Farnaz Khadem will become Stanford’s vice president for university communications effective March 11, the University announced on Friday, concluding a national search after Lisa Lapin M.L.A. ’15 left the role in summer 2018 to become the J. Paul Getty Trust Vice President of Communications.
As vice president, Khadem will supervise University-wide internal and external communications, while also serving as a member of President Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s senior staff. She will oversee the Office of University Communications’ publications and other responsibilities, including the Stanford News Service, Stanford Report, Stanford Video, University media relations, digital media strategy, web communications and emergency communications.
Khadem is currently chief communications officer at Caltech, but she is no stranger to Stanford; she served as communications director at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from 2011 to 2016. Khadem has more than 20 years of strategic communications experience in higher education, research organizations, journalism, private industry and the public sector. She has also served as a diplomat in the U.S. State Department.
According to Martin Shell, Stanford’s chief external relations officer, Khadem “distinguished herself within a very strong national pool of candidates” during the national search.
“Effective communication is central to our efforts to build Stanford’s purposeful engagement with our region, nation and world, and to sustain and strengthen our bonds of community within the university,” Shell told Stanford News. “Farnaz is well suited to lead our communications team and to advance our work in sharing Stanford’s contributions with the broader world.”
Khadem, who holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, said she is looking forward to returning to the Stanford community.
“I’ve made many friends here, and I’ve developed a deep appreciation and respect for the contributions Stanford makes through its teaching and research,” Khadem told Stanford News.
Contact Alex Tsai at aotsai ‘at’ stanford.edu.