Katherine Sharp Landdeck, Ph.D.

Contact

klanddeck@twu.edu
940-898-2140
 CFO 610

Biography

Her research focus is in public history. She has been recognized globally for her expertise on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II, including work with the media and in documentary films. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work as a contributing producer and historian on the film "Silver Wings, Flying Dreams: The Complete Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots." Her other documentary film work includes contributing historian in PBS station KERA's Emmy-winning film "High Hopes" and the Gracie Award-winning film "We Served Too". Landdeck was a featured historian on the A & E /History Channel two-hour documentary on Pearl Harbor as well as the History Channel film on unknown stories of World War II. She taught for C-Span's American History Television's "Lectures in History" series with her lecture on American women in World War II. In addition to her public history work, Landdeck is completing her book, "The Women with Silver Wings," following the WASP of World War II from the 1920s to 2017 to be published by Crown Publishing, a division of Penguin-Random House. The book has been optioned for a film by Fox 2000, the same 20th Century Fox studio that produced "Hidden Figures." Additional research includes a study of the first generation of women to fly as military pilots after the WASP; those women military aviators of 1973-1993. She is also looking at aviation in the decades before World War II, particularly the experiences of women pilots.

Education

Ph.D., History, University of Tennessee
M.A., History, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
B.A., History and BA Political Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR

Artistic Interests

History; Oral History; Women Airforce Service Pilots; World War II;

Books

The Women With Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
Crown (division of Penguin Random House) (2020)
Katherine Sharp Landdeck

Chapters

Women in Texas During World War II
in Texas During World War II | Texas A&M Press (2021)
K. Landdeck

Professional Affiliations

• American Historical Association
• National Council on Public History
• Oral History Association
• Organization of American Historians
• Wingtip-to-Wingtip Association (Vice-President)
• Women Military Aviators

Honors & Awards

• Effective College Teaching Certificate, Association of College and University Educators (2021)
• A Wartime Experiment in Womanpower, Emmy Award (2020)
• University of Tennessee Department of History Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Tennessee (2019)
• University of Tennessee College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award for Humanities, University of Tennessee (2017)
• Silver Telly Award for my documentary Silver Wings, Flying Dreams: The Complete Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, Telly Awards (2016)