[3] Stoddard was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, where he would be class valedictorian when he graduated from high school in 1915.
[4] After graduating high school he worked at a bank before enrolling at Pennsylvania State University where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity.
[4] Stoddard was named president of the University of the State of New York and Commissioner of Education in September 1942.
As commissioner he was vocally against letting 14 year olds drop out of school to work because they could potentially be exploited.
While at Illinois, he oversaw postwar expansion which included doubling the faculty and opening branch campuses in Chicago and Galesburg.
His tenure was marred by left-wing student activism and disputes over academic philosophies in the economics department which led to clashes with the state's legislature.
[6] He had a falling out with the Board of Trustees over university-supported research on Krebiozen, a drug claimed to be a cancer cure.
[3] After leaving Illinois, Stoddard was hired by NYU to chair a self-study of the university's role in the urban community.
He also completed a report for the Carnegie Corporation on operations and programming for the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.