your first impressions of Oxy? Flot: Faculty have been eager to engage with me, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how returning students and I have made some connections this summer. Student Affairs staff is eager for leadership to move forward. The cherry on top is starting with Wendy, to have a partner in this new phase at the College. So, there’s an eagerness to partner, to collaborate, to move forward. Sternberg: Understandably, there have been some decisions that have been put off since Jorge decided to leave. [Sternberg’s predecessor as dean of the College, Jorge Gonzalez, was appointed president of Kalamazoo ColFALL 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 33
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WENDY STERNBERG Dean of the College Previously: Dean of academic departments and programs, Union College; 18 years on the faculty at Haverford College Education: B.A. in psychology, Union College; master’s and doctorate in psychology, UCLA Hidden talent? Completing the New York Times crossword. Her longest streak— 126 days—“ended when I was out here to interview in December. It was a Friday, and I got stuck and didn’t have enough time to pore over every clue.”
ROB FLOT Dean of Students Previously: Vice president and dean of students at Lake Forest College Education: B.A. in psychology, master’s in clinical psychology, Eastern Illinois University; doctoral studies in counseling psychology, Indiana State University Hidden talent? “I was a track and field athlete in college, and I’ve coached some since then. Given that one of Oxy’s flagship sports is track and field, I’m hopeful that I might be able to convince Coach [Rob] Bartlett to let me help out from time to time with the hurdlers.”
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lege in January 2016.] Issues have come up that couldn’t be addressed by the interim dean, and the response has been that the new dean will have to take care of that. Flot: It’s exactly the same on the Student Affairs side. [Flot’s predecessor as dean of students, Barbara Avery, was named vice chancellor at the University of Michigan-Flint in October 2015.] Sternberg: I feel this palpable sense of arrival. Everyone has been very warm and welcoming, as I’ve said a number of times, but there’s a sense of relief in many ways that I hear in people’s voices, that we’re finally able to move forward. To me that says something about the deep care that the members of this community have for it, where they want the institution to be advancing, and have felt it’s been difficult during this period of waiting. What are your goals for your first year? Flot: The first is to engage and connect as broadly and deeply as possible with a broad cross-section of students. That’s huge. Second, to tend to and assess the functions of Student Affairs—determine what’s working well, where improvements are needed, and where structural changes might need to occur. Third, to engage and connect with faculty and look for bridges between Student Affairs and faculty. Sternberg: My No. 1 goal for the year is to understand everything—the curriculum, departments, and structures. There’s a lot to absorb. At the end of the year I want to know every faculty member by name, what department they’re in, what their specialty is, and what would allow me to support them and make them happy in their jobs. I’m very concerned about faculty satisfaction. I would like to try to put structures and policies in place that can allow faculty to thrive in their work. I also plan to engage the faculty this year in a yearlong discussion and academic planning exercise to think about the future of an Oxy education—what does it look like from a disciplinary, general education, and co-curricular perspective? Flot: I tend to be a little impatient. I want to move forward more quickly. And because the community is eager to move forward, I feel some pressure and expectation to make some things happen so that people are reassured that we got this right in terms of our selection.
