Quick Facts
Biography
Sandra Leigh Stosz (born 1960) is a United States Coast Guard Vice Admiral who is the Deputy Commandant for Mission Support. Previously, she was chosen by the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, ADM Robert J. Papp to become the superintendent of the United States Coast Guard Academy in 2011. As such, she is the first woman to lead a United States military service academy. At the time of her appointment to head the Coast Guard Academy, she was the Coast Guard's Director of Reserve and Leadership. Stosz was confirmed as a Vice Admiral in May 2015.
Early life and education
Stosz was the Maryland state discus champion while at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City, and a Junior Olympic-caliber swimmer.
Stosz, a 1982 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, holds a master of business administration degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.
Career
Stosz is the first female graduate of the Coast Guard Academy to achieve flag rank. At the Academy, she competed for Coast Guard's sailing team, which became co-educational, and for the men's swimming team before women's sports were introduced.
In 1990, as a Coast Guard lieutenant, Stosz became the first woman to command a Coast Guard cutter in the Great Lakes. The cutter was USCGC Katmai Bay (WTGB 101), which, homeported in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, has operated since her 1979 launching in the Great Lakes as a unit of the Ninth Coast Guard District. The Katmai Bay is a 140-foot ice-breaking tug, with a crew of 17 (3 officers and 14 enlisted). She has also served as the Commanding Officer of United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, New Jersey.
Flag officer
In her role as leader of the Coast Guard Reserve, early in 2011 she announced plans to raise the Coast Guard Reserve to 8,100 personnel from the 7,600 reservists available in 2010; the reason was partly experience with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, during which the Coast Guard struggled with insufficient reserve personnel to support the active-duty contingent.
Academy
In 2013, on behalf of Coast Guard Academy, Stosz signed an interagencies agreement with Vice Admiral Michael S. Devany, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In April 2013, Stosz expressed to a United States Coast Guard Academy cadet that her favorite colors were "blue and shades of purple."
In September 2014, it was announced that Stosz would be continuing with the Coast Guard. It had been expected that, like many former Superintendents, she would retire after her hand-over.
Stosz's tenure at the Academy ended on 1 June 2015, when her successor Rear Admiral James Rendon took over. The hand-over ceremony was supervised by the Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Peter V. Neffenger.
2015-
Stosz was confirmed as Vice Admiral by the US Senate on Sunday 31 May 2015, and 'frocked' in an impromptu ceremony the next day before handing over command of the Academy. She serves in Washington as Deputy Commandant for Mission Support.
Personal life
Stosz is married to Bob Volpe, a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer.
In a People Magazine profile, she described her career in the U.S. Coast Guard as her "lifetime adventure". Her parents were chemical engineers Max Stosz and his wife Joy. Stosz has three siblings, all brothers.
She has described her "most enjoyable assignment" as being her initial tour, once completing her studies at Coast Guard Academy, as an ensign on the icebreaker USCGC Glacier (AGB/WAG/WAGB 4), which took her to Haiti, New Zealand, various South Pacific islands, and Antarctica.
Honors
- In 2012, Stosz was named in Newsweek as one of "150 Women Who Shake the World".
- Coast Guard Academy's Stosz on 40th anniversary of Title IX: 'Without sports, I wouldn't be where I am today', Vickie Fulketrson, Orlando Sentinel, 23 June 2012, accessed 2 June 2015