Stanford Events Executive Director Lois Wagner to retire in August

After 21 years of overseeing Stanford's public events and ceremonies, Stanford Lively Arts and behind-the-scenes operations ranging from ticketing to event policies, Lois Wagner has announced that she will retire from her post as executive director of Stanford Events. Her last day will be Aug. 31, 2005.

Wagner started at Stanford in August 1984 as director of University Events and Services, and subsequently became executive director of Stanford Events. In the spring of 2003, she was named an assistant vice president for public affairs. Prior to Stanford, Wagner served as manager of arts and lectures at the University of California-Davis, where she had been since 1979.

Among other duties, Wagner assumed responsibility for continuing Stanford's tradition of presenting chamber music concerts. But from the start, she also stated that she wanted to increase the kind of dance and theater performances that would expand the imagination, as well as expose audiences to emerging artists and new works of art.

During her tenure, she has achieved all that and more. As executive director of Stanford Lively Arts, Wagner has brought world-class performing artists to the campus and the Bay Area and instituted a program for commissioning new works. She also has presented world and North American premieres—all while overseeing increasingly complex artistic undertakings, such as Encounter: Merce, an interdisciplinary series of events focusing on the work of modern dance icon Merce Cunningham.

Over the past two decades, Wagner also has been responsible for the university's public events, including Commencement, new student orientation, convocation and the Founders' celebration. She holds the distinction of being the only university director to be involved in the planning and execution of all six years of Stanford's Centennial Celebrations.

She has overseen the logistics of everything from the senior "wacky walk" at graduation to the inaugurations of university presidents Gerhard Casper and John Hennessy, as well as special campus visits by dignitaries including Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

"The challenges have been many, yet the rewards have made every challenge worth it," Wagner said this week in an e-mail announcing her retirement. "Stanford Lively Arts, Public Events and the Stanford Ticket Office have never been in as strong a place as they are today, and I will be proud to hand such programs on to another to take to even greater successes."

Wagner also thanked the Stanford Events staff and friends and colleagues in her e-mail, stating that she and her husband, Alan, will be moving to the Tucson area "and are looking forward to many long walks and hikes through the beautiful desert trails, as well as embarking on some long overdue traveling."

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