The Stanford Historical Society (SHS) members elected a slate of candidates to the Board of Directors at the annual members’ meeting on May 17. Presided by former SHS board member Larry Horton, voting took place in person at the meeting and via an online poll for the remote members.

The slate included new candidates--Kristen Domingo, Jean McCown and Karen Springen--as well as directors who have completed their first term and are eligible for re-election. The directors are Geoffrey Cox, Jonathan Gifford, Noe Pablo Lozano, Sapna Marfatia, Katie Nash and Allyn Taylor.

Kristen Domingo joined Stanford University in 2008 as an Accounting Associate for the Department of Athletics. After a brief yet engaging year with University IT Computing Services, she returned to Athletics in 2011 as Revenue Analyst, where she managed the department’s $75M annual revenue budget as well as the endowed scholarships for all undergraduate student athletes. In 2015 she joined the Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research as a Financial Management Analyst, where she oversaw the financial activities of 12 institutes, centers, and labs with annual budgets totaling $119M.

Domingo joined the Stanford Libraries in 2018 as a Financial Analyst and was promoted to Associate Director of Finance. She oversaw the Libraries’ annual consolidated budget of $93M, developed a Financial Reporting Dashboard to enable one-stop reporting access to expenditure and revenue data, and led a team of two finance professionals. In November 2021, Domingo joined the finance team in the School of Engineering Dean’s Office where she serves as the Senior Budget and Financial Analyst. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Jean McCown is retiring after 18 years in Stanford’s government and community affairs office where she represented Stanford with community-based organizations, government officials, local businesses, and citizens to support effective communication dialogue within the Stanford community as well as between Stanford and its neighbors.

McCown was a member of the Palo Alto City Council from 1990 to 1998 and served as mayor in 1993. She also served on the Palo Alto Planning Commission and on regional transportation committees including the Caltrain Joint Powers Board and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Before joining Stanford in 2004, McCown was a partner at the law firm of Ritchey Fisher Whitman & Klein, where she focused on land use, environmental, and real estate matters. She has served on boards of the Greenbelt Alliance and the Palo Alto Community Fund and is currently a Board member at Alta Housing (formerly the Palo Alto Housing Corporation.) She grew up in Berkeley, CA,  and received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin, and a JD from the University of California Law School (Boalt Hall). She has lived in Palo Alto since 1974.

Karen Springen teaches undergraduate and graduate reporting and writing classes at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. She recently finished two three-year terms on the university's faculty senate, where she chaired the student affairs committee. Previously, she spent 24 years at Newsweek, where, as a correspondent, she reported on everything from serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to the Hunger Games. Over the years, she has written stories for Publishers Weekly,Chicagomagazine, Stanfordmagazine and many other publications. She still regularly reviews books for the American Library Association's Booklist.

Springen’s Stanford service includes writing the Stanford class of '83 column for the alumni magazine for the past 39 years and serving a five-year term on the Stanford Alumni Association's board and a four-year term on the Stanford Associates board. She received her bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford and her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. She and her husband, Mark Kerber, Stanford '81, are the proud parents of Jasmine Kerber, '20, MA '21, and Gigi Kerber.

Geoff Cox is Senior Associate Dean for Administration and Finance in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford (since 2016), where he also serves as a lecturer and Co-Director of the Master’s Program in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies. Prior to this position, he was president of Alliant International University from 2004-2016. Earlier in his career he was president of Cardean University (2000-2004), an online startup created by UNext.com. He also served as Vice Provost for Institutional Planning at Stanford from 1992-2000, and Director of Financial Planning and Budgets and Assistant Provost at the University of Chicago from 1988-1992. He is a former member of the WASC Senior College and University Accrediting Commission. He is a graduate of Knox College and has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago. Cox is the author of the book, Theorizing the Resilience of American Higher Education: How Colleges and Universities Adapt to Changing Social and Economic Conditions, published by Routledge in 2019.