Sternberg: I feel both of those things, too. Flot: But I want to balance that with not making decisions too quickly and later having to come in and clean up a mess. Achieving a balance between eagerness and patience is not so much a goal as part of the process. Rob, how does your background in psychology inform your work in student life? Flot: I can’t think of better preparation for working with students. My particular area of counseling psychology focuses on working in a university mental health setting. My coursework and preparation had everything to do with adolescent development, how systems work, the developmental needs of students, and ethnic identity development. That’s useful, and my background as a clinician certainly informs my conversations. Wendy, what are your impressions of Oxy’s faculty? Sternberg: Those that I met seem to be extremely accomplished, dedicated to their students, and to care deeply about this institution. They seem like a really great group. Do you plan to teach any courses at Oxy? Sternberg: I would love to, and I have already been approached about doing a guest lecture on neuroscience. But the thing about teaching is that you can’t phone it in. It always has to be the most important thing that you’re doing. I know that there are deans that do it, but I can’t imagine being the kind of professor I want to be with the demands of this job. Flot: There was a course at Lake Forest that I was eager to teach on African-American Muslims. Every year I thought about teaching it, but I knew I would have to cancel because things always come up. Our roles require us sometimes to clear our schedules at the drop of a hat, or in the event of an emergency. What’s the most L.A. thing you’ve done so far? Sternberg: We took the top off the Jeep and drove to Malibu. We drove west on Sunset to the sea. Flot: I went to Santa Monica and Venice Beach with my son. Is that an L.A. thing? Sternberg: It is. Flot: And I did hike in Griffith Park up to Dante’s View. Sternberg: I drove my car from the house to the office. It’s 300 yards. —jim tranquada
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Who’s New in the Classroom From the arts and sciences to computer science and religious studies, Occidental’s latest tenure-track appointees run the academic gamut
Seven new tenure-track scholars have joined the Occidental faculty this fall, including the first full professor hired for the new computer science department, a marine biologist who is studying the effects of climate change on coral reefs, a Tibetan Buddhism scholar, an expert on 19th-century Japanese art, and a specialist in ancient Roman texts. Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, associate professor of religious studies, comes to Oxy from Grinnell College, where she was an assistant professor of East Asian studies. Her work explores the construction of Buddhist community, networks of cultural production, and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships in the transnational border regions of Tibet, China, Sikkim, Bhutan, Northeast India, and Ladakh through the perspectives of religion, history, gender, literature, the comparative study of empire, material culture, and media. She received her B.A. from Victoria University of Wellington and her Ph.D. from Australian National University. Kathryn Leonard, professor of computer science, was previously an associate professor of mathematics at CSU Channel Islands. She received her B.S. from the University of New Mexico and her Ph.D. from Brown University. Leonard’s interests arise from the mathematics of computer vision, including shape and texture modeling, which draws on tools ranging from geometry to information theory. She will spearhead the new computer science department at Occidental (page 12). Jacob L. Mackey, assistant professor of comparative studies in literature and culture, was most recently assistant professor of classics at Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. He specializes in ancient religions, the theories that have historically guided their study, and approaches to ancient religion and culture informed by cognitive science. Mackey is the author of a translation of Horace’s poem “Intermissa Venus (Odes 4.1)” for the journal Arion and has edited three fragmentary papyri inscribed with the
From left: Leonard, Mackey, Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, Wakamatsu, Preston-Roedder, Stubler, and Navarro. Photo by Marc Campos
text of Plato’s Laws in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (forthcoming). He received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, his M.S. from Christ Church, Oxford University, and his Ph.D. from Princeton. Raul Navarro, assistant professor of chemistry, grew up in Los Angeles before heading east to pursue a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Yale. He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Caltech and did his postdoc at Stanford, where he was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and served as a research mentor in the Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics for Human Health (ChEM-H) program. His research focus lies in understanding the mechanisms by which proteins are degraded. Ryan Preston-Roedder, associate professor of philosophy, comes to Oxy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was an assistant professor of philosophy. He specializes in moral psychology, philosophy of religion and philosophy, and literature. He recently published a novel account of the moral virtue “faith in humanity” as belief in the basic decency of persons. He has a B.A. from Rice and a Ph.D. from NYU.
Amber Stubler, assistant professor of biology, previously was a postdoctoral research associate at Oxy. Her research interests include marine community ecology, sponge and coral reef ecology, seagrass ecology, climate change and ocean acidification, species interactions, and the effects of anthropogenic stressors on ecosystem function and processes. She studies how climate change and ocean acidification influence biogenic habitat engineers and subsequently habitat complexity, and how these changes cascade throughout the ecosystem. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. from Stony Brook University. Yurika Wakamatsu, assistant professor of art and art history, comes to Oxy from Harvard, where she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard. Her work examines the intersections of art and gender in 19th- and early 20th-century Japan. She is currently revising her dissertation into a book manuscript and preparing for publication an essay on the feminization of art and changing conceptions of modern Japanese womanhood. FALL 2017 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE 35
PAGE 64 Photos courtesy Anthony Ostland ’08
Mammoth Bars align with the back-to-basics principles of the Paleo Diet, whose adherents include Winchell, left, and Ostland.
