Dorothy C. Stratton

Early life and education

Dorothy Constance Stratton, the daughter of Reverend Richard L. Stratton and Anna (Troxler) Stratton, was born on March 24, 1899, in Brookfield, Missouri. Stratton's father was a Baptist minister. Her brother, Richard C. Stratton, served as a captain in the U.S. Army's Medical Reserve Corps during World War II.

Stratton's family traveled the across the Midwest during her youth and she attended high schools in Lamar, Missouri, and Blue Rapids, Kansas. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Ottawa University in 1920, a master of arts in psychology from the University of Chicago, and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in student personnel administration from Columbia University. She also studied at Northwestern University; the University of Washington; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and University of California, Berkeley (UC-Berkeley). While pursuing her advanced degrees, Stratton taught at school in Brookfield, Missouri; Renton, Washington; and San Bernardino, California.

Career

Purdue University, Dean of Women

In 1933, after receiving her Ph.D. from Columbia, Stratton joined the staff at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and became as its first full-time Dean of Women. She was also an assistant professor of psychology at Purdue and became a full professor in 1940.

During her nine years at Purdue, the university's enrollment of women increased from 500 to more than 1,400. A large part of the increase was attributed to her efforts to develop an experimental curriculum that attracted women who preferred to study subjects other than home economics. Stratton created a liberal science curriculum for women in the university's School of Science, as well as a women's employment placement center. In addition, she helped establish a specialized training program that provided intensive training for fraternity and sorority housemothers across the country. Stratton also managed the construction of three new residence halls for women on Purdue's campus in West Lafayette.

Military service

In 1942 Stratton took a leave of absence from Purdue University and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Women's Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve, which was also known as the WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service). She later credited Lillian Moller Gilbreth, professor of engineering at Purdue, for encouraging her to join the military, but she also recalled that she was willing "to do whatever I could to serve my country" and did not need much encouragement. Stratton was among the members of the first class of the U.S. Naval Training Station at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. After completing her initial training, she briefly served as Assistant to the Commanding Officer of the radio school for WAVES at Madison, Wisconsin.

In November 1942, after Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an amendment to Public Law 773 to create a women's reserve for the U.S. Coast Guard, Stratton became the first woman to be accepted into the new program. She was immediately transferred from the U.S. Navy to the U.S. Coast Guard and was sent to the office of the Commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C. to organize the Coast Guard Women's Reserve. Stratton was appointed the first director of the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander, and became the first woman commissioned an officer in U.S. Coast Guard. She rose through the ranks and in February 1944 promoted to the rank of captain.

Stratton developed Coast Guard Women's Reserve program and gave it the name of SPAR, an acronym created from the Coast Guard motto, Semper Paratus, and its English translation, Always Ready. As director of the SPARs, a position that Stratton held until 1946, her primary role was to originate policies for SPARs that related to procurement, training, utilization, and maintenance of its members' morale. She oversaw significant growth in the program. More than 10,000 enlisted women and 1,000 commissioned officers served as SPARs in the remaining years of the war.

Stratton retired from the military in January 1946. By June 30, 1946, the SPARS were demobilized. Stratton remained proud of the fact that the U.S. Coast Guard used the highest percentage of women of any of the military branch of services during the war.

Return to civilian life

Stratton remained active in the years following her military service. From 1947 to 1950, she worked for the International Monetary Fund as its first director of personnel. In 1950 she became national executive director of the Girl Scouts of the USA, a post she held until her retirement in 1960. She served as a United Nations representative of the International Federation of University Women and chaired the women's committee of the President's Commission on Employment of the Handicapped.

Later years

In 1958 Stratton appeared as a guest challenger on the television show To Tell The Truth. She was the last survivor of the original women's reserve directors who served during World War II.

In 1985 Stratton relocated from Newtown, Connecticut, to West Lafayette, Indiana, to share a home with Helen B. Schleman, the former assistant director of the SPARs and a colleague of Stratton's at Purdue University.

Death and legacy

Stratton died on September 17, 2006, in West Lafayette, Indiana, at the age of 107. She was interred beside her parents at Grand View Cemetery in West Lafayette, Indiana.

In 2004 U.S. Representative Steve Buyer of Indiana publicly commended Stratton for her leadership and patriotism. At the time of her death two years later, Purdue University president Martin C. Jischke noted that Stratton's roles as Dean of Women at Purdue, director of the SPARs during World War II, and her postwar career at the International Monetary Fund and as the national executive director for the Girls Scouts made her "a trailblazer in helping to create opportunities for women." As its first female officer Stratton was also a pioneer for women in the U.S. Coast Guard. The Dorothy C. Stratton papers are housed at the Purdue University Library, Archives and Special Collections.

Honors and tributes

Stratton was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1946 for her contributions to women in the military. The certificate for the citation commended Stratton as a "brilliant organizer and administrator" who had "a keen understanding of the abilities of women and the tasks suited to their performance."

The U.S. Coast Guard's Women's Leadership Association named its "Captain Dorothy Stratton Leadership Award" in her honor. Created in 2001, the award is "presented to a female officer (W-2 to O-4)" of the Coast Guard who demonstrates "leadership and mentorship and who shares the Coast Guard's core values."

The Ottawa University Alumni Association awarded Stratton its Outstanding Achievement Award in 2005. She was also the recipient of the University of Chicago's Alumni Association's Public Service Award. Stratton was also awarded honorary degrees from Ottawa University, Russell Sage College, Smith College, Bates College, and Purdue University. Following her death in 2006, the Dorothy C. Stratton NROTC Scholarship Fund was established at the Purdue University Foundation.

In 2008 the Coast Guard named its third National Security Cutter the USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752) in her honor. It is the first National Security Cutter to be named after a woman.

In 2016 the National Women's History Project selected Stratton as one of its honorees for National Women's History Month for her public service and government leadership.

Stratton's work in organizing the SPARs during World War II was the subject of a short documentary film on Vimeo: "Dorothy Stratton and the Spars: The Legend Continues."

Selected published works

• "Introduction to Educational Psychology" in Psychological Bulletin 34#8 (1937): 624–26
• "Launching the SPARs" in Naval History 3 #2 (1989): 58+
• Your Best Foot Forward: Social Usage for Young Moderns (1955), co-authored with Helen B. Schleman