List of Occidental College people

Here follows a list of notable people associated with Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. This list includes alumni, attendees, faculty, and presidents of the university.

Notable graduates and attendees

Business and industry

• John Branca (entertainment industry lawyer)
• Norton Clapp (an original owner of Space Needle)
• Stephen Cooper (CEO of Warner Music Group)
• W. Don Cornwell (CEO of Granite Broadcasting)
• Marsha J. Evans (CEO of American Red Cross, Navy admiral)
• Frank Hershey (automotive designer)
• Arthur Peck (CEO of Gap Inc.)
• Linda Bradford Raschke (commodities and futures trader)

Entertainment and the arts

Terry Gilliam

Ben Affleck

• Ben Affleck (actor, director, screenwriter)
• Stephen Beal (visual artist)
• John Callas (writer, director, producer)
• August Coppola (academic, author, film executive and advocate for the arts)
• Glenn Corbett (television actor)
• Gabriela Cowperthwaite (documentary filmmaker, Blackfish)
• Will Friedle (actor)
• Eddie Galan (acting manager, music manager, songwriter and music producer)
• Terry Gilliam (animator and comedian in Monty Python comedy troupe; filmmaker: Brazil, 12 Monkeys, others)
• Joanna Gleason (actor)
• Mike Hoover (cameraman, journalist, documentarian, winner of Academy and Emmy Awards)
• Terry Kitchen (musician)
• Loren Lester (actor)
• Thomas Murray (organist)
• George Nader (actor)
• Marcel Ophüls (filmmaker)
• Emily Osment (actress; Class of 2015)
• Joe Rohde (Imagineer)
• Peter Scolari (actor)
• Ashly Burch (actor, writer)
• Jake Shears (lead singer of Scissor Sisters)
• Anna Slotky (actress)
• Dan Slott (comic book writer)
• Kirsten Smith (screenwriter, Ten Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, The Ugly Truth)
• Roger Guenveur Smith (actor)
• Rider Strong (actor)
• Taku Takahashi (musician)
• Maurissa Tancharoen (actress, singer, dancer, television writer and lyricist)
• Jesús Salvador Treviño (television director)
• Tui St. George Tucker (composer)
• Luke Wilson (actor)

Government, diplomacy, and law

• Kathy Augustine (U.S. politician from Nevada)
• Alphonzo E. Bell, Jr. (U.S. Congressman)
• David S. Cunningham, Jr. (Los Angeles City Council member, 1973–87)
• Gloria Duffy (President and CEO of The Commonwealth Club, former Deputy Asst Sec Def, and Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction)
• Richard Falkenrath (former deputy homeland security advisor)
• Robert Finch (Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare 1969—1970, Lieutenant Governor of California 1967—1969)
• U. Alexis Johnson (U.S. diplomat)

Jack Kemp

• Jack Kemp (AFL and NFL player from 1958–1970, U.S. Representative from New York 1971-1989, U.S. Secretary Department of Housing and Urban Development 1989-1993, Republican Vice Presidential nominee in 1996) Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2009.
• David M. Louie (Attorney General of Hawaii)
• Pete McCloskey (U.S. Representative 1967-83)
• Jacqueline Nguyen (federal judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit)
• Chris Norby (California State Assemblyman)

Barack Obama

• Barack Obama (44th President of the United States)
• Dennis R. Patrick (Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1987 - 1989)
• Thomas M. Rees (U.S. Congressman)
• Janette Sadik-Khan (commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation)
• Janis Lynn Sammartino (federal judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of California)
• Mark S. Scarberry (professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law)

Higher education and academia

• Coit D. Blacker (Political Science Professor at Stanford University)
• James M. Dennis (President of McKendree University)
• Glenn S. Dumke (history professor and chancellor of the California State University)
• Karen L. Gould (President of Brooklyn College)
• Bernard K. Means (Anthropology Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University)
• Lewis Sargentich (legal scholar at Harvard Law School)
• Sharon Gaber (President of the University of Toledo)

Journalism

Patt Morrison

• Bessie Beatty (1886-1947), reported on Russian Revolution
• Steve Coll (former Washington Post managing editor, Pulitzer Prize winner)
• Dean DeChiaro (Congressional Quarterly reporter)
• Andrea Elliott (reporter for The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize winner)
• Chris Gulker (photographer)
• Margot Mifflin (professor of journalism, feminist cultural critic)
• James Andrew Miller (journalist) reporter for Washington Post, author of oral histories on ESPN, CAA
• Patt Morrison (NPR radio personality and columnist for the Los Angeles Times)
• Sam Rubin (KTLA entertainment anchor)

