Reverend Karen S. Stoyanoff, Ph.D

Rev. Stoyanoff has served as minister of the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church in Costa Mesa. She was an interim minister at Third Unitarian Church in Chicago, Illinois, and did community ministry in the greater Chicago area. Her community ministry focused on interfaith work, public advocacy for children at risk, and dealing with the problems of homelessness. Karen received her Masters of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theology School in 1996, at which time she was awarded the prize for excellence in preaching.

Her current participation in the larger community includes being Co-Chair of the Executive Board of the Immortal Chaplains Foundation; serving as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Newport-Mesa-Irvine Interfaith Council; serving as a member of Clergy for Choice, a program of Planned Parenthood; and serving as a Board Member for the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry. She is active with C.L.U.E. (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and the Orange County Hate Crime Victim Assistance Program. She has been a member of Rotary International and was an elected member of the ACLU Affiliate Board of Southern California.

She resides in Fountain Valley with her five dogs. She can occasionally be found relaxing, usually with a murder mystery, and she loves to cook. (She won the Betty Crocker "Homemaker of Tomorrow" award when she was in high school, which she claims currently makes her the "Homemaker of Yesterday"!) Karen has even written her own cookbook. She is the mother of three grown sons, all of whom now live in the greater Los Angeles area and she is the grandmother of a beautiful little boy and a gorgeous little girl. That, the wonderful people, and the beautiful weather are three important reasons why she is ecstatic about being in California