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WINTER 2020
Lois Aroian ’67 knows firsthand the sacrifice that many parents make to send their children to college. “My dad worked his whole life so that my sister [a Stanford graduate] and I could attend a private college if we wanted to,” she says. “My mother, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in which her father had been killed, had won a full scholarship to Smith College but couldn’t accept it because her family had no money. “Each of us, whether we received any financial aid or not, knows that Occidental can continue to thrive only with the aid of those alumni who came before us. Whatever resources we have, however modest, are gifts from God to be used to help others in whatever way we choose,” adds Lois, who honored her mother’s memory through the creation of the Arminé Dingilian Aroian Global Opportunities Endowed Fund. “I am setting up this fund to help students who would like to go abroad but who can’t come up with all the money for whatever reason,” she explains. “I don’t think they should have to spend their time abroad working if they should be studying and learning about their host country or culture.” Professionally, Lois has enjoyed a broad range of careers: from teaching and research to diplomacy to ministry. During her diplomatic career, she preached and led worship at various churches abroad until the call to fulltime ministry became so strong that in 2003 she entered seminary part-time and placed herself under the care of the National Capital Presbytery. “It took me six years to finish,” Lois says. “I interned for two years at the Gaborone Methodist Church in Botswana while serving as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy. I was able to involve the entire U.S. Mission community in supporting the church’s food bank, which delivered food aid to needy residents of Gaborone.” Although Lois ended up pastoring fulltime in South Dakota and Michigan for only 6½ years, she still leads worship as a guest pastor and is active in the Presbytery and Synod. At the most recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), she
Photo courtesy Lois Aroian ’67
“Learning about other cultures makes us at home in the world,” says Lois, shown in Bodo, Norway.
roomed with Carolyn Harris, wife of Brice Harris, Occidental professor of history emeritus. “I’m delighted that my relationships with people I knew at Oxy continue to the present day,” Lois says. “I still seek a better world,” she adds. “In this era of extreme partisan politics and social dislocation, it’s very important that people understand that the same homo sapiens occupies the planet. Learning about other cultures makes us at home in the world. You shouldn’t have to be wealthy to be able to go abroad.”
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Lois Aroian ’67 Sees the World
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The sparkling new De Mandel Aquatics Center changes the Tigers’ competitive landscape— and ushers in a new era for Oxy athletics