Oxy Storybook 2015 by Occidental College

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OX Y O N LO C AT I O N

The liberal arts in Los Angeles Location matters. It doesn’t define your college education, but it informs it. Location can extend the reach of opportunities far beyond a college’s borders. Place cannot be narrowly defined at Occidental. Our historic, park-like campus is in Los Angeles, tucked between Eagle Rock and Highland Park, two neighborhoods that reflect the city’s eclectic nature. We’re idyllically urban—our campus defies the concrete stereotype of a college in a city. An Oxy liberal arts education knows no geographic boundaries. Our location serves as a springboard for putting theory to practice and ideas into perspective. This may mean diving in the Pacific to do marine research, interning at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, volunteering during the Campaign Semester in Missouri, living in Manhattan at our Kahane U.N. Program, or studying abroad in Ghana. At its core, an Oxy education demands participation, be it on campus or thousands of miles away. This breadth of opportunity doesn’t come at the expense of community. Uncommonly diverse and consciously collaborative, Oxy students and faculty forge deep, meaningful relationships, whether conversing over coffee at The Green Bean or volunteering at our MLK Day of Service. Our campus is alive with activity, and our location invites participation in the social, political, scientific, and aesthetic life of the city and the Southern California environment. We’re not just in Los Angeles but we’re of Los Angeles, and beyond.

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A land of magical improvisation - AUTHOR CAREY MCWILLIAMS’S DESCRIPTION OF LOS ANGELES

Academic Programs: Arts & Humanities Find Your Place & Space

The Place: Keck Theater........................20 Learning in Depth: Research.................22 Academic Programs: Sciences...............24 The Place: The Solar Array....................26

The Place: The Cooler..........................48

Place. Location. Context. The Place: The Academic Quad...........04 10 Spots Not to Miss At Oxy...............06 The Place: Thorne Hall.......................08

Students’ Favorite Moments................50 The Place: Stewie Hall ........................52 Going Places.......................................54

Global Imprint Academic Programs: Social Sciences....30 The Place: The Global Forum...............32 Comps: The Final Frontier....................34

The Place: Remsen Bird Hillside Theater

Through Our Eyes

The Place: The Academic Commons.....12 Participatory Learning.........................14 The First-Year Experience....................16

Think & Act Locally

Young Alums: Where Are They Now?...58 Oxy in a Nutshell ..............................60

10 Things to Do in the Neighborhood..38 The Place: Johnson Student Center.......40 Building Community: Who We Are........42 This is Our Turf....................................44

A first-rate college entirely free of false pretense - VISITING SCHOLAR

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Downtown

LOS ANGELES 8 miles from campus

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)

7 miles from campus

Disneyland

York Blvd.

34 miles from campus

HIGHLAND PARK

A short walk from campus, it features longstanding Latino eateries aside new bistros, art galleries, and vintage shops to create what Condé Nast magazine calls “L.A.’s Coolest Street.”

Anderson Field

Highland Park Metro Station 2.5 miles from campus

Hiking & Skiing San Gabriel Mountains

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The Ocean

23 miles from campus

os Angeles International Airport (LAX)

25 miles from campus

Hollywood

Dodger Stadium

9 miles from campus

5 miles from campus

Griffith Park

8 miles from campus

Santa Monica Pier

Home to dozens of hiking trails, the LA Zoo, and the Griffith Observatory, it’s an appealing destination for Oxy students and Angelinos.

Bob Hope Burbank Airport (BUR)

13 miles from campus

Keck Theater FEAST Garden

Solar Array

Colorado Blvd. Old Pasadena & Caltech 5 miles from campus

EAGLE ROCK (1 mile from campus)

The community’s commercial spine is home to an array of restaurants (from old school Italian to organic), several hotels, and a retail plaza that includes an Oxy student staple: Target.

Oxy’s student-run, organic garden allows for exploring the connections between food and the environment.

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THE

The Place

ACADEMIC

QUAD etween the Academic Commons and the Johnson Student Center, you’ll find our version of the ubiquitous campus quad. Century-old oak trees provide shade for study, conversation, contemplation... and an excuse to satisfy one’s tree-climbing whimsy. Clubs “Quad sit,” setting up their wares, selling tickets to campus events, and advertising opportunities. Food trucks are invited for special events, which have included our annual Relay for Life, Fall Concert, and student art installations.

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THE LIST THE GREEN BEAN

GILMAN FOUNTAIN

Our student-run coffee lounge features fair-trade coffee and delicious pastries from one of L.A.’s favorite bakeries. It hosts student art work, open-mic nights, political and sports broadcasts, and the occasional Saturday morning cartoon marathon while its denizens sample tasty drinks.

Perhaps Oxy’s most iconic landmark, our fountain has been featured in a variety of films and television shows. It’s also the site of one of the College’s longest-standing traditions: prepare to get dunked on your birthday!

AHMANSON READING ROOM Act fast to claim a seat in this Academic Commons space. Also known as the “Quiet Room,” this is a coveted study spot among Oxy students for its spacious communal tables, natural sunlight, and scholarly atmosphere.

MT. FIJI The highest spot on campus, Fiji offers stunning panoramic views of Los Angeles and the surrounding area. Gaze at a glorious sunset and take in the architectural splendor of Oxy’s hillside solar array.

AGC PLAZA At the heart of campus, AGC Plaza is home to two of Oxy’s academic buildings and to the College’s administrative center. On February 18, 1981, the steps of the plaza served as the podium for President (and former Oxy student) Barack Obama’s first political speech.

BIRD STUDIO This recital hall is home to intimate musical performances by Oxy community members and guest artists, from Music on a Friday Afternoon (a weekly showcase of student music) to our Occidental Faculty Woodwind Quartet to an array of musicians visiting campus.

THE MOORE ZOOLOGY LAB A premier natural history collection, the MZL is home to over 60,000 specimens of birds, including the largest collection of Mexican bird species anywhere in the world. Students are busy at work in the lab sequencing DNA or doing independent research.

THE PENDULUM Located in the lobby of the Hameetman Science Center, this hypnotic pendulum is a replica of a physics experiment originally conducted by Leon Foucault to demonstrate the earth’s rotation.

STUDENT QUAD

RUSH GYMNASIUM Rush Gym rocks as host to Oxy’s men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams as well as other campus-wide events. Fans sport their orange and black as they cheer on the Tigers. The gym is named for Frank “Speedy” Rush, a track star from the class of 1909.

See and be heard. The path between the JSC and The Cooler serves as Oxy’s informal gathering space. Students lounge on the grassy knoll to hear from promoters of causes and clubs, musicians, and anyone else who seeks an audience. The Quad hosts a variety of events, including Oxy’s Next Iron Chef competition.

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The Place

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horne Hall is the campus’s regal, iconic building. Beyond its elegant façade, however, is a vibrant performance space that has been home to a dizzying array of events, including—to mention a few—academic convocations, soaring organ recitals, the transformative oratory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., dramatic performances by national touring companies, and generations of Oxy students participating in events such as Dance Production.

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THROUGH Who better to introduce you to Oxy than the people who live and learn on our campus? That’s why we routinely ask students and faculty to take over our @OccidentalCollege Instagram account. 1. PAULEY RESIDENCE HALL sunsets! 2. @ s_rebecalopez and I walked down the street from campus to our favorite local juice spot, JUGOS AZTECA. She’s trying the chamango for the first time.

6. This morning we got the chance to go up to the LA SELVA towers that help collect data on rainfall, temperature, sunlight and get a great view of the rainforest canopy! 7. Just a few TIGERS enjoying the beautiful weather.

3. On shift at the CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER. Stop by and check out all our awesome resources. 4. S elfie before I head back to campus. Loved riding through the city without worrying about LA traffic! #CICLAVIA 5. Still in ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA. Speaking of school ... this is the Smolny Cathedral/Complex, where my classes are.

8. Greater than the SUM OF ITS PARTS. 9. I promise I didn’t stage this encounter. Biking from highland park gold line to Oxy, I saw Daniel Martinez, a student in my streets class, at a TACO TRUCK OFF OF YORK BLVD - with his bike. #oxythroughmyeyes #bikeLA #streetfood

Follow along with #OxyThroughMyEyes, or tag your photos on a campus visit so we can see Oxy from your perspective.

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The Place

THE

ACADEMIC COMMONS

uilding on the concept of the library as a place where knowledge is created and stored, the Academic Commons helps integrate spaces, resources, tools, and support for teaching, learning, and studying at the College. Students can talk freely on the main floor, making it an ideal setting for group work and study sessions. The Ahmanson Reading Room (a.k.a. the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Quiet Roomâ&#x20AC;?) on the other side of the building provides ample space for focusing on individual work.

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PARTICIPATORY

earning and knowing are rooted in doing. Oxy faculty and students take this to heart. They seek ways to link theory to practice, to provide real-world applications to the ideas and notions discussed in classes. And “classrooms” are not narrowly defined as desks and chairs; they may be downtown Los Angeles, an open body of water, an interactive digital setting, or some distant country. What they have in common is the capacity to empower students to think and act, to lead and collaborate, in an array of settings. This philosophy is prevalent across the curriculum and in studentled initiatives.

