Feature Story

by David M. Santos, Communications Director, U.S. Coast Guard Academy

During a career spanning more than 30 years in the United States Coast Guard, it stands to reason that Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz would have compiled a list of notable accomplishments.  Along the way, a number of firsts were added to her list of achievements as well. 

Stosz has logged countless nautical miles patrolling the North Atlantic, Great Lakes and Caribbean waters and becoming an experienced mariner with 12 years at sea, including command of two cutters.  She has led Coast Guard crews through a variety of missions, everything from drug interdiction and domestic icebreaking missions to search and rescue cases – to name a few.  

In 1989, she was the first woman to serve as the military aide to the Secretary of the Transportation, the department in which the Coast Guard resided at the time.  Two years later, the Takoma Park, Md., native became the first female to command a Coast Guard cutter on the Great Lakes as commanding officer of Katmai Bay, an icebreaking tug home ported in Sault Ste Marie, Mich.  During this time, Stosz was featured in People, Life and National Geographic magazines and even made an appearance on the classic television show ‘To Tell the Truth’. 

Katmai Bay’s motto “First to Break the Way” seems a fitting one for Stosz as well.  When she was promoted to Rear Admiral in Nov., 2009, she became the first female graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to achieve flag officer rank.  Now, there is another first to add to that list.  This summer, she will become the 40th Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy and the first woman superintendent of any of the five federal service academies. 

“I am humbled and honored with the opportunity to help develop the next generation of Coast Guard leaders who will selflessly serve our nation,” Stosz said.“ I am fortunate to be relieving Rear Adm. Burhoe, who has brought outstanding leadership and vision to the academy.” 
 
The academy, located in New London, Conn., recently received high marks from U.S. News and World Report, which named the institution one of the top colleges in the nation.  The school was ranked #1 in the Baccalaureate Colleges (North), and in the top twenty in the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs categories in the 2011 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges issue. 
 
“We are extremely proud to be the first service with a woman at the helm of our academy,” Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Robert J. Papp said.  “Rear Adm. Stosz has dedicated her career to developing Coast Guard men and women, and the Coast Guard has always led by allowing men and women equal access to all career fields and assignments.”

Among the five federal service academies, the Coast Guard Academy has the highest percentage of female cadets.  Nearly 30 percent of the corps of cadets here are women who will likely have more than a passing interest in Stosz’s appointment. 

First-Class Cadet Meghan Zehringer, from Colorado Springs, Colo., currently serves as Regimental Commander, the highest ranking member of the corps of cadets.  "I think that the idea of having a female take command of the Coast Guard Academy is really exciting and a good indication of how far the Coast Guard has come,” Zehringer said. “I have always loved the Academy's ability to grow from, adapt to and overcome adversity,” she added, “and I am looking forward to seeing what the future will hold."

Fourth-Class Cadet Kristin Euchler, from Clarksburg, Mass., said, "One of the biggest reasons I was attracted to the Coast Guard over the other services was the fact that, here, a woman can do any job that a man can—and is expected to.  It is one thing to say a woman can do any job a man can,” she added, “but now everyone will see that not only can one hold these positions, one does."