Oxy Stories | Occidental College

From academics to real-world impact, explore stories from our community that highlight the people and experiences making Occidental College a place of opportunity, discovery, and success.

Alumni Politics

When disaster struck his native Santa Cruz in 2023, reporter Max Chun and a small team of journalists sprang into action for their community—and pocketed a Pulitzer Prize for their work.

Liliana Madrid Larrañaga

Student Biochemistry Public Health

Liliana Madrid Larrañaga ’26 navigated her transition into college by finding opportunities to connect with her academic and personal interests, serving as a valuable resource to her peers, and taking steps toward her dream career working in women’s healthcare.

Peter Vartanian

Student Diplomacy & World Affairs Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture

Supported by Occidental through grants and faculty mentorship, Peter Vartanian ’25 is traveling the globe conducting research on the geopolitics of the global transition to green energy, among other topics.

Alana Pizarro ’22

Alana Pizarro joined a fieldwork expedition to Isla Guadalupe, a wind-swept island off the coast of Baja California. The researchers were studying the Guadalupe Island Junco, a small sparrow with unique evolutionary characteristics and a delicate existence.

Student Diplomacy & World Affairs

During his gap year, Diplomacy & World Affairs major Will McMillan ’27 traveled to Ukraine for a month to volunteer on behalf of the war effort. He has been gathering stories to help generate more support back at home for Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since early 2022.

Nikki Seymour

Faculty Geology

Meet Nikki Seymour of geology, whose research explores how deformation related to plate tectonic motion is accommodated in the middle to upper crust, the interactions between magmatism and deformation, and effects of sediment subduction at convergent plate boundaries.

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz

Faculty Diplomacy & World Affairs

Meet Syeda ShahBano Ijaz of Diplomacy & World Affairs, a scholar of the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia. Her research, teaching, and public scholarship is situated at the cusp of international and comparative politics.

Alexandria Pivovaroff

Alexandria Pivovaroff

Faculty Biology

Meet Alexandria Pivovaroff of biology, a global change biologist who specializes in plant water relations, hydraulics, and functional traits to understand how forests are responding to changes in the environment.

Teddy Pozo

Faculty Computer Science

Meet Teddy Max Pozo of computer science, a multimedia writer and artist. Their art practice combines conductive materials with clay sculptures and original game designs to create unique game arcade machine and console installations.

Vivian Wenli Lin

Vivian Wenli Lin

Faculty Media Arts & Culture

Meet Vivian Wenli Lin of Media Arts & Culture, a media artist and educator with a background in psychology, documentary film, video art, and interactive installation whose research interests focus on issues of representation, gender, migration, and the Asian diaspora.

Min Joo Lee

Faculty Asian Studies

Meet Min Joo Lee of Asian studies, whose research focuses on the transnational popularity of Korean popular culture, gender and race politics in Korea, and feminist media theory.

Karla Peña

Faculty Urban & Environmental Policy

Meet Karla Peña of Urban & Environmental Policy, whose teaching and research involves developmental sociology and natural resources and environment.