Beth Braker
Professor of Biology
Years at Occidental: 33
What attracted you to Occidental? So many things! I was searching for a position at a liberal arts college, and Oxy had a lot of what I was looking for: an emphasis on student-faculty research, the opportunity to work with students away from campus on field trips and for international study, and a commitment to social justice.
In the fall of 1923—mere months before the birth of Omar Paxson ’48, longtime professor and patron saint of Oxy theater—Occidental established a speech education department with the hiring of Charles F. Lindsley, an actor and orator of considerable renown. (More than 110 reels and disks of his work are preserved in the College’s Special Collections and Archives.)
Occidental Children’s Theater has been a staple of the Northeast L.A. community for nearly three decades now. But before it became the institution that we all know and love, there was a predecessor children’s theater company that—well, how shall we put it nicely?
Just over four years ago, in February 2020, I received a life-changing phone call: Stephen Rountree ’71, who was then chair of the Board of Trustees, shared that the trustees had just selected me to be Occidental College’s 16th president.
Real Life and Other Fictions, by Susan Coll ’81 (Harper Muse). Cassie Klein is a 50-something aspiring novelist wai
“The arts provide us with a special window on the truth,” President Harry J. Elam, Jr. said last October to an enthusiastic Thorne Hall audience on the opening night of Oxy Live!—a new conversation series highlighting a diverse lineup of cultural luminaries at the forefront of their fields. “In and through the arts, we gain insight into the changing human experience in all its dimensions. I know I am not alone in this room in believing that the arts truly have the power to change the world.”
Speaking to The Occidental newspaper after her first game back in action last November, Toni Thompson ’24—the high-scoring 5'9" guard who missed the entire 2022-23 women’s basketball season with a torn patellar tendon—all but prophesied the Tigers’ SCIAC fortunes for her senior year. “Based on our last game’s performance, I think it’s very feasible for us to end up in the top four [in the conference],” she said. “I know we have a fighting chance to win the championship and make it to the. national [tournament], and I’m looking forward to it.”
As a college access counselor and podcaster (The College Match Podcast and Inspired Conversations With Changemakers in Higher Education), “Storytelling truly is in my blood,” says Andrea Cova-Bernal ’08, who recently completed a term as president of the Occidental College Latino Alumni Association (OCLAA). “I love sharing powerful stories, and to do it in collaboration with one of my favorite Oxy professors was truly an honor.”
Growing up in Portland, Ore., Max Podemski ’06 became interested in urban planning at a very early age. “Portland has a reputation for progressive urban planning, and every day I’d read The Oregonian and decided that’s what I wanted to study,” he recalls. “I also wanted to go to a liberal arts college, so Occidental checked those boxes for me.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist and Emmy Award recipient Patt Morrison ’74 returned to campus March 1 for an invigorating conversation with Larry Mantle, the host of AirTalk, the longest-running daily talk show in Southern California. Their far-ranging discussion, co-hosted by the Times and The Occidental newspaper, touched on famous interview subjects, changes in the media landscape, and the importance of storytelling.