CAMPAIGN SEMESTER We recognize the need to to leave our campus to learn invaluable lessons. Campaign Semester is one immersive example. Unique to Oxy, it offers a full semester’s worth of academic credit to students for working on key Presidential, Senate, House, or Gubernatorial campaigns in swing states. Their participation involves a wide range of activities, including voter registration and turnout, volunteer coordination, and media relations. After November elections, students return to campus for an intensive seminar with politics professors. Oxy students cover the nation (literally) by working on campaigns from Honolulu to Boston.

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LEARNING OXYPRENEURSHIP Entrepreneurship and the liberal arts? It’s a perfect fit for Oxypreneurship, a collaboration of students and business leaders devoted to innovation. They recently spearheaded the College’s first-ever TEDx event, “Reinventing the American Dream.” Oxy student speakers contributed their personal experiences in a crossgenerational forum that included community and business leaders. They are reminders that the American Dream is still alive: SOMER GREENE of Memphis kicked the day off with a stirring spoken word piece about growing up in segregated Tennessee, where she learned from her grandmother that her dreams, while seemingly made of gossamer, are indestructible. Greene’s experience as an AfricanAmerican has shown her, she said, that “The American Dream does not come easy for everyone.”

The Campaign Semester was a great opportunity to get some real world, hands-on experience that is important in having a holistic education… I coordinated the campaign’s efforts within a particular neighborhood to persuade voters and increase turnout. This was an incredibly rewarding experience, as it allowed me to see the grassroots part of the campaign, and 7.it has shown me how much these efforts in community organizing and activism mean to the people. — Karthik Raman, Fremont, CA, on the Obama Campaign

CORDELIA KENNY of New York urged everyone to redefine their relationship with death —a process she began at age 9. “We live in a highly individualized society, and death is often an individualized experience,” she said. “So what do you want your legacy to look like? There’s no guarantee we’ll wake up in the morning, so why not live a life free of regrets?”

ADRIAN ADAMS of Las Vegas argued that the American Dream had to be redefined to allow for the full inclusion of transgender people. “Under the current American Dream, we are taught that our gender must correspond with the sex we are assigned at birth,” Adams said. “… But the American Dream is never finished. We need local, everyday inclusion to allow everyone to thrive.”

SARAH TAMASHIRO of Honolulu used the troubled modern history of Hawaii and the drive of native Hawaiians for greater sovereignty as an example of the importance—and power— of rediscovering your roots: “Places are complex. We all are part of some place. If we rediscover our roots, we can reconnect with our histories, reconnect with our past… Be that person. Make it heard. Make your home a place you can be proud of. Take action.”

BRIAN ERICKSON of Tucson argued that the American Dream can be found every day on social media. “The ideals it implies have to exist in single, identifiable documented moments. We have to look for those moments, and record them, and then share them, so everyone can see what an idea in action looks like,” he said. “We want to share the incidents that inspire us, in a world where hearts and minds are connected and perspectives are constantly on display.”

BIO 370: TROPICAL ECOLOGY An example of a new course structure emerging on campus — others have been offered in Religious Studies and Art History— Biology 370 affords students the opportunity to engage in a three-week field study abroad at the end of the regular academic semester. Recently, 16 Oxy students and their faculty instructors ventured to Costa Rica and Panama to interact directly with the tropical terrestrial and marine ecosystems they had studied in class. Through their stay at the La Selva Biological Station and other sites, they conducted scientific research related to the questions they had grappled with on campus: Why are the tropics so diverse? How is this diversity maintained? How do communities respond to disturbance? How are different land uses having an impact on tropical people and communities? How will global climate change affect communities and species richness? While students can ponder these issues anywhere, there’s nothing quite like examining them directly in the field.

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hat is the relationship between justice and reconciliation? How do people tell stories: in writing, with spoken words, and through visual images? Are charter schools a viable option? The point of Oxy’s Core Program is to broaden students’ global literacy and ignite the sort of critical thought that defines an Oxy liberal arts education.

In addition to first-year seminars, Core requirements demand that all students sharpen their writing skills and take a healthy variety of courses across academic disciplines. By the time you graduate, you’ll be a skilled writer and proficient in a foreign language. You’ll have a more nuanced understanding of different cultures and have critically considered the big questions that affect us all. These competencies may evolve in the context of a lab, in the close reading of a text, on a stage, in a lecture hall, on a computer screen, in a screening room, or in the field.

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FIRST-YEAR CULTURAL STUDIES SEMINARS Fall Writing Seminars In the fall, faculty and students jointly explore human culture from a variety of disciplinary and cultural perspectives. These writing-intensive courses are limited to 16 students. Faculty across all disciplines teach the courses and choose the topics based on their intellectual passions and interests. What matters is honing your critical reading and thinking in conjunction with your expository writing skills. Individual seminars can take you from ancient Greece to the fall of the Berlin Wall. SOME RECENT SEMINARS: • L .A. Transitions: Race, Place, and Space in the City of Angels • The Artist’s Life • Slavery and Emancipation in Film and History • P opulars, Jocks, and Nerds: Peer Relations in Childhood and Adolescence

Spring Research Seminars In the spring, students choose from interdisciplinary classes that emphasize global perspectives and stress the writing of scholarly research papers. EXAMPLES: • U rban Fictions: The Modern City in Literature and Other Arts • Culture of Food • Animal Ethics • Theater about Theater

CALIFORNIA IMMIGRATION SEMESTER Join a group of 32 students and three faculty members in an integrated set of courses, fieldwork, and field trips built around the immigrant communities of Los Angeles. The city will be your laboratory as you investigate the intersections among immigration, education, youth, literature, and popular culture. The California Immigration Semester (CIS) fulfills the first-year Cultural Studies Program requirement and comprises all of your coursework for the fall term. All that’s required to enroll in CIS is a passion for learning and an enthusiasm for social inquiry.

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SPANISH STUDIES

EAST ASIAN STUDIES

CRITICAL THEORY & SOCIAL JUSTICE

CHINESE STUDIES GROUP LANGUAGE

ART HISTORY & VISUAL ARTS

RUSSIAN STUDIES

Emphases: Critical Race Studies Feminist & Queer Studies Postcolonial Theory

CLASSICAL STUDIES

INDEPENDENT PATTERN OF STUDY

(Minor only)

MUSIC

(Minor only)

JAPANESE STUDIES

(Minor only)

Emphases: Art History Media Arts & Culture Studio Art

PHILOSOPHY GERMAN STUDIES

ENGLISH

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

INTERDISCIPLINARY WRITING

(Minor only)

LINGUISTICS (Minor only)

THEATER

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

FRENCH STUDIES

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S POT L I G H T M A J O R S ART HISTORY & VISUAL ARTS Los Angeles is fertile ground for the visual arts. Our Art History & Visual Arts department equips students to critically examine its history, richness, and complexity through three areas of emphasis: Art History students take advantage of Los Angeles’ ample museums to research works of art, photography, and architecture in person. Aficionados of Asian art can study Chinese and Japanese collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Norton Simon Museum. Students of Greek and Roman antiquity can work first-hand with artifacts at the Getty Villa in Malibu. And those interested in modern and contemporary art attend openings, symposia, and lectures by internationally known artists, critics, and curators at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Art History majors regularly study abroad and over the past few years, many have enriched their academic experience by studying in cities such as Paris, Siena, Rome, Athens, and Madrid. Media Arts & Culture (MAC) integrates the study of film, media, and cultural theory with digital production, helping students to develop critical and creative skills for engaging an increasingly participatory media culture. Oxy’s proximity to industry leaders means students are able to take advantage of internships and networking opportunities while cultivating their own work within a liberal arts environment. Our students study and create a wide range of visual and aural media, including fiction, documentary, and experimental work. They push media making beyond the screen into installation, public, and mobile spaces while learning to use new tools for digital scholarship, from podcasts and video blogs to GIS application.

“KNITTING NATION 12: H2O” by Liz Collins was a recent site-specific performance installation. It is one example of the OxyArts program, which aims to serve as an anchor for the Eagle Rock/ Highland Park art scene, participate actively in Los Angeles’ art community, and cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation of contemporary art throughout the Occidental community.

The Studio Art program offers students close collaboration with faculty alongside the vibrant Los Angeles art scene. We offer a broad range of studio courses in painting, printmaking, sculpture, book-making, drawing, installation, photography, and interdisciplinary arts. Students showcase their work in three campus galleries and also create site-specific installations both on and off campus. The widely exhibiting studio faculty regularly integrate museum and gallery offerings into the course curriculum. Studio art majors regularly intern at the city’s premier contemporary art institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the RedCat Gallery, Outpost for Contemporary Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

CRITICAL THEORY & SOCIAL JUSTICE Critical Theory & Social Justice (CTSJ) is quintessentially liberal arts and Oxy: a thoroughly interdisciplinary department that brings together critical theories to analyze, unpack, and address social justice issues. Courses and projects draw from theoretical and experiential approaches, including community-based learning and research. The CTSJ department is dedicated to giving students a thorough historical background, while also teaching them how to navigate through society’s current injustices. Focused on exposing and ending social inequalities, the faculty and courses promote understanding of how categories such as “race,” “gender,” “sexual orientation,” and “nationality” help people recognize and combat social injustices and hinder them from recognizing and combating others.

