Harry J. Elam Jr., formerly vice provost for undergraduate education and Drama professor at Stanford University, became Occidental's 16th president. In August 2023, it was announced that he will retire in 2024 for health-related reasons. On March 26, 2024, it was announced that Tom Stritikus, late of Fort Lewis College, will become Occidental's president effective July 1.
== Campus ==
Architect Myron Hunt created the original campus master plan for Occidental's Eagle Rock campus in 1911. He structured the campus in a Mediterranean style, with covered walkways and tile roofs. The campus landscape was designed and developed by Beatrix Farrand in the late 1930s. All of the 19 buildings designed by Hunt remain in use today.
The campus is noted for the outdoor Remsen Bird Amphitheater, where between 1960 and 1996 plays and musicals were performed in the summer. Financial cutbacks caused the theater department to end the summer festival programs. Since 1996 the Occidental Children's Theater has performed there each …