Helen B. Schleman

Helen Blanche Schleman (1902–1992), an Indiana native, was Purdue University's Dean of Women from 1947 to 1968 and a four-year military veteran of World War II.

Biography Helen Blanche Schleman was born in 1902 to William and Blanche Schleman in Francesville, Indiana. In 1920 she enrolled at Northwestern University finishing her A.B. in English literature and philosophy. She attended Wellesley College where she earned her first Master's degree and a certificate in hygiene and physical education (1928). At The Ohio State University, she worked from 1926–1932 in the Department of Physical Education for Women. During her years at Purdue, Schleman was an advocate for women's rights and later became a founder and the first director of the Span Plan, a program that encouraged adults, nontraditional women students, to help them pursue career advancement after their children entered school. Purdue University's Schleman Hall was named in her honor. With Dorothy C. Stratton, she wrote Your Best Foot Forward: Social Usage for Young Moderns (1955).

Numerous collections of Schleman's papers are maintained in Purdue's archives.

Helen Blanche Schemen retired as a Dean Emeritus and died in 1992.