SAMPLE COURSES: Immigration and Education Children, Poverty, and Public Policies Mother Goose to Mash-Ups: Children’s Literature and Popular Texts Critical Theories of Sexuality Theatre for Social Justice The Queer of Color Critique

Oxy’s location in Los Angeles allows CTSJ students unparalleled opportunities to conduct research at nearby sites such as the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives in Pasadena. Authors and public speakers, like anti-sexism activist Jackson Katz, often visit Oxy’s campus to give intimate lectures on their work. Sarah Gross of Santa Monica, CA, appreciates that the CTSJ department forced her to think critically about the world around her, but more specifically the information and media she consumed daily. “I ended up writing my Senior Comprehensive Project on how LGBTQ adolescents receive and digest Disney movies and products. I grew up watching these movies, but never thought to examine how underrepresented groups might react to being entirely ignored in mainstream media. My comps advisor worked one-on-one with me while I conducted interviews and collected data from blogs and YouTube videos. It was a really rewarding experience to take four years worth of Queer Theory and apply it to a topic that was personal to me.”

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The Place

KECK

THEATER

eck, the home of Occidentalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theater Department, features four professionally directed productions each year. It also hosts the New Play Festival showcasing original student-written plays in which professional directors and actors collaborate with the student playwrights. Keck provides a state-of-the-art, professional quality stage. It was the first building in the U.S. featuring adjustable Lamda platforms allowing various configurations for a total of 412 seats. Productions from recent seasons include Othello, The Skin of Our Teeth, Hairspray!, and Big Love.

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The Student JANAN BURNI

hometown: major: title: faculty advisor:

San Diego, CA Diplomacy & World Affairs Translating Du Bois & Trayvon Martin to the Palestinian Diaspora James Ford

I have taken an interdisciplinary approach to my research because the works I’m using are not typically housed within Diplomacy and World Affairs. I turn to the intellectual tradition of Black Internationalism and W.E.B. Du Bois’s studies to consider the political and cultural implications of the mural... In all, taking a range of courses from different departments at Oxy (notably, DWA, English, and the California Immigration Semester) as well as my experience abroad have led to my current research.

MEGAN OLAYINKA

I am interviewing formerly incarcerated individuals to gather first-hand perspective of how their lives have been impacted by incarceration and having a criminal record. The participants describe their reentry experience, including difficulties they’ve encountered finding employment and housing, as well as other forms of discrimination they’ve faced. The study also examines what resources and organizations have been helpful in making the reentry process more successful, as well as what factors increase their likelihood of recidivism or re-arrest.

SAMUEL WYLIE

Through interviews and on-site studies of structures that have undergone restoration in the Habana Vieja district of La Habana, Cuba, I hope to take an urban snapshot as well as predict how Cuban citizens will be influenced by the restored spaces in the future. The restorations and their consequences are both a symptom and an integral piece of the larger changes that Cuba is currently undergoing in order to be a competitive economy in the twenty-first century.

LAUREL HOWARD

I am tracking changes in the way that tuberculosis was presented to the general public of Los Angeles, particularly as it related to the stigmatization and association of immigrants with disease. Spanning from around 1907 to the late 1940s, I am reading through county health reports and sanatorium and preventorium records to see the changing assumptions surrounding tuberculosis as medical understanding advanced and Los Angeles and the United States underwent great changes. With my Keck Summer Research Fellowship, I am working closely with the wonderful staff at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library at UCLA and the La Viña Sanatorium and Pasadena Preventorium collections at the Pasadena Museum of History.

hometown: major: title:

Corvallis, OR Sociology (Psychology minor) U ncovering the Experiences of Formerly Incarcerated Individuals in the United States faculty advisor: Richard Mora

hometown: Pinetop, AZ majors: Art History and Group Language title: Back to the Future: Restoring Habana Vieja for the Twenty-first Century faculty advisor: Eric Frank

hometown: major:

Palo Alto, CA History (Math and Education minors) title: Tuberculosis in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles faculty advisor: Sharla Fett

GREGORY CHISHOLM

hometown: major: title: faculty advisor:

The Research

San Diego, CA Biochemistry (Sociology minor) V accine Development and Testing for Pigeon Fever Using a Murine Model Roberta Pollock

Pigeon fever is an equine disease that is caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium Pseudotuberculosis. Our lab employs a murine model to characterize this disease and also to test the efficacy of potential vaccine components against pigeon fever. My research is technically housed within my major; however, immunology is an amazingly interesting and complex field in which I have yet to take any classes.

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hallmark of the Oxy experience is the chance for our students to engage in research, often at the levels typically reserved for graduate students. Whether initiated by a student’s curiosity beyond a topic in class or whether driven by facultyled initiatives and expertise, Oxy students are encouraged to do research on campus, in Los Angeles, and around the world. Through funding from faculty and the Undergraduate Research Center (URC), opportunities for students present themselves year round; however, each summer an average of 120 students receive funding and participate in our Summer Undergraduate Research program.

ALEXANDER LUMNAH

Physics major “Search for an Alternative Buffer Gas to Create Minority Peaks in the DRIFT Dark Matter Detector”

SAMANTHA CARRASCO

Philosophy major “Environmental Ethics in L.A.”

SARA CHARNEY

While studying abroad in Amman, Jordan, I took several trips to the West Bank. During my visit of the wall that separates Bethlehem and Jerusalem, I saw a lot of the moving protest art on the Palestinian side. One of the pieces in particular stopped me in my tracks. It was a memorial of Trayvon Martin with the Arabic translation of W.E.B. Du Bois’s infamous quote from his classic work Souls of Black Folk, “How does it feel to be a problem?” I was initially surprised to see Trayvon Martin memorialized in Palestine, but then I began to realize that there are many more layers to this mural. As the mural suggests there are compelling connections and a growing solidarity between the Black and Palestinian Diasporas. I believe this needs more attention and research on an academic and activist level.

South Los Angeles is home to a lot of nonprofit organizations, so I reached out to several of their reentry programs and job placement organizations. I also recruited participants from Downtown Los Angeles and New York.

I studied abroad in La Habana and became entranced by the urban landscape and how it affected my daily movement. Architecture and its collective form, the city, are works of art that we can’t ignore or escape because we live inside them. The results can be awesome. In La Habana, I felt an infinite history and magic on every street corner and in every house. I was part of a 500 year-old art project, one that continues to be reshaped with every generation.

OTHER SUMMER RESEARCH :

The Place

I am interested in the intersection of gender, race, and medical practice… Professor Fett suggested that I look more into tuberculosis as a disease that marks its sufferers and affects all classes and genders. While searching for sources, I noticed that Los Angeles has had continual and very recent outbreaks of tuberculosis, especially amongst the homeless population. I also noticed that the contemporary language used by the County Department of Public Health is eerily similar to the language of the early twentieth century, regardless of medical advances, dropping death rates, and changes in population and racial assumptions and discourse. I believe that this is unique to California and Los Angeles in particular, and wanted to track continuities and change in the language of tuberculosis as populations within the county were problematized by medical authorities. 7.

Our research was largely influenced by our location in Southern California. The horses that are infected by this painful disease are concentrated here in the Southwest region of the United States, so it strikes close to home.

Cognitive Science major, Music minor “The Smell of Dubstep: Cross-modal Correspondences Between Music, Odor, and Emotion”

GEORGIA TRIPODES

History major, Classical Studies minor “The Exhibition and Presentation of Ancient Latin American Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art”

CARLINA PERNA

Religious Studies and Spanish majors “Applying Queer Ecofeminism to Remedy Divine LGBTQ Discrimination”

ELWYN PRATT Economics major, Math minor “LAUSD Greening Spatial Analysis”

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CHEMISTRY

NEUROSCIENCE

COGNITIVE SCIENCE

PSYCHOLOGY

(Minor only)

BIOCHEMISTRY

KINESIOLOGY BIOLOGY

Emphases: Cell & Molecular Biology Environmental Science Marine Biology

MATHEMATICS

⅓π=

COMPUTER SCIENCE

PUBLIC HEALTH

(Minor only)

PHYSICS With my biochem class, we got very close because there’s only 15 of us. I’m on a texting basis with some of my professors. They know more about me than my grades... I think that research has been the biggest takeaway from my experience at Oxy. I have friends that work in bigger, maybe better known labs, at bigger schools, but they don’t have their own projects, they’re not leading their own experiments. It’s really cool to be able to be so independent in lab. It’s like being a real scientist, before we are real scientists!

