Katharine Stinson Drive
Title
Description
Katharine Stinson Drive passes by some of North Campus’s engineering buildings such as Broughton and Riddick Halls to Brooks and Winslow Halls. Named University Drive from around 1937-1962, the street was renamed North Yarbrough Drive after Louis T. Yarbrough, a member of the university’s first graduating class. In 1997, the street name changed again to honor Katharine Stinson. For practical reasons the street name changed to end the confusion with similarly named streets in Wake County and be included in Wake County’s 911 emergency communications system. The university's Board of Trustees chose Katharine Stinson’s name for being the first woman to graduate from the School of Engineering and her advocacy for women working in the engineering field. At the naming ceremony Stinson stated, “I am so overwhelmed by the street renaming. I just wanted to fly airplanes.”
Born in 1917, Stinson’s love of flying began when she was a child. She made model airplanes and kept scrapbooks of pilots; Amelia Earhart was her role model. At ten years old she met renowned pilot Eddie Stinson (no relation) and he let her sit in the cockpit. Into her teenage years she spent her free time at Raleigh’s first municipal airport off present day Tryon Road, where she served lunch and helped the mechanics. At fifteen years old she met Earhart at the airport during Earhart’s Beech Nut autogiro tour, which was a transcontinental tour sponsored by the food company Beech Nut Packing. Stinson told Earhart she wanted to be a pilot; Earhart suggested aeronautical engineering so that she can do more than fly and have a sustainable career in flying. After graduating high school Stinson looked for schools with aeronautical engineering and saw that NC State had a program in mechanical engineering with an aeronautical option, and tried to enroll.
In a 1990 interview with oral historian Gene Nora Jenson, Stinson shared some of her experiences at NC State. She started at the university in 1937 and was met with discrimination and dissuation. Dean of the School of Engineering, Wallace Riddick, addressed Stinson as “little girl,” told her that girls do not study at NC State and they do not study engineering. He told her she could not enroll because she was a woman, but Stinson persisted and asked how she could enroll. The dean said if she had junior status, 48 credit hours from an accredited college or university, NC State would consider her application. Stinson attended Meredith College for one year and obtained the 48 credit hours. In 1937 Stinson applied to NC State again and was accepted, but she had to start as a freshman. In addition to the challenges of beginning anew, she encountered professors who were openly hostile and discouraging. Stinson stated the professors “made my life horrible” and was told “we don’t want girls here,” “girls have no business studying engineering,” and “you don’t have to make it.” The professors gave Stinson grunt work such as cleaning up the foundry after class and carrying the transit when surveying. Stinson’s fellow students who were all men, however, were nicer to Stinson. For example, Stinson was accepted into the Knights of St. Patrick, a society made up of exceptional engineers. In order to become a member the nominee had to go to the induction. Stinson’s colleagues were worried Stinson would not go and organized to have her go with a professor. Stinson stated that she hesitated attending since she did not often socialize with her fellow students outside school.
Despite the harassment from her professors, Stinson graduated in 1941. Many companies wanted Stinson because many men were leaving to serve in the Second World War. Stinson worked for the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA), which later became the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Stinson rose through the ranks quickly. Between 1941 and 1947 she went from Junior Engineer to Senior Engineer, Technical Standards Coordinator. Between 1949 and 1951 Stinson was Acting Chief of Specifications Staff and then became the Chief of Specifications Staff and Principal Aeronautical Engineer. Early in Stinson’s career her expertise was questioned such as with the inspection of PanAm’s planes. Stinson went to New York to investigate the planes and understand why Panam’s Boeing 314A Clipper crashed. After her investigation, Stinson ordered PanAm to land their planes. The chief engineer of PanAm was not convinced and contacted Stinson’s superior saying, as Stinson remembered (in 1990), “this little girl you sent up said we have to ground these airplanes.” Stinson’s chief stood by Stinson saying, as Stinson remembered, “that little girl happens to be one of my best engineers and if she says she has to ground them that’s what we have to do.” Once again Stinson was judged for her sex, but she also had people who believed in her abilities.