Mammoth Undertaking With an ingredient list high in protein and low in “weird stuff,” Anthony Ostland ’08 and Michael Winchell ’07 create a protein bar to their liking
It began roughly six years ago, at a food truck festival in San Francisco. Meandering among the mobile culinary concepts, former Oxy football teammates Anthony Ostland ’08 and Michael Winchell ’07 just wanted a clean and healthy meal. “We were talking about all these weird food fusions and laughing about all of the different things that people were trying to come up with,” Ostland recalls. “Where’s the basic meat and vegetables—kind of a simpler food design?” They brainstormed starting their own food truck with a menu that aligned with the Paleo Diet, which they ultimately concluded wasn’t financially feasible. The idea of a portable snack manifested itself sometime in 2012, when Ostland presented Winchell with an energy bar he had concocted at home. Coming from a cooking background— his family runs a restaurant in New Mexico —Ostland decided to make the snack he had always wanted: something with a higher protein-to-sugar ratio and a simpler ingredient list than store-bought bars. They had an 64 OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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Hungry for a Mammoth Bar at Oxy? They’re now available at the Green Bean.
inkling that other people were looking for the same thing. And “No Weird Stuff ” became the slogan for their Mammoth Bar business. After that “Eureka!” moment, Winchell says, “It didn’t take much to borrow a couple of Cuisinarts from our neighbors and get the process rolling.” Many nights after work, he would get on a ferry from Oakland to Marin to experiment with different bar formulas in Ostland’s kitchen. They also conducted their own market research, asking taste testers to compare Mammoth Bars to its competitors. Through 2014, that’s what the company was: forming bars by hand, sealing them by
hand, and hawking them either in person or via their website. They went through more than 100 iterations, a trial-and-error period that resulted in the four varieties they now offer: almond vanilla, goji berry trail mix, macadamia coconut, and cashew cinnamon. Mammoth Bar’s primary ingredients are nuts, egg white protein, and dates, with coconut nectar in most varieties as the sweetener. All are organic, dairy-free, grain-free, and soyand legume-free. While Winchell used his knowledge as an economics major and financial analyst to establish a solid foundation for the business, Ostland’s connections as a CrossFit coach helped the bars gain traction among their key demographic. Moving production into a commercial kitchen and automating much of the manufacturing process in 2015 allowed them to scale up their operations. Success came slowly and steadily until September 2016, when they ran a fundraiser on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter that brought in $50,000 in 30 days—five times their initial goal, and validation that their bars appealed to consumers outside of their immediate circle of friends and acquaintances. “When we had raised that money, Anthony and I kind of looked at each other like, ‘I think we really have something here,’” Winchell says. Soon after, the duo secured a deal with Peet’s Coffee and Tea to sell Mammoth Bars in 350 locations around the country. The product is also sold in an additional 50 privately owned grocery stores and fitness studios, and by next spring, larger supermarkets such as Whole Foods will be added to the mix. “Now that we have proof of concept, we will expand our reach,” says Ostland. With monthly sales in excess of $33,000 and year-over-year revenue growth of 150 percent, Mammoth Bar has long since outstripped its food truck-inspired origins. And there are other food products Winchell and Ostland feel are ripe for innovation, including granola and nut butters. “When you’re working with a small business, it’s almost like working with a child,” Winchell says. “You’re never going to give up on that kid, you just decide that I’m going to do whatever it takes to get this thing through the next hurdle. Because that’s all growing a business is. It’s getting you through the next obstacle that you’re facing.” —sarah corsa ’16
OXYFARE 
Snapshots Volume 39, Number 4 oxy.edu/magazine