INDEPENDENT PATTERN OF STUDY

- Megan Sumida, Honolulu, HI

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

GEOLOGY

Emphasis: Environmental Science

3-2 COMBINED DEGREE PROGRAMS IN ENGINEERING with Caltech & Columbia University

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S POT L I G H T M A J O R S COGNITIVE SCIENCE As an interdisciplinary field, Oxy’s cognitive science program draws on the fields of mathematics, philosophy, psychology, neurobiology, computer science, and linguistics studies to address the nature of consciousness, the interaction of mind and matter, and the relationship between thought and language. Courses address long-standing questions about the nature of thought, intelligence, perception, emotion, and other aspects of our mental life. The National Science Foundation recognized professor Andrew Shtulman’s exploration of human conceptualization with a $500,000 Early Career Development grant in 2010. Since then, his Thinking Lab, including a team of student researchers has been studying the building blocks of human thought: concepts. Columbia Shafer, from Forestville, CA, eagerly anticipated the opportunity to join Shtulman’s team and examine how language affects scientific conceptions. What she discovered was an unexpected highlight: “Our lab group—the four of us working in the Thinking Lab along with Professor Shtulman—meets regularly to discuss our work and to have a weekly reading group about the book we’re reading, Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil. Once we’re done with the book we’ll get a chance to have a Skype conversation with the author, Paul Bloom, which I’m quite looking forward to.” Such access to top scholars in their field and opportunities to co-author articles for publication are transformative opportunities our faculty provide.

MARINE BIOLOGY As one of only a handful of liberal arts colleges located in a near-shore environment, Oxy’s marine biology program offers students unusual access to hands-on experiences. Oxy’s wealth and depth of faculty expertise, undergraduate research opportunities, and proximity to the Pacific Ocean give the College an edge in nurturing future scientists. Our marine program is part of the Southern California Marine Institute (SCMI), a consortium of 12 local colleges and universities committed to researching, monitoring, and increasing public awareness about the marine environment. Our faculty’s groundbreaking research has been highlighted in scholarly journals as well as in the New York Times. More often than not, Oxy undergraduates have helped faculty conduct research. Oxy marine biology students spend more than 100 days a year on one of the College’s four research vessels, and have conducted research off the Hawaiian and Southern California coasts. They have also frequently presented their findings at national and international conferences. The College also is home to the Vantuna Research Group (VRG) which has been monitoring and researching the Southern and Baja California marine environment for nearly 50 years. Student research assistants participate in the group’s ongoing work but are encouraged to pursue fully funded, independent research projects as well. Combined with access to VRG’s certified scientific diving program, it’s clear why a number of Oxy’s marine biology alumni are enrolled in top graduate programs.

From left, Nicole Chen, Physics Lab Supervisor Chuck Oravec, Jack Nelson, and Adjunct Assistant Professor Rafael Araya-Gochez seal a high altitude balloon that Nicole and Jack built as part of an independent study class with Chuck. The balloon was launched in Acton and will take video and stills on its way toward space.

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The Place

SOLAR ARRAY ombining science, engineering, and art, Oxy’s solar array is the liberal arts approach to green energy. Oxy’s $6.8-million, one-megawatt, ground-mounted solar array is one of the largest of its kind in Los Angeles and among the largest in the country on a small college campus. It generates approximately 11 percent of the College’s annual electrical usage and saves an estimated $250,000 a year.

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OFF-CAMPUS STUDY NORTH AMERICA

MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA SANTIAGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MANAGUA, NICARAGUA NEW YORK, NY, USA WASHINGTON, DC, USA

SOUTH AMERICA BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA FORTALEZA, BRAZIL SAO PAULO, BRAZIL SANTIAGO, CHILE VALPARAISO, CHILE LIMA, PERU

EUROPE

VIENNA, AUSTRIA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC BRIGHTON, ENGLAND BRISTOL, ENGLAND CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND LONDON, ENGLAND NORWICH, ENGLAND MONTPELLIER, FRANCE PARIS, FRANCE BERLIN, GERMANY ATHENS, GREECE BUDAPEST, HUNGARY ROME, ITALY GRANADA, SPAIN MADRID, SPAIN SALAMANCA, SPAIN AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS ISTANBUL, TURKEY

s the world figuratively shrinks, Oxy’s imprint across it expands. Our extensive study abroad and research programs foster intensive cross-cultural learning and collaboration through language and cultural immersion, independent fieldwork, and communitybased learning projects. Three-quarters of our students pursue Oxy’s multiple routes to global citizenship across six continents through traditional study abroad, research, internships, and fellowships. Students come to Oxy from all over the world, each contributing their unique perspective to our ongoing conversation. And the city of Los Angeles is its own international enclave with 130 different languages spoken within the city limits.

AFRICA

ACCRA, GHANA LEGON, GHANA RABAT, MOROCCO DAKAR, SENEGAL CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA ARUSHA, TANZANIA

ASIA

BEIJING, CHINA HONG KONG, CHINA NANJING, CHINA HYDERABAD, INDIA TOKYO, JAPAN AMMAN, JORDAN TAIPEI, TAIWAN KHON KAEN, THAILAND

AUSTRALIA 28

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

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THE JOHN PARKE YOUNG INITIATIVE ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMY The John Parke Young Initiative on the Global Economy supports the study of the global political economy and global affairs practice. The fund provides grants for independent research projects developed by students under faculty supervision. The endowment funds the John Parke Young Chair in Global Political Economy together with programs and research designed to promote national or international economic, social, financial, or political policies or actions of general public and social benefit.

THE KAHANE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM Every year, up to 16 highly qualified students receive an in-depth education on our 21st-century global community by directly participating in it. The Kahane U.N. program, under the guidance of seasoned staff—including former U.N. personnel—is one of the few programs of its kind for undergraduates. During the fall semester, when the General Assembly is in session, students head to New York City, where they take two courses in international issues and an independent study seminar, all while interning full time at a U.N.-related agency.

Oxy participants have stood in the White House, the General Assembly, the Security Council, and countless other significant places. We have literally walked in the footsteps of individuals such as Ban Ki Moon, Desmond Tutu, Samantha Power, Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzi, and all manner of world leaders, movers and shakers, and steadfast dogooders. These 16 pairs of feet have commuted day in and out to perform meaningful work in the service of the international system. One thing this semester elucidated was the value of the “Oxy lens,” that is, the distinct and nuanced perspective of students who exemplify Occidental College. Oxy students across the board have a trained eye for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a policy, a team, or a practice and taking that knowledge to strengthen and develop the issue. The U.N. Program shows students that their passions can catalyze their academic and professional strengths to make meaningful contributions to critical issues. - Elizabeth Quinlan San Francisco, CA The Kahane U.N. participant

R E C E N T G RA N T P ROJ E CT S: KAITLIN HUEMER, Albany, NY: “Sustainable Community Development in Rural Malawi” (Chidide, Malawi) IAN CHARLES HUTCHCROFT, Canberra, Australia: “Economic Development Internship at USAID Philippines” (Manila, Philippines) CALLI OBERN, Madison, WI: “The Use of Social Media to Organize and Advocate” (Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil) TIFFANY ODEKA, New York, NY: “Communities for Democracy” (Warsaw, Poland) ELIZABETH LINEBARGER, Tahlequah, OK: “Intern with Chandeleo Vikas Sansthan: Empowering Female Entrepreneurs” (Jodhpur, India) ENOCH SOWAH, New York, NY: “Human Rights Delegation Trip to Rwanda” (Kigali, Rwanda)

THE RICHTER TRUST The Richter Trust funds student summer research virtually anywhere in the world and across all disciplines. Students develop projects of scholarly merit that promote cross-cultural engagement. The students present their projects to the Occidental community at the Research Abroad Conference held each fall semester. BEATRICE SPIRKAKIS New York, NY, English major: “The Link Between Maternal and Neonatal Health and Improved Water Access in Rural Cambodia” (Cambodia) TOM MIROVSKI Torrance, CA, Biochemistry major: “Deconstructing with Creative Experimentations: Engineering a non-Anthropocentric Narrative for the Posthuman Reader” (Australia)

BEEBE SANDERS, Berkeley, CA: “Internship with the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations” (Washington, D.C.)

CHRISTINA CHITTENDEN San Rafael, CA, Latin American Studies major: “Arpilleras (complex tapestries depicting oppression) as a means of gendered political participation” (Chile) ARIELLE N’DIAYE South Orange, NJ, Sociology major: “The Power of Music: How Public Health Organizations Utilize Music in HIV Education” (South Africa) BRITTANY WIGHTMAN Temecula, CA, English major: “Vagrants in Eighteenth Century England” (Nicaragua)

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ECONOMICS POLITICS

HISTORY

SOCIOLOGY

INDEPENDENT PATTERN OF STUDY

EDUCATION (Minor only)

PUBLIC HEALTH (Minor only)

DIPLOMACY & WORLD AFFAIRS

LATINO/A & LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES

URBAN & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

AMERICAN STUDIES

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S POT L I G H T M A J O R S URBAN & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY The Urban & Environmental Policy (UEP) major is a unique combination of classroom learning and hands-on experience in the field of public affairs and civic action, enhanced through its connection with the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI). Students learn the skills of social science and public policy analysis with special emphasis on applying those skills in the real world through internships in government agencies, political campaigns, grassroots community and environmental organizations, public interest groups, social service agencies, labor unions, health organizations, food justice groups, and other settings. The goal of Occidental’s UEP program is not simply to produce policy experts, but to educate students to think and to act critically in the realm of public affairs. It trains the next generation of change agents and future leaders how to think critically and creatively and to act effectively to solve problems and improve society. Arroyofest, a multi-year effort led primarily by UEPI Director Bob Gottlieb, community members and environmental groups, is hailed as the spark to today’s rich bike/pedestrian movement in Los Angeles. The event closed the Arroyo Seco Parkway to cars and helped Angelenos imagine the possibility of alternative transportation and freeways free of congestion and pollution. Now called CicLAvia and held several times annually to highlight iconic L.A. neighborhoods, the event regularly draws more than 100,000 participants.

