Stephens attended the Crystal Springs Uplands School, a private high school located in Hillsborough, California. She received her Bachelor of Arts in political science at. Stephens received her Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco in 1985.
From 1985 to 1986, she served as a law Clerk at the San Francisco Superior Court.
After passing the California State Bar, Stephens worked as in-house counsel at Cellular Holdings, Incorporated., as a contributing editor to Barclays Law Publishers, and as counsel for the Academy of Art University until 1992. She is the third generation of Stephens to own and operate the university. Her grandfather, Richard South. Stephens, founded the university in 1929, and her father, Richard A. Stephens, became President of the university in 1951.
Stephens herself became President of the university in 1992.
Since the beginning of her tenure, Stephens has increased the student enrollment at the university by more than ninefold. She has also aligned the university with technological developments in the artistic industries, offering new courses for new technologies that are shaping those industries.
Stephens also developed the country’s first accredited online professional and fine art education program Under her tenure, the university has become the largest privately owned university of art and design in the United States.
Stephens is also a contributor to the Huffington Post.