Four Oxy Legends Enter Hall of Fame Z Blair Slattery ’94 is Occidental’s all-time
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
Tatiana Garnett ’21 Daughter of Yadira Barajas ’97, Assistant Controller
Owen Keith ’21 Son of Robin Craggs, Executive Director of International Programs
Jacob Montag ’21 Son of Dolores Trevizo ’87, Professor of Sociology, and Warren Montag, Professor of English
Jonathan Veitch President Wendy F. Sternberg Vice President for Academic Aairs and Dean of the College Rhonda L. Brown Vice President for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity OďŹƒcer Charlie Cardillo Vice President for Institutional Advancement Vince Cuseo Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admission Rob Flot Vice President for Student Aairs and Dean of Students Amos Himmelstein Vice President & Chief Operating OďŹƒcer Marty Sharkey Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jim Tranquada Director of Communications
career scoring (1,676 points) and rebounding (1,034) leader in men’s basketball. The 6'7", 225-pound forward later played pro ball for ďŹ ve years in Europe, leading Germany’s Munster Basketball Club to a 34-2 record in his ďŹ rst season. Returning to the game after completing his MBA studies at USC, he was a member of the 2001 champion Svendborg Basketball Club in Denmark. In addition to his hoops prowess, Slattery also was the College’s 1994 champion in caps: “It’s like a drinking game, but it takes a little athletic talent as well,â€? noted Tor Myhren ’94 (below, right, with teammates Slattery and Sandy Brown ’94).
Y The 1982 women’s tennis team won the ďŹ rst NCAA Division III championship in the sport, defeating UC San Diego in Jackson, Miss., in May 1982. Coached by Lynn (Pacala) Mehl (standing, far right), the 11-member squad included (standing, l-r) Sue (Rene) Brazee ’82, Kathleen (McFadden) Parker ’82, Jean (Gilliland) Stivers ’83, and Wendy (Antisdel) Bothell ’84; (kneeling, l-r) Tina Martin ’85, Maria Newton ’85, Jean-Marie (Sanders) Szakovits ’84, and Yvonne (Orozco) Pedersen ’84. (Not pictured: Susan Eidson ’84, Suzanne (Davies) Farr ’85, and Cynthia (Day) Sabin ’85.) “What made this team so special?â€? Parker asked. “I think it was the undeniable chemistry we had that made a good team great.â€? (Above right, l-r: Bothell, Szakovits, Newton, Mehl, Sabin, Brazee, Parker, and Rob Flot, vice president and dean of students, who presented the honors.)
editorial staff
Dick Anderson Editor Samantha B. Bonar ’90, Jasmine Teran Contributing Writers Marc Campos Contributing Photographer Gail (Schulman) Ginell ’79 Class Notes Editor SanSoucie Design Design DLS Group Printing OCCIDENTAL MAGAZINE
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 OďŹƒce of Communications F-36 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles CA 90041-3314
Tatiana: Full zip hooded distressed print Oxy sweatshirt by Wideworld Sportswear. Sizes S-XL. $56.95 Owen: Oxy Tigers palm tree T-shirt by Wideworld Sportswear. Sizes S-XXL. $16.95 Jacob: Occidental College traditional T-shirt. In black, charcoal, Oxford, and white. Sizes S-XXXL. $16.95
Tatiana, Owen, and Jacob Occidental magazine, Fall 1999 Occidental College Bookstore oxybookstore.com To order by phone: 323-259-2951 All major credit cards accepted
Letters may be edited for length, content, and style. Occidental College online Homepage: oxy.edu Facebook: facebook.com/occidental Twitter: @occidental Instagram: instagram.com/occidentalcollege Cover photo: Jim Block Oxy Wear photo: Marc Campos
W In an emotional tribute to their son, the late Andy Collins ’07, parents Betty and Mike Collins thanked the teammates, coaches, trainers, and equipment personnel—“everybody working for that common goal of just getting out there on that ďŹ eld ‌ and being the best that you can be.â€? With Collins as quarterback, the Tigers went undefeated in conference play from 2004 to 2006, won 26 straight regular season games, and advanced to the postseason each year, including a trip to Division III’s Elite Eight in 2004. “To all of you who were with Andy here during those wonderful, exciting, amazing three years, Andy could not have accomplished what he did here at Oxy without all of you,â€? said Mike (front row, second from left, with Betty and Andy’s widow, Brooke Olzendam, second from right). “Every one of you owns a part of this.â€?