During the war, Stinson’s duties at the CAA/FAA involved converting planes to gliders so that pilots could learn the feel of planes. After the war she was converting military planes to planes for commercial use. Her main focus though, was aircraft safety. Stinson said her interest in aircraft safety stemmed from her interest in being a doctor. Generally, it was Stinson’s job to make sure plane manufacturers’ designs met the government’s safety standards. Stinson also developed and worked in the Airworthiness Directive Program. She was a member of the Women’s Advisory Committee on Aviation, which consisted of women with “outstanding reputation in civil aviation, business, the professions, education, or public life.” The organization was created with the reasoning that the FAA “needed to promote increased family use of aviation both in business and recreation” and “‘household understanding’” of the advantages and safety of aviation. The association between women, family, and home demonstrated that even though women were provided an opportunity to organize and voice their concerns, their importance was limited to rigid gender roles. Minutes from the Committee’s meeting reflect more than what FAA Administer N.E. Halaby set out. The Committee discussed how to build up aviation and aeronautics education, updating training, and communication within the aeronautics and aviation profession.
Stinson was always concerned for the future of aviation, aeronautics, and engineering, especially women’s role in it. In 1987, Stinson created the Katharine Stinson Scholarships for Women in Engineering, awarded by the College of Engineering, which gave aspiring women engineers who needed financial assistance the funds to pursue their goals. Stinson stated that knowing that engineering is an option for women and the desire to pursue engineering are key for becoming an engineer. She travelled around the country and often returned to NC State to present engineering as a possible career, and to talk about women and engineering. She always made time for young individuals interested in engineering, just as Amelia Earhart did for her. Not only did Stinson pave a way for herself, but she opened pathways for women after her.
References
Original Source References
North Carolina State University Special Collections Research Center:
Katharine Stinson Papers, 1937-2001. MC256.1 and MC 256.3.
Stinson, Katharine. “Oral History with Katharine Stinson Conducted by Gene Nora Jessen”. Interviewed by Gene Nora Jessen. 1990. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00256-003-bx0002-000-004
Stinson, Katharine. “Katharine Stinson [Tape # 3] 23 Jul. 1997 (H-1996)”. Interviewed by North Carolina State University. July 23, 1997. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/ua014_015-198-cn0050-H1966
University Archives Reference Collection Biographical Files. UA 50.3.52.
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, 1888-2019. UA050.004.
Secondary Source References
Bix, Amy Sue. Girls Coming to Tech!: A History of American Engineering Education For Women. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2013.
“Crash of a Boeing 314A Clipper Off Lisbon: 24 Killed”. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. 2020. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-boeing-314a-clipper-lisbon-24-killed
Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges: Comparing the History of Women Engineers, 1870s-1990s. Edited by Annie Canel, et al. London: Routledge, 2003.
“Katharine Stinson Papers, 1937-2001”. North Carolina State University Special Collections Research Center. NC State Libraries. Accessed January 17, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00256
Sex Differences and Discrimination in Education. Edited by Scarvia B. Anderson. Worthington: C.A. Jones Publishing Co., 1972.
Thompson, Scott A. Flight Check!: The Story of FAA Flight Inspection. Wasington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Aviation System Standards, 2002.
Tucker, Curtis. “The Story of Amelia Earhart in Enid”. Enid Buzz. July 2, 2019. https://www.enidbuzz.com/amelia-earhart/
“Yarbrough, Mary Elizabeth, 1904.” NC State University Libraries' Rare and Unique Digital Collections NC State University Libraries' Rare and Unique Digital Collections. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/names/2708-yarbrough-mary-elizabeth-1904.
Multimedia
Finn, Amanda. “Flying in the Face of Tradition: The Story of Katharine Stinson”. NC State University Public History Program. YouTube. December 6, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5wFMvCTTy0&t=33s