Irvine Foundation Presents Leadership Award to Michele Siqueiros ’95 for Her Educational Access Advocacy

Michele Siqueiros ’95 has been selected as a recipient of a 2024 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. The award recognizes leaders in California whose innovative solutions to critical state challenges are improving lives and creating opportunities throughout the state. Siqueiros serves as the president of The Campaign for College Opportunity, a nonprofit policy advocacy and [Read More...]

March 5, 2024

Press Releases | Spotlights

Filmmaker and MOR Fellow Daisy Okazaki ’25 Explores Asian American Identity

Daisy Okazaki has wavy black hair pulled back and wears hoop earrings and a gray T-shirt. Okazaki stands in front of a stone wall with a tree behind it.

Since childhood, Daisy Okazaki ’25 has told stories informed by their experience as an Asian American. After learning watercolor painting from their father, Okazaki depicted the two of them as Kiki and Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service as a Father’s Day card. In high school Okazaki wrote and illustrated a memoir about grappling with their [Read More...]

December 5, 2023

Press Releases

A Season of Achievements: A Recap of 2022–23 Fellowships, Grants, and Other Awards

Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida sits at his desk at LACE in a well-lit office. He holds a notebook that he writes in as he looks at the camera. He wears a white collared shirt and blue jeans and wears clear rimmed glasses. He has short wavy dark brown hair.

Claremont, Calif. (June 14, 2023—UPDATED July 11)—During the 2022–23 academic year, Pitzer students and alumni earned a multitude of awards and fellowships to conduct research, teach English, create social change, engage communities, and pursue their academic interests around the globe. To date, nine students have been awarded Fulbright Fellowships, two students have received the Thomas [Read More...]

June 14, 2023

Press Releases

Kallick Awards Recognize Pitzer Students for Community Engagement

Claremont, Calif. (June 13, 2023)—Pitzer College’s Community Engagement Center has recognized nine students with the spring 2023 Kallick Community Service Award. Funded by Pitzer alum Deborah Kallick ’78, the $500 award goes to each student who has completed 100 or more community engagement hours during the academic year. Award recipients have strived for social change, [Read More...]

June 13, 2023

Press Releases

Analise Pugh ’25 Explores Soccer Culture as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow

Analise Pugh has long straight black hair and wears a black sleeveless top while standing in front of a light gray wall.

Claremont, Calif. (June 1, 2023)—Analise Pugh ’25, an American studies major, was selected for the 2023 Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) program. Pugh will work with Scripps College Professor Wendy Cheng on a research project titled “Soccer is Life: The role of youth soccer in disciplining citizens and upholding the U.S. empire.” Pugh plans to pursue a doctorate in American studies when she graduates.

June 1, 2023

Press Releases

Sekou Andrews ’94 and Keiko Budech ’14 Receive 2023 Alumni Awards

On the left Keiko Budech wears a teal and pink jumpsuit as she stands and holds a colorful frame with her alumni award certificate. Budech has straight shoulder-length brown hair. On the right Sekou Andrews wears a gray jacket over a black T-shirt and faded jeans with various words and patterns written in blue and black ink. He stands and holds a colorful frame with his alumni award certificate. Andrews has shoulder-length dark brown hair and a beard with dark brown and gray hair.

Claremont, Calif. (May 3, 2023)—Each year, Pitzer College recognizes alumni who exemplify the College’s core values in their profession and in their community and who act in service for the College. Pitzer recognizes Sekou Andrews ’94 as the College’s 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and Keiko Budech ’14 as the 2023 Young Alumni Achievement Award recipient. Andrews and Budech were honored for a celebration and awards dinner during Pitzer’s Alumni Weekend 2023. Andrews is a Grammy-nominated poet, a two-time poetry slam national champ, a powerful performer, and an inspirational storyteller who has performed for President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Quincy Jones, along with many others. Budech is a community builder, racial equity practitioner and facilitator, and transportation policy expert.

May 3, 2023

Press Releases | Spotlights

Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida ’24 and Jaspa Ureña ’24 Awarded Curatorial Apprenticeships for First-Generation and Students of Color

Jaspa Ureña stands behind a leafy green plant and has an orange, red, and yellow crocheted circle and a pair of round black glasses over their face. Ureña has curly light brown hair and wears a white sweater. Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida has short wavy dark brown hair and wears a white collared shirt with a purple tie.

Claremont, Calif. (April 18, 2023)—Pitzer College students Diego Borgsdorf Fuenzalida ’24 and Jaspa Ureña ’23 have received an award from the Pitzer College Art Galleries to complete in-depth curatorial apprenticeships. Available to first-generation and students of color, the Benjamin Godsill ’00 and Anna Burns Student Apprenticeship Award provides the chance to work with two of Los Angeles’ most dynamic non-profit arts organizations: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in Hollywood and Fulcrum Arts in Pasadena.

April 18, 2023

Press Releases

2023 Napier Fellows Empower Communities as Social Change Agents

Gang violence, eco-friendly environments, and support for trans communities—four Pitzer seniors have been named 2023 Napier Fellows for developing projects that address the needs and challenges connected with each of these issues. Danny Camarena ’23, Jorge Angel Lizarraga ’23, Michelle Muturi ’23, and Sergio Quechol ’23 are among this year’s 12 Napier Fellows, a program [Read More...]

February 16, 2023

Press Releases | Spotlights

A Full Circle (and Global) Moment for Peter Hansen ’18

Peter Hansen wears a turquoise blue collared shirt and has short blondish brown hair and mustache.

Pitzer College alumnus Peter Hansen ’18 has received the two-year Presidential Management Fellowship to work for the United States African Development Foundation. He will serve as a grants management specialist, helping invest directly in African grassroots organizations and social entrepreneurs. A seasoned globetrotter, Hansen has lived in four countries besides the U.S. “Included within my role is the opportunity to travel to Africa multiple times a year. I spent the first six years of my life in Lagos, Nigeria, and have not been back to the continent since 2002. This feels like a full circle moment!”

February 6, 2023

Press Releases

Dominic Arzadon ’23 Becomes First Pitzer Student to Win Marshall Scholarship

Dominic Arzadon has short dark brown hair and wears black-rimmed glasses and a grayish green sweater. Arzadon stands in front of a cactus tree.

Pitzer College senior Dominic Arzadon ’23 is the recipient of a Marshall Scholarship, a prestigious, highly competitive award that funds up to three years of graduate study in any discipline at any British university. Arzadon is among 41 Marshall Scholars in this year’s group of recipients and the first Pitzer student to ever receive the award. He plans to study at Oxford University.

December 12, 2022