Stanford University
Showing 1-50 of 207 Results
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Karen Ajluni
Academic Operations Mgr 1, Philosophy
BioKaren Ajluni is the Director of Finance and Operations in the Departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies within the School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) at Stanford University. Previously, Karen worked for six years as the Finance Manager in the Physics Department, also within H&S. Before coming to Stanford, Karen worked for four years at Santa Clara University, most recently as Assistant Dean of Administration and Finance in the School of Education and Counseling Psychology. Prior to that she was the Operations and Administration Manager of the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Karen has been employed in non-profit and educational administration for over 25 years, and has experience with a wide variety of organizations, including Downtown College Prep High School, the Girl Scouts of Northern California, EHC Lifebuilders, Futures without Violence, and Project Match. She received a B.S. in Psychology from Santa Clara University and a Masters in Public Administration from San Jose State University. Karen lives in downtown San Jose with her husband and three children.
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Mathew Ayodele
Ph.D. Student in History, admitted Autumn 2022
Ph.D. Minor, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Other Tech - Graduate, History DepartmentBioMathew Ayodele is a PhD student in the Department of History at Stanford University. His research interest focuses on the Colonial and Postcolonial Histories of Africa, particularly the religious, gender, and medical history in West Africa. He is primarily interested in interrogating the social history of medicine, medical pluralism, Christian missionaries' interplay, and reproductive health in colonial and postcolonial Nigeria. Mathew is also interested in women's sports history within the context of gender, religion, and media politics in the late 20th century in Nigeria.
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Alina Bykova
Ph.D. Student in History, admitted Autumn 2020
History - Grader, History Department
Stanford Humanities Center - Digital Public Fellow, Stanford Humanities CenterBioAlina is a PhD candidate in Russian and East European History. Her research interests include Arctic and Soviet environmental history with a focus on energy and industry. Alina is writing her dissertation on the history of energy and extraction on Svalbard, Norway. She also works as a research associate and editor-in-chief at The Arctic Institute, an interdisciplinary think tank.
Alina earned her masters in European and Russian Affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto in 2019. Her masters thesis was about the rise and fall of Soviet mining settlements on Svalbard. Prior to her work in academia, she completed a Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University and worked as a breaking news reporter at the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper. -
Erica Cao
Lecturer, Music
BioErica Cao received her PhD from the University of Cambridge Centre for Music and Science and is a resident psychiatrist at San Mateo County. She seeks to understand and address social determinants of behavioral health through development and characterization of arts-based strategies through qualitative, mixed-methods, and community-engaged approaches. As part of this work, she examines the impacts of a collaborative songwriting model she developed, Music Corps, on, for example, interpersonal measures of empathy, social connectedness, and community engagement across social service and clinical settings. Trained in psychology and ethnomusicology, she has conducted fieldwork and organized songwriting workshops with social service organizations in NYC. She continues this work in community mental health settings and with San Mateo County. She co-founded Humans in Harmony, a 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit which organizes collaborative arts projects with community members. Her interests are in community-engaged research, health services implementation, and health equity.
Education
MD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
PhD, Music, Centre for Music and Science, University of Cambridge
BA, Psychology; Certificate Program, Musical Performance, Princeton University
Publications
Cao, E. L., Blinderman, C. D., & Cross, I. (2021). Reconsidering empathy: An interpersonal approach and participatory arts in the medical humanities. Journal of Medical Humanities, 42, 627–640.
Cao, E. L., & Gowda, D. (2018). Collaborative songwriting for health sciences interprofessional service learning. Medical Education, 52(5), 550.
Cao, E. L., Lotstein, M., & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (2014). Similarity and families of musical rhythms. Music Perception, 31(5), 444–469.
Courses taught:
Music in Psychic and Social Life (MUSIC 110, ANTHRO 112, TAPS 110), Winter 2025, Spring 2026
CV: https://tr.ee/XawH03MPUg -
Stephen Choy
Asst. Director of Finance and Administration, Philosophy
Current Role at StanfordAssistant Director of Finance and Operations: Department of Philosophy & Department of Religious Studies
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Debra Fong
Academic Staff Hourly, Music
BioViolinist Debra Fong is Concertmaster of the Peninsula Symphony, Associate Concertmaster of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and Principal Second Violinist of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She spends her summers as a first violinist with the Grammy Award-winning Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.
Also dedicated teacher, Debra is a Lecturer in Music at Stanford University, teaching violin and chamber music, and she maintains a private violin studio. She is a faculty coach for Young Chamber Musicians, a guest conductor for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, and a judge for several annual young artist concerto competitions. Debra is a former violin faculty member at The College of William & Mary, The Music Institute of Chicago, and New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School.
Debra received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance with Honors and Distinction from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Eric Rosenblith, James Buswell, Eugene Lehner, and Louis Krasner.
Debra has been a featured chamber musician at Toronto Summer Music; Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine; Grand Teton Music Festival; Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival in Vermont; Sarasota Music Festival; and Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut. She has been a guest artist with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Chicago Chamber Musicians, North American New Music Festival in Buffalo, NY, and the New Music Festival at Santa Clara University. Debra is an avid proponent of contemporary music and has worked closely with composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Thomas Adès, Joan Tower, Bright Sheng, and Kaija Saariaho.
Debra's discography includes recordings with The Santa Fe Opera, indie pop vocalist Vienna Teng, Stanford Chamber Chorale, composer John Luther Adams, Mannheim Steamroller, and she has performed on numerous film soundtracks.
Debra plays a Giuseppe Rocca violin kindly on loan from Stanford University’s Harry R. Lange Instrument Collection. In her leisure time, Debra enjoys reading modern fiction, practicing yoga, playing word games, and seeking out excellent coffee.