ECONOMICS Economics is the study of decision-making and policy-making in the context of a world constrained by scarcity. At Oxy, we aim to provide students an understanding of how decisions are linked to incentives and how policies can help align individual incentives with social objectives, including an efficient use of the world’s resources and an equitable distribution of its output. We also aim to equip our students with the rigorous theoretical and empirical tools of the profession to enable them to better analyze and guide the decision making of individuals, the conduct of businesses and nonprofit enterprises, and the policies of governments and international organizations. Economics majors regularly intern, either during the school year or during the summer, at places such as: • • • •

• Portland Trail Blazers Business Operations The Extravaganza Group Ltd. • Resolution Economics Gaylord Sports Management • RGT Capital Management Merrill Lynch MGH Institute of Health Professions

The Blyth Fund, part of Oxy’s endowment management, is a unique opportunity for hands-on experience. It’s a premier six-figure, student-managed investment portfolio designed to broaden interest in finance among the most promising of students. Our Fund is wholly student managed. The 14-person board, elected each spring, studies the stock market and maintains a portfolio. They are free to buy and sell as they see fit.

L.A. artist Shuji Nishimura’s chalk drawing on the Johnson Student Center Quad reflects the theme of Oxy’s TEDx conference: Reinventing the American Dream in a Global Age.

My stint on the Fund has also provided me with other valuable experiences such as taking trips to regional investment conferences, listening to alumni business leaders and investment managers speak to us during meetings, and getting emails from young alumni about possible finance internship job leads. - Chris Suzdak, Towson, MD

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GLOBAL FORUM he Global Forum is Oxyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marketplace of ideas, images, and information about matters of international importance. A two-story-high, LED-lit media wall of sculpted glass with 10 embedded interactive screens that displays a constantly shifting array of student and faculty research and coursework, the Global Forum is the public space for the display of digital reports from Oxy students studying overseas and for projects that extend discussion beyond the classroom.

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“COMPS”

THE FINAL FRONTIER The Student

The Project

LAURA FLAGG

hometown: majors: title: faculty advisor:

Syracuse, NY Sociology and Urban & Environmental Policy “The Impact of Coalitions on Waste Management Systems: Case Studies of Los Angeles and New York City” Martha Matsuoka

SEAN EMBREY- STINE

hometown: majors: title: faculty advisor:

Fair Oaks, CA Theater and Sociology “Playing Multiple Roles: Four Recurring Patterns of Doubling in Contemporary Theater” Jamie Angell

I looked at how coalitions made up of labor, environmental, community, and religious groups affected waste management systems and policies both in Los Angeles and New York City. In Los Angeles I focused on the Don’t Waste LA campaign that was headed by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and in NYC I looked at the Transform Don’t Trash NYC campaign headed by the Alliance for a Greater New York.

Having been cast to play four small roles in Professor John Bouchard’s original play, The Misses Bordereau, I decided to conduct an investigation into the dramatic device of having one actor play multiple parts, using my personal experience from the production, along with careful examination of other contemporary dramatic works, to reveal the range of dramaturgical purposes and effects that this theatrical practice can have.

ANDREW BARIAHTARIS

hometown: major: title:

Morristown, NJ Diplomacy & World Affairs “Minimum Deterrence: Reforming U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy for Today’s Challenges and Opportunities” faculty advisor: Sanjeev Khagram

Through examining the current policy, relevant literature, as well as analyzing three historical case studies related to nuclear weapons reductions and or disarmament, I determined a policy of “minimum deterrence” is the best course for the future.

MICHELLE NAITO - LO

This year, Biology majors were required to give a lecture on the topic of Ecological Resiliency. I chose the current plight of honey bees. Within the last decade, honey bee populations have been experiencing high rates of loss, so much so that mainstream media have reported on it. I was interested in researching how the decline in honeybee populations was affecting pollination services, especially with our increasing demand for food production.

hometown: major: title: faculty advisor:

Los Angeles, CA Biology “To Bee or Not to Bee: The Role of Resiliency and Redundancy in Crop Pollination” Elizabeth Braker

RYAN METZLER

hometown: major:

Doylestown, PA rt History & Visual Arts (emphasis: Media Arts & A Culture/Production) title: “Ethnorepresentation” (documentary short film) faculty advisor: Brody Fox

Ethnorepresentation is a documentary that intends to answer how traditional filmmaking has and continues to ignore diverse portrayals of Native Americans in popular films and other cultural media. In addition to formal exploration of archival and popular imagery and participatory engagement with critical scholars and other public figures, the documentary features Native actors as both performers and interview participants. They perform thought-provoking passages from new indigenous playwrights and also share their personal perspectives on the past challenges and future possibilities for Native American representation.

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enior Comprehensive Projects, aka “comps,” reflect Oxy’s educational philosophy of learning deeply and independently. Comps are final-year projects, fieldwork, theses, exams, presentations, or creative works required by each major. Each discipline defines its comps expectations differently, and they all they challenge and inspire students in unexpected ways. Many of our students draw senior comps inspiration from their multicultural surroundings in Los Angeles and research and exploration abroad.

MOMOKO MATSUDA

Religious Studies major “Turkey’s State-Hired Female Preachers: Assertions of Muslim and Feminist Identities in Modern Turkey”

VALÉRIE BOURASSA

Cognitive Science major “Long Term Conceptual Gains of Collaboration”

The Place

Bouchard’s script sets the scene in Old Hollywood in the 1930s. Since Occidental’s campus is located not 20 minutes from where the action takes place, many of the places and streets referenced in the play were instantly familiar. At the same time, participating in this play afforded me the opportunity to learn more about the history of the region.

My internship at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California inspired my comps project. One of the capstone projects the other interns and myself completed was a debate on the future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy. My work at the United Kingdom Mission for the United Nations also inspired my comps project. When I wrote my comps project, I did so in a way I thought an official in New York, London, or Washington would be able to comprehend.

I was in the process of writing a paper for my Public Health class about food access in Los Angeles County when I came across an article about Africanized honeybees in Costa Rica. Since I had conducted research abroad in Costa Rica, I was inspired to add the crop pollination and food security component to my comps presentation.

My interest in indigenous peoples began with my study abroad in New Zealand at the University of Otago and continued at my internship at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. (Subsequently, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to return to New Zealand and engage in a similar comparative exploration of indigenous representation in media.)

ALEX BARYLSKLY

OTHER COMPS EXAMPLES :

To complete my research I conducted interviews in New York City and Los Angeles with coalition members of these campaigns. I saw through this internship how the issue of waste management goes further than just an environmental problem and affects not only those that work in the waste industry, but also the communities that live around these facilities.

Mathematics major “Optimal Banking Strategy in the Weakest Link”

MAEVE MACLYSAGHT

English major “And I Had Done a Hellish Thing”; Crime, Guilt, and Imputation in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

JACQUELINE SWEET

Art History & Visual Arts major “Galileo’s Drawings of the Moon: Art or Science in Seventeenth Century Europe”

DAVID PINO

Sociology major “Understanding Black Millennial Attitudes towards Homosexuality”

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Los Angeles is a diverse cultural landscape. Oxy’s students, faculty, and staff are front and center in addressing social justice issues, learning from and with community partners, and connecting what happens in classes with current issues in the community. We define community to be local, national, and global, and we engage through curricular and co-curricular research, projects and activities. Community engagement efforts are coordinated by the Office for Community Engagement, the Center for Community Based Learning, and the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute.

UEPI:

OXYCONNECTS: Social Justice Trips Opportunities to be immersed in the community and social issues exist before you step into a classroom. New students can opt for a pre-orientation program called OxyConnects, which aims to introduce new students to the needs of surrounding communities through intentional partnerships with campus departments and local nonprofits.The trip includes neighborhood excursions, community service projects and other activities through which students can become more familiar with Los Angeles in all its richness. You might learn about and participate in the restoration of wetlands, repurpose old classroom furniture into raised garden beds at a middle school, or understand healthy food access barriers by helping to implement a survey in an inner-city grocery store.