Jonathan Gifford is a returned Palo Alto native, lured back to the area in no small part by the discovery of Stanford Historical Society podcasts while in Europe, where he lived and worked for nearly twenty years upon graduating from Stanford. Based in Budapest, he supported private enterprise and civil society efforts for the European Union before moving to the private sector where he consulted and helped finance emerging companies in the region. Among various ventures, he is still very much involved in a food ingredients company based in Budapest. A student of history and languages, he volunteers as an oral history interviewer and participates in the ever-dynamic Program Committee. Locally, he spends his free time with gardening, urban forestry, and local history as a way to remain in touch with his local roots.

Charles Junkerman retired as Dean of Continuing Studie, Emeritus, in 2020. He had served as Associate Provost and Dean of Continuing Studies, Associate Director of the Humanities Center, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies, and Lecturer in Western Culture (1983-1986), the job that brought him to Stanford. Throughout his years at Stanford Junkerman taught courses on European and American literature, with special interests in 19th-century English and American Romanticism. He has also been a lecturer on many Travel/Study walking trips in the U.K., taught in South Korea, acted as a mentor in a half-way house in Redwood City, participated in Northern Irish peace initiatives, and served as an advisor to Indian tribes in Oklahoma on issues regarding repatriation of artifacts. From 2010-2012 he served as president of the Stanford Historical Society. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin, a diplôme from the Université d’Aix-Marseille, and a PhD degree in comparative literature, UC-Berkeley.

Noe Pablo Lozano is the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Director of the Engineering Diversity Programs, Emeritus, in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. He was one of the first recipients of the President’s Award for Excellence through Diversity in 2009. He has over 35 years of higher education experiences in academic and student affairs administration. From 1983 to 2018, he oversaw diversity affairs in the areas of BS, MS and PhD outreach and recruitment; academic assistance programs and advising; fellowship and assistantship programs; tutorial and learning programs; summer undergraduate research programs; Pre-college Math Institute; Opportunity Job Fair; special co-op programs; and other academic assistance and advising services. He received a PhD with distinction from the University of California, Berkeley; a master's degree from Stanford University; and a teaching credential and bachelor’s degree with honors in psycho-biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Sapna Marfatia is the Director of Architecture at Stanford University Architect/Campus Planning and Design Office. She is a historic preservation specialist and a planner, working on a variety of projects from a micro to a macro level, involving adaptive reuse as well as new construction. She was a lecturer at the Academy of Architecture, where she co-taught a freshman class on design thinking. She has served on the AIA Board of Directors, Santa Clara Valley Chapter and City of Los Altos Historical Commission. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors for a National Trust Property. She has received her bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Academy of Architecture, a master’s degree in urban design from Pratt Institute, and a master of liberal arts degree from Stanford University.

Katie Nash joined Stanford’s staff in 2002 as a finance manager in Residential & Dining Enterprise. In 2008, Nash joined the Department of Land, Buildings and Real Estate (LBRE) as a senior financial analyst and was subsequently promoted to Associate Director of Finance for the Department of Sustainability & Energy Management, within LBRE, in 2009. Since May 2012, Nash has served as Director of Finance for LBRE operations. Her experience has spanned accounting, business systems design, development and implementation, financial modeling, financial planning and analysis. She currently leads a team of 15 staff members responsible for developing and overseeing LBRE’s multi-million dollar operating budgets, along with service center billing, property administration, compliance and system enhancement projects. Nash holds a bachelor of arts degree in management with a concentration in finance and a master’s degree in business administration.

Allyn Taylor is a retired intellectual property attorney with over 25 years of experience. While at her law firm, DLA Piper, she represented a range of companies from local start-ups to global corporations with respect to their national and international trademark, trade secret and copyright matters. Since retiring she has been active with Golden Seeds, a nationwide angel investing organization which focuses on women owned and/or founded companies. In addition, until recently, she served on the Board of Directors of ALearn (now Silicon Valley Education Foundation), an organization devoted to improving the math skills of underserved students and putting them on the path to college readiness.  Taylor received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford in 1972 and her JD from Columbia University in 1976.