Dr. Stanford received his PhD from New York University. From 1948 to 1950 he was President of Georgia Southern College and from 1950 to 1952 he was Director of the University Center in Georgia. Before coming to GSCW, Stanford had worked for a year as the Assistant Chancellor of the University System of Georgia and was sent to GSCW to handle problems such as declining enrollment and the movement toward becoming a coeducational institution. During his short tenure of three years, Dr. Stanford managed to raise morale at GSCW and stop declining enrollment. In 1956 the Board of Regents granted Stanford a leave of absence so that he could serve as Chief of the New York University Mission in Turkey. His original plan was to return to the college in June of 1957. Before he left for Turkey, however, he took a position as President of Birmingham Southern College and resigned as president of Georgia State College for Women in the spring of 1956. Dr. Stanford went on to serve as president for the University of Miami and the University of Georgia before his death in 2009.
During Dr. Stanford's short tenure as President of GSCW: