Our administrators serve the academic divisions and have a wide variety of responsibilities.
For a complete list of information and forms for faculty, log in to .
Dean of the College
Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College
Kathryn Leonard serves as Occidental's vice president for academic affairs and interim dean of the college. Most recently, she served as Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs at Occidental from 2022-24, and she was the founding chair of the Department of Computer Science. She joined Â鶹ƵµÀfaculty...
Associate Deans
Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs (ADSAA)
Caro Brighouse serves as the Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs. In this role she coordinates resources within Academic Affairs to support students to be successful, chairs the Student Progress Committee, co-chairs Oxy's Retention and Persistence Council, and works closely with...
Interim Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs (ADCA)
Brandon Lehr serves as the Interim Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs. In this role, he provides administrative oversight, stewardship, and overall management of the College’s curriculum, including the Core Program, the College Writing Program, and the College’s majors and minors. He also ensures...
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs (ADFA)
Kristi Upson-Saia serves as the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. In this role she is the point person for the Dean’s Office an all faculty and departmental matters. She works on several areas related to personnel, including faculty searches and hiring, onboarding new faculty, faculty start-up...
Assistant Dean
Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs
Paolo Velasco serves as assistant dean for academic affairs under the direction of the vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. He provides strategic support and leadership to the dean’s office, serving as the principal resource for administering, overseeing, and facilitating the...
Support Staff
Academic Support Administrator
Beatrice Gonzales supports the effective operation of academic affairs and the dean's office. She is responsible for overseeing daily business office transactions, coordinating academic affairs searches, managing dean's office events, providing Institutional Review Board (IRB) support, offering...
Executive Assistant to the Dean
Virginia Lora serves as the executive assistant to the VP for academic affairs and Dean of the College by implementing the Dean’s directives. She performs day-to-day activities such as managing the Dean’s calendar, coordinating faculty events, managing the administrative duties of the Advisory...