COMMUNITY BASED LEARNING: Community engagement at Oxy is integrated into the curriculum. Community connected classes include field or internship projects that meet learning objectives through visits to community organizations or schools, neighborhoods, museums, libraries and other places outside of the college. One example is the team taught colloquium class, “Living Los Angeles” that strives to provide students with an interdisciplinary understanding of the complex city of Los Angeles. After learning about cultural and political histories of particular neighborhoods (Boyle Heights, Highland Park, Little Tokyo, and South Los Angeles), students participate in community based research projects with a community based organization that is focused on a current policy issue.

The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) is a research, policy, and advocacy organization committed to bringing about social change and a more just, livable and green society. UEPI engages students, faculty, and staff at its home on Oxy’s campus and connects Oxy with its community partners in Los Angeles and beyond. UEPI has over a dozen local, statewide and national programs that employ strategies of research, organizing, coalition building, education, advocacy and policy towards a just and livable society. Current UEPI programs fall under the five interrelated areas of built environment, food, global trade, health, and transportation.

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MLK DAY OF SERVICE: The MLK Day of Service attracts nearly 300-400 participants. In honor of Dr. Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spirit of service and peace, the aim of the the MLK Day of Service is to engage Oxy students, staff, faculty, and alumni in community based projects that range from canvassing, gardening, and food harvesting to library sorting, food distribution and more at 20 community partners in Los Angeles. The community partners speak very highly of Oxy students and they are appreciative of the service project collaborations. Similarly, students are provided with the opportunity to become familiar with important community based work and some even decide to return as volunteers or interns.

Why we cherish Oxy so much is because we value social justice, because we value engagement, because we value the ideas of equality. - Ella Turenne, Assistant Dean for Community Engagement

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The diverse, quirky, livable neighborhood in which Oxy is located is named after the local rock formation that resembles a spread eagle.

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THE LIST CORE CLUB LA

EAGLE ROCK MUSIC FESTIVAL

In addition to Oxy’s athletic facilities and wellness classes, Eagle Rock and Highland Park boast a variety of fitness programs from MMA to yoga to Cardio Barre to Crossfit. Core Club LA is a popular studio on Colorado Boulevard owned by an Oxy alum. It offers classes in yoga, buti, core body, and deep stretch.

This annual street festival features local musical acts along Eagle Rock’s main strip, Colorado Boulevard. Every October Oxy students mingle with residents in a lively celebration of emerging artists featuring an eclectic range of styles: Latin to hip hop, garage punk to family-friendly folk.

SECOND SATURDAY GALLERY NIGHT

(Image courtesy of local artist Andrew Covell)

CAFÉ DE LECHE

While food trucks are no strangers to the neighborhoods around Oxy, Tuesday evening means it’s food truck meet-up night! Each week brings different vendors to the Highland Park location, so there’s never a shortage of options.

SPITZ Spitz is the endeavor of two Oxy alumni, one of whom fell in love with doner kebabs while studying abroad and vowed to bring the deliciousness back to L.A. Spitz is a campus favorite for its delicious kebabs, wraps, salads, falafel, and fries.

Farm-fresh produce and specialty food vendors combine with local artists, musicians, dancers, and the occasional magician or Elvis impersonator on Friday evenings at the Eagle Rock Farmers’ Market.

On the second Saturday of each month, art galleries and shops in Highland Park and the greater Northeast L.A. (NELA) area, open their doors for a free art walk. Many nonprofit organizations, storefronts, and artist project spaces feature self-guided tours and artist meet-and-greets.

EAT @ FIG AND YORK

EAGLE ROCK FARMERS’ MARKET

A short stroll off campus brings you to one of the neighborhood’s most beloved coffee shops where you’ll find artisanal roasts, tasty pastries, and house specialties like espresso con horchata.

SCOOPS

CENTER FOR THE ARTS EAGLE ROCK

Offering a refreshing twist on traditional ice cream, Scoops has a rotating array of fun daily flavors such as lavender goat cheese honey, hazelnut passionfruit, olive oil mascarpone, chocolate almond, and banana oreo.

Originally intended to be a public library, this historic space is a hub for art-inclusive programming in Northeast L.A. (NELA). It houses everything from comedy shows to concerts to film screenings to art exhibits.

GALCO’S OLD WORLD GROCERY & SODA POP STOP Founded as an Italian deli in 1897, Galco’s has sandwiches and quirky candies, but small-batch and speciality sodas are the stars. If you’re not tempted by the more than 500 types of sodas on their shelves, you can make your own at the Creation Station. Their motto is “Freedom of Choice”—and they certainly provide a lot of options.

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THE

The Place

JOHNSON STUDENT

CENTER (JSC) 40

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he JSC is the heartbeat of campus social life. Erected in 1928, it houses the Marketplace (the main dining hall), the Green Bean Coffee Lounge, student government offices, the Bookstore, the mailroom, and the Office of Student Life. It now includes the recently renovated Rose Hills Student Activities Center featuring the Bengal Room, a 1,200-square-foot multi-purpose programming space for performances and social gatherings. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a Community in Action Suite that will spearhead the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship with the city of Los Angeles, adjoined by the student-run radio station, KOXY.

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LET’S DANCE Dance Production, aka Dance Pro, is our most popular campus event. Although the actual production takes place in March, planning is a year-round endeavor. Each fall the student executive board for Dance Pro holds auditions for choreographers, who subsequently hold auditions for dancers. You don’t have to have any experience, and each student who auditions is guaranteed a spot in at least one number. More than 200 students regularly participate in this dance phenomenon to a sold-out Thorne Hall. Not only does Dance Pro feature a wide variety of dancing abilities, past shows have featured styles from across the spectrum—K Pop, Bollywood, bellydancing, Polynesian... you name it.

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ance Production is representative of our community’s egalitarian impulse and eclectic student body. Our students aren’t cookie cutter: they come from different backgrounds and places and have different interests, but they come together to live and learn from each other. Our campus has a reputation of openness and collaboration, not cross-student competition. This distinct sense of community is both organic and by design. The Oxy spirit is rooted in inspiration: students, faculty, and staff sharing their passions and forging lifelong relationships. Learn more about a handful of campus traditions that typify our spirit.

HOME IS WHERE THE HALL SPREAD IS

HELLO, GOODBYE… HELLO AGAIN! New students arrive at Oxy in late summer and can get to know their fellow Tigers and the surrounding community through the optional pre-orientation program OxyENGAGE. They can explore the environs of Los Angeles through one of three different trips: the outdoor exploration, community service, or the art appreciation. OxyENGAGE precedes a five-day, on-campus orientation to the life and times at the College, exposing students to the resources that will guide their transition to the College’s academic and social expectations. Following the fun of OxyENGAGE and Orientation and prior to sitting in their first class, all first-year students join in an Oxy ritual: Convocation, an annual observance that marks the beginning of the academic year. Students don academic robes and march as a group past applauding members of the Oxy community and Taiko drummers to be officially greeted to the college.

Hall spreads are a great time for bonding and appreciating one of the many benefits of living on campus. This is the time when our students gather together in their respective residence hall’s common room for tasty treats, games, and conversations. In the past, halls have gone on scavenger hunts, baked, watched movies, experimented with hypnosis, and played with puppies. Food ranges from pita strips, sweet potato fries, pizza, churros, bruschetta, ramen, boba, and other delicious items from local shops and restaurants. In addition to our 13 coed and student-governed residential halls, we also offer themed-living communities. Students can choose to live in the all women’s Berkus House, Multicultural Hall, Food Justice House, or any number of options designed to bring students with similar academic and personal interests together under one roof.

IT’S SHOWTIME! During Black History Month, a piece of New York thrives at Oxy on Apollo Night. The Black Student Alliance sponsors a talent show modeled after Harlem ’s iconic original amateur night at the Apollo Theater. One of Oxy’s most attended events, Apollo Night fills Thorne Hall with an enthusiastic audience eager to watch Oxy students— vocalists, dancers, musicians, poets, comedians—show their wares.

THE RITES OF SPRINGFEST An extravaganza of food, fun, and live music, SpringFest is a daylong event sponsored by Oxy’s Student Programming Board. Each year, they bring in a popular musical act to perform for the community in our Greek Bowl. Over the past few years, Oxy has played host to artists such Talib Kweli, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Common, and Snoop Dogg. Pre-concert activities include a rock-climbing wall, a bouncy house, a henna tattoo station, an obstacle course, and a selection of food trucks. Renowned trucks such as Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwiches, Kogi Korean BBQ Truck, the Grilled Cheese Truck, Crepe’n Around, and G3 Truck: Good Greek Grub are just a few of the tasty options that have parked on campus to feed the hungry masses.

