Spotlights

Press Releases | Spotlights

Pitzer Students Awarded for Exceptional Community Engagement

Danika Petit has long straight maroon red hair and poses with a large black dog with pointy ears and a small brown dog with floppy ears.Pitzer College’s Community Engagement Center has recognized nine students with the Fall 2022 Kallick Community Service Award. Provided by Pitzer alum Deborah Kallick ’78, the $500 award goes to students who have completed 100 or more community engagement hours during the academic year. From mental health care, to composting, to voter engagement, to partnerships with Indigenous communities, these Pitzer students exude passion for social change no matter where they work.
January 20, 2023
Spotlights

Seed by Seed: Pitzer Students Preserve a Rare Ecosystem on Campus

Zoë Wong-VanHaren leans over a bush as she cuts a branch of sets with blue scissors. She has long wavy brown hair and wears a pink and maroon tie-dye T-shirt over a long-sleeved black shirt. Behind her is the Outback’s coastal sage scrub and a pale blue sky.What did Claremont look like 100 years ago? One parcel on Pitzer College’s campus gives us a glimpse: the Outback Preserve. Home to alluvial sage scrub—one of the rarest ecosystems in the world—the Outback is a 3.4-acre living-learning laboratory for students to engage in hands-on science with California’s indigenous plants. Pitzer students and environmental analysis majors Tommy Shenoi ’24 and Zoë Wong-VanHaren ’25 have made the Outback a passion in action with the California Botanic Garden and Pitzer’s Robert Redford Conservancy's help.
January 19, 2023
Press Releases | Spotlights

Shelby Ottengheime ’23 Embraces Art, Archaeology, and Japanese American Heritage

Shelby Ottengheime stands in front of the white Mead Hall wall with her mural, which depicts gray barbed wire with a barb that transforms into a bright orange and yellow bird that opens its wings in flight at the top right corner. Shelby wears blue jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with red at the top and black and white stripes at the bottom. She has long straight brown hair and bangs.At the nexus of archaeology, art, and family history lies the distinctly Pitzer experience of senior Shelby Ottengheime ’23. Her multifaceted interests begin with her major in anthropology on the human evolution, prehistory, and material culture (HEP) track—which will soon culminate in an archaeological dig in Belize. Discover how Ottengheime taps into ancient and family history as a muralist, art galleries fellow, and anthropologist.
December 5, 2022
Press Releases | Spotlights

Pitzer & Adelanto Community Members Organize ­to Bring Water Justice to the City

Orange text reads 2022 Adelanto Community Water Report on a light blue backdrop with a white city map line drawing overlaid on a topographical map. In the lower right corner is the dark blue AWJC logo with each letter resting on a dip in a wavy dark blue line. Adelanto Water Justice Coalition in dark blue text is underneath the wavy line.Imagine turning on a faucet and brown water coming out. This is what happened to residents of Adelanto. They wanted to know more about the origins and safety of their water, so a coalition of Pitzer College and community organizations has joined forces with residents to answer these questions. Discover how Pitzer’s Community Engagement Center, Robert Redford Conservancy, Keck Science, and CASA Pitzer collaborate in science and activism with students, faculty, and local partners. "I have engaged not only as a student but as an organizer who is passionate about these issues," said Pitzer senior Olivia Rosenberg-Chavez '23.
November 7, 2022
Spotlights

Explore Pitzer’s Robust Study Abroad Programs With Sayjal Waddy ’07

Sayjal Waddy wears a red shirt, red rectangular dangling earrings, and black-rimmed glasses. She has shoulder-length curly black hair that is tied back. The background is a blurred green lawn.Meet Sayjal Waddy ’07, Pitzer alumna and staff member in the Office of Study Abroad and International Programs. In this Q&A, she discusses the Pitzer-run study abroad programs in nine different countries and how their cultural immersion breaks learning out of the classroom silo. "You have classes, language learning, family stay, and trips. As you grow in your language ability, you better communicate with your family, which helps you improve your language and helps your independent study. One impacts the other. That’s how learning should be."
November 7, 2022
Press Releases | Spotlights

The Faculty Next Door

Steffanie Guillermo and Jesica Kizer lean against the railing on Guillermo’s second-floor balcony. Steffanie Guillermo has long straight dark brown hair with auburn tips and wears hoop earrings, a floral shirt, and long black skirt. Jessica Kizer has shoulder-length curly black hair and wears a watch and a long black dress with white buttons.Meet two professors who have (literally) made their home at Pitzer College. Assistant Professor of Psychology Steffanie Guillermo and Assistant Professor of Sociology Jessica Kizer live in residence halls as this year’s faculty-in-residence to build community and engage students in an immersive living/learning environment. “It’s important that students and faculty get to know one another in a space that isn’t a classroom. An event in a residential setting is a way to level the playing field.”
November 3, 2022
Spotlights

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month at Pitzer College

Join Pitzer College as we honor and encourage the study, observance, and celebration of Native American heritage. We will spotlight members of our community and share information and resources to learn more about Native American cultures, identities, and ongoing legacies. Features will be added throughout November. Pitzer recognizes national history and heritage months as part [Read More...]
November 1, 2022
Spotlights

A Literary Arts Career: Pitzer Alumnus Quentin Ring ’01

As the executive director of Beyond Baroque, the oldest literary arts center in Los Angeles, Pitzer alumnus Quentin Ring ’01 nourishes creativity in all facets. Discover how Pitzer in Nepal’s cultural immersion, collaborations with Pitzer faculty, and creative passion launched Ring’s dream job. "At Pitzer, I felt empowered because I had close relationships with my professors to explore literary and artistic interests."
October 25, 2022
Spotlights

Dare to be Cute: Lucy Conover ’23 Crochets Cecil the Sagehen

Lucy Conover has long blond hair and wears a crocheted green, orange, and brown cap and an outfit with light blue stripes and a pattern of oranges. She holds four crocheted stuffed blue Cecil sagehens with orange bills and feet and large round black eyes. Two Cecils hold triangle orange flags with PZ in white letters.Meet Pitzer College senior Lucy Conover ’23, a jill-of-all-trades who is majoring in science, technology, and society (STS) and shows her Pitzer spirit by crocheting stuffed animals of Cecil the Sagehen! Discover how Conover combines her passions for creativity, STEM, and humanities at Pitzer in our Q&A.
October 25, 2022
Spotlights

35 Years at Pitzer: Staff Member Carlos Ortega

Carlos Ortega stands on the Mounds with trees in the backdrop and wears a dark blue uniform with the Pitzer logo and his first name in white. Carlos has dark brown hair and mustache/Meet Carlos Ortega, Pitzer’s building attendant supervisor who has been on staff for over 35 years. Ortega is also a member of Pitzer’s Staff Council, a peer-elected committee that represents staff within college governance. Learn about Ortega's time at Pitzer in our Q&A.
October 19, 2022