Year in Review: Top News Highlights and Feature Stories of 2025

Top Five News Highlights
Occidental Magazine Features

Top Five News Highlights

March 21: Occidental College announces the 2025-26 cohort of Barack Obama Scholars, the prestigious leadership training program that seeks to empower exceptional students who are committed to the public good.

July 7: Through personalized support and a strong liberal arts foundation, Oxy pre-health students are gaining admission-and full scholarships-to top medical schools across the country. Many share the mission of delivering quality care to marginalized communities.

June 16: Building on years of research and close mentorship at Oxy, Bianca Dal Bó '24 is lead author of a paper about methane-fueled deep-sea spiders in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Jan. 21: Ethan Glass '19 was recently recognized for the company he co-founded, Ocra, a centralized management platform that simplifies parking operations.

April 9: Three Occidental students studying chemistry and biochemistry are being honored as part of this year's cohort of Science Scholars, which offers research grants funded by the Fletcher Jones Foundation.

Occidental Magazine Features

These are the five most-viewed feature stories published by Occidental magazine in 2024.

The Eaton and Palisades fires in January took their toll on members of the Occidental family, including students, alumni, faculty, and administrators. With a long rebuilding process ahead, they find strength and support among the Oxy community.

From casting to costumes to music direction and composition, three Occidental alumni live out their Hollywood dreams while being honored by their peers.

Occidental says goodbye to seven retiring professors-and some of their brightest pupils express their appreciation for a combined 233 years of service to the College.

After years of sleepless nights and hot-weather hacks, every residence hall finally has air conditioning-much to the relief of current and future Tigers.

Hailing from China, India, Mexico, and all over the United States, Occidental's newest cohort of tenure-track faculty embraces the liberal arts in Los Angeles.