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.

Belle Bashaw

Belle Bashaw ’20

Alumni Diplomacy & World Affairs Economics

Encouraged by faculty mentorship and an internship with the U.S. Department of State, Belle decided to pursue a master’s degree in international relations in Germany. Oxy’s career center helped her at each step of the way.

Will Power

Faculty Theater & Performance Studies

A writer and theater artist working in the area of performance, Will Power is a pioneering creator of hip-hop theater and has been called “the best verse playwright in America” by New York magazine.

Mai Thai

Faculty Sociology

Meet Mai Thai of sociology, who examines topics related to social control, youth and race/ethnicity. Her expertise is in education, the criminal justice system, and race and racial justice.

Benjamin Weiss

Faculty Sociology

Meet Benjamin Weiss of sociology, whose research examines how organizational conditions shape experiences of and responses to gendered deviance and crime.

Professor Robert Sanchez

Faculty Philosophy

Meet Robert Sanchez of philosophy, who specializes in Mexican/Latinx/Latin American philosophy, as well as existentialism. He also has interests in the philosophy of race, the philosophy of food and the history of philosophy.

Katarzyna Marciniak

Katarzyna Marciniak

Faculty Media Arts & Culture

Meet Katarzyna Marciniak of Media Arts & Culture, who focuses on the aesthetics and politics of transnational visual cultures, particularly on representations of foreignness, immigration, national (un)belonging, and the construction of border zones as sites of contention.

Amanda Tasse

Faculty Media Arts & Culture

Meet Amanda Tasse of Media Arts & Culture, who has over 15 years experience working as an animator, designer and director in the film industry and media art world.

Lindsey Ingram '19

Lindsey Ingram ’19

Alumni Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture Economics

Lindsey parlayed her academic concentration in literature and economics into a job in the health insurance industry, which allows her to help others and offer her clients peace of mind.

Kira Elliott '19

Kira Elliott ’19

Alumni Economics Diplomacy & World Affairs

Initially intimidated by the career center, Kira leveraged her own talents along with the dedication and expertise of her career advisers to land a job in economic consulting three months before graduation.

David Wang '19

David Wang ’19

Alumni Economics

David’s experience with undergraduate research and extracurricular involvements all came to bear when he attended the Oxy Career Fair as a senior and met his future employer.

Professor Madeline Baer

Faculty Diplomacy & World Affairs

Meet Madeline Baer of Diplomacy & World Affairs, whose teaching interests include global political economy, human rights, the politics of globalization and development, and Latin American politics.

Professor Timothy Rainone

Timothy Rainone

Faculty Mathematics

Meet Timothy Rainone of math, a pure mathematician whose research interests include functional analysis; operator algebras; C*-algebras arising from dynamical systems, groupoids, and topological graphs; and the classification of C*-crossed products by K-theoretic invariants.