Literature and writing

• Mark Dery (author and cultural critic)
• M. F. K. Fisher (writer)
• Robinson Jeffers (poet)
• Scott O'Dell (author, Newbery Award winner)
• Carrie Vaughn (writer)
• Gladys Waddingham (teacher and local historian)
• Rosalind Wiseman (writer)

Medicine

• David G. Armstrong (physician/medical researcher)
• Howard Judd (medical researcher)

Science

• Brent Dalrymple (geologist and National Medal of Science winner)
• William Goddard (engineer)
• Edmund C. Jaeger (naturalist, author, teacher)
• J. P. Mallory (archaeologist)
• Fred Lawrence Whipple (astronomer)

Social action, philanthropy, and community service

• Howard Ahmanson, Jr (philanthropist for fundamentalist Christian causes)
• Cameron Townsend (founder, Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute of Linguistics)
• Rex Weyler (author, journalist, ecologist and co-founder of Greenpeace International; did not graduate)

Sports and athletics

• Keith Beebe, football player
• Ron Botchan, five-time Super Bowl official for NFL from 1980 to 2002
• Olin Browne, PGA Tour winner
• Dean Cromwell, USC and Olympic track-and-field coach
• Luke Collis, arena football player
• Joe Faust, Olympic high jumper
• Justin Goltz, NFL/CFL quarterback
• Bob Gutowski, pole vaulter, 1956 Olympic silver medalist
• Jack Kemp, AFL and NFL star quarterback of Buffalo Bills
• Dr. Sammy Lee, two-time Olympic gold medalist in diving
• Jim Mora, Sr., coached NFL's New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts
• Vance Mueller, NFL running back
• Bill Redell, college and pro quarterback, high school coach
• Danny Southwick, arena football player
• Jim Tunney, NFL official from 1960–1991; three Super Bowls

Notable faculty

Many Occidental faculty have received awards and honors and some have held prominent positions in government and the private sector.

Some faculty are notable in recent years:

• Larry Caldwell, Professor of Politics, has served in the Office of Soviet Analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency, as Director of European Studies at the National War College in Washington, D.C., and as Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
• Martha Ronk, Price Professor of English Literature, is a 2005 PEN American Center Literary Award winner in poetry.
• Derek Shearer, Stuart Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs, was U.S. Ambassador to Finland from 1994 to 1997 and was formerly an aide to Bill Clinton.
• James Sadd, Professor of Environmental Science, is the host of Earth Revealed, a 1992 Annenberg CPB television series and college telecourse on geology.
• Robby Moore, Elbridge Amos Stuart Professor of Economics, was the originating editor of the Teaching Tools section of Economic Inquiry.
• Caroline Heldman is a Professor of Politics and is a political reviewer for the Associated Press. She frequently appears on national airwaves as a guest and contributor for CNN and Fox News talk shows. She co-founded the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
• Peter Dreier, Dr. E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Department, was the Director of Housing at the Boston Redevelopment Authority and senior policy advisor to Boston Mayor Ray Flynn for nine years.

Eric Garcetti

• Eric Garcetti, former assistant professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs; currently mayor of Los Angeles
• Juergen Pelzer, Professor of German Studies, is an expert on Brecht and Contemporary Critical Theory contributes to a variety of German newspapers, journals, and magazines, commenting on recent developments in German and European culture and politics.
• Derek Shearer, director of the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs and Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs, is former United States Ambassador to Finland.
• Lisa Wade, Associate Professor of Sociology, is the founder of, and a key contributor to, the popular social science blog Sociological Images.

Presidents

Herrick Interfaith Center, built 1964, with Water Forms II in the foreground.

• Samuel H. Weller (1887–1891)
• J. Melville McPherron (1892–1894)
• Elbert Nevius Condit (1894–1896)
• James W. Parkhill (1896–1897)
• Guy W. Wadsworth (1897–1905)
• William Stewart Young (1905–1906, acting)
• John Willis Baer (1906–1916)
• Thomas Gregory Burt (1916–1917)
• Silas Evans (1917–1920)
• Thomas Gregory Burt (1920–1921, acting)
• Remsen Bird (1921–1927, 1928–1945)
• Robert G. Cleland (1927–1928, acting)
• Arthur G. Coons (1945–1965)
• Richard C. Gilman (1965–1988)
• John Brooks Slaughter (1988–1999)
• Theodore R. Mitchell (1999–2005)
• Kenyon S. Chan (2005–2006, acting)
• Susan Westerberg Prager (2006–2007)
• Robert Skotheim (2008–2009)
• Jonathan Veitch (2009–present)