Donald Price : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Donald Price (AB Political Science, 1953) speaks about his undergraduate and MBA education at Stanford in the 1950s and his staff career of nearly thirty years, working in various accounting positions in the Controller’s Office, as assistant dean for administration in the School of Humanities and Sciences, and as the associate director of the Overseas Studies Program when Mark Mancall was the director. Other topics include cash management procedures and efforts to computerize financial tasks at Stanford, moving Stanford’s overseas campuses to large cities, the Stanford Band in the 1950s, and the Stanford Repertory Theater.
- Summary
- Part 1 [00:00:00 – 00:30:30] Growing up in Millbrae · Family’s ties to the Bay Area and education backgrounds · Father’s involvement with the Masonic Order · Applying to Stanford in the late 1940s · Phi Beta Kappa honor society · Hashing and operating telephone switch boards to pay for college · Working as assistant director of the student-run concert series · Playing the flute in the Stanford Band in the 1950s · Studying abroad in Germany with a scholarship from the chancellor of Germany · Memories of living in Munich and Berlin in the early 1950s · Joining the army in 1954 and working in military intelligence as a spy handler in Berlin [00:30:30 – 00:57:47] MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) · Focus on accounting; early interest in accounting · Moving to Europe · Joining Stanford staff in Internal Audit in 1964 · Racial covenants in Burlingame and Millbrae · Protests on campus in the 1960s · Working as the co-chair of the Stanford Foreign Scholarship Committee · Eating clubs; college friend group El Guano · Auditing different programs on campus [00:57:47 – 01:32:11] Coworkers in Controller’s Office · Role as assistant dean for administration for the School of Humanities and Sciences · Financial problems with the Stanford Repertory Theater · Allocation of building space for different departments, including Studio Art · Implementing equal pay for women managers in the social sciences · Leaving Stanford and moving with family to work in Frankfurt in 1970 · Returning to Stanford and working in Financial Analysis · Working as the Associate Director of the Oversea Studies Program with Mark Mancall · Stanford Oxford program and the Cliveden House [01:32:11 – 01:50:39] Traveling for work for the study abroad program · Starting the Stanford Program in Berlin and transportation issues for Stanford Europe programs · Moving Stanford France program from Tours to Paris · Helping Mancall move Stanford programs away from expensive and isolated locations and to big city locations Part 2 [00:00:00 – 00:29:47] Returning to Controller’s Office at Stanford in 1976 · Cash management and investment accounting procedures · Stanford’s endowment · Gradual digitization and computerization of accounting at Stanford, including implementing automatic check payments · Cash Management Association [00:29:47 – 01:03:05] Involvement with Stanford’s faculty club · Reflections on move of staff from campus to Redwood City · Working with faculty to help Phi Beta Kappa chapter choose students · Memories of influential individuals from various jobs · Retirement in 1993; retirement incentive · Post-retirement work for non-profits, including helping with faculty club finances and Stanford/UCSF merger · Auditing petty cash funds [01:03:05 – 01:39:38] Diversifying staff in the Controller’s Office · Change in smoking culture · Taking a vocabulary test to be accepted at Stanford · Biking culture on campus · Library and Stacks usage · Change from open space to more buildings on campus · Social events from his undergraduate years · Abstaining from alcohol during college · Ball Out student information book · Change in campus’ music taste, technology, women and men’s clothing, and student recreation
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | January 7, 2022 - 2022-01-10 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Price, Donald | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Price, Donald | |
| Interviewer | Schofield, Susan W. | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Stanford University Controller’s Office |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. School of Humanities and Sciences |
| Subject | Stanford Overseas Study Program |
| Subject | Education, Higher |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Born and raised in the Bay Area, Donald Price went to Burlingame High School and attended Stanford as an undergraduate with the help of a half-tuition Haas scholarship. During his undergraduate years, he co-chaired the ASSU Foreign Student Scholarship Program and received one of two scholarships for a year of study in Germany given to Stanford by Chancellor of Germany Konrad Adenauer. Price used the scholarship to study in Munich and Berlin, becoming fluent in German. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 with a major in political science. After Germany, Price joined the army, qualifying as a German interpreter and working in military intelligence in Berlin. With the help of the Korean War GI Bill, he attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business, receiving his MBA in 1958. He worked for Haskins & Sells, CPA in San Francisco during and after business school and then Price and his wife Diethild Neumann Price (Dee) moved to Switzerland, where he worked for Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, and Company as their representative in Zurich at an affiliated Swiss firm, performing audits of both German- and French-speaking companies. In 1964, the Prices returned to Palo Alto, and Price joined the Stanford staff in the office of Internal Audit. From 1965 to 1970, he served as the assistant dean for administration (and later associate dean) of the School of Humanities and Sciences, working with Bob Sears during a time of considerable investment in the arts at Stanford, including the launch of the Stanford Repertory Theatre and the Stanford summer music festivals. He rejoined Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, and Company in their Frankfurt, Germany, office in 1970, but returned to the Controller’s Office at Stanford in 1972 in Financial Analysis. After working in Overseas Studies from 1973 to 1976, he returned to the Controller’s Office and was responsible for cash management and played an important role in the computerization of Stanford’s financial systems in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Price retired from Stanford in 1993 but continued to assist non-profit organizations with accounting tasks. Price had a fraternal twin brother, Douglas, with whom he shared a very close bond. He was deeply grieved when he died in 2017. He is the father of three children, Dirk, Celia and Kirsten and two granddaughters, Stella and Marla. |
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| Audio |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/yp078sj3184 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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