Y One of Oxy’s most versatile all-around runners, Steve Haas ’63 set school records in the 100, 220, 440, and 880 during the 1963 season. He also was a member of Oxy’s school record 2-mile relay team. “I thrived at Oxy in the environment here, with the coaching that we had and the competition that we had, the trips that we took, and the camaraderie,â€? said Haas (above, right, with wife Margaret and brother-in-law Mel Peters, left) in accepting the honor. “I’ve spent 43 years of my life as a track coach because of my involvement in track and ďŹ eld here, so a big part of who I am is a result of what it was for me to be a part of the track program here at Occidental.â€?
Photo credits: Marc Campos (Hall of Fame), Lynn Mehl (tennis), Alison Slattery (Slattery), Kirby Lee (Collins), Occidental College Special Collections (Haas)
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The New Millennials: Oxy’s Class of 2021
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After Joscelyn Guzman ’18 received admission decisions from the four schools she applied to, “I talked to students at each institution, and the Occidental student I talked to made an effort to honestly answer all the questions I asked him,” recalls the firstgeneration college student, a religious studies major from Modesto. “After talking to him, I knew that I wanted to attend a school like Oxy where the students were kind, patient, and committed to supporting their peers. I wasn’t even an Oxy student yet, and I was already welcomed into the Oxy community.” How did you choose your major? After two years of academic exploration, I discovered that I was drawn to classes in the religious studies department. Being able to study and think critically about religion excited me, and all of the professors in the department are exceptional. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and they have reminded me of how fun learning can be. What’s been among your favorite classes? Last spring, I took a class titled Death, Dying, and Afterlife in the Ancient Mediterranean World, taught by Professor [Kristi] UpsonSaia. Her constant positivity—and her immense knowledge on the topic—motivated me to continue learning and finish the school year on a strong note. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the semester, my grandfather passed away. Afterward, I struggled with grief and staying on top of my work, but Professor Upson-Saia was very understanding—and being in a class that focused on death and dying was a surprisingly therapeutic process. I was able to bring my grandfather into discussions, readings, and assignments, and I am incredibly grateful to have had that opportunity. What did you learn from your Campaign Semester experience? I spent the fall 2016 semester in North Carolina doing research for Roy Cooper’s gubernatorial campaign. The race was extremely close, and my candidate ultimately won by only about 10,000 votes out of 4.6 million votes cast! Being a part of the victory in such a close election was emotional but rewarding, and the whole process taught me that people can truly make a difference.
INTRODUCING THE BARACK OBAMA SCHOLARS PROGRAM /// CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CURRICULUM
Your Oxy Fund Gift Motivates Joscelyn Guzman
What opportunities do you hope to pursue as a senior? Being a student of color has shaped my experience at Oxy, and I want to get more involved with Multi, a club for multiracial/ multicultural individuals. I look forward to continuing the research I began over the summer with the Undergraduate Research Center. Lastly, I want to engage more with Los Angeles, specifically with the Eagle Rock community. Thousands of alumni and friends of the College support the Oxy Fund each year. What would you like to say to them? Your generosity directly impacts students’ lives. I never imagined I would experience the opportunities I have had at Oxy, and I am thankful for your commitment to the institution. So, thank you. You motivate me to follow your example.
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Armed with a smartphone and an open heart, Kevin F. Adler ’07 combats homelessness by rebuilding social support systems— one message at a time
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Invest in the kind of education that can only happen at Occidental. Please make your gift to the Oxy Fund.
Miracle Worker