FACULTY EMERITUS: Eric Newhall '67 P'99 P'06

Professor Newhall taught courses in modern and contemporary American literature and culture. He published on subjects ranging from Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Ellison to living and learning communities, and his recent scholarly interests centered on the search for community in post-WWII American fiction. He taught the Survey of American Literature, the Novels of William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, Autonomy and Community in Contemporary American Fiction, and the Social Movements of the 1960s. Within the Cultural Studies Program, he participated in an interdisciplinary course, Perspectives on Justice in American Culture, and offered a Core seminar, The American Dream: An Intercultural Perspective. Newhall was the original director of the Multicultural Summer Institute and has served as associate dean of the College, Faculty Council president and director of the Core Program. Professor Newhall received the Donald R. Loftsgordon Memorial Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Linda and Tod White Teaching Prize for Outstanding Teaching, and the Janosik-Sterling Award for Service to the College.

SERVICE TO THE COLLEGE: Angel Cervantes '94

Angel is a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and a professor at Glendale Community College. For over two decades, Angel has served Occidental and the Latino community. As a student, he was as a member of the ASOC and MEChA/ALAS. As an alumnus, he has been involved as a member of the BOG, Alumni Council, Alumni Reunion Committee, ViSTA, ALOED, Leadership Giving, and of course, OCLAA. His achievements include helping to bring César Chavez to Oxy in 1991, co-founding the Latino/a Scholarship Fund in 1994, and, in that same year, he was the first Latino elected as president of the ASOC in the history of the College. Angel has served three terms as the president of OCLAA, helping to create the History Project in the Imagenes Latinas Room. Much of his work as a student and young alumnus was during a tremendously challenging time for Latinos in this country. His service to the College is only a fraction of the work he does to support his community. Angel was a national student leader in the 1990s student movement for immigrant rights, he fasted for 16 days as part of the affirmative action movement in 1995, and he was appointed a city commissioner for the City of Los Angeles and the City of San Fernando. He currently serves as the executive director of the Cervantes Fund for Social Justice and as a radio personality on KROJ 101.5 FM Radio Ollin - the radio station he helped to found in the San Fernando Valley. Angel will return to Oxy in early 2022 for a special discussion about Oxy in the 1990s.

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: Namandje Bumpus '03

Dr. Bumpus is the E.K. Marshall and Thomas H. Maren Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2010. Dr. Bumpus earned a BA in biology at Oxy in 2003. She then went on to complete a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Michigan in 2007, and a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular and experimental medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA in 2010. Dr. Bumpus’ laboratory focuses on defining mechanisms that underlie inter-individual differences in drug outcomes. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the development of drugs to treat and prevent HIV infection. Her many honors include the Leon I. Goldberg Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the James Gillette Award from the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics, the John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers awarded by the Obama administration. View Dr. Bumpus's Alumni Seal Conversation.

SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY: Jose "Pete" Garcia '66

Dr. Garcia retired from state government in January 2015 after serving for four years as Secretary of Higher Education in New Mexico. Prior to this appointment, he was a faculty member at New Mexico State University for more than three decades, specializing in Latin American politics. He directed the Title VI Latin American program for 13 years at NMSU, as part of a nationally ranked UNM-NMSU consortium, and he co-founded the Paso del Norte Water Task Force, an international organization convening water managers and experts in the binational region, chairing it in 2010. He has written a blog since 2008, La Politica New Mexico, dealing with New Mexico politics and the U.S.-Mexico border. As Secretary of Higher Education Dr. Garcia was responsible for the oversight of 24 institutions of higher learning. He was active as chair of the $2.3 billion Education Trust Fund, strengthening the college savings plan for New Mexicans. Dr. Garcia created the first performance-based funding formula, rewarding institutions for performance (graduation rates, closing the achievement gap, STEM degrees) rather than costs for operation. He initiated the first sustained agenda between the Higher Education Department and the four New Mexico Tribal Colleges, advocating for stronger ties between the states and the tribes in issues of higher education.