Winifred May Horman Hausam (June 7, 1883 – October 1, 1967) was an American vocational executive who founded and managed vocational service bureaus for women in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

area. Active in a wide variety of business, educational and women's clubs, she headed the Western Personnel Institute in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

for over 30 years. She also helped to establish programs for women during the Depression, providing jobs for skilled women.

Early life and education

Born in the mid-1880s in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Winifred May Horman Hausam was the daughter of George W. Hausam and Emma M. Horman. After schooling in Chicago, she attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

Hausam began her career in California around 1912. Initially a teacher, she assumed various responsibilities in institutes dealing with pioneering vocational services for women. In 1919, she established and headed the Pasadena Vocational Bureau. On the basis of the success of the services in Pasadena, a couple of years later the Bureau of Vocational Services in Los Angeles was established, again with Hausam at the Helm. She had already become vice-chair of the National Committee of Bureaus of Occupation and director of vocational services at the California Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. While in Pasadena, she published ''Outdoor occupations for women in California'' (1922). By 1934, Hausam reported the Pasadena Vocational Bureau had helped hundreds of women to find work. In 1936, as head of the employment bureau, she announced that Pasadena was in the forefront of placing women in private industry, specifying that 846 women had been placed in December 1935 while there had generally been a decline elsewhere. In 1931, together with her associate Helen Fisk, she established the Western Personnel Service, later the Western Personnel Institute. She explained the progress achieved and priorities for the future in ''Guidance of Adults: Outside of Full-time School Situations'', published in 1934. Winifred May Hausam continued to head the Western Personnel Institute until her retirement in 1961. She died in Pasadena on October 1, 1967, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery,

Altadena Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the downtown ...

, Los Angeles County.

Legacy

Established in 1973 by the School of Educational Studies at the

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna Co ...

, the Winifred Hausam–Helen Fisk Award for Distinction in Higher Education honors outstanding service and academic achievement in higher education. It is presented to a doctoral student who has demonstrated exceptional ability in academic studies, scholarly writing, internship and service to students. The award celebrates the memory of Winifred Hausam and Helen Graves Fisk (1895-1986), both of whom pioneered vocational opportunities for women and contributed to developing professional services for college students.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hausam, Winifred M. People from Chicago 1883 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American educators American women chief executives Educators from Illinois 20th-century American women educators