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This is our

get active NCAA Division III, member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) 44

Varsity Sports: M Baseball, M & W Basketball, M & W Cross Country, M Football, M & W Golf, W Lacrosse, M & W Soccer, W Softball, M & W Swimming & Diving, M & W Tennis, M & W Track & Field, M & W Water Polo

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ore students participate in athletics than in any other campus activity. From the turf and track (Kemp Stadium) to the diamonds (Bell and Anderson Fields), from the pitches (soccer fields) to the hardwood (Rush Gym) and the water (Taylor Pool), more than 600 Oxy student-athletes engage in the sweatiest of the liberal arts: intercollegiate competition through NCAA Division III varsity sports and club sports. In addition, more than 1,000 Oxy students participate in intramurals and wellness programs. Athletics are an integral part of the Oxy liberal arts experience. Student-athletes enjoy high-level competition while pursuing their other passions. They volunteer, research, act, intern, play music, study abroad... Our student body president is a linebacker. An All-American sprinter is an actor and theater major. A four-time, all-league volleyball player will graduate Phi Beta Kappa as an economics and mathematics double major. Our storied history includes Olympians and professional athletes, but the vast majority of our graduatesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one third of whom have an athletics affiliationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are as successful in their professional fields as they were on the field. Go Tigers!

Club Sports: Cheerleading, Dance Team, M Lacrosse, Quidditch, M & W Rugby, M & W Ultimate Intramurals: 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 Basketball, Flag Football, 5-on-5 Soccer, Doubles Volleyball, Whiffleball

Wellness and Fitness Classes include Cardio Tennis, Circuit Training, Karate, Spin, Strength Training, Yoga, and Zumba 45

T H E P O W E R O F P LA C E

FIND YOUR

PLACE & SPACE W

hether you’re a social activist with a few hours to spare, a dancer waiting to show the world your moves, an aspiring yogi, or a budding birdwatcher, there’s something for you at Oxy. But why stop with what you already are? Consider what you can become—a beekeeper who attends an a cappella rehearsal before hitting a local hiking trail? It’s possible. We want you to find your place(s) on campus, in the neighborhood, and beyond.

OUR LIST OF CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS CHANGES EVERY YEAR BECAUSE OUR STUDENTS, THEIR PASSIONS, AND CONCERNS CONTINUALLY EVOLVE. BUT HERE ARE SOME OF THE OPTIONS OXY STUDENTS HAVE CURRENTLY: • The Accidentals (women’s a cappella) • Active Minds at Oxy • African Students Association • Alpha Chi Sigma (professional chemistry fraternity) • Amnesty International • Anime Club • Arabic Club • Armenian Students Association • ArtLab • Asian American Tutorial Project • Asian Pacific Americans for Liberation • Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC) • B ahá’í • B eekeepers In addition to caring for our on-campus hives, Oxy’s beekeepers host speakers whose areas of expertise range from bee biology to diminishing bee populations across the world to the impact of bee activity on daily life.

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B ioArchitects of Occidental College Biology Club Birdwatching Enthusiasts Black Student Alliance Blythe Fund Boxing Club Buddhist Meditation Club

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adence (men’s a cappella) C Caribbean Student Organization CatAList TV Challah for Hunger Chamber Music Ensembles Chess Club C hinese Culture Club Club Zumba College Chorus Colleges Against Cancer Council for Alumni and Student Engagement D ance Production D elevan Drive Oxy students partner with special education students at this local elementary school, often engaging in art projects and other learning activities D emocracy Matters D rumline E thical Consumerism of Coffee The Fang Literary Magazine F antastiprov! F EAST (Food, Energy, and Sustainability Team) Garden F EAST Arts and Literary Magazine F encing Club F irst Generation Club F olk and Historical Dance Troupe is one of Oxy’s longest-standing clubs (it’s been running since the ’70s). This lively g roup of faculty, alums, and current students take part in a wide repertoire of American and European folk and historical dances at all levels of difficulty.

• G lee Club has played a central role in the life of the College for over 100 years. Drawing musicians of the highest caliber and giving voice to our Oxy spirit, the group’s reputation for excellence has carried it far into the musical world through national and international tours and recordings. • Global Medical Training Club • Great Strides • Greek Council (4 fraternities, 4 sororities) • Groove Event Club • Habitat for Humanity • Harambee • Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life • Hyper Xpressions • I Ka Poli O Hawai’i • Impact Fund • Interfaith Council • International Student Organization • InterVarsity Christian Fellowship • J Street U Occidental • Japanese Cultural Organization • Jazz Ensemble • K arate Association of Occidental College

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Korean American Student Association KOXY Radio La Encina (yearbook) La Raza Coalition Los Compadres Microfinance Club Model U.N. More M.O.S.T.E. M urder Mystery Book Club Murder on the Orient Express, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Maltese Falcon are just a few of the tales on the reading list for the club which meets twice monthly for discussions, the occasional movie screening, and an end-of-semester murder mystery dinner party.

M usical Theater Company M uslim Students Association N euro League N ewman Catholic Community N ia Akoma-A Circle of Sisterhood Occidental Open Source Occidental Running Club Orthodox Christian Fellowship T he Occidental Weekly Oxy Debate Team Oxy Democrats T he Oxy Graphic Oxy Hiking Club is a popular one on campus, sponsoring plenty of nearby hikes from the trails at Griffith Park to the San Gabriel Mountains—and they’ve got hiking gear available for anyone who would like to join. Oxypreneurship P eer Health Exchange P ersian Students Association P hi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Academic Fraternity P hi Beta Lambda student business organization P ilipino United Students Organization (PUSO) P re-Dental Association P re-Health Students Association P rison Beautification Club P rogressive Christians Uniting P roject EDEN (Encouraging Distribution to End Need) P ublic Health Club P ULSE Queer Straight Alliance (QSA)

• R AW Records is our student-run record label and fully operating recording studio that provides aspiring music industry professionals free handson experience. Representing dozens of Oxy artists across a variety of genres, RAW Records aims to create and promote an accessible musical community across campus. • R ock Climbing Club • S ABOR • S hine on Sierra Leone • S outh Asian Students Association

• Spoken Word Club has quickly grown into one of our most popular groups. In addition to hosting monthly open mic nights, poetry slams, and writing workshops, they also sent a slam team to the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI), a national competition. • S ports Business and Law Network • S tudent-Alumni Relations Committee • Tango Club • The Oxy Agency (graphic design) • U NICEF @ Oxy • U p ’til Dawn • Vagina Monologues • Veg Club • W ater Awareness and Reduction in Pollution (WARP) • W ell Fed • W omen and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE) • W orldTalk • W riters’ Workshop • Yoga Club

STUDENTS’ PASSIONS, TALENTS, AND INTERESTS ARE ALSO ENHANCED BY THE RESOURCES OF MANY CAMPUS DEPARTMENTS INCLUDING: • • • • • • •

Center for Community Based Learning Center for Gender Equity Intercultural Community Center Neighborhood Partnership Program Office of Community Engagement Office for Religious & Spiritual Life Office of Student Life

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THE

The Place

COOLER he Tiger Cooler is a full-service espresso bar and cafe serving food and drink into the late night. Its open space serves plenty of other functions, from a casual gathering place to a site that hosts waltz and polka dances, comedy nights, open mic talent nights, and the annual â&#x20AC;&#x153;Boo Bashâ&#x20AC;? Halloween celebration.

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1. Kristen Treat: RESEARCH ABROAD

6. Kristen Feinberg: ORIENTATION

“From La Selva, we headed up the Costa Rican coast to Pacuare Sea Turtle Preserve, where we volunteered to assist researchers with their projects, including releasing Leatherback Sea Turtles. (Quite possibly the cutest organisms I have ever seen!)”

“I spent two weeks in August with the most enthusiastic people on campus (O-Team) and loved every minute of it. Especially the trampoline and Gold Line adventures!”

2. Connie Oh: L.A. EVENTS “I went to Chinatown to see the Lunar New Year festival parade. I visited Koreatown to get some awesome (and affordable) barbeque. I also explored around Pasadena, which, by the way, has a lot of great eateries as well. And I don’t even have a car!”

3. Daniel O’Connor: L.A. OUTDOORS “Though L.A. is definitely an urban, modern city, there are also a lot of opportunities to get outside and access green spaces. There are plenty of hikes within a 20-minute radius of Oxy.”

4. Kyle Beasley: STUDY ABROAD “I had the incredible opportunity to experience Carnaval! During the 4 days that Rio celebrates Carnaval, all schools are closed so that young people can all go out and enjoy the street parties, known as blocos, as well as all the other great times to be had.”

5. Annie Marroquin: CAMPUS SPEAKERS “Last Tuesday, I had the amazing opportunity to be in the presence of my role model, Dolores Huerta. I listened to her speak about the importance of community organizing, the power of the people, and the empowerment of women.”

7. Jeremy Childs: CAMPUS EVENTS “This past Friday, for instance, Oxy’s Black Student Alliance hosted Apollo Night, a talent show named in honor of the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. Many of the coolest performers at Oxy participated in the event, including my friends Jim and Rachel, whose awesome cover of the song “Gone” by Lianne La Havas earned them third place in the competition!”

8. Daphne Auza: THEMED HOUSING “The picture I’m posting here is of the house trip we took to Huntington Dog Beach at the beginning of the year. You can live in a number of different themed communities at Oxy, but there are only two themed houses and Pet House is one of them.”

9. Ashley Wilson: HALL SPREADS “As part of living in Norris Hall, we are asked to put on events in accordance with our themes. Because our theme is International Film and Food, we decided to put on our first dinner—Italian themed.”

