Vice Admiral Patricia Ann Tracey

United States Navy
Chief of Naval Education and Training
and Director of Naval Training

Vice Admiral A. Patricia Tracey is the senior ranking woman officer in the United States military service, and the first and only woman in the U.S. Navy to achieve the rank of Vice Admiral. Vice Admiral Tracey assumed her current position as the Chief of Naval Education and Training and the Director of Training on July 10, 1996.

A native of The Bronx, New York, Vice Admiral Tracey graduated from the College of New Rochelle with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics, completed Women's Officer' School, and was commissioned as an Ensign in 1970. She also earned a Master's degree, with distinction, in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Her initial assignment in the U.S. Navy was to the Naval Space Surveillance Systems where she was qualified as a Command Center Officer and Orbital Analyst.

Her first command tour was at the Naval Technical Training Center at Treasure Island, California, followed by a staff position with the Chief of Naval Personnel as the head of the Enlisted Plans and Community Management Branch. She served as Commanding Officer of Naval Station Long Beach, then the second largest homeport of the Pacific Fleet. Vice Admiral Tracey became a Fellow with the Chief of Naval Operations' Strategic Studies Group at the Naval War College in 1992. She was assigned as Director for Manpower and Personnel on the staff of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Prior to her current assignment, she served as Commander, Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, home of the Navy's only boot camp.

The admiral's personal decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service, three Legion of Merit Awards, and three Meritorious Service Medals.

Women's International Center proudly salutes Vice Admiral Patricia Ann Tracey and presents the 1998 Living Legacy Patriot Award to her in recognition of her accomplishments and those of the outstanding women of the United States Navy.