Clifton J. Stratton 1911, by action of the Board of Regents in September 1920, was appointed to be in charge of alumni and student relations. The directors of the Alumni Association gave him the title "executive secretary," an office independent of the secretaryship of the board of directors. He was given an office in Anderson Hall across from the post office. Later, he was given quarters in the west part of Illustrations Hall (source: History of Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, published in 1940 and written by 1883 graduate Julius Terrass Willard).

During World War I, Stratton served as a first lieutenant of infantry and spent most of 1918-1919 in France. He continued after the war with the National Guard until 1934 and by that time had achieved the rank of major and was made inspector general (source).

He was a widely known political writer and columnist. He was the Washington correspondent for The Daily Capital from 1926 to 1956. He was the author of a column, "Clif Stratton Writes," which appeared in The Daily Capital for more than 30 years. Stratton also served as a Washington correspondent for several magazines, including the Kansas Farmer, Missouri Ruralist and Ohio Farmer (source).