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The Place

(STEWIE) 52

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tewie is one of four first-year residence halls, all of which have DirectTV in the lounge, a computer lab, and laundry facilities. Incoming students typically live in doubles or triples, fostering relationships with roommates that last beyond the first year. Stewie is also home to the College’s Center for Gender Equity, and its adjoining “beach”—a park-like expanse—is perfect for napping, tossing around a Frisbee, or having a dorm-wide picnic.

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GOING PLACES On their way to internships, graduate school, careers, and fellowships, students frequent the Hameetman Career Center for advising and preparation. First-year students typically drop in with general questions and then progress into the Sophomore Success Program that provides individual career counseling. Then they can participate in the hugely popular Walk in My Shoes Away program that places students in job-shadowing experiences around the country. Students also utilize the Center’s staff and resources to apply for summer internships such as the College’s InternL.A. and InternPDX programs that offer fully funded positions locally and in Portland, OR. The Center also houses pre-health advising and fellowship support, critical resources for students in all academic departments. Oxy ranks among the top ten liberal arts colleges in producing Fulbright scholars.

I N T E R N L. A. S I T E:

ZÓCALO PUBLIC SQUARE

Julius DiLorenzo, Chicago, IL, doesn’t mind the occasional late nights at work because they’re usually tied to special events. One recent evening, he staffed a film screening and discussion with L.A. icon and Kogi food truck founder Roy Choi. “Working alongside past editors from the Washington Post and the LA Times (just to name a few) and going to staff meetings, having assignments and deadlines, and interacting with different professionals in a range of fields has been an experience in and of itself. It’s appreciable, after working in an academic framework for so long, to see how the skills and interests I’ve garnered at Oxy can be applied in the ‘real world.’ Though I’m a politics major, working at Zócalo has definitely strengthened my communication skills and how I approach ideas. It has also showed me the ways that I could still engage with politics in a variety of careers.”

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One Year After Graduation:

I N T E R N P DX S I T E:

SUSTAINABLE HARVEST

Nina Greenebaum, Portland, OR, had an internship that took her home for the summer, but ultimately she’ll end up in South America this fall to attend the “Let’s Talk Coffee Panama” conference. She’s helping to plan the event which brings together individuals from all parts of the coffee supply chain to foster innovation and conservation in the industry. Additionally, she’s been creating content for their blog and website, which has required considerable writing in both Spanish and English. Her key takeaway from the experience? “As a truly international 7. company, the majority of Sustainable Harvest staff members function bilingually on a daily basis. Seeing this has inspired me to continue practicing my Spanish, always striving to improve my fluency.”

STUDENT INDEPENDENT RESEARCH INTERNSHIPS (SIRI) PROGRAM AT

NASA’S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

Alex Kuefler, Flagstaff, AZ, worked with intelligent computer vision and parallel processing. “I appreciate how much I can bring my creativity to bear on the projects I’m implementing.” Gregory Capra, Mill Valley, CA, led a robotics team that is researching and prototyping a robot that will communicate with robots on the surface of the moon, Mercury, and Mars. Lillian Hochman, Boston, MA, hopes to one day become a biomedical engineer, but started her career at JPL by programming and developing a new form of PERL script to help NASA take higher-definition photographs of Earth from the International Space Station. Jeffrey Yoshida, Ventura, CA, programmed and edited code for the Sally Ride EarthKAM in an effort to improve the image processing speed of the outer space camera. “The experience has been memorable so far, and has given me the opportunity to connect with many brilliant scientists and engineers… It’s been great learning about what it takes to make it in the science world.” Duncan Brown, Sebastopol, CA, worked in the office of Planetary Protection to protect the earth’s biosphere from extraterrestrial contamination. Heidi Aronson, Los Altos, CA, tested the effects of space environmental conditions on bacteria. “I hope to contribute to a project that will help us understand more about how bacterial life is affected by extraterrestrial environments.”

OF RECENT OXY GRADUATES GOOGLE PEER HEALTH EXCHANGE APPLE KAISER PERMANENTE JET PROPULSION LABS ( NASA) CITY OF LOS ANGELES BANK OF AMERICA TEACH FOR AMERICA RESOLUTION ECONOMICS AMAZON VARIOUS UNIVERSITIES INCLUDING STANFORD, UNIV. OF WASHINGTON, CALTECH, USC, AND OXY

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The Place

REMSEN

BIRD

ore commonly known as the Greek Bowl, this outdoor amphitheater annually hosts Oxy’s Commencement and other special events and concerts. Graduating seniors and Oxy’s President engage in one of the College’s liveliest traditions here: a pre-graduation water balloon fight!

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YOUNG ALUMS:

WHERE ARE THE NETWORKER

Zaryn Dentzel ’05

DWA and Spanish majors Living in Santa Barbara, CA Zaryn is the founder of Tuenti, the largest social media network in Spain. With 14 million users, it’s often referred to as the “Spanish Facebook.” “Thank God I took Spanish at Oxy,” he says.

THE FASHIONABLE FOODIE

Catherine An ’02

Psychology major Art History & Visual Arts minor Living in Beverly Hills, CA As founder and managing partner of AN Catering, a division of House of AN, which houses the famed Crustacean Restaurants, Catherine mixes her marketing savvy with her mother’s culinary secrets.

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THEY NOW? THE COMPETITOR Ashlee Sheppard ’11 Economics major Japanese Studies minor Living in San Francisco, CA When Ashlee isn’t focusing on her career in asset management at Stifel Financial, she represents the United States as a Paralympian archer. It seems discipline and selfmotivation help her compete inside and outside her job.

THE TRAIL BLAZERS

THE RED CARPET WALKER Raffy Cortina ’13 Art History & Visual Arts major Media Arts & Culture emphasis Living in Los Angeles, CA Raffy co-founded CatAList TV, Occidental’s television station, in 2010 for other students to hone their film and production skills. In 2013, he took home a Student Academy Award and today runs his own production company, Flavor Films.

Noah Applebome ’10 Economics major Living in San Francisco, CA

Richard Highsmith ’10 Economics major Math minor Living in San Francisco, CA Entrepreneurs Noah and Richard launched solar 7.startup BirkSun in San Francisco. Their Levels

backpack, which comes equipped with a 4.5watt portable solar panel, keeps a smartphone charged for capturing your finest Instagram moments.

THE FARMER’S FRIEND Chris Suzdak ’12 Economics major Living in Zomba, Malawi Chris is launching the first program in Malawi for One Acre Fund, a nonprofit that gives smallholder farmers in East Africa the tools they need to achieve food security and increase their incomes. As a student, Chris’s trips to Ghana with the Richter Research Abroad and Davis Peace Programs inspired his development work in Africa.

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COLLEGE MOT TO: “Occidens Proximus Orienti.” For those non-Classicists, the translation is “The West is nearest the East.” Hence our name. “Occidental” was chosen to emphasize our identity as a liberal arts college on the West Coast. As one speaker intoned at the College’s 1887 cornerstone ceremony, it is “a goodly word, very sonorous and almost sesquipedalian.”

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Our campus reach is galactic. Trekkies feel at home here. The Gilman fountain is just as frequently referred to as the “STAR TREK” FOUNTAIN because it was featured in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock as the planet Vulcan.

T HE BENGAL BUS is a student-run service that provides transportation off-campus. Destinations include the cultural (museums), the practical (Trader

in a nutshell.

Joe’s and Target), and the pure fun (SoCal beaches and Old Pasadena).

The renowned architect MYRON HUNT designed the campus and its original buildings. He also designed the Rose Bowl, the Huntington Library, and the original Caltech campus.

TERRY GILLIAM ’62 was editor of the Oxy humor mag Fang. He later became a founding member of Monty Python (the only American) and is a noted filmmaker.

In the past decade, almost 200 Oxy students have been invited to present at the NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH. Oxy students appear at a rate that routinely exceeds Caltech, MIT, Johns Hopkins, and UCLA.

In recognition of exemplary community service, Oxy has appeared on the PRESIDENT’S HIGHER EDUCATION COMMUNITY SERVICE HONOR ROLL five times since the national recognition program was launched in 2006.

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Speaking of Presidents, BARACK OBAMA enrolled at Occidental in 1979. Barry, as he was known then, is recalled by veteran faculty as “serious, thoughtful, and intelligent.” In an article in the Los Angeles Times, President Obama notes his “fond memories” of Oxy where he found the professors “diverse and inspiring.”

come from Oxy is home to some sociable (and well-fed) squirrels, including “Chubby,” who lives on the Office of Admission patio.

and an option for a self-designed course of study average number of miles traveled to attend Oxy

Oxy is a special place—no other liberal arts college, or really any other college in general, can be compared to us. Nowhere else will you find students applying the lofty principles of Rousseau to water access rights in Southern California during their spin class. Or rushing from a day at the beach to Carmen at the LA Opera. Or using economic theory to analyze mac-and-cheese bite consumption at the Cooler. - Donovan Davis, Great Falls, MT

domestic students of color

Design and Production by Bacio Designs

(according to architectural firm StructureHub)